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Ad campaign ‘Meet Graham’, agency AlmapBBDO, network BBDO Worldwide, holding company Omnicom Group, brand Nike, advertiser Volkswagen Group and USA top Gunn 100 rankings

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GLOBAL – Gunn Report, the global index of creative excellence in advertising, today released the results of the newly launched Gunn 100, a ranking of the top 100 creatively awarded advertising ideas of 2017- regardless of their communication discipline – and the companies behind them.

The rankings, which include the top creative agencies, agency networks, holding companies, brands, advertisers and countries, are compiled by analysing the results of more than 40 of the world’s most important international, regional and national creative awards shows.

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Ranked the most creative campaign in the world is ‘Meet Graham’, created by Clemenger BBDO Melbourne for Australia’s Transport Accident Commission, depicting what a human would have to look like to withstand a low speed crash.

In second place is McCann New York’s ‘Fearless Girl’. In honour of International Women’s Day, asset management firm State Street Global Advisors installed a bronze statue of a defiant girl staring down the iconic Wall Street’s ‘Charging Bull’ sculpture, which sparked a conversation on women’s equality issues in the US.

Ranked third is Pedigree’s humorous ‘Child Replacement Programme’ campaign in New Zealand, created by Colenso BBDO Auckland, which encourages parents to adopt a dog once their children have left home.

Three themes have emerged from the world’s most creative campaigns:

  • A year of ‘purpose’: purpose-driven marketing continues to dominate with brands (as opposed to charities or not-for-profit) using social or environmental causes in brand-building activity.
  • Creativity meets tech: A number of high-ranking campaigns found innovative ways to use emerging technology.
  • Emotion drives film-led work: A combination of emotional engagement and high production values was a recurring theme in film-led campaigns.
BBDO agencies dominate the league tables following an impressive performance around the world with four agencies listed in the top ten. Most notably AlmapBBDO São Paulo tops the most creative agencies leader-board for the fourth time in the 19 years of Gunn Report. BBDO New York is ranked second and Dentsu Tokyo third.
 
BBDO Worldwide heads the networks table, for an impressive twelfth consecutive year with 36 different offices contributing to their total. McCann Worldgroup are in second place and Ogilvy & Mather third.
 
Andrew Robertson, President and Chief Executive BBDO, comments: “We know that award-winning work works better in the marketplace, so topping the Gunn 100 matters. When we say we’re focused on The Work. The Work. The Work, we mean it: winning Gunn for 12 years in a row proves it.”
 
For the first time Gunn Report has included a ranking of holding companies based on their creative output. Omnicom takes poll position followed by WPP in second and Interpublic Group in third place.
 
Nike has bounced back from 12th position last year to take first place in the brands table for the fifth time. Volkswagen, IKEA, Getty Images and McDonald’s follow.
 
German multinational Volkswagen Group, is the most creative advertiser with both Volkswagen and Audi ranking in the top ten brands. They had two campaigns in the top 100 and a further 30 from across all regions that contributed to their tally. Mars takes second place followed by Nike, Procter & Gamble and Samsung.
 
Jochen Sengpiehl, Head of Marketing, Volkswagen, says: “We are very pleased that Volkswagen Group has been named best advertiser of the world in 2017. Our campaigns are based on a tremendous passion for the automobile and people. Volkswagen is committed to creative advertising that convinces customers. This honour shows that our campaigns throughout the world have reached a top-class level and will provide the entire team with motivation to do even better and to defend the title.”
 
USA retains its place as the most creatively awarded country in the world by far. United Kingdom and Australia follow.
 
