The global effectiveness rankings
Welcome to the WARC 100
The WARC 100 is an annual ranking of
the world’s best marketing campaigns and
companies, based on their performance in
effectiveness competitions. It is produced by
Gunn Report, now part of WARC.
Themes from the top effectiveness campaigns 3
Top campaigns for effectiveness 4
About the top campaigns 5
Top agencies for effectiveness 9
Top media agencies for effectiveness 10
Top digital / specialist agencies for effectiveness 11
Top agency networks for effectiveness 12
Top agency holding companies for effectiveness 13
Top brands for effectiveness 14
Top advertisers for effectiveness 15
Top countries for effectiveness 16
About the WARC 100 17
More from Gunn Report 18
Themes from the top effectiveness campaigns
1
Purpose is effective when
brands have a credible role
Three purpose-driven campaigns appear in the
top 10 in a year that saw purpose-driven marketing
also dominate the creative rankings. Whirlpool's
'Care Counts', 'Imagine the Possibilities' for
Barbie and 'Dads #ShareTheLoad' for Ariel are all
examples of the commercial success that can be
driven when a brand's purpose is intrinsically linked
to its product.
3 WARC 100: The global effectiveness rankings
2
Strategies with PR baked
in are becoming the norm
PR-led strategies have become commonplace
in the WARC 100, and have done particularly
well this year. Three campaigns in the top 10 use
this approach, where the creative and channel
strategy revolve around a highly PR-able element;
often a real-world product or event designed to
generate headlines. 'Meet Graham', Burger King's
'McWhopper Proposal' and 'Van Gogh BnB' all
used this strategy to drive brand awareness and
increase sales.
3
New takes on long-term ideas
Several of the highly effective initiatives in the
WARC 100 are based on reworking or evolving long-
term campaign ideas. This year’s top campaign,
'Dads #ShareTheLoad', is an evolution of last year’s
winning campaign. Snickers’ 'Hungerithm', the
John Lewis Christmas campaigns, and Always’ 'Girl
Emojis' all rank highly. They show how blockbuster
ideas can be intelligently followed up, with brands
investing in long-term strategies rather than quick
wins for immediate gain.
© Copyright WARC 2018. All rights reserved.
Top campaigns for effectiveness

Top 10 campaigns in the WARC 100

Campaign title Brand Primary Agency Product category Location Points

1 Dads #ShareTheLoad Ariel BBDO Mumbai Household & Domestic India 127.1

Swedish Tourist
2 The Swedish Number INGO Stockholm Transport & tourism Sweden 95.4
Association

Ketchum Chicago /
3 Care Counts Whirlpool Technology & Electronics US 84.6
DigitasLBi Chicago

Non-profit, public sector

4 Meet Graham Transport Accident Commission Clemenger BBDO Melbourne Australia 82.5
& education

Y&R Auckland / DAVID Miami /

5= The McWhopper Proposal Burger King Retail US 80.7
Code and Theory San Francisco

Leo Burnett/Arc Chicago / Starcom

5= Van Gogh BnB Art Institute of Chicago Leisure & Entertainment US 80.7
Chicago / Spark Foundry Chicago

