Bristol and Exeter agency wins top prize at Performance Marketing Awards

South West performance marketing agency Launch has been named Best Performance Marketing Agency at this year’s Performance Marketing Awards.

The agency, which has offices in Bristol and Exeter, took home the top prize at the annual awards, which recognise leading campaigns, teams and companies across the performance marketing industry.

Launch was recognised for its Powered by Happiness® philosophy, which focuses on three core areas: strong client relationships, full-funnel performance marketing and a psychologically safe culture where people can do their best work.

Judges described the agency as a “benchmark for modern marketing” and “a mature, values-led ecosystem where strategy, people, and results are inextricably linked to drive long-term, repeatable growth.”

The agency also picked up a Bronze award in the Best Full Funnel Strategy category for its work with Icelandair.

The campaign, called This Is Not AI, or TINA, responded to a growing issue for Iceland’s tourism industry, where real images of the country’s landscapes were being dismissed by travellers as AI-generated.

Rather than ignore the scepticism, Launch and Icelandair built the campaign around it, using self-aware creative and humour to address the doubt directly, rebuild trust and encourage audiences to take a closer look.

Jaye Cowle, CEO and founder of Launch, said the awards were a significant moment for the agency and its team.

She said:

This overnight success has been 14 years in the making, working tirelessly to deliver profitable growth for brands we work with.

Powered by Happiness® is way more than a strapline, it sits at our boardroom table and is baked into the way we work with clients and who we choose to work with.

To be recognised at the highest level by the industry and our peers is an incredible achievement. It’s one we’ll be celebrating at our company get-together next month because this belongs to the team. My hope is that we inspire more workplaces to embrace employee happiness.

Launch has grown to a team of 30 performance marketing specialists and works with global heritage and challenger brands.

The B Corp-certified agency’s clients include St Eval, Weird Fish, Icelandair, Bremont, Access Self Storage and Piglet in Bed.

Over the past four years, Launch has grown from a £745,000 agency to a £3.25m business.