Advertising awards are in the spotlight. And not for good reasons.

“With the news of Publicis pulling out of award shows, and the rumour about WPP following, awards are at a turning point. There are many issues concerning awards shows but those that are particularly important are: quality of judges, problem of scam ads, fairness of judging, and heavy focus on social issues. All the shows right now seem to be losing their direction and identity,” stated Yuya Furukawa, chief creative officer, Dentsu Inc., Tokyo & President of Cresta’s Grand Jury.

52 countries participated in this year’s Cresta Awards nonetheless.

According to Furukawa, Cresta deserves that kind of support. “Cresta has its own unique methods. No discussions. 100% is done by majority voting. It’s one effective way to achieve political correctness. There’s no room for bias, and the healthy judging results prove this. I believe if more new but unknown work is discovered through this judging, the value of Cresta as an award will be even greater.”

234 ads, campaigns and interactive entries were chosen finalists by juries in 7 cities – Budapest, Charlotte, NC, Madrid, Oslo, São Paulo, Tokyo and Zagreb.

78 ads from 15 countries became winners, chosen by Cresta’s International Grand Jury of 86 top creatives from 46 countries.

Agency of the Year:

McCann New York won 17 awards, making it Agency of the Year. Its winning entries include:

• • 4 Grands Prix and 1 Gold i for State Street Global Advisors’ Fearless Girl
  • 1 Grand Prix and 7 Golds for Lockheed Martin’s The Field Trip To Mars
  • 1 Silver for The United States Post Office’s  titled, The Most Wonderful Ornament

• • 1 Silver for Godiva Chocolate’s The Box that Keeps Giving

• 2 Bronze for Cigna’s TV Doctors of America and TV Doctors.

Grands Prix went to:

• • McCann New York x 4, in Ambient Media, Branded Entertainment, Outdoor and Promotions & Incentives, for State Street Global Advisors’ Fearless Girl
  • McCann New York, in Interactive for Lockheed Martin’s The Field Trip To Mars
  • Grey, New York in Integrated Campaigns competition for Pantene’s #DadDo  

• • Forsman & Bodenfors, Gothenburg in TV/Cinema/Online Film competition for PostNord’s Love Logistics

• Factory, London in Crafts for Channel 4’s We’re the Super Humans 

Network of the Year:

McCann Worldgroup became Network of the Year for the second year in a row. 13 McCann agencies from New York, Melbourne, Sydney, Cairo, Paris, Rome, Lima, Singapore, Barcelona, Detroit, Stockholm, Tunisia and London, accumulated 234 points.

Havas Worldwide came 2^nd with 59 points.

Agency rankings:

• McCann New York: 17 awards, 137 points
• Heimat Berlin: 4 Awards, 32 points
• BETC Paris: 5 awards, 31 points
• McCann Melbourne: 5 awards, 28 points

Country rankings by awards: