About the Effie Index
The Effie Index identifies and ranks the marketing industry's most effective agencies, marketers and brands by analyzing finalist and winner data from 50+ Effie Awards competitions, spanning 125 markets, worldwide.
Originally launched in June 2011, the Effie Index reveals the most effective agencies, marketers and brands globally, regionally, in local markets, and across product categories. The Index provides an insightful glimpse into who is delivering Ideas That Work across the globe.
Eligibility Time Period
For the 2021 Effie Index rankings, data from Effie Awards programs announced between January 1, 2021 and December 31, 2021 qualify.
*Please note: Effie Hellas, Effie Switzerland, and Effie Guatemala did not hold a competition during the 2021 Effie Index qualifying period.
How the Rankings are Compiled
We have established a ranking system that will reward not only Effie winners, but Effie finalists. All winner and finalist data has been provided by Effie's global network of worldwide partners. Only Effie finalists and winners that have met Effie-approved judging criteria are eligible for inclusion in the Index. An overview glimpse of the Effie judging model can be found here.
Finalists in the Rankings
All worldwide Effie finalists and winners must achieve a minimum score in order to be selected as a Finalist, Bronze, Silver, Gold or Grand Effie winner. Not all worldwide Effie programs publicly announce and award finalists. Effie finalist status and trophies are awarded in each category at the discretion of the judges' scores. It is possible that a category may produce no finalists, if no case meets the minimum cut-off for finalist status in that category. Similarly, it is possible to have one or two winners of any level or perhaps no winners at all in a category, depending on whether a case meets the minimum cut-off for each level of award. Achieving finalist or win status in the Effie Awards is a significant achievement. Only a small percentage of cases are finalists each year and of these, a fraction are winners.
Primary vs. Contributing Agencies
Contributing agencies receive half as many points as Primary agencies in the Effie Index, so companies receiving 24 points for a Grand Effie; 12 points for a Gold Effie; 6 points for a Silver Effie; 3 points for a Bronze or 1 point for a Finalist recognition, were originally credited as a Contributing Agency.
Point Structure
Points for the 2021 Effie Index are distributed as follows:
Primary agencies, marketers and brands receive:
| Grand Effie Winner/Platinum Winner | 48 Points |
| Gold Effie Winner | 24 Points |
| Silver Effie Winner | 12 Points |
| Bronze Effie Winner | 6 Points |
| Effie Finalist | 2 Points |
Contributing agencies receive:
| Grand Effie Winner/Platinum Winner | 24 Points |
| Gold Effie Winner | 12 Points |
| Silver Effie Winner | 6 Points |
| Bronze Effie Winner | 3 Points |
| Effie Finalist | 1 Point |
The point structure has been recently updated. More information is available here.
When multiple agency offices are credited on a single winner/finalist record, agency networks and holding companies will receive only one set of points towards their respective ranking.
Companies Included in the Index
Finalist and winning companies featured in the Index also include production companies, post-production houses and media owners, among others.
Agency Network and Holding Company Classifications
Agency network and holding company affiliations have been provided by the entrant, supplied by the official worldwide Effie partner or identified through research of key industry resources. Research occurred between December 1, 2021 and April 15, 2022.
Independent Agencies
Agencies that are not majority-owned by a holding company are categorized as "Independent" in the Index. Please note that the ownership of individual agencies may have changed since the data was compiled.
Agencies
An agency is considered a single agency office located in a specific city. For example, the New York office of Agency ABC and the Singapore office of Agency ABC are considered different agency offices. Each office is recognized as a separate, individual agency and receives its own set of points in the Agencies ranking. The Agencies ranking includes both majority-owned holding company agencies as well as independent agencies. Please note that the ownership of an individual agency may have changed since the data was compiled.
Marketer Classifications
In some instances, credits for global marketers included their local affiliation, like Coca-Cola Hellas in Greece. For consistency purposes, we have attributed the points to the global advertiser, in this case The Coca-Cola Company.
Product Category Classification
Product category information has been sourced either from the official Effie Award partner program or identified through industry research. In some instances we have made necessary judgments about how certain types of campaigns should be categorized to ensure consistency across all 53 Effie programs..
Geographical Classifications
Throughout the Index, 'Country' and 'Region' refer to where a campaign ran, not the location of the agency or marketer responsible for it.
Translations
As a global Index of marketing effectiveness, there were instances where data was provided in the program's local language (other than English). We have attempted to translate as much information into English as possible. If you find inconsistencies, please let us know.
Year to Year Comparisons
Effie Index rankings are a result of Effie Award Winner/finalist point aggregation over a single year. Rankings are not cumulative year over year. To explore the previous year rankings, use the "Filter by Year" function located in the upper left-hand side of each page.
Database Research
While every effort has been made to ensure the accuracy and completeness of the Effie Index, Effie Worldwide cannot accept liability with respect to errors or omissions. If you notice inconsistencies or errors with the data, please let us know. Rankings are updated periodically in order to correct inconsistencies, errors or omissions.
Case Studies and Videos of Winning Work
For select cases, additional information is available in Effie Worldwide's case database. Click on the 
icon to view additional information including campaign summaries, videos of winning work and available case studies.
Tell us what you think
Our aim is to make the Index as insightful as possible, so we encourage your feedback. Comments, suggestions and feedback can be sent to index@effie.org.