The Directory Big Won Creativity Rankings 2010
The Directory Big Won has been tracking awards across all media categories since 2006.
Prior to that, as The Won Report, it was an annual analysis of awards won specifically in the
field of Direct Marketing.
The Big Won is edited by Patrick Collister, former Executive Creative Director of Ogilvy
London and of EHS Brann, and is published by Directory magazine & resource
(www.directnewideas.com).
The Directory Big Won rankings are different to other awards league tables in that they
include ‘below the line’ awards shows, which, increasingly, ‘above the line’ agencies are
entering as they seek to prove the effectiveness of their work.
The 2010 Listings
The 2010 rankings are compiled from 5,619 awards won on behalf of 2,820 clients by 1,616
agencies, rewarding for their efforts 331 chief creative officers, 698 executive creative
directors, 2178 creative directors, 2465 copywriters and 2489 art directors.
Digital is now no longer a single category but pervades many others. While there are 726
purely digital award winners in 2010, of the 1253 direct campaigns around half are digitallybased. Most of the 236 ‘alternative and innovative’ campaigns listed and just about all the 250
integrated winners have a digital core.
So it is intriguing to see traditional ad. agencies in every position in the Top 20 agencies list
except at 15= and Farfar Stockholm.
While Almap BBDO’s position at No.1 is largely due to its expertise in press and poster
media, with work for Billboard, Havaianas, VW, EPA and Greenpeace, the rankings reveal
how adroitly many large agencies have responded to the changes in the media landscape.
Few have been more adroit than BBDO New York and AMV BBDO London, both of whom
won more awards in other categories than in traditional TV and print media.
Both these agencies are actively attempting to work to a new advertising model, creating
ideas people can participate in, lean-forward communication, if you like. BBDO New York won
awards in alternative & innovative, outdoor, media, direct, promo & activation, integrated,
design and digital categories as well as in press and TV. AMV BBDO similarly won awards
across all categories, including radio whereas Y&R New York’s success is due largely to
lean-back entertainment films both online and in TV. That said, Tony Granger’s appointment
as worldwide chief creative officer has had a noticeable effect both on the group’s flagship
agency and the network, where strikingly mould-breaking work is emerging from the group’s
Tel Aviv, Johannesburg and Sydney offices.
BETC Euro RSCG were responsible for one of the most-viewed Youtube ads of the year with
Rollerbabies for Evian; and Wieden+Kennedy also had an internet sensation with ‘The Man
Your Man Could Be Like’ for Old Spice, an idea they migrated brilliantly into social media as
well.
DDB London, usually a top-ranked agency thanks to its press and TV is a top-ranked agency
this year thanks to its digital work including ‘Monopoly Streets’ and ‘Parallel Lines’ for Phillips.
Around the world, agencies have changed their structures and their cultures to be able to
compete. The losers, by and large, are the specialist digital agencies, many of whom are
being used as production houses rather than as creative originators. The exception is Farfar
Stockholm, whose work for Nokia, principally, helped it climb 111 places between 2009 and
2010.
Perhaps one of the most intriguing pointers to further changes is the winner of the Alternative
& Innovative category – Prime PR Stockholm. PR is becoming not only increasingly important
to agencies as they seek to build traction for their campaigns in social media but as a brandbuilding tool in its own right. PR agencies are growing rapidly at a time when, on the whole,
ad agencies are not.
