'Palau Pledge' is the world's most celebrated creative campaign of 2018 by a significant margin, according to the just-released Warc Creative 100, formerly known as the Gunn Report.
'Project Revoice', by BWM Sydney for The ALS Association, landed at No. 3 among the most-awarded campaigns, and 'No Conditions Apply - Sindoor Khela', for The Times of India by FCB Ulka Mumbai, appears at No. 9.
'Palau Pledge' propelled Host/Havas Sydney to No. 6 on the list of 'best creative agencies'. Also representing Asia Pacific on that list are Colenso BBDO Auckland (8) and BWM Dentsu Sydney (9).
Nine BBDO shops appear among the top 100 agencies, and three of those are in the top 10, contributing to BBDO Worldwide's 13th straight capture of the 'best creative agency network' crown.
Burger King is the top brand for the first time, pushing Nike to second. Pedigree placed third, but parent company Mars was named the most creative advertiser on the back of campaigns for Pedigree, Skittles and Snickers.
Australia landed at No. 3 on the country table, with India (7) and Japan (10) also ranking in the top 10.
Tables of the top 10 for each category follow:
Top 10 world's most creatively awarded campaigns
| Rank | Campaign title | Brand | Agency | Points |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Palau Pledge | Palau Legacy Project | Host/Havas Sydney | 250.3 |
| 2 | #Bloodnormal | Bodyform/Libresse | AMV BBDO London | 199.5 |
| 3 | Project Revoice | The ALS Association | BWM Dentsu Sydney | 189.5 |
| 4 | Exclusive the Rainbow case study | Skittles | DDB Chicago | 175.6 |
| 5 | It's a Tide Ad | Tide | Saatchi & Saatchi New York | 154.8 |
| 6 | Scary Clown Night | Burger King | LOLA MullenLowe Madrid | 154.4 |
| 7 | The Gene Project | Marmite | adam&eveDDB London | 139.1 |
| 8 | The Talk | Procter & Gamble | BBDO New York | 133.1 |
| 9 | No Conditions Apply - Sindoor Khela | The Times of India | FCB Ulka Mumbai | 128.9 |
| 10 | Go With The Fake | Diesel | Publicis New York / Publicis Milan | 125.9 |
Top 10 world's best creative agencies
| Rank | Agency | Location | Points |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | BBDO | New York | 403.2 |
| 2 | AMV BBDO | London | 295.9 |
| 3 | adam&eveDDB | London | 291.0 |
| 4 | LOLA MullenLowe | Madrid | 280.3 |
| 5 | McCann | New York | 258.6 |
| 6 | Host/Havas | Sydney | 204.9 |
| 7 | McCann | London | 193.6 |
| 8 | Colenso BBDO | Auckland | 190.9 |
| 9 | BWM Dentsu | Sydney | 189.5 |
| 10 | Saatchi & Saatchi | New York | 185.5 |
Top 10 world's best creative agency networks
| Rank | Network | Points |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | BBDO Worldwide | 1700.5 |
| 2 | DDB Worldwide | 1028.7 |
| 3 | McCann Worldgroup | 1027.9 |
| 4 | Ogilvy | 991.0 |
| 5 | TBWA Worldwide | 590.8 |
| 6 | MullenLowe Group | 452.5 |
| 7 | Dentsu Aegis Network | 392.0 |
| 8 | VMLY&R | 365.5 |
| 9 | FCB | 337.2 |
| 10 | Grey Group | 336.0 |
Top 10 world's best creative holding companies
| Rank | Holding company | Points |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Omnicom Group | 3494.1 |
| 2 | WPP | 2206.1 |
| 3 | Interpublic Group | 2009.7 |
| 4 | Publicis Groupe | 832.9 |
| 5 | Dentsu | 468.6 |
| 6 | Havas Group | 314.4 |
| 7 | Hakuhodo DY Group | 214.9 |
| 8 | Accenture | 126.6 |
| 9 | MDC Partners | 83.5 |
| 10 | BlueFocus | 82.2 |
Top 10 world's best creative brands
| Rank | Brand | Product Category | Points |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Burger King | Retail | 391.6 |
| 2 | Nike | Clothing & Accessories | 208.2 |
| 3 | Pedigree | Household & Domestic | 200.1 |
| 4 | Palau Legacy Project | Non-profit, public sector & education | 200.0 |
| 5 | Bodyform/Libresse | Toiletries & Cosmetics | 199.5 |
| 6 | IKEA | Retail | 198.7 |
| 7 | The ALS Association | Non-profit, public sector & education | 189.5 |
| 8 | Diesel | Clothing & Accessories | 177.7 |
| 9 | Skittles | Food | 177.6 |
| 10 | McDonald's | Retail | 170.9 |
Top 10 world's best creative advertisers
| Rank | Advertiser | Location | Points |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Mars | USA | 478.2 |
| 2 | Restaurant Brands International | USA | 391.6 |
| 3 | Procter & Gamble | USA | 306.9 |
| 4 | Nike | USA | 232.3 |
| 5 | Samsung | South Korea | 218.4 |
| 6 | Volkswagen Group | Germany | 218.2 |
| 7 | Unilever | Netherlands | 213.0 |
| 8 | Essity | Sweden | 204.0 |
| 9 | Palau Legacy Project | Australia | 200.0 |
| 10 | IKEA | Sweden | 198.7 |
Top 10 world's most creative countries
| Rank | Country | Points |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | USA | 2988.6 |
| 2 | United Kingdom | 1241.8 |
| 3 | Australia | 971.7 |
| 4 | Brazil | 698.4 |
| 5 | Spain | 687.6 |
| 6 | Germany | 633.5 |
| 7 | India | 405.3 |
| 8 | France | 380.8 |
| 9 | South Africa | 336.9 |
| 10 | Japan | 320.1 |
Warc made the following observations about the results:
- Driving behavioural change through participation: This year's top 100 sees purpose-driven campaigns still playing a leading role. However, by introducing an element of participation, Palau Pledge was able to do more than just raise awareness - it changed behaviour. The ALS Association, Burger King and Marmite also used a 'participation' approach.
- Burger King's pop culture focus pays dividends: Three highly ranked campaigns for this year's top creative brand Burger King—'Scary Clown Night' (#6), 'Google Home of the Whopper' (#24), 'Loving "It"' (#34)—meet Burger King's stated strategy to become part of pop culture.
"The Warc Creative 100 delivers an unbiased and transparent global benchmark for the industry, shining a light on the best creative and inspirational ideas from around the world and the companies behind them," David Tiltman, head of content at Warc, said in a release. "We congratulate all those who have made it into these rankings."
The Warc Creative 100 is compiled by analysing the results of the most important global and regional creative awards shows, as determined by the industry following a worldwide survey and consultation. The creative awards taken into account are:
- Global: Cannes Lions, Clio Awards, D&AD, London International Awards (LIA), The One Show.
- Regional: Adfest, Dubai Lynx, El Ojo de Iberoamérica, El Sol, Eurobest, Golden Drum, Loeries, Spikes Asia.
The full rankings, which include the world's top 100 creatively awarded campaigns, top 50 creative agencies, agency networks, brands, advertisers, countries and top holding companies, are available to view on www.warc.com/rankings/creative-100. A sample report is available.
Warc will announce The Warc Effectiveness 100 rankings on 4 March and the Warc Media 100 on 11 March.
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