Campaign reveals global Agency of the Year shortlist

Seven agencies are competing for the coveted Creative Agency of the Year at Campaign’s Global Agency of the Year Awards. 

Two Australian agencies (Howatson+Company and Thinkerbell) are on the seven-strong shortlist, alongside businesses from Canada (Rethink), New Zealand (Special), Turkey (TBWA\Istanbul), Sweden (Åkestam Holst NoA) and Taiwan (Leo Burnett).

More than 123 companies from 21 countries entered Campaign’s fourth global Agency of the Year Awards, which will award prizes across 34 categories this year.

From the nominations, 53 were from the EMEA region, 32 from the Asia, 16 from ANZ, 28 are from Canada and the Americas, and 18 from Australia and New Zealand..

The shops in the running for Media Agency of the Year include the UK’s Manning Gottlieb OMD and OMD UK, as well as Initiative Australia and Initiative APAC, based in Singapore. 

TBWA has a total of eight mentions on the shortlist, including a nomination for Best Network for Middle East & Africa for TBWA Worldwide, and Strategic Planning Leader for Toygun Yılmazer, chief strategy officer for TBWA Istanbul. 

It’s closely followed by VMLY&R with five shortlist nominations, including Agency Leader for Andrew Dimitriou, chief executive officer of VMLY&R Europe Middle East & Africa, and Global Diversity and Inclusion Initiative for VMLY&R Global. 

Global experiential agency Amplify has three separate chances to win an Agency of the Year title across three categories: Brand Experience Agency, Brand Experience - Independent Agency, and Independent Agency – Creative.

Chief marketing officers and marketing directors from leading global and local brands judge Campaign’s Global Agency of the Year Awards and Aline Santos, the chief brand officer and chief equity, diversion and inclusion officer, is chair of judges.

The winners will be revealed in Campaign in May.

Last year, Denmark’s &Co, part of NoA - the North Alliance, won Creative Agency of the Year 2021, beating Zulu Alpha Kilo from Canada and the UK's Uncommon Creative Studio in the hotly contested category. 

Winning the award meant &Co. cemented its position as an aspirational agency where young creative people want to come and work, according to Thomas Hoffmann, executive creative director.

“New business wise, it’s great for a bit of fame; but for the teams winning awards is extremely important. This one especially, because it embraces how we think, how we drive our business, how we drive our clients,” Hoffmann said.

The Campaign Global Agency of the Year Award run alongside local and regional awards across Asia, the UK and US.

Scroll below for Campaign’s Agency of the Year Global 2022 shortlist.

Shortlists for network awards 

Global Network          

1. Best Network: Asia-Pacific   

• Leo Burnett, Asia Pacific
• SPECIAL, New Zealand
• TBWA Asia Pacific
• UM APAC
• Weber Shandwick, Asia Pacific

2. Best Network: Europe

• BBDO Europe
• Initiative Europe
• McCann Worldgroup - Europe & UK
• NoA - the North Alliance
• OMD EMEA
• PHD
• VMLY&R

3. Best Network: Latin America

• SAB Marketing Connections
• VMLY&R

4. Best Network: Middle East & Africa 

• ASDA'A BCW
• IMPACT BBDO
• TBWA Worldwide

5. Global Network - Creative Agency

• DDB Worldwide, New York
• FCB Global (NY)
• Grey Group, United States
• McCann Worldgroup, New York
• Ogilvy, United States
• TBWA\Worldwide, USA
• VMLY&R Global

6. Global Network – Digital Agency

• AKQA Group, U.K
• AnalogFolk Group, UK
• Media.Monks, Global
• VaynerMedia, US (headquarters), Mexico, UK, The Netherlands, Singapore, Malaysia, Japan, Thailand, Australia

7. Global Network – Integrated Agency

Winners to be announced.

8. Global Network – Media

• Mindshare, United Kingdom
• PHD Worldwide
• UM, United States
• Wavemaker UK

9. Global Network - PR

Winners to be announced.

Shortlists for agency awards  

10. Creative Agency         

• Åkestam Holst NoA Sweden
• Howatson+Company Australia
• Leo Burnett Taiwan 
• Rethink Canada
• SPECIAL New Zealand
• TBWA\Istanbul Turkey
• Thinkerbell Australia

11. Media Agency

• Initiative, Australia
• Initiative APAC, Singapore
• MG OMD, United Kingdom
• OMD New Zealand
• OMD UK
• Starcom, Taiwan, Taipei
• Touché!, Canada

12. Brand Experience Agency   

• Amplify, UK, US, Australia, France
• FIRST,  United States
• HeyMo ®️ The Experience Design Company, Istanbul, Turkey
• Imagination, London
• Jack Morton, United States
• Momentum Worldwide, USA
• Starcom, Taiwan, Taipei