7 Hungerithm Snickers Clemenger BBDO Melbourne Food Australia 78.9

John Lewis adam&eveDDB London /

8 John Lewis Retail UK 78.4
Christmas Campaigns Manning Gottlieb OMD London

Non-profit, public sector

9 Reword Reword Leo Burnett Melbourne Australia 72.2
& education

BBDO San Francisco /

10 Imagine the Possibilities Barbie Leisure & entertainment US 70.0
BBDO New York / Starcom Chicago

View full rankings on the WARC 100 website

4 WARC 100: The global effectiveness rankings © Copyright WARC 2018. All rights reserved.
About the top campaigns
Ariel Matic, Procter & Gamble’s
1. DADS #SHARETHELOAD premium laundry detergent brand,
built on its previous ‘Share the
Brand: Ariel Load’ campaign by persuading
Agency: BBDO Mumbai dads to do more laundry in order
Country: India to promote gender equality.
Having raised the issue of gender
equality at home, the brand wanted
to help start solving the issue. A film
played online, in cinemas and on TV
told the story of a father realising
how his behaviour reinforced gender
inequality, and setting a better
example for his children by doing
laundry. The message was spread
further by a comic book character,
new packaging, and PR. Ariel Matic
generated a 42% increase in unaided
brand awareness, $12.3 million
in earned media coverage, and
conversations on social media and
sales growth of 111%, exceeded the
boosts given by previous campaigns.
VIEW FULL CASE STUDY
5 WARC 100: The global effectiveness rankings
2. THE SWEDISH NUMBER
Brand: Swedish Tourist Association
Agency: INGO Stockholm
Country: Sweden
The Swedish Tourist Association
(STF), which manages hotels
and hostels across Sweden,
increased its membership among
Swedes by helping them feel
more proud of their country.
Research showed that Swedes
only expressed pride in their
country when talking to foreigners,
so it created a mobile app which
allowed people from abroad to
call ‘The Swedish Number’ and be
connected with an ordinary Swede
for a conversation about anything
from the best hiking route to how
to survive the Swedish winter. The
Swedish Number was promoted in
Sweden, the UK and the US through
a purely PR-driven approach. More
than 32,000 Swedes signed up to
take the more than 200,000 calls that
came in from abroad, helping STF
boost its renewal figures and attract
new members.
VIEW FULL CASE STUDY
© Copyright WARC 2018. All rights reserved.
About the top campaigns
This campaign from Whirlpool
3. CARE COUNTS focused on boosting school
attendance in the US by
Brand: Whirlpool tackling the problem of children
Agency: DigitasLBi Chicago, missing school because they
Ketchum Chicago did not have clean clothes.
Country: US
In the knowledge that 1 in 5 children
in the US struggles with access
to clean clothes, the appliances
manufacturer installed washers and
dryers in 17 schools. Volunteers
collected, washed and returned
clothes to participating students.
Attendance tracking data showed
that the attendance of more than
90% of the participants increased,
as well as growing their motivation
and participation in class. The
program has been expanded to
nearly 60 schools across the US.
VIEW FULL CASE STUDY
6 WARC 100: The global effectiveness rankings
The Transport Accident
4. MEET GRAHAM Commission (TAC), a social insurer
and road safety educator in
Brand: Transport Australia, created ‘Graham’, an
Accident Commission interactive sculpture, to show what
Agency: Clemenger humans would need to evolve into
BBDO Melbourne in order to survive a car crash.
Country: Australia
TAC aimed to start a conversation
about how vulnerable the human
body is to the impact forces of car
crashes, so together with a trauma
surgeon, a crash expert and an
artist, created Graham, a life-size
interactive sculpture. He has a
bigger, stronger skull than a normal
human, and knees that can move in
all direction.
The campaign amassed 31 million
views of the video introducing
Graham and generated more than
2,500 local and national broadcast
news pieces.
VIEW FULL CASE STUDY
© Copyright WARC 2018. All rights reserved.
About the top campaigns

=5. THE MCWHOPPER PROPOSAL
Brand: Burger King
Agency: Y&R Auckland,
DAVID Miami, Code and
Theory San Francisco
Country: US
Burger King, the fast food chain,
increased sales by proposing
a partnership with its main
competitor, McDonald’s, to create
a new burger mash-up in the US.
Burger King was lagging behind
McDonald’s so it took out a full-page
ad in two major newspapers and
outdoor ads featuring olive branches
and white doves to challenge its rival
to join it and create the ‘McWhopper’.
Though McDonald’s declined the
offer, other rivals agreed and Burger
King create a five brand ‘peace
burger’, helping to boost positive
brand impressions by 61% and
burger sales by 12.4%.
VIEW FULL CASE STUDY
=5. VAN GOGH BNB
Brand: Art Institute of Chicago
Agency: Leo Burnett/
Arc Chicago, Starcom Chicago,
Spark Foundry Chicago
Country: US
The Art Institute of Chicago
partnered with AirBnB, the
short-term lettings platform, to
launch a new Van Gogh exhibit
and attract an audience beyond
the usual art enthusiasts.
Perceived by many as un-
approachable and irrelevant, the
art museum wanted to grow the
audience to increase visitors and
profits. Its strategy was to bring
Van Gogh’s 1888 bedroom painting
to life, inviting people to book to
stay in the room through AirBnB.
‘Van Gogh’s Bedrom’ became the
Art Institute of Chicago’s highest
attended exhibit in 15 years with a
total attendance of almost 434,000,
beating business target by 66%.