Top 20 agencies in the world 2010
Agency
Points
2009 rank
2008 rank
1. Almap BBDO Sao Paulo
2. BBDO New York
3. Y&R New York
4. Abbott Mead Vickers BBDO London
5. BETC Euro RSCG Paris
6. Jung von Matt Hamburg
7. Ogilvy Frankfurt
8. Forsman & Bodenfors Gothenburg
9. Ogilvy Paris
10. DDB London
11. Wieden + Kennedy Portland
12. Del Campo Nazca Saatchi Buenos Aires
13. DDB Stockholm
14. TBWA Hunt Lascaris Johannesburg
15= JWT Dubai
15= Farfar Stockholm
17. Leo Burnett London
18. DDB Auckland
19. Shackleton Madrid
20. Colenso BBDO Auckland
484
434
381
368
365
335
328
301
293
291
290
269
265
263
253
253
236
233
225
224
1
3
138
4
27
21
7
73=
73=
2
104
25
300
40
105
126
45
66
6
36
11
1
619
5
22
2
6
928
75
8
108
26
56
425
41
78
80
39
9
32
Network
Points
2009 rank
2008 rank
1. BBDO Worldwide
2. DDB Worldwide
3. Ogilvy Worldwide
4. Leo Burnett Worldwide
5. JWT Worldwide
6. TBWA Worldwide
7. Y&R Worldwide
8. Saatchi & Saatchi Worldwide
9. Euro RSCG Worldwide
10. Publicis Worldwide
2602
2423
2248
1991
1462
1438
1312
1058
871
616
1
3
2
4
6
8
11
5
9
12
1
2
3
4
6
7
10
5
15
12
Country
Points
2009 rank
2008 rank
1. USA
2. Germany
3. United Kingdom
4. Australia
5. Brazil
4666
3319
3089
1923
1915
1
2
3
4
5
2
1
3
8
6
The top networks are:
The top countries are:
6. France
7. Sweden
8. Canada
9. Spain
10. UAE
1618
1578
1512
1397
1365
Top countries for Direct:
1. Germany
2. Australia
3. United Kingdom
802
796
702
Top countries for Digital
1. USA
2. Sweden
3. United Kingdom
844
643
561
Top countries for print/press:
1. UAE
2. India
3. Canada
371
279
272
Top countries for TV
1. United States
2. United Kingdom
3. France
1435
608
449
6
19
8
7
18
7
9
12
4
21
The biggest leap in rankings is Sweden, largely on the back of digital campaigns. Four of the
world’s Top 5 digital campaigns are Swedish with Kokokaka Gotheburg’s ‘Bluebell
Spring/Summer Collection website’ leading the way, Forsman & Bodenfors’ ‘Facebook
Showroom’ for IKEA at No.2, VW ‘Fun Theory’ from DDB Stockholm at No.4 and Farfar’s
‘World’s Biggest Signpost’ at No.5.
Also the United Arab Emirates have improved their showing with arresting work from Memac
Ogilvy Dubai and Y&R Dubai in particular. In fact, UAE is the leading country in the world for
Print/Press advertising.
Top 20 campaigns in the world – across all media
Campaign
Agency
Points
1. The world’s biggest signpost – Nokia
2. Facebook Showoom – Ikea Sweden
3. Replay – Gatorade
4= Fun Theory campaign
4= Andes Teletransporter, Argentina
6. SDIA Project – Aids Awareness
7= The Closet – Canal+
7= Last Call – 13th Street
9. We Choose the Moon – JFK Library
10. Auditorium – Heineken
11. Choose a Different Ending – Police
12. HBO Imagine campaign
13. Wrangler Spring/Summer Collection
14. Monopoly City Streets – Hasbro
15= Sandwich – Walkers Crisps
15= Baby Elephant – Antwerp Zoo
FarFar Stockholm
Forsman & Bodenfors
TBWA Chiat Day L.A,
DDB Stockholm
Del Campo Nazca Saatchi
Shalmor Avon Y&R Tel Aviv
BETS Euro RSCG Paris
Jung von Matt Hamburg
The Martin Agency, Richmond
JWT Italy
AMV BBDO London
BBDO New York
Kokokaka Gothenburg
DDB London
AMV BBDO London
Boondoggle Leuven
242
181
142
137
137
118
108
108
107
106
88
87
85
84
83
83
17= Nothing Soft Gets In – Toyota Australia
17= Support Scent – Guide Dogs Australia
19. Graffifti – Aides
20= Whopper Face
20= Orcon + Iggy Together – Orcon NZ
Saatchi & Saatchi Sydney
Clemenger BBDO Melbourne
TBWA Paris
Ogilvy Brazil
Special Group Auckland
81
81
77
76
76
The Top 10 DIRECT agencies in the world are:
Agency
Points
2009 rank
2008 rank
1. Ogilvy Frankfurt
2. Shackleton Madrid
3. BMF Sydney
4= Clemenger BBDO Melbourne
4= AMV BBDO London
6. BBDO New York
7. Farfar Stockholm
8. Ogilvy Sao Paulo
9. Memac Ogilvy Dubai
10. JWT Italy
150
149
147
107
107
99
88
82
77
76
3
1
4
5
327
80
50
492
2
1
10
48
229
148
-
1,253 campaigns won awards for 609 agencies.
