With marketing budgets under pressure in many parts of the world, there is ever-increasing pressure on marketers and their agencies to demonstrate a return on their investment. A great creative idea is not enough – there must be proof that the idea worked.
Compiled by Effie Worldwide and Warc, the Effie Effectiveness Index (www.effieindex.com) recognizes the importance of marketing effectiveness by revealing which companies were the most successful at creating ideas that delivered results. The Index analyzes finalist and winner data from 39 worldwide Effie competitions held over the past year.
Now in its second year, the rankings for 2012 were released on June 18. They feature the most effective Agency Offices, Agency Networks, Agency Holding Groups, Brands and Advertisers, which can be filtered by region, country and product category.
The latest rankings – which reveal some interesting shifts compared to 2011 – are summarized below. The full ranking tables for both years are available at effieindex.com.
Most Effective Advertisers
Unilever tops the global Advertiser ranking in 2012 with 288 points. Last year’s top-ranked advertiser, Procter & Gamble, takes second place. Like 2011, packaged goods manufacturers dominate the top 20 but the list also includes automotive companies (General Motors, Volkswagen) and software firms (IBM, Microsoft).
Source: www.effieindex.com. © Effie Worldwide and Warc.
Most Effective Brands
McDonald’s retains its position as the world’s most effective brand in 2012 with 142 points from campaigns awarded by Effie programs in 14 different countries. Coca-Cola rose one place compared to 2011 and IBM rose nine places, with the top five being rounded out Unilever’s Axe Brand and Pepsi. Other brands placed in the top 20 include Lay’s, Vodafone and Ikea.
Most Effective Agency Holding Groups
WPP Group edged out Omnicom to lead the global Holding Group ranking in 2012. IPG, Publicis and Havas round out the top five.
Most Effective Agency Networks
Ogilvy & Mather are the world’s most effective agency network in 2012, with 924 points. BBDO Worldwide, which led the 2011 ranking, slipped to second place. DDB Worldwide rose to third place in the rankings ahead of Leo Burnett Worldwide and McCann Worldgroup.
Most Effective Agency Offices
The Global Individual Agency Office ranking is headed by Ogilvy & Mather Mumbai whose work for brands such as Dove, Ceatt Gripp, Vodafone and Cadbury Dairy Milk won multiple Effie awards. This puts it well ahead of three agencies tied in second place: Sancho BBDO from Bogota, Colombia (which topped the rankings in 2011), Lowe-SSP3 (also from Bogota) and Ogilvy & Mather (New York). The top 20 also includes agencies from countries as diverse as China, Hong Kong, Australia, Argentina, New Zealand, Egypt, Peru, Ukraine and Israel.
Most Effective Independent Agency Offices
The Effectiveness Index breaks out independently-owned agency offices and McKinney (Durham, NC, USA) tops the global ranking in 2012 with 40 points, just ahead of Bruketa&Žinic OM (Zagreb, Croatia) in second place. Third is a tie between last year’s top-ranked independent agency Wieden+Kennedy (Portland, Oregon, USA) and Jung von Matt (Hamburg, Germany). ACG Advertising Agency (Budapest, Hungary) takes fifth spot.
Regional Rankings
The Index can also be analyzed by region and the companies that ranked highest in each region in 2012 are:
Asia PacificUnilever (advertiser), McDonald’s (brand), Omnicom (agency holding group) Ogilvy & Mather (agency network), Oglivy & Mather - Mumbai (agency) and Happy Soldiers - Sydney (independent agency).
EuropeUnilever (advertiser), McDonald’ (brand), WPP Group (agency holding group), Ogilvy & Mather (agency network), Ogilvy & Mather Ukraine and Adler, Chomsky & Warshavsky Grey (agency - tie) and Bruketa&Žinic OM - Zagreb (independent agency).
Latin AmericaNestlé (advertiser), Ministerio De Defensa Nacional (brand), WPP Group (agency holding group), BBDO Worldwide (agency network), a tie between Sancho BBDO (Bogota) and Lowe-SSP3 (Bogota) (agency) and Puerto of Santiago, Chile (independent agency).
Middle East & AfricaHenkel (advertiser), Pril (brand), Omnicom (agency holding group),OMD (agency network), OMD of Cairo (agency) and Interesting Times of Beirut, Lebanon (independent agency)
North AmericaProcter & Gamble (advertiser), IBM (brand), WPP (agency holding group), Ogilvy & Mather (agency network), Ogilvy & Mather, New York (agency) and McKinney (independent agency).
Information about the 2012 rankings
The 2012 Effie Effectiveness Index is derived from more than 2,000 finalists and winning entries to Effie Award competitions worldwide between June 13, 2011 and June 12, 2012*.
The Index is constructed by converting every Effie award and finalist into points – 12 for a Grand Effie, eight for Gold, six for Silver, four for Bronze and two for a finalist (with contributing agencies receiving half these points). In a change to the inaugural year, if several agencies from the same agency network or holding group worked on a campaign, the network and holding group only receives one set of points for each winning effort.
Throughout the Index, ‘Country’ and ‘Region’ refer to where a campaign ran, not the location of the agency or advertiser responsible for it.
Full information about how the rankings are compiled is available at About the Index
*The Effie Romania program held two award programs between June 13, 2011 and June 12, 2012. For the 2012 rankings, we have included the results announced on June 13, 2011. Effie Romania awards announced on June 4, 2012 will be included in the tabulation of the 2013 rankings.
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