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WARC Creative 100 Revealed: Discover The World’s Most Creative Campaigns and Companies For 2019

Campaign Palau Pledge, agency BBDO New York, network BBDO Worldwide, holding company Omnicom Group, brand Burger King and advertiser Mars top the rankings

Global, 25 February 2019 — WARC has today released the results of the WARC Creative 100, an independent global index of creative excellence in advertising, and successor of the Gunn Report. The rankings feature the most awarded campaigns, agencies, networks, holding companies, brands, advertisers and countries, based on an analysis of the results of the most important global and regional creative awards shows in the world in 2018, as determined by the advertising industry.

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‘Palau Pledge’ by Host/Havas Sydney, is the most creatively celebrated campaign of 2018. In order to tackle mass tourism, the Palau Legacy Project, a sustainable tourism body, created a visa policy for the island of Palau to protect the nation from environmental damage.
 
Seamus Higgins, Executive Creative Director, Host/Havas Sydney, says: “The fact that such a human solution, created with the absolute dedication and passion to improve the world that our children will inherit has been ranked the number one campaign in the world, says something really good about what our industry values and has the power to achieve. I’m infinitely grateful to the incredible team, clients and country who made this happen.”

Ranked second is ‘#Bloodnormal’ by AMV BBDO London for feminine hygiene brand Bodyform/Libresse. The campaign centred around an online video to break taboos by showing period blood in a positive light.

In third place, ‘Project Revoice’ by BWM Dentsu, Sydney, for The ALS Association, a non-profit organisation tackling motor neurone disease, developed innovative technology which enabled ALS patients to speak again.
 
BBDO agencies have had an impressive performance around the world with nine agencies ranked in the top 100, three of which are in the top 10. BBDO New York moves up from their second position last year in the Gunn Report, to be crowned best creative agency in the world. AMV BBDO London climb to second place having been ranked #20 last year and adam&eveDDB London follow closely in third position up from fourth.
 
BBDO Worldwide heads the networks table for an impressive 13th consecutive year – 12 under Gunn Report and now under WARC Creative 100 – with 22 different offices contributing to their total. DDB Worldwide is in second place and McCann Worldgroup third.
 
David Lubars, Chief Creative Officer, BBDO Worldwide, comments on their success: “What makes me most proud of topping the WARC Creative 100 is that it’s not just one agency or campaign. It’s multiple agencies delivering work for multiple clients across multiple forms and platforms.”
 
No changes to the top half of the Holding Companies league table compared to last year as Omnicom takes pole position followed by WPP in second and Interpublic Group in third.
 
Global fast-food chain Burger King, having dropped to 7th position last year, has bounced back to take top place in the brands table for the very first time. Nike is down from first place to second, with Pedigree in third.
 
On his company’s achievement, Fernando Machado, Global Chief Marketing Officer, Burger King, says: “At Burger King we believe creativity can be a competitive advantage. Doing things differently, standing out, and becoming part of pop culture definitely help strengthen our brand and our business. Our marketing teams and agency partners are honoured to receive this recognition from WARC.”
 
Mars, the global manufacturer of confectionery, pet food, and other food products, is the most creative advertiser with campaigns for Pedigree, Skittles and Snickers ranked high.
 
USA retains its place as the most creatively awarded country in the world by far. United Kingdom and Australia follow.
 
The most highly ranked campaigns and companies in the WARC Creative 100 are:
 
Top 10 world’s most creatively awarded campaigns
 
Rank
Campaign title
Brand
Agency
Points
1
Palau Pledge
Palau Legacy Project
Host/Havas Sydney
250.3
2
#Bloodnormal
Bodyform/Libresse
AMV BBDO London
199.5
3
Project Revoice
The ALS Association
BWM Dentsu Sydney
189.5
4
Exclusive the Rainbow case study
Skittles
DDB Chicago
175.6
5
It’s a Tide Ad
Tide
Saatchi & Saatchi New York
154.8
6
Scary Clown Night
Burger King
LOLA MullenLowe Madrid
154.4
7
The Gene Project
Marmite
adam&eveDDB London
139.1
8
The Talk
Procter & Gamble
BBDO New York
133.1
9
No Conditions Apply – Sindoor Khela
The Times of India
FCB Ulka Mumbai
128.9
10
Go With The Fake
Diesel
Publicis New York / Publicis Milan
125.9
 

 

Top 10 world’s best creative agencies
 

Rank
Agency
Location
Points
1
BBDO
New York
403.2
2
AMV BBDO
London
295.9
3
adam&eveDDB
London
291.0
4
LOLA MullenLowe
Madrid
280.3
5
McCann
New York
258.6
6
Host/Havas
Sydney
204.9
7
McCann
London
193.6
8
Colenso BBDO
Auckland
190.9
9
BWM Dentsu
Sydney
189.5
10
Saatchi & Saatchi
New York
185.5
 
