World's Best Advertising Agencies
Start the Search with Clio Grand and Gold Award Winners
Multiple wins in major advertising contests provide some insight into the most capable ad agencies.
If a company is looking for the best advertising agency in the world or in the nation, it might start by looking at which agencies perform best in international contests such as the prestigious Clio Awards.
Contest winners are not necessarily the best agencies because other criteria are involved in that designation. But a competiton that boasts of 19,000 entries from 60 countries at least attracts most of the viable candidates. Having their work evaluated by over 100 of their peers is also a reasonable way to start narrowing the field. Multiple victories can indicate agency strengths in certain fields. The successful entries also indicate the type clients the agency serves.
Who did best in the most recent Clio competition, which included 10 professional categories?
In 2007, judges bestowed only six Grand Clios, the highest award, and 32 Golds, the second highest. They are not required to present any awards in any category, only in those where they find outstanding entries.
According to the organization's official list of winners, the six highest awards were won by:
- Leo Burnett Italia of Milan, for its Aqualtis Washing Machine entry in the Television-Cinema Category;
- Leo Burnett of Chicago, for its McDonald’s entry in the Billboard Category;
- Saatchi & Saatchi of New York, for its Print entry on behalf of 42 Below Vodka;
- 180 Amsterdam of Amsterdam for its Adidas entry in the Integrated Category;
- R/GA of New York for its Nike entry in the Interactive Category;
- BBDO Argentina of Buenos Aires for its Nike entry in the Innovative Category.
The six Grands came from five different agencies located in five different cities in three different countries. The Leo Burnett offices in Milan and Chicago are treated as one agency.
Saatchi & Saatchi, Leo Burnet and BBDO Won Grands and Golds
Only three of the Grand winners also won Golds.
- Saatchi & Saatchi supplemented its Grand award with five Golds. It dominated the Print Category with four of the eight top awards in that category. Two of the awards were for Allume Systems and two for P&G’s Glide Dental Floss.
- Burnett of Chicago won one Gold for its I.A.C. entry in the Television Category.
- BBDO of New York won one Gold for its Design entry for BBC World Comers—Woman.
DDB Won Most Golds
The biggest Gold winner was DDB with seven, four from its London office, two from its Chicago office and one from its Paris office.
TBWA\Chiat\Day was right behind with six Golds, four from its New York office, one from its Berlin office and one from its Paris office. Three of its awards were for Skittles, one for Combos, one for Adidas and one for MAPA Protective Gloves.
With four Television-Cinema awards, TBWA\Chiat\Day could certainly claim outstanding strength in that category.
The other Golds were won by:
- Abbott Mead Vickers of London
- Academy Productions of London
- Bartle Bogle Hegarty of New York
- Crispin Porter+ Bogusky of Miami
- Fallong London of London
- Framfab of Copenhagen
- George Patterson Partners of Melbourne
- JWT of New York
- PSYOP of New York
- Rethink of Vancouver
- Studio AKA of London
The long list of Silver and Bronze winners provides additional insight into the relative strengths of the agencies.
Top Winners Came from 10 Nations
The Grands and Golds came from 12 cities in 10 nations. The United States led with 21, followed by England with nine and France with two.
New York led all cities with 15 Grands and Golds, followed by London with nine, Chicago four and Paris and Miami with two each, indicating those may be good cities to start searching for the best agency.
