In Adweek’s annual Agency of the Year report, the accomplishments of this year’s winners—BBDO for global, mcgarrybowen for U.S., and AKQA for digital—are made all the more remarkable by the sour global economy.
For BBDO, the limp economy was compounded in January of last year by the defection of one of its largest and longest-standing clients, Chrysler Group. As Noreen O’Leary reports, BBDO has more than made up for the smackdown, its global revenue rising 18 percent versus last year. It has picked up major new accounts, including ExxonMobil, and a truckload of awards, including the first-ever Cannes Grand Prix for Creative Effectiveness.
Meanwhile, for the self-described “populist agency” mcgarrybowen, attention to old-fashioned relationship building and client service has paid off, as Andrew McMains points out. The agency’s revenue in 2011 soared 60 percent versus last year, on such major wins as Sears and Burger King.
And while AKQA may be known as a digital agency, it has proven to be so much more than that, as lines between media channels continue to blur. This past October, one of the online video ads the agency created for Audi was so beloved by the client that it was repurposed for prime time TV, as Gabriel Beltrone reports. All of which makes these agencies more than just survivors—they are the ad industry’s supernovas.
Click the stickers below to see the winners:
