BBDO tops ranking of world's smartest agencies

Warc, 11 September 2014

LONDON: Colenso BBDO has been named the world's smartest creative agency in new rankings released today by Warc, with BBDO Worldwide and Omnicom also topping the agency networks and holding companies lists respectively.

The BBDO-owned shop, based in Auckland, scored 115.2 points on the new rankings, edging out AMV BBDO (103.4 points) and JWT Cairo (101.6). Ogilvy & Mather New York was in fourth with 95.1 points, making it the top-ranked creative agency in the Americas. Whybin\TBWA Sydney was fifth on 91.9.

These rankings are based on the Warc 100 database, which tracks winners of effectiveness and strategy awards from around the world each year. To compile the rankings, Warc tracked more than 1700 winners in 75 different competitions, assigning points based on the awards won (for example, Gold, Silver or Bronze), then weighting those points based on the competition's rigour and prestige in the global industry.

Warc has also released global rankings of agency networks and holding companies. BBDO Worldwide scored 1232.9 points to become the number one agency network. Ogilvy & Mather (1164.1) was second, with DDB (743.9) third.

Omnicom Group narrowly topped the holding companies rankings, on 3520.4 points to WPP's 3480.9. Publicis Groupe and Interpublic were third and fourth, scoring 1889.6 and 1731.2 points respectively.

“These rankings showcase the agencies that are really making a difference to their clients' businesses,” said David Tiltman, head of content at Warc. “By focusing on effectiveness and strategic thinking, the Warc 100 offers a new benchmark for agency performance, based on real campaign results.”

In July, Warc released the Warc 100, a ranking of the world's 100 smartest marketing campaigns, which was topped by 'Vodafone Fakka', a campaign for Vodafone by JWT Cairo. Colenso BBDO had three campaigns within the top 100: ‘Feel Tip Top', a social media-led campaign for Tip Top, a food brand; the ‘V Motion Project' for drink V Energy; and the ‘Beyond the Wall' for Mountain Dew, which invited graffiti artists to decorate spaces on Google Street View.

In the media agency rankings, Starcom MediaVest Group Chicago was the clear winner on 118.7 points, with OMD UK in second on 71.5. Colenso/Proximity New Zealand was the top digital agency (96.3 points), ahead of Digitas New York on 86.7.

In the coming days Warc will be announcing further rankings from the Warc 100 database, including the world's top brands and top advertisers.

Data sourced from Warc