WARC has released the results of the WARC Creative 100 for 2018, a ranking of creative excellence in advertising, and a successor to the Gunn Report.
The rankings feature the most awarded campaigns, agencies, networks, holding companies, brands, advertisers and countries, based on performance at the most important global and regional creative awards shows in 2018.
After ranking seventh in last year’s report, Canada slipped back to 13th place on the country rankings, behind Argentina and just ahead of Thailand. The U.S. topped the list, followed by the United Kingdom and Australia.
A trio of Canadian efforts ranked among the top 100 global campaigns:
•FCB/Six’s “Destination Pride” campaign for PFLAG at #19—an online tool that used a bar chart comprised of the colours of the rainbow pride flag to show a travel destination’s attitudes towards LGBTQ+ travellers (video below);
•Bensimon Byrne’s “Break Bread, Smash Stigma” campaign for Casey House at #81—a pop-up restaurant staffed by HIV-positive chefs (video below); and
•Cossette’s “Follow the Arches” out-of-home work for McDonald’s (#96)—sections of the iconic McDonald’s “M” that showed travellers the location of nearby restaurants.
Burger King topped the ranking of top 50 brands for the second straight year, followed by Nike and Pedigree. PFLAG Canada (#27) was the only Canadian brand to crack the list, and also placed 29th on the list of top 50 advertisers.
FCB/Six was the lone Canadian agency to rank among the global top 50, which was topped by BBDO New York, with fellow Omnicom Group network DDB Worldwide in second. Omnicom also topped the holding company rankings, followed by WPP and Interpublic Group.
“Palau Pledge” by Host/Havas Sydney was the most creatively celebrated campaign of 2018. To tackle the impact of mass tourism, the Palau Legacy Project, a sustainable tourism body, created a visa policy for the island of Palau to protect the nation from environmental damage.
“The fact that such a human solution, created with the absolute dedication and passion to improve the world that our children will inherit has been ranked the number one campaign in the world, says something really good about what our industry values and has the power to achieve,” said Host/Havas Sydney executive creative director Seamus Higgins.
AMV BBDO London’s “#Bloodnormal” campaign for the feminine hygiene brand Bodyform/Libresse ranked second. The campaign centred around an online video aimed at breaking taboos around menstruation.
