Best Creative Agencies in Oslo (2026)

Introduction

Oslo is Norway’s agency capital, and the eight creative agencies below are the independents and integrated idea shops doing its strongest work in 2026. They were chosen for recent campaigns, 2025 and 2026 recognition, and the depth of their client lists.

It has been a strong year for the city’s independents. TRY placed eighth in the Cannes Lions Independent Agency of the Year ranking for 2026, after its IKEA film “Laget for livet” became the first Norwegian work to take two golds at the same festival. Big Norwegian accounts are moving too: Storebrand appointed POL as its creative partner in December 2025, and in October 2026 Vy put its advertising work out to tender with a budget of NOK 80 million. Newer shops are also winning, with Smør and Anorak sharing the top prize at Make Oslo 2026.

Every agency here has an active office in Oslo in 2026. Network offices owned by the big holding companies are covered on our Oslo advertising agencies page. This list runs in no fixed order of merit, and it is shorter than our lists for larger cities because we only include agencies we could verify.

The best creative agencies in Oslo

1. TRY

Independent · Sentrum · try.house

TRY calls itself a house of creativity and technology, with about 400 specialists across its Oslo office in Øvre Slottsgate and a second office in Bergen. It is the most decorated Norwegian agency of the moment. At Cannes Lions 2026 its IKEA campaign “Laget for livet” won gold in Film and Industry Craft plus a bronze, enough to rank TRY eighth among the world’s independent agencies. The same campaign took both Grand Prix at the Cresta Awards.

Recent wins include KFC’s Norwegian account and a global brand assignment for Kongsberg Maritime, alongside digital work for the fashion label Holzweiler. The group includes a growing design arm, TRY Design, so one roster can cover campaign, identity and digital.

2. Anorak

Part of The North Alliance · Sentrum · anorak.no

Anorak was founded in 2011 and is owned by The North Alliance (NoA), the Oslo-headquartered marketing group with more than 1,250 people across the Nordics and Poland. The agency has about 60 staff in Nedre Vollgate. In October 2026 an Anorak and Smør team won “Årets skaper”, the main prize at Make Oslo, for its answer to a brief from Mental Helse, and an Anorak film was screened during the UN General Assembly.

Recent clients include Bama and Gartnerhallen, and KLP. Through the wider group, NoA was named strategic, creative and media partner for Saint-Gobain’s Glava and Gyproc brands. Magnus Høgberg Hansen and Pål Høyer-Andreassen now share creative leadership after WAL hired a senior team from the agency, so ask who will lead your account.

3. Morgenstern

Privately held · Sentrum · morgenstern.no

Morgenstern began in summer 2016, when a group of creatives left TRY, and marked ten years in September 2026. It has around 30 to 35 staff in Karl Johans gate and is led by Camilla Kim Kielland, formerly communications director at Schibsted. Over the last five Gullblyant awards it has won twelve golds, and at ANFO Effekt eight golds and a Grand Prix.

FINN.no is its best-known client. Morgenstern won three of Kreativt Forum’s Sølvfisk awards in 2026, the second for FINN reise and the third for a FINN jobs campaign. Other clients include Boots Apotek, Nasjonalmuseet, Storytel, Grand Hotel, Maxbo, Ice, Røde Kors and Widerøe.

4. POL

Independent · Sentrum · pol.no

POL has worked with well-known Norwegian brands since 2013 from its office in Øvre Slottsgate, and is now run by agency head Hans Moe. In December 2025 Storebrand chose POL as its strategic and creative partner after a tender, and the two have since launched the concept “I møte med livet”.

The client list reads like a guide to Norwegian household names: Posten and Bring, TINE, Telenor, Vipps, DNB, Lotto and Mester Grønn. POL has worked with Vy since the company was called NSB, and is defending that account in the tender Vy opened in October 2026.

5. WAL

Independent · Skøyen · wal.no

WAL works from Karenslyst allé in Skøyen and has built a strong record with grocery, drinks and cause clients. In October 2026 it won two prizes at the DCC Awards, for ARK’s “Anbefal en bok til hele byen” and Mental Helse Ungdom’s “En lysere start på dagen”, and it shared the honours with Obs at Gullskjermen.

The same month it launched “Litt mer, for litt mindre” for Coop’s own-brand range, directed by Trond Fausa. Other work includes the Norwegian part of Coca-Cola’s Premier League campaign, Subaru and Amnesty International Norge. The agency has hired senior people from Anorak and TRY over the past year.

6. Smør

Founded by Petter A. Stordalen · St. Hanshaugen · smor.no

Smør is a creative technology agency set up in 2024 by Petter A. Stordalen with a team from TRY. It is run by Alexander Solbakken from Munchs gate and has doubled its team since launch. At Make Oslo 2026 a joint Smør and Anorak team won “Årets skaper”, and Smør also took the prizes for idea and concept and the audience award.

Smør also won at the TikTok Ad Awards alongside OMD. It is a small, technical shop, best suited to briefs where the idea depends on a product, tool or platform being built.

7. Schjærven

Founder-led · Grünerløkka · schjarven.no

Schjærven is an Oslo agency focused on effect and results, run from Mølleparken by the Akerselva. Ståle Schjærven is group chief executive and Marius Damsleth chief executive. The group includes the media agency Re:Media and Schjærven Village, a network of partner firms that now takes in KastleBlack and the PR firm Peacock.

