Atomic 212 is ranked #3 in the Warc 100 media agencies in the world. Its Lucy the Robot campaign is also ranked #3 in top campaigns. As you might expect, chief executive officer, Jason Dooris is exuberant about that. It’s the ultimate reward for the eighteen months of innovative thinking he and his team have invested into its growth.
“Bringing together media, creative and technology is an incredible platform for advertisers in 2017. It’s akin to pumping adrenalin directly into the heart of traditional marketing efforts. This together with discipline to only accept exceptional work is the space we need to play in,” Dooris commented.
The top ten media agencies are:
Also helping to boost Australia’s country rankings is CX agency, Affinity, ranked #2 in digital and specialist agencies.
The top ten digital/specialist agencies are:
Australia’s highest achiever in creative agencies is Clemenger BBDO Melbourne at #12, with McCann Melbourne at #14 and Leo Burnett Melbourne #20 (congratulations to adland Melbourne).
The top 10 creative agencies are:
Our highest campaign was Atomic 212’s Lucy the Robot for Double Robotics. Affinity’s Diving into Data for Narellan, for Narellan Pools is #6, Leo Burnett’s #MyFamilyCan for SPC is #9 and McCann Melbourne’s Infrequent Flyers for Tiger Air is #10. Australia has four of the top 10 campaigns in the Warc 100 rankings.
The top-ranked campaign is Share the Load, by BBDO Mumbai and Mediacom Mumbai for Procter & Gamble’s Ariel detergent brand in India. The campaign film, which ran online, in cinema and on TV, encouraged men to share the weight of household chores and was supported by campaign-specific packaging. As 1.57 million men pledged to share the load, Ariel more than doubled value and volume sales, which grew 106% and 105% respectively.
The top 10 brands are:
The top ten countries are:
The top 5 networks and top 5 holding companies are:
Special notes. Warc has identified the following trends:
- Data-driven creative hits the top 10
Creatively used programmatic advertising showed its might. 2 of the top 10 campaigns this year are those whose success lies in the smart use of data to drive creative and media strategy.
The Economist (#5) used a targeted programmatic display campaign to reach new prospects with humorous and accessible tagline ads. The campaign hit 50% of target in 9 days, with a return on investment of over 25:1.
Narellan Pools (#6) took a ‘moment marketing’ approach. Customers were targeted at the precise times they were most likely to buy a pool, with focused creative motivating purchase decisions. The campaign increased direct leads by 11% and sales by 23% year on year.
- There was a strong showing for stunt or event-based campaigns, as well as big-budget TV
Campaigns built around an event or stunt also ranked highly this year.
Rabbit Race (#4), a seasonal live event and stream involving rabbits racing for customers of Media Markt in Germany to win in-store prizes, was the fourth-ranked campaign of 2017. More than 21 million people watched the races, prompting the electronics retailer to make the stunt an annual event, with consumers spending on average €8.60 more than the previous Easter.
Lucy the Robot (#3), grabbed the news when Atomic 212 created a telepresence robot called Lucy for American technology company, Double Robotics, to be first in line to buy a new iPhone 6s outside a Sydney Apple store. The stunt aimed to launch the company into the Australian market, and was covered in 4,000 news stories globally, resulting in more than 12,000 sales enquiries worth more than $44 million.
The power of TV won out, though. The top two rankings are held by big-budget, big-idea,TV-led campaigns – Share the Load and John Lewis’ Christmas campaigns. There were plenty of other examples in the top 20 showing the power of TV-led work, including campaigns for Old Spice, Snickers, IKEA and Sainsbury’s.
- Procter & Gamble retains its lead as No. 1 advertiser over Unilever
Procter & Gamble the top advertiser for 2017 for the 2nd year in a row, though its lead over Unilever has decreased since last year. P&G has five campaigns in the top 100 versus Unilever’s three. The success of campaigns for its Ariel, Always and Old Spice brands pushed P&G to the top.
- Vodafone wins top brand as Coca-Cola and McDonalds drop from 1st and 2nd place for the first time
Vodafone has only 2 campaigns in the top 100, but an extremely consistent year in terms of awards in 15 competitions across campaigns and regions took it to the top brand spot.
For the first year since 2014, Coca-Cola and McDonalds do not occupy positions one and two in the brands ranking. Both have dropped down the rankings in a year when neither had a campaign in the top 100.
New entries to the top 10 include John Lewis at #3, as a result of its series of Christmas campaigns, Dove, with its ongoing socially progressive stance and Snickers, with special thanks to You’re not you when you’re hungry.
David Tiltman, head of content at WARC, commented, “This year’s WARC 100 reflects an industry in flux. It’s clear from the rankings that TV-led, big idea advertising, when executed well, is still highly effective. But we’re seeing a range of alternative approaches also capable of generating business results – from data-driven moment marketing to stunts or events designed to focus consumer attention. One of the big questions in the industry at the moment is whether these alternative approaches build brands and deliver results in the long term as well as at the time of the campaign.”