Shackleton and Ogilvy Frankfurt were early adopters of integration and both have, for the
past five years, produced consistently outstanding work in the Direct category, Shackleton
perhaps having a greater digital expertise.
Ogilvy Frankfurt won awards with no fewer than 20 different ideas and Shackleton with 13.
BMF Sydney is as capable of skillfully targeted direct mail campaigns as it is of creating webbased brand-response campaigns such as ‘6 Beers of Separation’ for Tooheys.
That said, it is the brand-response campaigns, almost always revolving around video content,
that win the big international awards. Only one piece of direct mail won Gold at Cannes in
2010, for instance.
Both Abbott Mead Vickers BBDO and BBDO New York are now totally integrated agencies in
as much as they are both creating advertising that is doing well in all categories at different
kinds of show. For instance, AMV BBDO won Digital awards at the Webbys, was Direct
agency of the year at Cannes and produced the UK’s No.1 TV commercial for Guinness with
‘Bring It To Life’. Similarly BBDO New York is producing great work in what used to be called
‘below the line’, especially with its interactive work for HBO, ‘Imagine’ and ‘Wall of Secrets’.
Farfar’s big winner in 2010 was the ‘World’s Biggest Signpost’ for Nokia, which was a digitally
direct idea and the No.1 direct campaign in the world.
Ogilvy Sao Paulo’s position is down to three campaigns – the ‘Whopper Face’ idea for Burger
King, the ‘$73,000 Bar Tab’ campaign they created for a minimal budget for Bar Aurelia and
GRAAC ‘Donate your Website’.
While Memac Ogilvy Dubai was not a big winner at international shows, it performed
exceptionally well in regional awards shows with ‘Dustvertising’ for Castrol and campaigns for
Volvo, The Economist and self-promotion for themselves.
Not one agency in the Top 10 is a dedicated direct marketing agency.
To find one you have to look as far down as No.16, where Proximity Portugal makes a
showing, with di Paola & Asociados at No.19 and RMG Target Dublin at 20. The Irish agency
won only minor awards at international shows but gained its position by winning a
disproportionately large haul of awards at home.
In comment online and offline around the world, some traditional DM agencies have been
resentful of advertising agencies winning ‘their’ awards. However, Guy Bradbury, creative
director of Touch DDB in London, told Directory it was “Good for us all in direct agencies
because it not only raises the bar creatively but it shows clients what can be achieved with
appropriate budget.”
That said, direct mail has not been completely superseded. Serviceplan’s work for Bang &
Olufsen, the No.5 campaign, when they got top opera artistes in Germany to sing the annual
report, used mail as the activator of an integrated campaign, as did CP Proximity Spain’s
‘Composing Your Life’ idea for Audi, No. 11, and Leo Burnett’s ‘Photochains’, No.13.
