• by Joe Mandese  @mp_joemandese, December 11, 2007

Media Magazine, for the first time, has picked two agencies to tie for its 2007 Agency of the Year award. The two shops - MediaVest and Starcom - coincidentally are sister agencies within parent Publicis' Starcom MediaVest Group. The selection marks the continuation of a dynasty that began five years ago when Media picked SMG as its firs Media Agency of the Year, and continued until last year when we required the two shops to compete separately and the top honors went to Starcom.

The 2007 selections are a genuine tie, as each agency won for very distinct reasons, though they do share some common tools and philosophies that helped drive the industry forward. Those details will be revealed in January when Media publishes its annual supplement profiling its 2007 winners in all of its "... of The Year" categories. Other winners for 2007 include:

Media Department of the Year: Goodby Silverstein & Partners

Media Boutique/Independent of the Year: Naked

Media Client of the Year: Unilever

Holding Company of the Year: Publicis

Supplier of the Year: Google

Unlike other annual industry awards, Media does not base its selections on new business wins and billings volume gains, per se, but on an organization's ability to demonstrate strategic vision, innovation and tangible industry leadership. The selection of some or all parts of Starcom MediaVest Group for each year of the award have been increasingly unpopular in some industry circles.

Also being announced today, are OMMA magazine's annual Interactive Agency of the Year winners and Marketing Daily's annual Marketer of the Year selections for 2007, each of which will be profiled in print in January.

OMMA's 2007 Interactive agencies of the year go to:

Gold: MEC Interaction

Silver: Mindshare Interaction

Bronze, Best Integrated Approach: The Insight Factory

Bronze, Best Creative Executions: AKQA

Bronze, Best Use of Broadband Video: OMD Digital

Bronze, Best Use of Social Media: Deep Focus

Marketing Daily's 2007 Marketers of the Year are:

Marketer of the Year: AT&T

Technology Marketer of the Year: Apple

Retail Marketer of the Year: Costco

Restaurant Marketer of the Year: Dunkin' Donuts

Entertainment Marketer of the Year: Disney

Automotive Marketer of the Year: Mercedes-Benz

Congratulations to all the winners and finalists in this year's competitions.