World Creative Rankings 2024: Rethink heads up world’s most-awarded agencies
We reveal which agencies won the most at the ad industry’s major global awards shows last year.
‘The Unburnable Book’ for Penguin Random House
Canada’s Rethink has continued its remarkable rise through the ranks to take the number 1 spot this year, having previously finished 18th in 2022 and 4th in 2023. And while none of the independent agency’s work ranked in the top 20 of the most-awarded campaigns list, the sheer number of its projects picking up awards in 2023 cemented its top position.
These included ‘The Unburnable Book’ for Penguin Random House, as well as some memorably witty spots for Kraft Heinz such as ‘Ketchup Fraud’ and ‘AI Ketchup.’ (Read how Rethink punches above its weight in our interview with strategy chief, Sean McDonald.)
DDB Chicago’s climb up the rankings is just as impressive, finishing 2nd this year, having not made the top 100 in 2023. Its position was secured thanks mainly to two notable pieces of work, ‘Apologize the Rainbow’ for Skittles (the top-ranking campaign in the world this year) and ‘Chillboards’ for Coors Light (6th most-awarded).
Serviceplan Munich, meanwhile, dropped down to 3rd place from its 2nd place finish last year, its ‘Dot Pad’ project, a smart tactile graphics display for the visually impaired, being its standout piece of work.
The top 5 of the most-awarded agencies list is rounded out by FCB New York (4th) and Ogilvy London (5th), the former’s ‘McEnroe v McEnroe’ work for Michelob Ultra having placed 3rd place in the most-awarded campaigns rankings and the latter’s ‘The Cost of Beauty’ for Dove appearing at 9th.
The World Creative Rankings are compiled by exhaustively analyzing the performance of thousands of pieces of creative work across 22 major industry awards programs throughout the previous calendar year.
That data is then used to determine the people rankings – the CCOs, ECDs, creative directors, art directors and copywriters responsible for the most creatively awarded work in 2023. Their companies are then ranked, with these rankings including the best agencies, networks and holding companies, which are then split by country and region. The advertisers who fund the world’s most awarded work are also ranked, while the sectors that offer the richest return in creative gongs, whether that be Food & Drink, Automotive, Retail or Charity, are also evaluated.
Head over to our dedicated World Creative Rankings hub to see the full list of most-awarded agencies in world, plus all of our other tables and breakdowns, as well as full details of the methodology that goes into the production of the rankings.