The Top 10 DIRECT campaigns in the world are:
Campaign
Agency
Points
1. The World’s Biggest Signpost – Nokia
2. Sandwich – Walker’s Crisps
3. Nothing Soft Gerts In – Toyota
4. Andes Teletransporter – Andes
5. Audio Annual Report – Bang & Olufsen
6= Orcon + Iggy Together – Orcon NZ
6= Support Scent – Guide Dogs Australia
8. Auditorium – Heineken Italy
10. 4320 LA/SYD – Virgin Australia
Farfar Stockholm
AMV BBDO
Saatchi & Saatchi Sydney
Del Campo Nazca Argentina
Serviceplan Munich
Special Group Auckland
Clemenger BBDO Melbourne
JWT Italy
Droga5 Australia
88
71
70
63
58
54
54
52
42
Kokokaka Gothenburg
Forsman & Bodenfors
The Martin Agency Richmond
DDB Stockholm
DDB London
FarFar Stockholm
TBWA Paris
Jung von Matt Hamburg
AMV BBDO London
IMG SRC Tokyo
85
78
74
72
64
64
60
54
45
40
Top 10 Digital campaigns in the world 2010
1. Spring/Summer Collection – Wrangler
2. Facebook Showroom – IKEA Sweden
3. We Choose thw Moon – JFK Library
4. Fun Theory – VW Sweden
5= Monopoly City Streets – Hasbro
5= World’s Biggest Signpost – Nokia
7. Graffiti – Aides
8. The Sounds of Hamburg – City Orchestra
9. Thinking Space – The Economist
10. Verbatim Championship – Mitsubishi
Top 10 Alternative and Innovative campaigns in the world 2010
1. Facebook Showroom – IKEA Sweden
2. The World’s Biggest Sign – Nokia
3. Concert for Hamburg – Hamburg Orchestra
4. Replay – Gatorade
5= Auditorium Football – Heineken
5= A Village of Experts – Microsoft
7= Baby Elephant – Antwerp Zoo
7= Riding Shotgun with Papa – Papa John
7= Save Christmas – Aladdin Chocolate
10. House of Cards – Shelter
Forsman & Bodenfors Gt’burg
FarFar Stockholm
Jung von Matt Hamburg
TBWA Chiat Day L.A.
Berabino & Partners Milan
Bungalow 25 Madrid
Boondoggle Leuven
Fleshman Hillard, St.Louis
Prime PR Stockholm
Leo Burnett London
65
47
42
38
28
28
26
26
26
24
BETC Euro RSCG Paris
T.A.G. San Francisco
Wieden + Kennedy Portland
Ogilvy Johannesburg
TBWA\PHS Helsinki
Publicis Mojo Sydney
AMV BBDO London
Ponce Buenos Aires
92
61
58
52
41
40
40
35
Top 10 TV campaigns in the world 2010
1. The Closet – Canal+
2. The Life – Xbox
3. The Man your Man Could Be – Old Spice
4. Selinah – Topsy Foundation
5. Drama Queen – Young Director Award
6= Pure Waters – Boags
6= Bring It To Life – Guinness
8. Destiny – Unilever Axe
9= Inheritance – Care One Argentina
9= Going West – NZ Book Council
Leo Burnett Buenos Aires
Colenso BBDO Auckland
33
33
JWT London
AlmapBBDO Sao Paulo
Elephant Cairo
EuroRSCG Spain
Ace Saatchi Philippines
Euro RSCG Zürich
Y&R Johannesburg
Ogilvy Paris
Team/Y&R Dubai
Ogilvy Frankfurt
Juniper Park Toronto
46
41
30
28
26
25
20
20
19
19
19
Top 10 Press campaigns in the world 2010
1. Yes/No campaign – Kimberly Clark
2. Billboard Magazine campaign
3. Living Room/Cam[ - Sima Foods
4. Screams campaign – Strepsils
5. Vespa campaign
6. Great Emotions – Zürich Orchestra
7= Everywhere URL
7= Melting campaign – Perrier
9= Cause & Effect campaign – Harvey Nicholls
9= Aircraft, Baby, Prisma – Rolling Stone
9= Gun, Palms, Mask – Tribune
Top Talent
These rankings come with a health warning. The data has not been cleaned as effectively as
we would hope. Some awards shows do not publish the names of winners. In many cases,
the awards entries are filled in incorrectly and names go missing. And in logging the details of
5,600 awards, it is possible that any one of the Directory team can have made a mistake.
The rankings give an indication of how people are performing rather than a picture of pinpoint
accuracy – and are published more for fun than for anything.
