CANNES, FRANCE — The Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity has named WPP as Creative Company of the Year for 2024, with Ogilvy taking home Creative Network of the Year.
WPP agencies collected a total of 160 Lions, including a Titanium, six Grand Prix, 27 Gold, 43 Silver, and 83 Bronze Lions, with winners representing 41 different countries.
The Coca-Cola Company, whose global marketing partner is WPP Open X, was named Creative Brand of the Year for the first time in its history.
This news follows the May announcement that Unilever, one of WPP’s biggest clients, was named Creative Marketer of the Year for 2024.
The Creative Company of the Year award is given to the company that earned the most points across its agencies.
During June’s Cannes Lions Festival, Ogilvy’s DAVID received a Titanium Lion and Grand Prix for JCDecaux’s “Meet Marina Prieto,” while WPP Open X led by Ogilvy won a Grand Prix for Coca-Cola’s “Recycle Me” and Ogilvy PR (Onefluence) also collected a Grand Prix for CeraVe’s “Michael CeraVe.”
VML’s Scholz & Friend” won a Grand Prix for “The 100th Edition” for Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, as did Grey for Sol Cement’s “Sightwalks” and Ogilvy and Mindshare for Vaseline’s Transition Body Lotion. AKQA’s “Pink Chip” for DEGIRO and UN Women picked up no less than three Gold and two Silver Lions, capping a performance that saw wins from every WPP network across every discipline.
WPP’s media agencies EssenceMediacom, Mindshare, and Wavemaker had a very strong festival, with GroupM ending the week as the industry’s leading media group with 90 Lions, up from 59 last year.
Mark Read, CEO of WPP, said, “I am absolutely thrilled for our clients, people, and agencies whose brilliant work these awards recognize. To win Creative Company of the Year for WPP and Network of the Year for Ogilvy, with The Coca-Cola Company being named Creative Brand of the Year for the first time in its history, is a remarkable achievement. Thank you to everyone who has made this such a successful Cannes Lions for WPP and our fantastic clients.”
Rob Reilly, Chief Creative Officer of WPP, commented, “Creative excellence comes down to three things: people, process, and passion. But to do it at scale takes an unwavering partnership between our brilliant agencies and our brave brand partners. Thank you all for believing in the transformational power of creativity.”
Devika Bulchandani, Ogilvy’s Global CEO, added, “It was inspiring to see so many agencies with unbelievable work this week. Our industry moves forward when we all come together to celebrate and champion the undeniable impact that creativity can have on our clients’ businesses and the communities we live in. I’m extremely proud of Ogilvy’s performance, but I am also incredibly gratified that collectively, as an industry, we proved that creativity always wins.”
