Australia has only four of the 197 shortlisted entries in The Midas Awards, aka The World’s Best Financial Advertising 2014. Good onya, Lavender. Two are yours, for American Express, How to Pick a PIN.

MercerBell has one shortlisted entry for BT Super for Life Super Pups.

Showpony Advertising has one, for HomeStart Finance Rapid Ageing.

19 countries made it into the shortlist, including Cambodia, Honduras and Sri Lanka.

Lavender is therefore in the running to be ranked number one in the 2014 Midas Report. That contest is between:

• King James Cape Town, South Africa with 16 entries shortlisted
• Publicis Kaplan Thaler, USA with 13
• The Jupiter Drawing Room, South Africa with 12
• FP7/DXB (Part of McCann Worldgroup), United Arab Emirates with 10
• 41? 29!, Turkey with 8
• Lavender, Australia with 2
• M&C Saatchi Direct & Digital Communications, India with 2

In the nation rankings:

• The United States leads with 70 entries shortlisted, up 15% from 2013.
• South Africa is second. Its 48 shortlisted entries is a 100% uptick over last year’s 24.
• Canada is third with 15 shortlisted entries.
• United Arab Emirates is fourth with 14 entries
• Turkey is fifth with 12
• Mexico has 7. Sweden 5. Germany and Australia 4 each. Cambodia and India have 3 each. Austria and Sri Lanka have 2 each
• Belgium, Czech Republic, Honduras, and the United Kingdom have 1 each

MasterCard’s Priceless campaigns was one of the two standout brands in the shortlist:

• R/GA, USA led with 6 for the MasterCard brand – 2 for Priceless New Year, 2 for Priceless Surprises and 2 for Priceless Surprises Northside Festival. 
• McCann XBC, New York’s Priceless Table has 4 entries shortlisted
• FP7/DXB, United Arab Emirates has for Priceless Arabia? Tell Tales Few Can Tell
• MacLaren McCann, Canada Priceless Surprises Gilmour has 1

Publicis Kaplan Thaler, USA’s campaign for Citibank has 12 entries shortlisted.

There are 3 for Citibike, 2 for Citibike OOH, 2 for Every Step of the Way Website, 2 for Citibike (Design). Citi Olympic Sponsorship Corporate TV Campaign,  Olympic Consumer TV Campaign and Mets also are also shortlisted.

R/GA USA’s personalized mobile app, PwC 365 for client PwC consultants, has 4 entries.

The Midas Brand Report debuts this year. It’s a ranking similar to the Midas Report, rating each advertiser’s performance on points earned within the Midas Awards. Contenders are: Absa, Citibank, Emirates NDB, MasterCard, Sanlam, and TD Bank.

To View the 2014 Midas Shortlist click here.

Judging continues now and the 2014 Midas Awards trophy winners will be announced on December 2, 2014.