With a 50/50 split between charities and commercial clients, and a 42% growth over the last two years, The Kite Factory is an agency with its heart in the right place and a commitment to doing the right thing. Longstanding clients include WaterAid, Lovehoney and Crisis, which make up the impressive 88 accounts it handles.
With both its chief growth officer and head of planning having climbed the ranks from its graduate scheme, the agency strives to nurture careers in the long term, and 39% of the workforce received promotions this year.
In collaboration with Adam & Eve/DDB and Premier Communications, it created a media campaign for Crisis that made homelessness “impossible to ignore”. Centred around a 4.3m sculpture of a rough sleeper, and an accompanying film asset, it created a media campaign built on maximising Crisis’ owned and earned media channels. A bespoke premiere ad was created during Channel 4 News – an ad break that doesn’t usually exist, with the campaign generating 60 pieces of significant media coverage and picking up a Drum OOH award and seven shortlists, including the Campaign Media Awards, Media Week Awards and Cannes Lions.
Inclusive hiring training to everyone involved in recruitment has been rolled out to develop understanding of unconscious bias and neurodiversity, and a new applicant tracking system, Team Tailor, has launched, helping to mitigate unconscious bias. Of its senior staff, 31% are female and 56% of its people overall are female. BAME representation is 25% in senior management, 26% in the wider agency and 47% in entry-level recruits.
Judges’ comments:
“Some great work across a diverse range of clients that delivered tangible results and significant industry recognition. You really get a sense of the fierce passion of being independent from The Kite Factory and what that brings to its work.”