Warc 100: Colenso BBDO tops global agency ranking; Whybin\TBWA, Sydney ranked #5

Colenso BBDO, Auckland has topped a new ranking of the world’s smartest creative agencies, on the back of breakthrough work for clients such as Tip Top and Mountain Dew.

Warc, the global marketing intelligence service, has today revealed the top agencies, networks and holding companies from the Warc 100 database, which tracks agency and brand performance in effectiveness and strategy competitions.

Colenso BBDO – pictured by CB in Cannes: Colenso BBDO creative chairman Nick Worthington and managing director Nick Garrett – led the list of top creative agencies, followed by AMV BBDO in the UK. Whybin\TBWA, Sydney was ranked #5. The two agencies’ parent network, BBDO Worldwide (part of Omnicom Group), topped the rankings as the world’s smartest network, edging out WPP’s Ogilvy & Mather. At holding group level, Omnicom finished narrowly ahead of WPP.

Warc also announced that Starcom Chicago had topped the ranking for media agencies, while Proximity New Zealand took first place in the list of digital agencies.

Says Andrew Robertson, president and CEO of BBDO Worldwide: “The best work works best – smart insights inspiring creative magic, in turn driving strong business results. I am very proud of the people in our agencies who work so hard to deliver against this, for every client, every day, and, as a result, have pushed us to the top of this chart.”

“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.”

The Warc 100 is a benchmark for commercial creativity, allowing organisations to compare their performance with their peers. It is an annual list of the world’s best campaigns, agencies and brands, based on their performance in effectiveness and strategy competitions.

To compile the rankings, Warc tracked more than 1700 winners in 75 different competitions. It assigned points based on the awards won (for example, Gold, Silver or Bronze), then weighted those points based on the competition’s rigour and prestige in the global industry. Warc has developed a proprietary methodology to weight competitions in consultation with Professor Douglas West, Professor of Marketing at King’s College London.

In July, Warc announced the world’s smartest 100 campaigns, based on their performance in 2013 competitions. 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 coming days Warc will be announcing further rankings from the Warc 100 database, including the world’s top advertisers and top brands.

The Warc 100 has been developed to reflect the growing importance of strategic thinking and measurement rigour in marketing. It will showcase the best work, and will help raise awareness of the leading cases.

The top 5 creative agencies in the Warc 100 are:

Top 5 creative agencies

1. Colenso BBDO New Zealand

2. AMV BBDO, London

3. JWT Cairo

4. Ogilvy & Mather New York

5. Whybin\TBWA, Sydney

Top 5 media agencies

1. Starcom Chicago

2. OMD UK

3. MediaVest New York

4. OMD Hong Kong

5. OMD New York

Top 5 digital agencies

1. Proximity New Zealand

2. Digitas New York

3. OgilvyOne London

4. Arc Chicago

5. OgilvyOne Mumbai

Top 5 agency networks

1. BBDO Worldwide (Omnicom Group)

2. Ogilvy & Mather (WPP)

3. DDB Worldwide (Omnicom Group)

4. TBWA Worldwide (Omnicom Group)

5. McCann Erickson (Interpublic Group)

Top 5 agency holding companies

1. Omnicom Group

2. WPP

3. Publicis Groupe

4. Interpublic Group

5. Havas

The Warc 100 is a ranking of the world’s top marketing campaigns and companies, based on their performance in effectiveness and strategy competitions.

Warc tracked more than 1700 winners in 75 different competitions to compile the rankings. It assigned points to each winner, based on the award it won (Grand Prix/Gold/Silver/Bronze, or equivalents). It then weighted the points, based on the rigour and prestige of the competition. Each competition has a weighting between 1 and 5 – Warc has assigned these weightings based on a number of factors, including a survey of senior planners around the world. The methodology was developed in consultation with Professor Douglas West, Professor of Marketing at King’s College London.