For the first time in its 27 years, Cresta has compiled its Top 50 highest-performing agencies worldwide. The agencies on the list come from 26 countries of the 75 that entered last year. M&C Saatchi Sydney is the only Australian agency to make it onto the list and Clemenger BBDO New Zealand the only Kiwi agency.

The US has the most agencies listed, seven. The UK and UAE share second place, with five each. Sweden and Japan have four; Germany has three.

The Cresta Top 50 is displayed alphabetically with no ranking. It is derived from points assigned to the various level of awards won by the agencies at Cresta, from grands prix to shortlists.

“After a very open and large entry last year, with some great winners, we felt it would be rewarding to see what trends were sitting across this all globally,” stated Cresta president, Alan Page. “Beyond the headline trophies, we wanted to pull out those agencies who performed most consistently at a high creative level, and what that says for creative trends by country.”

“The result is that we can see many familiar names and places but there are also surprises in who made the Top 50 and who didn’t. There are smaller nations with outstanding centres of creative excellence that punch well above what you might expect. Conversely, there are larger nations that might do more to shine stronger on the world stage.”

Cresta chief executive officer, Lewis Blackwell added, “Our first Top 50 deliberately avoids a numbered listing so as to just shine the light broadly and show global trends. For any agency to be on it is a terrific achievement, given the size of the industry worldwide – and also when you consider all the strong players who perhaps just missed out.

“There’s an opportunity to upset the list and get back on it next time of course. There’s no fear or favours given by our jury. By sheer quality and quantity of work that wins over our judges, anybody can make it through and star at Cresta. It really is on merit. It might seem that some nations punch above their weight… and some don’t. The world and Cresta is very open to redrawing the creative map.”

The 2021 Cresta Awards call for entries is now open. The awards are assigned by a purely mathematical averaging of the votes of more than 120 jurors acting independently. This is a system that Cresta claims is fairer as it helps avoid jury politics, factions, or the influence of strong personalities, as may be experienced at group jury meetings and discussions.