13. Consultancy

• Fiftyfive5, Australia
• half rhino, Singapore
• Manifest Group
• UM APAC, Singapore

14. Customer Engagement Agency  

• Oliver, UK
• RAPP Worldwide Global (NY Headquarters)
• Spiro, United States
• Zenith Taiwan

15 Digital Innovation Agency

• DEPT®, Netherlands
• Famous Innovations, India
• OLIVER, UK
• Performance Art, Canada
• R/GA London, UK
• Wavemaker, China
• Zenith Taiwan

16. In-house Agency 

• BBC Creative, England
• Creative X, Meta, United States
• The Kitchen North America, Canada / U.S.
• U-Studio/Oliver, UK

Shortlists for Independent Agencies 

17. Independent Agency - Creative

• Amplify, UK, US, Australia, France
• Pablo UK
• Rethink, Canada
• SPECIAL, Auckland
• St Luke's, London
• The Royals, Australia
• Zulu Alpha Kilo, Canada & USA

18. Independent Agency – Digital

• Asap Plus Asia, China, UK & Australia
• NP Digital, US, CA, BZ, UK, DE, IN, AU, SG
• Propel Manila, Philippines

19. Brand Experience - Independent Agency

• Amplify, UK, US, Australia, France
• Imagination, London

20. Independent Agency - PR

Winners to be announced.

21. Integrated Marketing Agency

• Howatson+Company, Australia
• Icon Agency, Australia
• Leo Burnett, Taiwan
• Manifest Group
• TBWA\SMP, Philippines
• The &Partnership, UK
• VCCP, London

22. Performance Marketing Agency       

• Incubeta, England
• Journey Further, UK
• M&C Saatchi Performance, UK
• Reprise Digital, APAC / Singapore
• NP Digital, US, CA, BZ, UK, DE, IN, AU, SG
• Reprise, USA (Global HQ)
• Tug, UK

23. PR Agency      

• ASDA'A BCW, United Arab Emirates
• Citizen Relations, Canada
• FleishmanHillard, USA
• Icon Agency, Australia
• Material, Japan
• Sandpiper, Singapore
• Weber Shandwick, United States

24. Social Media Agency  

• Asap Plus Asia, China, UK & Australia
• M&C Saatchi Indonesia
• Propel Manila, Philippines
• The Goat Agency UK
• We Are Social, UK
• Whalar, UK

Shortlists for staff engagement and initiatives 

25. Best Place to Work: Individual Shop 

• DDB Group, Philippines
• DDB Group, Hong Kong
• The Royals, Australia

26. Best Place to Work: Network 

Winners to be announced.

27. Global Diversity and Inclusion Initiative      

• Anomaly, Toronto
• VMLY&R Global
• Zulu Alpha Kilo, Canada & USA

Shortlists for people and team categories 

28. Creative Leader 

• Ali Rez, chief creative officer,  Impact BBDO, United Arab Emirates
• Daniel Fisher, global executive creative director, Unilever & Special Projects, Ogilvy London
• İlkay Gürpınar, chief creative officer, TBWA\Istanbul
• Shivani Maharaj, chief content & partnerships officer, Wavemaker Australia
• Tony Bradbourne, Founder / CCO / CEO, Special New Zealand

29. Strategic Planning Leader

• Celia Garforth, head of strategy, Special Australia
• Charlie Ebdy, chief strategy officer, OMD UK 
• Kit Altin, chief strategy officer, Walk In The Gate, UK
• Shelley Brown, chief strategy officer FCB Canada
• Toygun Yılmazer, chief strategy officer, TBWA\Istanbul, Turkey

30. Media Planning Leader

• Emma Withington, managing partner, head of planning, Manning Gottlieb OMD, UK
• Riki Li, managing partner, Wavemaker China

31. Agency Leader 

• Andrew Dimitriou, chief executive officer, EMEA, VMLY&R, France
• Burcu Özdemir, chief executive officer, TBWA\Group Istanbul Turkey
• Mel Edwards, global CEO, Wunderman Thompson, London
• Natalie Bell, chief executive officer, Manning Gottlieb OMD, UK
• Raj Kamble, founder & CCO, Famous Innovations India
• Sunil John, President - MENA of BCW and Founder of ASDA’A BCW, United Arab Emirates

32. Agency Growth Leader

• Charlotte (Charlie) Wright, chief growth officer, Wavemaker Asia-Pacific
• Joanne Painter, co-founder & managing director, Icon Agency, Australia
• Philip Heimann, global chief growth & marketing officer, Ogilvy New York
• Raj Kamble, founder & CCO, Famous Innovations, India

33. Corporate Communications/Marketing Team of the Year  

Winners to be announced.

34 Talent Management Person/Team of the Year        

• IDEASXMACHINA Group of Hakuhodo, Philippines
• Publicis Groupe Talent Team, China