Warc has lifted the lid on the 2016 results of the Warc 100, an annual ranking of the world’s best marketing campaigns and companies according to their business impact.
The Warc 100 rankings are based on performance in effectiveness and strategy awards around the world, and has also pinned down some of the key themes to emerge from the year’s top 100.
And who was ranked number one? Well, it was our very own ‘Penny the Pirate’, developed by Saatchi & Saatchi and OMD for Aussie optical chain OPSM and combining traditional and digital media to craft a printed book and app to highlight vision problems in children.
More than 126,000 parents bought the reading book, the number of eye tests conducted by OPSM increased by 22.6 per cent year-on-year, and its sales also grew by more than 22 per cent.
https://youtu.be/TvkC3r2z9ok
Warc 100: Top 10 global advertising campaigns 2016
| Rank | Campaign | Location | Brand | Primary Agency | Points |
| 1 | Penny the Pirate | Australia | OPSM | Saatchi & Saatchi/OMD | 138.6 |
| 2 | #LikeAGirl | Global | Always | Leo Burnett/Starcom MediaVest | 126.3 |
| 3 | Project Architeuthis | USA | America’s Navy | Campbell Ewald | 81.2 |
| 4 | Inglorious Fruits and Vegetables | France | Intermarché | Marcel | 69.9 |
| 5 | Live Test Series | Sweden | Volvo | Forsman & Bodenfors | 68.3 |
| 6 | If We Made It | USA | Newcastle Brown Ale | Droga5 | 66.4 |
| 7 | This is Wholesome | USA | Honey Maid | Droga5 | 59.9 |
| 8 | Share a Coke | Global | Coca Cola | Various | 59.5 |
| 9 | Kan Khajura Tesan | India | Hindustan Unilever | MullenLowe Lintas Group/PHD | 58.2 |
| 10 | I Will What I Want | USA | Under Armour | Droga5 | 53.5 |
There were a number of breakthrough brands cracking the top 10, including IKEA and Heineken, moving up the ladder to fourth place and sixth place, respectively.
Australia did us all proud when it scooped the world’s most effective campaign in ‘Penny the Pirate’. Two other Aussie campaigns made it into the top 20 ranking: ‘#SPCSunday’ for SPC by Leo Burnett, and ‘How to Drink Properly’ for DrinkWise by Clemenger BBDO and GALKAL.
https://youtu.be/QykqNuxPEFI?list=PLYCeFenz0u2JUCgMzJ24PxgeB2P3s8jxR
Saatchi & Saatchi Sydney, Leo Burnett Melbourne and Clemenger BBDO Melbourne all made the top 10 creative agencies globally, and OMD Sydney was the third ranked media agency globally.
Looking at this year’s top 100 campaigns, there are a number of themes that emerge:
1. Digital-led campaign are delivering business results
Many of the winning campaigns use digital elements to deliver scale: in all, 11 of the 20 top-ranked campaigns led with digital channels. Notable uses of digital include the ‘Live Test Series’ (ranked 5th) by Volvo Trucks – its YouTube video views of over 100 million reached far beyond the brand’s niche target audience of truck drivers and resulted in a 23 percent growth in sales in the fourth quarter of 2013.
2. More brands are using social activism extremely effectively to drive business
Pioneered by Unilever-owned brand Dove over the past decade (and sometimes dubbed “The Dove Effect”), marketers around the world have learnt that taking a socially progressive stance can help drive business impact.
This need for brands to be seen as good corporate citizens has informed many top-performing marketing strategies, as is reflected in several top 20-ranked campaigns including ‘#LikeAGirl’ (2nd), ‘Inglorious Fruits and Vegetables’ (4th), ‘I Will What I Want’ (10th), ‘Touch the Pickle’ (12th) and ‘This Girl Can’ (20th).
3. Procter & Gamble moves to No 1 advertiser globally
Procter & Gamble has improved its points total and ranking for each of the last three years and had nine campaigns in this year’s top 100, versus Unilever’s three.
According to the report, Procter & Gamble’s strong performance in the current Warc 100 reflects the company’s continuing ability to develop powerful advertising that gets people talking. While Unilever remains a very effective advertiser, the latest results raise questions about the potential impact of cost cuts on the development of breakthrough marketing ideas.