VIEW FULL CASE STUDY

7 WARC 100: The global effectiveness rankings © Copyright WARC 2018. All rights reserved.
About the top campaigns
7. HUNGERITHM
Brand: Snickers
Agency: Clemenger
BBDO Melbourne
Country: Australia
Snickers partnered with 7-Eleven in
Australia to build on its successful
‘You’re not you when you’re hungry’
campaign, with ‘Hungerithm’,
which monitored sentiment on
Twitter and lowered the price of
Snickers according to mood.
VIEW FULL CASE STUDY
8 WARC 100: The global effectiveness rankings
8. JOHN LEWIS
CHRISTMAS CAMPAIGNS
Brand: John Lewis
Agency: adam&eveDDB London,
Manning Gottlieb OMD London
Country: UK
John Lewis has successfully
used emotional storytelling in
a series of Christmas ads using
product-free storytelling to build
a connection with consumers
and grow its market share
to 29.6% over four years.
VIEW FULL CASE STUDY
9. REWORD
Brand: Reword
Agency: Leo Burnett
Melbourne
Country: Australia
Headspace, a meditation
mobile app, launched a new
app in Australia to help
children understand the
impact of emotional bullying,
and reduced the incidence
of online bullying by 10%.
VIEW FULL CASE STUDY
10. IMAGINE THE POSSIBILITIES
Brand: Barbie
Agency: BBDO New York, BBDO
San Francisco, Starcom Chicago
Country: USA
Barbie, the toy brand, reversed
declining sales in the US with
a social media campaign
repositioning the doll as a vehicle
for empowerment of young girls.
VIEW FULL CASE STUDY
© Copyright WARC 2018. All rights reserved.
Top agencies for effectiveness

Top 10 creative agencies in the WARC 100 Commentary

Rank Last year Agency Location Points
Australia's Clemenger BBDO tops the table for
1 10 Clemenger BBDO Melbourne, Australia 186.6 the first time this year with work on two top 10
campaigns; 'Meet Graham' and 'Hungerithm'.
2 11 Colenso BBDO Auckland, New Zealand 174.2 New Zealand's Colenso BBDO follows in
second, with work on Burger King and DB Export
3 6 BBDO New York, US 139.8 contributing to their score. Last year’s top
agency, adam&eveDDB, falls to ninth.
4 3 BBDO Mumbai, India 124.9
BBDO agencies make up the top four
5 32 Droga5 New York, US 114.9 agencies, contributing to their ranking
as the top agency network.
6 39 FCB Chicago, US 114.8
MDC Partners’ Anomaly New York entered
the top 50 for the first time this year after a
7 12 McCann New York, US 114.2
strong 2017.
8 New* Anomaly New York, US 113.2 2018 sees a strong showing from US agencies,
with six of the top 10 based in either New York
9 1 adam&eveDDB London, UK 112.3
or Chicago.

10 16 Grey New York, US 98.1

View full rankings on the WARC 100 website *New = outside the top 50

9 WARC 100: The global effectiveness rankings © Copyright WARC 2018. All rights reserved.
Top media agencies for effectiveness

Top 10 media agencies in the WARC 100 Commentary

Rank Last year Agency Location Points
Starcom Chicago has returned to the top of
1 4 Starcom Chicago, US 269.6 the media agencies ranking this year after losing
out to the network’s New York office for the first
2 7 Mindshare Istanbul, Turkey 86.3 time last year. With almost triple the points of
the second-placed agency, it was a clear winner
3 6 Spark Foundry Chicago, US 77.9 this year.

4 New* PHD Shanghai, China 76.4 PHD Shanghai entered the top 10 for the first
time this year after a previous highest rank of
5 5 Manning Gottlieb OMD London, UK 65.5 14 in 2015.

