CB Asia Creative Rankings 2014: Lowe Shanghai wins China Creative Agency of the Year award
The Campaign Brief Asia Creative Ranking breakdowns for the China market proved to be a very close fight for the top position.
In total there were 20 agencies based in China that won metal at the awards shows we count in the Rankings. But it was the contest for the #1 spot that proved to be the most interesting.
After final calculations it was Lowe Shanghai winning out by a margin of just 25 points. Lowe picked up gongs at 5 award shows – Cannes, One Show, London International Awards, Spikes Asia and AdStars. Pictured above (left) is Lowe China CEO Kitty Lun and former CCO Norman Tan, who only recently moved to JWT China.
Lowe Shanghai’s success was driven by their Buick “Human Traffic Sign” safety print campaign and the television commercial that accompanied it.
The Buick “Human Traffic Signs” safety awareness campaign has been a big highlight on the world stage at international and regional awards shows this year. The campaign features print and a television commercial with real traffic accident victims who come out to remind drivers and pedestrians to obey the traffic rules. Victims of traffic accidents agreed to work on the project as human traffic signs in accident-prone areas during peak hour traffic.
The campaign had it’s most success at the London International Awards where it won 2 Gold statues, along with 2 Silver, 1 Bronze and 2 Finalists. The campaign was also a big winner at Spikes Asia and in Cannes with a Gold, Silver and 2 Bronze Lions. Points were also gained at AdStars and One Show.
Runner-up for the China Creative Agency of the Year award is Ogilvy & Mather Beijing with 585 points. The agency, lead by China Chief Creative Officer Graham Fink, Ogilvy Beijing ECD Jagdish Ramakrishnan (pictured right) and OgilvyOne ECD Doug Schiff, scored points at 7 shows with great performances at Spikes Asia (140pts), London International Awards (135pts), AdFest (90pts), Cannes (80pts) and The Work (60pts).
Ogilvy Beijing had a broad spectrum of work from different clients that picked up awards recognition – Volkswagen “Eyes on the Road”, PETA “Fur Hurts”, Coca-Cola, Huggies and the Centre for Psychological Research Shenyang “Words can Hurt” and others contributed to their overall total.
No.3 creatively in China is Y&R Beijing with 460 points made up also completely from award wins for Penguin China. The agency is lead by chief creative officer Nils Andersson (pictured right) and it’s Penguin “Mic” print campaign has been one of the world’s biggest award winners over 2014. Their Penguin “Stages” print campaign is also a winner.
Cannes and London International Awards were Y&R Beijing’s biggest contributors.
It should be noted that Y&R Beijing’s overall total would have been a lot higher in these Creative Rankings if Craft awards were counted as the Penguin “Mic” campaign has been heavily rewarded worldwide for it’s illustration.
There were 17 other agencies from China to gain points in the Creative Rankings. These will be detailed in a complete PDF version of the Rankings which will be sent free to all readers that have REGISTERED.
Over the next 10 days Campaign Brief Asia will also be releasing the results of our overall Regional Agency of the Year; Regional Network of the Year; A Country Performance Ranking; plus highlighting the Top Creative Leaders in Asia; and the Top Creative Teams in Asia.
What sets the Campaign Brief Asia Creative Rankings apart from other rankings around the world is that it is calculated solely on creative performance at the major regional and international award shows over the 2014 calendar year. There is no submission or document received from agencies that is then judged. It is based only on the facts – ie. creative award wins.
Importantly, we attribute an adjusted points value to each Gold, Silver and Bronze award won by each agency at each award show or festival. You might think this happens with other rankings systems, however this is not always the case. In some rankings a Gold at Cannes scores the same as a gold at Spikes. Campaign Brief Asia weights award wins against the difficulty of winning and we will continue to review each award show each year.
As an example, awards at AdFest and Spikes Asia are valued at: Grand Prix 40pts; Gold 30pts; Silver 20pts; and Bronze 10pts.
The international shows count for more – for example, at the Cannes Lions, award wins are valued at: Grand Prix 70pts; Gold 60pts; Silver 40pts; and Bronze 20pts. D&AD is harder to succeed at so the points attributed are: Black Pencil 150pts; Yellow Pencil 100pts; Nomination 60pts; and In-Book 20pts.
Also an important point of difference is that we only count the categories at the various award shows that are judged by Creatives and Creative Directors. This means award wins in the Print & Film Craft; Media; Effectiveness; and Public Relations categories at award shows are not included. Also Healthcare only categories at Cannes and Spikes Asia are not included.
The regional shows that are included in the Creative Rankings are: AdFest, Spikes Asia; AdStars, AWARD Awards and Campaign Brief’s The Work.
The International shows included are: D&AD, Cannes Lions, One Show (Advertising), London International Awards, Clio and New York Festivals.
The China Creative Rankings are sponsored by FIN Design + Effects.
For more informati
on about the Creative Rankings read here.
India Creative Agency of the Year: McCann Worldgroup Mumbai.
Hong Kong Creative Agency of the Year: Red Fuse Communications
Indonesian Creative Agency of the Year: JWT Jakarta.
Malaysian Creative Agency of the Year: TBWA Kuala Lumpur.
2 Comments
You know this doesn’t mean anything, right?
Lowe has had a very good year. The Buick campaign is one of my favourite print works of past 5 years. Also good to see other agencies excited for their performance and success. This is a good thing for China future.