The most highly ranked ideas and companies in Gunn 100 are:
 
Top 10 world’s most creatively awarded campaigns
Rank
Campaign title
Brand
Agency
Points
1
Meet Graham
Transport Accident Commission
Clemenger BBDO Melbourne
684
2
Fearless Girl
State Street Global Advisors
McCann
New York
395.6
3
Child Replacement Programme
Pedigree
Colenso BBDO Auckland
302.3
4
Evan
Sandy Hook Promise
BBDO
New York
300.7
5
Endless Possibilities
Getty Images
AlmapBBDO
Sao Paulo
294.4
6
The Field Trip to Mars
Lockheed Martin
McCann
New York
286.9
7
We’re The Superhumans
Channel 4 Paralympics
4Creative
London
262.9
8
Landcruiser Emergency Network
Toyota
Saatchi & Saatchi Sydney
256.3
9
Nike Unlimited Stadium
Nike
BBH
Singapore
254.1
10
Like My Addiction
Addict’Aide
BETC
Paris
247.9
 
Top 10 world’s best creative agencies
Rank
Agency
Location
Points
1
AlmapBBDO
São Paulo, Brazil
786.4
2
BBDO
New York, USA
688.3
3
Dentsu
Tokyo, Japan
651.1
4
adam&eveDDB
London, UK
615.8
5
McCann
New York, USA
605.9
6
Wieden+Kennedy
Portland, USA
603.5
7
Clemenger BBDO
Melbourne, Australia
603.1
8
BETC
Paris, France
493.3
9
DAVID
Miami, USA
488.6
10
Colenso BBDO
Auckland, New Zealand
382.3
 
Top 10 world’s best creative agency networks
Rank
Network
Points
1
BBDO Worldwide
4256.4
2
McCann Worldgroup
2940.8
3
Ogilvy & Mather
2928.5
4
DDB Worldwide
2344.6
5
Leo Burnett
1593
6
TBWA Worldwide
1540.5
7
J. Walter Thompson
1401.6
8
Y&R
1396.7
9
Saatchi & Saatchi
901.9
10
Wieden+Kennedy
864
 
Top 10 world’s best creative holding companies
Rank
Holding company
Points
1
Omnicom Group
8891.5
2
WPP
7062.6
3
Interpublic Group
4511
4
Publicis Groupe
4114.4
5
Dentsu
1056.8
6
Havas Group
863.3
7
Hakuhodo DY Group
785.9
8
MDC Partners
551.8
9
BlueFocus Communication Group
331.1
10
Accenture
79.6
 
 Top 10 world’s best creative brands
Rank
Brand
Sector
Points
1
Nike
Clothing & Accessories
820.5
2
Volkswagen
Automotive
650.3
3
IKEA
Retail
639.1
4
Getty Images
Business & Industrial
503.9
5
McDonald’s
Retail
469.7
6
Audi
Automotive
429.2
7
Burger King
Retail
422.8
8
Snickers
Food
417.1
9
Adidas
Clothing & Accessories
398.9
10
Netflix
Media & Publishing
383.6
 
Top 10 world’s best creative advertisers
Rank
Advertiser
Location
Points
1
Volkswagen Group
Germany
1097.3
2
Mars
USA
1023.4
3
Nike
USA
835
4
Procter & Gamble
Germany
759.3
5
IKEA
Sweden
743.6
6
Samsung
South Korea
606.3
7
Heineken
Netherlands
515
8
The Carlyle Group
USA
508.5
9
Alphabet
USA
489.5
10
Restaurant Brands International
USA
483.7
 
Top 10 world’s most creative countries
Rank
Country
Points
1
USA
8657.2
2
UK
3259.9
3
Australia
2710.7
4
Germany
2089.3
5
France
1978.6
6
Brazil
1637.0
7
Japan
1632.4
8
Argentina
1152.3
9
Thailand
1045.7
10
Canada
1033.3

 

Emma Wilkie, managing director of Gunn Report, says: “Gunn 100 offers an independent and objective overview of the best creative ideas from around the world and the companies behind them providing benchmark rankings that encapsulate and inspire the industry.”
 
The full Gunn 100 rankings – including the world’s top 100 creatively awarded campaigns, top 50 creative agencies, agency networks, brands, advertisers, countries and top holding companies as well as commentaries, the work and credits – is available by subscription on www.warc.com/gunnreport.
 
The WARC 100 effectiveness rankings will be announced on 26 February and the Gunn media rankings are released in March.

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