Top 10 world’s best creative agency networks 
 

Rank
Network
Points
1
BBDO Worldwide
1700.5
2
DDB Worldwide
1028.7
3
McCann Worldgroup
1027.9
4
Ogilvy
991.0
5
TBWA Worldwide
590.8
6
MullenLowe Group
452.5
7
Dentsu Aegis Network
392.0
8
VMLY&R
365.5
9
FCB
337.2
10
Grey Group
336.0
 
Top 10 world’s best creative holding companies
 

Rank
Holding company
Points
1
Omnicom Group
3494.1
2
WPP
2206.1
3
Interpublic Group
2009.7
4
Publicis Groupe
832.9
5
Dentsu
468.6
6
Havas Group
314.4
7
Hakuhodo DY Group
214.9
8
Accenture
126.6
9
MDC Partners
83.5
10
BlueFocus
82.2
 
Top 10 world’s best creative brands 
 

Rank
Brand
Product Category
Points
1
Burger King
Retail
391.6
2
Nike
Clothing & Accessories
208.2
3
Pedigree
Household & Domestic
200.1
4
Palau Legacy Project
Non-profit, public sector & education
200.0
5
Bodyform/Libresse
Toiletries & Cosmetics
199.5
6
IKEA
Retail
198.7
7
The ALS Association
Non-profit, public sector & education
189.5
8
Diesel
Clothing & Accessories
177.7
9
Skittles
Food
177.6
10
McDonald’s
Retail
170.9
 
Top 10 world’s best creative advertisers 
 

Rank
Advertiser
Location
Points
1
Mars
USA
478.2
2
Restaurant Brands International
USA
391.6
3
Procter & Gamble
USA
306.9
4
Nike
USA
232.3
5
Samsung
South Korea
218.4
6
Volkswagen Group
Germany
218.2
7
Unilever
Netherlands
213.0
8
Essity
Sweden
204.0
9
Palau Legacy Project
Australia
200.0
10
IKEA
Sweden
198.7
 
Top 10 world’s most creative countries
 
Rank
Country
Points
1
USA
2988.6
2
United Kingdom
1241.8
3
Australia
971.7
4
Brazil
698.4
5
Spain
687.6
6
Germany
633.5
7
India
405.3
8
France
380.8
9
South Africa
336.9
10
Japan
320.1

 

Three highlights have emerged from the world’s most creative campaigns:
  • Driving behavioural change through participation: this year’s top 100 sees purpose-driven campaigns still playing a leading role. However, by introducing an element of participation, Palau Pledge was able to do more than just raise awareness – it changed behaviour. The ALS Association, Burger King and Marmite also used a ‘participation’ approach.
  • Burger King’s pop culture focus pays dividends: Three highly ranked campaigns for this year’s top creative brand Burger King – ‘Scary Clown Night’ (#6), ‘Google Home of the Whopper’ (#24), ‘Loving “It”‘ (#34) – meet Burger King’s stated strategy to become part of pop culture.
  • Six new agencies enter the top 10: AMV BBDO, LOLA MullenLowe Madrid, Host/Havas Sydney, McCann London, BWM Dentsu and Saatchi & Saatchi York. Only four agencies retained top 10 positions in the agency ranking – BBDO New York, adam&eveDDB London, McCann New York and Colenso BBDO Auckland.
David Tiltman, Head of Content, WARC, says: “The WARC Creative 100 delivers an unbiased and transparent global benchmark for the industry, shining a light on the best creative and inspirational ideas from around the world and the companies behind them. We congratulate all those who have made it into these rankings.”
 
The WARC Creative 100, formally known as The Gunn 100 for Creativity, have been compiled by analysing the results of the most important global and regional creative awards shows, as determined by the industry following a worldwide survey and consultation. This survey will be carried out each year to ensure that the rankings reflect the opinion of the industry.
 
The creative awards taken into account for these rankings are:
  • Global: Cannes Lions, Clio Awards, D&AD, London International Awards (LIA), The One Show.
  • Regional: Adfest, Dubai Lynx, El Ojo de Iberoamérica, El Sol, Eurobest, Golden Drum, Loeries, Spikes Asia.
The full rankings – which include the world’s top 100 creatively awarded campaigns, top 50 creative agencies, agency networks, brands, advertisers, countries and top holding companies – are available to view on www.warc.com/rankings/creative-100. A sample report is available from here. The campaigns, case studies, credits and subsequent analysis reports are available by subscription.
 
The WARC Effectiveness 100 rankings will be announced on 4 March and the WARC Media 100 on 11 March.

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