The Gunn Report for Media Announces 2012 Rankings: OMD tops the Most Creative Agency Network list followed by Mindshare

The Gunn Report for Media, the global evaluation of media creativity launched in 2004, has today released its new Report. It has combined winners’ lists from the world’s most important award contests to establish the only global ‘league tables’ for the communications industry.

The report covers several categories, including:

• The Most Creative Agency Network
• the Most Creative Holding Company
• The Most Creative Campaign
• The Most Creative Advertiser

“The context in which marketing is taking place has changed dramatically these past years. At a time of increasing difficult economic climate in the world, and in a world where consumers are increasingly unpredictable and exert more control over the messages they receive, media innovation and creativity are keys to brand success. Brands need even more than before to find and use meaningful and new solutions”, said Isabelle Musnik, editor of The Gunn Report for Media.

Media – in all their forms – have become an integral part of marketing. The inclusion of a media platform in a communications awards event is an important signal to the marketing world that building the right connections between brand and consumer is an absolute necessity. It can make or break a campaign, or even a brand, and change behaviour as a result. The future of the industry lies in the innovative strength of its media creativity.”

The full report can be purchased from www.gunnreport.com

Agency network of the Year: OMD

• OMD has kept its top position since the launch of the Gunn Report in 2004 scoring 331 points
• MindShare were second with 229 points.
• In third place on 218 points came Starcom

Holding company of the year: GroupM

• GroupM (WPP) came top, scoring 714 points.
• In second position were Omnicom Media Group with 605 points.
• Publicis Groupe were placed third with 445 points.

Advertiser of the Year: Coca-Cola
As advertisers recognize more and more the importance of media creativity, several are setting the pace for the future. In 2012 thirteen advertisers were recognized worldwide for their media creativity:

Coca-Cola takes the first place again with 97 points and campaigns from 28 different festivals demonstrating the quality and originality of their work all over the world.
McDonald’s were second, (76 points) and Ikea third (46 points).

Campaigns of the year
Unlike purely creative advertising campaigns, media related campaigns are still very different from one country to the next. Not many are Europe-wide and even fewer are international. To ensure a balanced representation The Gunn Report for Media only highlights those campaigns that obtained a significant number of points and which won awards in four or more regional or global festivals.

This explains why there is no Media Campaign of the Year in 2012 Therefore The Gunn Report for Media has chosen instead to highlight some of the winners of the global festivals which have been praised for their creativity, their innovation AND results. And which show how important it is to think “out of the box”, to invent new media and also to use the “oldest” ones. All these campaigns have tangible results and prove that creativity and efficiency go together.

• Daimler AG – Smart Eball
• Engagement Citoyen – The Return of Dictator Ben Ali
• Google – Google Voice Search
• McDonald’s – Coin Hunting
• Pepsi – Bottle Light
• URA.ru – Make the Politicians Work

Country of the year
The United States came top this year with 282 points, 98 ahead of the United Kingdom’s score of 184. India followed in third place with 181 points

A note on Methodology
Similar to the methodology used by previous Gunn For Media Reports, this year’s scoring system assigned each agency and campaign 3 to 5 points for a Best in Show award / Grand Prix, 2 to 3 for a winner or gold, or 1 to 2 for a silver or bronze. Campaigns could also receive points for awards in different categories (i.e. Best Use of Sponsorship, Best Use of TV, etc.). Every show in the Report features all of the media: TV, cinema, radio, magazines, newspapers, outdoor, special events/stunts, internet, mixed media and sponsorship. Some have special categories on target audiences such as youth, young adults, all adults, men and women. Single media festivals are excluded. Too few of these reward media creativity and efficiency, and their inclusion would have unbalanced the scoring system in respect of some countries and agencies.