Hasta La Creative!

AKQA is getting some nice press. Fast Company recently named them 48th most innovative firm in the world. Now, Adweek is putting the Digital Agency of the Year crown on their head.

Let’s look a bit closer at some of what AKQA is doing right.

While AKQA undeniably excels at Web projects, it also has been especially effective in bringing together clients with emerging digital channels. The agency’s global orientation has given it expertise in mobile and interactive TV, platforms especially popular in markets outside the U.S.

Mobile has become an AKQA specialty. It was among the first interactive agencies to set up a dedicated mobile practice in 2006, bringing in Dan Rosen, a 10-year veteran of mobile marketing in the U.K. Since then, its mobile team has grown to 20 and wireless campaigns have been created for Coke, Visa and others.

To wit, Diageo’s Smirnoff made its first stab at mobile with a WAP site built by AKQA. Rather than simply re-creating the Web experience on the phone, AKQA opted for an on-the-go cocktails and nightlife guide. In the U.K., the mobile site reaped about one-third the traffic of the Web site, reports Michelle Klein, Smirnoff’s global digital marketing director, who calls AKQA “at the bleeding edge. They know what’s happening in the technology space and they bring those ideas to us. They have their fingers on the pulse. They came with a big idea and then blew the idea out.”

In other words, while mere ad mortals struggle to understand the social web, trailblazers are already deep into the next big thing.