M&C Saatchi, Leo Burnett, Clemenger and Isobar make 2016 AFR Most Innovative Companies List

Ad agencies M&C Saatchi Group Sydney, Leo Burnett Sydney, Clemenger BBDO Melbourne and Isobar, Sydney have been including in the 2016 edition of the AFR 50 Most Innovative Companies list, featuring firms at the cutting edge.

M&C Saatchi Group Sydney is ranked #6, Leo Burnett Sydney is at #14, Clemenger BBDO Melbourne is ranked #43 and Isobar Sydney is placed #44.

Says Jaimes Leggett, CEO, M&C Saatchi: “M&C Saatchi Group has gone through rapid change. This is largely driven by the re-articulation of our vision – to be the most influential creative company in Australia by 2020.  To deliver on this vision, we’ve built a group of companies with best-in-class capabilities designed to connect with a consumer at every point they encounter a brand. And invariably innovation has been a big part of that.

“We no longer just create communications. The M&C Saatchi Group of the future has a laser precision view of the customer experience. And we’re building our brands around that.”

M&C Saatchi’s “Game of Balls” campaign was awarded the best CSR/social innovation. Hailed as one of the biggest marketing stories in the world, it has reached over sixty million people. M&C Saatchi Group approached one of the largest Adult Entertainment studios in the world and convinced them to include a message in their biggest release of the year. The idea has disrupted the way marketers target audiences with key health messaging.

The company has improved on its ranking of eighteenth in 2015 and has beat fellow agencies including Leo Burnett, Clemenger BBDO Melbourne and Isobar. One of the company’s biggest clients, Commonweath Bank of Australia, has also been ranked third.

Leo’s made the list after a year after embarking on a very deliberate transformation strategy focused on innovation.  

The company implemented innovation-first processes and programs, completely restructured its business model and fostered a culture that delivers innovative solutions to complex business problems. Along the way, it created world-first technology, new products, media firsts, new services and tech-enabled ideas.

Says Pete Bosilkovski, CEO Leo Burnett Sydney: “Our unwavering focus on ‘consumer first innovation’ has utterly transformed our business. We have evolved into a creative solutions company and have created an environment and business that ensures we will remain not only relevant, but at the forefront, in a rapidly changing industry.

“The new connected economy is creating exciting new opportunities for our business.

We have invested a lot of our money and time talking to consumers to understand new behaviours and tensions. As we learn more about these behaviours, we’ve become unrelenting in our ambition to create and unlock ground breaking new user experience ecosystems and products for our clients’ businesses.

“We strongly believe in the power and value of our innovation-centric approach and are proud to be recognised as one of the most innovative businesses in the country.”

Core innovative initiatives delivered by the company included an innovation program that facilitates a new stream of ideas, creates new ways to collaborate, and builds inventive thinking into the agency fabric; the creation of Samsung brainBAND, creation of new Bundaberg Rum RTD product, just product line for WWF, the world’s first VR birth for Samsung and the formation of strategic and ground-breaking partnerships with Google and Facebook.

M&C Saatchi’s Jaimes Leggett  and Leo Burnett’s Pete Bosilkovski have both also been announced as finalists in both CEO of the Year and Media Executive of the Year categories at The CEO Magazine’s Executive of the Year Awards.

VIEW THE FULL AFR LIST HERE.