Omnicom agencies put on dominant showing at Spikes Asia – BBDO ranked #1 network with DDB at #2; PHD named Media Network of the Year
Spikes Asia 2014 proved to be a big night for Omnicom Group agencies with two of their networks filling the top two positions in both Network of the Year and Media Network of the Year.
For the second time in three years BBDO was named Network of the Year at Spikes, with DDB coming second followed by Dentsu in third. Last year McCann Worldgroup beat all comers riding on the back of the McCann Melbourne’s “Dumb Ways To Die” phenomenon.
Omnicom also had the top two highest awarded media companies with PHD winning Media Network of the Year and OMD placing second. Starcom MediaVest Group placed third.
Dentsu Tokyo collected the Agency of the Year award following a strong performance that included five Grand Prix awards – four for ‘Sound of Honda / Ayrton Senna 1989’ for Honda Motor Co. A single Grand Prix award went to Mother Book and sister agency Dentsu Y&R Tokyo won the PR Grand Prix for Dole Banana. Runners up for Agency of the Year were DDB Group New Zealand, coming in second place and Y&R Beijing in third.
BBDO haul of 77 Spikes at the festival came from 13 different offices across the region. This included 3 Grand Prix, 3 Creative Effectiveness Spikes, 8 Golds, 29 Silvers and 34 Bronzes.
Chris Thomas, Chairman & CEO BBDO Asia, Middle East & Africa/Chairman Proximity Worldwide (left) said: “We are delighted that we are once again Spikes Network of the Year. Coming after Cannes Regional Network of the Year and Regional Network in the Global Effie Index this is a remarkable feat by the whole team across the region. Effectiveness is the objective; creativity is the strategy – the Work, the Work, the Work is working.”
BBDO’s best performers were: Clemenger BBDO Melbourne, Clemenger BBDO Wellington, Colenso BBDO Auckland, BBDO Pakistan and BBDO Proximity Singapore.
The star for Clemenger BBDO Melbourne was Tourism Victoria ‘Remote Control Tourist’ which scored 2 Grand Prix awards. The agency also was awarded 1 Gold, 7 Silvers and 4 Bronzes.
Clemenger BBDO Wellington picked up 4 Golds for New Zealand Transit Agency work, ‘Blazed’ and ‘Mistakes’ as part of their overall haul of 12 awards.
Colenso BBDO Auckland won 1 Grand Prix, 1 Gold, 2 Silvers, 4 Bronzes and 3 Creative Effectiveness Spikes.
In a coup for the country, BBDO Pakistan’s Reprive Foundation’s ‘Not a Bug Splat’ campaign won 3 Silvers and 7 Bronzes. BBDO Proximity Singapore won 1 Gold, 4 Silvers and 3 Bronzes Spikes for their highly awarded Guinness print campaign and their ‘World Under Water’ interactive campaign. KFC’s ‘Phone Stack’ via BBDO Proximity Malaysia was also a strong performer with 1 Gold, 2 Silver and 2 Bronze Spikes.
DDB’s network haul of Spikes totaled 47 trophies made up of 7 Gold, 16 Silver and 24 Bronze.
Their biggest performer by far was DDB New Zealand who picked up five golds, 11 silvers and 10 bronze awards. The most decorated campaigns were SKY ‘Bring Down the King’ and Paw Justice ‘Animal Strike’. Steinlager picked up gongs for ‘Be the Artist’ in the print category and the more recent, ‘Born to Defy’ in film.
Says Shane Bradnick, executive creative director, DDB: “We’re blown away by the results. We thought third place for Asia-Pacific Agency of the Year in 2013 was an incredible achievement so it’s great we’ve moved even higher up the ranks. Being the most awarded agency in New Zealand and Australia is a phenomenal success and it’s great our deserving team is recognised.”
PHD’s Media Network of the Year award (pictured on stage) came after a performance which included 2 Gold’s, 1 Silver, 1 Bronze from their seven shortlisted awards.
Susana Tsui, CEO, PHD APAC, said: “I’m excited and proud to hold the newly created title of Media Network of the Year. It is reflective of the change in the practice of communications where the industry and clients demand media and creative agencies alike to innovate and strive for creative excellence. As we celebrate this phenomenal result, the entire PHD team is enthused to charge ahead to raise the bar in delivering even better work for our clients.”