Ipswich-based digital agency Crafted has further cemented its reputation for excellence, recently adding award wins from The Drum, Independent Agency Awards and UK Search Awards to its growing list of national recognition. These wins reflect the agency’s data-smart thinking, collaborative client relationships, and commitment to making digital experiences more human.
But behind the trophies is the work, and Crafted’s work spans some of the most diverse and impactful digital challenges in the region and beyond. From personalising home-buyer journeys to driving global charity support, the agency’s portfolio is packed with standout stories.
We sat down with Sam Manning, Head of Marketing at Crafted, to talk about their awards success – and to dive into three projects that define their approach.
Q: Huge congratulations on your recent award wins – including Best Use of Google Media at the Independent Agency Awards. How does it feel to see Crafted recognised on a national stage again?
A: It’s always brilliant to see the team’s work celebrated and validated by judges that we highly respect. If you find yourself looking for an agency, you’d struggle to find one that isn’t ‘award-winning’ in some capacity which is why we purposefully target some of the most difficult awards to win. We challenge ourselves to be amongst the best. That’s why in recent years we’ve been successful at The Drum, Google Agency and The DMA awards. We’re also proud to celebrate multiple clients in various sectors. It’s a lot of work entering different campaigns, but it’s worth it when more people can feel part of the success.
Q: Beyond the wins themselves, what do these achievements represent for the Crafted team?
A: One of our core values is Go Together, which is all about collaboration across our teams and our clients. The work we do is never down to a single person, so when Crafted’s name is called out, that’s a celebration for that team, the wider agency and the client too. Anyone in digital marketing knows we’re always looking at what’s next, the newest trends, the next campaign. These give a moment of reflection to celebrate the hard work from both our client’s in-house team and our team.
Above: Some of the Crafted team accepting their award for Best Use of Google Media at The Independent Agency Awards in 2025.
Spotlight Project 1: Persimmon Homes
Q: Let’s start with Persimmon Homes. What challenge were they facing, and how did Crafted step in?
A: Persimmon Homes operate in the challenging new homes market. High competition and highly volatile demand based on market conditions. They also have a complex, ever-changing portfolio of over 260 developments in 27 regions. We were brought onboard to increase the number of qualified new home enquiries.
Q: What was the standout moment or innovation in that project?
A: The latest tools within ad platforms really help marketers to deliver a good level of performance, but to outperform the competition it takes another level of sophistication. For Persimmon, that centred around data. Getting the best data into the platforms and being able to manage the campaigns in a way that was efficient and impactful for their primary first-time buyer audience.
Q: And what impact did it have for Persimmon Homes?
A: We started seeing the positive uplift very early on in our partnership, but importantly this was a sustained uplift that continued to improve. New home enquiries increased by 45% with a lovely symmetry of a 45% decrease in cost per enquiry. The wider organisational impact is that they now have much more confidence in paid search and social advertising in being a real driver for growth in the business. It’s a big thing for a brand to appoint a new agency, but examples like this show why sometimes it’s needed to unlock that next level of performance.
Spotlight Project 2: MUJI
Q: MUJI is a very different kind of brand. What drew Crafted to this project?
A: When MUJI initially reached out to us, we soon realised that we had some big fans in the agency. Known for its simplicity in product design, MUJI is globally recognised with over 1,000 stores. We were appointed in the run up to MUJI’s peak period and set about restructuring an ad account across multiple European territories and an extensive suite of products.
Q: What did the Crafted team do to bring the brand and product to life?
A: Our strategy really played into three core pillars, driving interest, building intent and re-engaging customers at the right moments. Lead Generation campaigns brought in new customers, gift guides kept them interested, and Black Friday launches made them convert.
We implemented AI in a measured way to keep a level of control across the account. Our activity scaled across Google ad platforms from Performance Max, Shopping, and Display, and Video 360.
Q: What were the results or standout achievements from the MUJI work?
A: Our new approach saw us triple ROI compared to the year previous alongside a significant revenue growth. Managing complex ecommerce feeds across multiple ad campaigns is challenging, but our team delivered in a small, competitive window of opportunity. The best part is that we could use all that new performance data to improve future campaigns, and our latest festive period performed even better.
Spotlight Project 3: Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF)
Q: Working with MSF is a huge responsibility. What was the goal of the project?
A: We’ve been on quite the journey with MSF since partnering in 2019. Back then, digital represented a minority of MSF’s overall fundraising and together we’ve transformed the importance of digital fundraising for the humanitarian aid charity. That transformation was hugely important particularly through the pandemic where traditional channels were cut off.
During that time, we’ve delivered several high-profile fundraising campaigns to help fund the important work MSF do. These sophisticated campaigns run across multiple advertising channels all with the goal of increasing awareness and attracting new donors.
Q: What was the biggest challenge your team faced?
A: There are several factors to consider when advertising sensitive subjects and that’s where we work together with MSF’s internal teams to ensure all messaging is in line with their organisation’s values.
One of the main challenges though, is keeping agile amongst developing humanitarian cases throughout the world. When something significant happens it’s likely MSF will be there from Covid-19 and Ebola outbreaks to war intensifying and terrorist attacks. We must ensure all campaigns take a measured approach that captures the public interest at its highest and all information across the creative is accurate.
To overcome challenges with getting up to date creative, we often start with illustration-led visuals while we await frontline footage which often can be as simple as a doctor using a mobile phone to capture to emerging situations.
Q: And what impact has Crafted delivered for MSF so far?
A: It’s all about the fundraising revenue and we’ve delivered tens of millions of pounds while maintaining a very healthy ROI. MSF’s team have a brilliant mentality when it comes to testing new channels and approaches which has been a catalyst to us discovering fresh ways to drive incremental growth across each campaign.
Sam’s Advice for entering awards
Be human in your entry. Clear objectives and solid results are the foundation, but connecting with judges on emotional level provides impact.
Zooming Out
Q: When you look across Persimmon, MUJI and MSF, what threads tie these projects together?
A: We talk a lot about the Power of the Mix at Crafted. It’s about bringing together the right specialists and experience to deliver impact for our clients. That’s what our clients buy in to and it’s those ambitious teams that deliver work worthy of being recognised.
Q: Crafted’s roots are firmly in East Anglia. How does being based here shape how you work or who you are as an agency?
A: I believe the days of agencies needing a London postcode are long gone. We have brilliant talent in our region and can offer a healthy work-life balance that can be difficult to achieve in the capital. We’re very proud of our six-year average staff tenure, which is quite a feat in the agency world and a big part of that is offering a leading agency environment in the heart of Suffolk.
Why We’re Sharing This
At the East Anglian Marketing Awards, we’re passionate about spotlighting the agencies raising the bar across the region. Crafted’s national recognition – paired with standout work for brands like Persimmon Homes, MUJI and Médecins Sans Frontières – shows the ambition and creativity thriving right here in East Anglia.
Nominations for the 2026 EAMAs open in March and close in May – and we can’t wait to see more stories like this.