The Top 20 copywriters in the world in 2010
1. Carl Fredrik Jannerfeldt
2. Adam Reeves
3. Martin Lundgren
4. Brandon Henderson
5. Cristiano Tonnarelli
6= Valerie Chidlovsky
6= Daniel Fisher
8. Patricio del Sante
9. Andre Kassu
10= Wade Alger
10= Gregg Nelson
12. Simon Vicars
13= Shahir Zag
13= Ali Ali
15. Will Chambliss
16= Peter Gocht
16= Andreas Henke
18. Komal Bedi Sohal
19= Eric Kallman
19= Jean-Christophe Royer
Frafar Stockholm
242
BBDO New York
189
DDB Stockholm
175
Y&R New York
167
JWT Italy
151
BERTC Euro RSCG Paris
140
Leo Burnett London
140
Del Campo Nazca Saatchi Argentina
137
Almap BBDO Sao Paulo
129
The Martin Agency
119
Arnold Worldwide
119
DDB New Zealand
116
Y&R Dubai
113
Elephant Cairo and Advantage Marketing
113
Arnold Worldwide
110
Jung von Matt Hamburg
108
Jung von Matt Hamburg
108
Y&R Dubai
105
Wieden+Kennedy Portland
104
BETC Euro RSCG
104
The Top 20 Art Directors in the world in 2010
1. Tomas Jonsson
2. Brandon Mugar
Farfar Stockholm
BBDO New York
242
116
3. Simon Higby
4. Kieran Antill
5. Komal Bedi Sohal
6. Marco Vigano
7. Juan Pedro Porcaro
8= Agnes Cavard
8= Richard Brim
10. Carlos Muller
11. Eric Astorgue
12. Danilo Boer
13= Eric Stephenson
13= Brian Williams
13= Simon Mogren
16. James Tucker
17. Emmanuel Bougneres
18. Denis Kakazu
19. Rob Kottkamp
20= Marius Bell
20= Daniel Leverenz
DDB Stockholm
175
Leo Burnett Sydney
161
Y&R Dubai
160
JWT Italy
155
Del Campo Nazca Saatchi Argentina
153
BETC Euro RSCG Paris
140
Leo Burnett London
140
Del Campo Nazca Saatchi Argentina
137
BETC Euro RSCG Paris
122
Almap BBDO Sao Paulo
120
Arnold Worldwide
119
The Martin Agency
119
DDB Stockholm
119
DDB Auckland
116
Colenso BBDO Auckland and Ogilvy Paris
113
Ogilvy Sao Paulo
112
Arnold Worldwide
110
Jung von Matt Hamburg
108
Jung von Matt Hamburg
108
Top 20 UK copywriters
1. Daniel Fisher
2. Christiano Neves
3. Stephen Howell
4. Martin Loraine
5. Steve Colls
6. Matt Ross
7= Pete Gosselin
7= Tony Malcolm
9. Paul Brazier
10. Simon Dicketts
Leo Burnett London
JWT London
Saatchi & Saatchi London
Abbott Mead Vickers BBDO
Abbott Mead Vickers BBDO
DDB London
Leo Burnett London
Leo Burnett London
Abbott Mead Vickers BBDO
M&C Saatchi
140
93
92
88
83
70
57
57
53
50
Leo Burnett London
Abbott Mead Vickers BBDO
Saatchi & Saatchi
DDB London
JWT London
Abbott Mead Vickers BBDO
DDB London
Leo Burnett London
Leo Burnett London
Abbott Mead Vickers BBDO
140
97
97
94
93
83
70
57
57
53
Top 20 UK Art Directors
1. Richard Brim
2= Steve Jones
2= Rick Dodds
4. Tony Cianci
5. Christiano Neves
6. Colin Jones
7. Matt Fenn
8= Jay Hunt
8= Guy Moore
10. Paul Brazier
The Directory Big Won Creative Rankings are sponsored by recruitment specialists
The Garden Partnership. Contact: Alison Tindall – Alison@thegardenpartnership.com or 0208
834 1380.
The Directory Big Won has been tracking awards across all media categories since 2006.
Prior to that, as The Won Report, it was an annual analysis of awards won specifically in the
field of Direct Marketing.
The Big Won is edited by Patrick Collister, publisher of Directory magazine and creative
resource (www.directnewideas.com), and former Executive Creative Director of Ogilvy
London and of EHS Brann.
For further information please go to www.directnewideas.com or email
Patrick@directnewideas.com or telephone +44 (0)1622 884712