The EV charging company Recharge chose Schjærven as its Nordic partner to build its brand with electric-car drivers, and Barnas Hus moved its work to Schjærven and Re:Media. The agency took three golds with BI at the MarTech Awards. Its mix of creative, media and strategy suits clients who want one partner for both.

8. Apriil

Independent · Grünerløkka · apriil.no

Apriil is a communications house with around 150 specialists in advertising, design, PR, digital marketing, technology and content, working from offices in Oslo, Bergen and Stavanger. Its Oslo office is in Hausmanns gate, and it is adding Trondheim by buying the agency Headspin. Apriil is also the Norwegian founding partner in the international agency network Etc. Collective.

Recent work includes Kavli’s “Ostedialogene”, Gartner’s “Knasne typer”, Fjordkraft, a World Cup campaign for Joker, and a new identity and websites for Odin Forvaltning. It has also won the Kolumbus public transport tender and the Festspillene i Bergen account.

What to look for in an Oslo creative agency

Start with how the agency is set up. Several Oslo shops here are part of wider groups (Anorak within The North Alliance, Re:Media within Schjærven, TRY Design within TRY), which brings media, design or PR under one roof. Fully independent shops such as Morgenstern tend to keep senior people closer to the work, though they may bring in production companies for large film jobs.

Ask who will run your account, by name. Oslo is a small market and senior creatives move often: Morgenstern and Smør were both started by people who left TRY, and WAL has hired from both Anorak and TRY in the past year. The people in the pitch should be the people doing the work.

Look at the awards that matter locally as well as Cannes. Kreativt Forum’s Gullfisken and its monthly Sølvfisk, the Gullblyant and ANFO Effekt show how an agency’s work performs in Norway, and effectiveness awards are a useful check on creative claims. Large accounts in Norway are often tendered (Vy, Storebrand and Kolumbus all were), so ask how the agency handles a formal procurement process.

Finally, look at the day-to-day: where files live, how feedback is gathered and how approvals are tracked. Campaigns for Norwegian clients often run in Norwegian and English versions across film, social and outdoor, which multiplies the files to review. Agencies with a clear review process, and one place where clients can find the latest version, are easier to work with over a long relationship.

How Fabric helps creative agency teams

Fabric gives an agency one workspace for its files, client feedback and team knowledge, with AI search across all of it. The agency setup suits shops that run several accounts at once: one space per client, with briefs, scripts, assets, decks and call notes kept together.

Film masters and design files sit in Fabric’s cloud drive, which streams files on demand so they take no local disk space, and heavy files open without a full download. Search works by meaning across documents, images and transcribed recordings, and colour search finds visual assets by shade. When a team wants references from past campaigns, similar search finds related work from a selected file.

Client feedback runs through shared links. Share a file or folder with the client as a commenter, and they can leave timestamped comments on video and audio, draw on a video frame or an image and attach a comment to the drawing, or highlight and comment on scripts and PDFs, all without creating an account. The team marks each comment completed as it is dealt with, so a feedback round works like a checklist. There is more on this in review and approval.

For final delivery, any file or folder can be published as a web page, which is view-only, with password protection if needed. Link analytics shows when each named recipient opened a link and how long they spent with it, which helps with pitch decks sent during a tender. On Team plans, self-writing docs keep a page for each client up to date from meetings, Slack and the workspace.

Password protection and link analytics are included on Pro and Team plans, and self-writing docs on Team plans. See plans for teams.

Frequently asked questions

What is the best creative agency in Oslo?

It depends on the brief. On 2026 recognition, TRY stands out: it ranked eighth in the Cannes Lions Independent Agency of the Year ranking and won two golds for IKEA. Morgenstern won three Sølvfisk awards in 2026, two of them for FINN, and Smør and Anorak shared the main prize at Make Oslo.

Where are the network agencies such as TBWA and BBDO?

This page covers independents and integrated idea shops. Oslo offices of the holding-company networks, including those affected by Omnicom’s acquisition of IPG, are on our list of the best advertising agencies in Oslo.

Which awards matter for Norwegian creative work?

Kreativt Forum’s Gullfisken, with its monthly Sølvfisk awards, is the main local creative prize. The Gullblyant and ANFO Effekt (for effectiveness) are the other main Norwegian shows, and agencies also enter international awards such as Cannes Lions, Eurobest, Epica and the Cresta Awards.

Why are so many Oslo agencies linked to TRY?

TRY is one of the oldest and largest agencies in the city, and several newer shops were started by people who left it. Morgenstern was founded in 2016 by a group from TRY, and Smør launched in 2024 with a team from TRY.

Does Uncle Grey still have an Oslo office?

Uncle Grey’s website now lists offices in Copenhagen and Aarhus only, so it is not included here.

Related lists

Creative agencies in other cities: New York · London · Stockholm · Copenhagen · Toronto

More in Oslo: Advertising agencies · Design agencies · Branding agencies · Marketing agencies · Video production · Content studios

Run your agency on Fabric: Fabric for creative teams · Fabric for agencies · Best client portal tools