Mindshare Istanbul’s work with a range of top

6 39 UM New York, US 64.9
advertisers including Unilever, Vodafone and
Nestlé brought them into second place this year.
7 46 Starcom London, UK 54.8

8 New* MullenLowe MediaHub Boston, US 53.2

9 New* Blue 449 London, UK 51.1

10 New* MediaCom Chicago, US 49.2

View full rankings on the WARC 100 website *New = outside the top 50

10 WARC 100: The global effectiveness rankings © Copyright WARC 2018. All rights reserved.
Top digital / specialist agencies for effectiveness

Top 10 digital / specialist agencies in the WARC 100 Commentary

Rank Last year Agency Location Points
Eight of the top 10 digital/specialist agencies
1 15 DigitasLBi Chicago, US 90.7 are from the US, with Chicago-based agencies
making up the top three.
2 New* Ketchum Chicago, US 84.6
Participation in Whirlpool’s 'Care Counts'
3 New* Leo Burnett/Arc Worldwide Chicago, US 79.9 campaign contributed to DigitasLBi and Ketchum
holding first and second places respectively.
4 New* Weber Shandwick New York, US 54.4 Ketchum was one of four re-entrants to the top 50
this year, alongside Leo Burnett/Arc Worldwide,
5 7 Team Unilever Shopper New York, US 51.1
Weber Shandwick and Momentum Prague.
6 5 Edelman New York, US 48.9 R/GA agencies had a strong year, with their
London and New York agencies in seventh and
7 40 R/GA London, UK 48.4 eighth respectively.

8 3 R/GA New York, US 44.5

9 16 MSLGroup New York, US 40.3

10 New* Momentum Prague, Czech Republic 39.9

View full rankings on the WARC 100 website *New = outside the top 50

11 WARC 100: The global effectiveness rankings © Copyright WARC 2018. All rights reserved.
Top agency networks for effectiveness

Top 10 agency networks in the WARC 100 Commentary

Rank Last year Network Holding company Points
BBDO Worldwide remain as the most awarded
1 1 BBDO Worldwide Omnicom Group 1454.9 network, having retained this rank since
the WARC100 began in 2014. Its agencies
2 2 Ogilvy & Mather Advertising WPP 738.0 contributed to four of the top 10 and 19 of the
top 100 campaigns.
3 3 McCann Worldgroup Interpublic Group 699.1
DDB Worldwide was the most improved network
4 7 DDB Worldwide Omnicom Group 553.4 in fourth place compared to last year’s seventh.

Only one network was outside of the top 10 last

5 5 OMD Worldwide Omnicom Group 536.4
year; Mindshare Worldwide moved into tenth
place, while J. Walter Thompson dropped from
6 6 Leo Burnett Publicis Groupe 505.8
ninth to twelfth.
7 8 TBWA Worldwide Omnicom Group 494.4

8 4 Starcom Publicis Groupe 466.0

9 10 Grey WPP 424.9

10 12 Mindshare Worldwide WPP 370.4

View full rankings on the WARC 100 website

12 WARC 100: The global effectiveness rankings © Copyright WARC 2018. All rights reserved.
Top agency holding companies for effectiveness

Top 10 holding companies in the WARC 100 Commentary

Rank Last year Holding company Points
For the first time since 2014, Omnicom Group
1 2 Omnicom Group 3472.7 is the most awarded holding company, knocking
WPP off the top spot. Omnicom Group owns four
2 1 WPP 3220.6 of the top 10 agency networks.

3 3 Interpublic Group 2157.2 After overtaking Publicis Groupe for the first
time last year, Interpublic Group has retained
4 4 Publicis Groupe 1944.1 their third position for a second year.

At the bottom of the table, Enero Group (owner

5 5 Dentsu 425.5
of creative agency BMF) overtook BlueFocus,
and Hakuhodo DY Group re-entered the table
6 6 Havas 366.2
in tenth place.
7 7 MDC Partners 251.4

8 9 Enero Group 73.4

9 8 BlueFocus 62.6

10 New* Hakuhodo DY Group 16.3

View full rankings on the WARC 100 website *New = outside the top 50

13 WARC 100: The global effectiveness rankings © Copyright WARC 2018. All rights reserved.
Top brands for effectiveness

Top 10 brands in the WARC 100 Commentary

Rank Last year Brand Sector Points
Burger King improved its ranking by 30 places
1 31 Burger King Retail 153.3 to reach the top brand rank this year, with the
'McWhopper Proposal' campaign in the top 10,
2 2 Ariel Household & Domestic 127.1 and another campaign, 'Backyard Burger King', in
the top 100.
3 6 Mastercard Financial Services 120.8
The continuing performance of Ariel’s 'Share
4 New* IBM Business & Industrial 103.6 the Load' campaign has contributed to the
brand retaining its second place.
5 1 Vodafone Telecoms & utilities 101.1
Coca-Cola has dropped out of the top 10 for the
first time since the WARC 100 began in 2014.
6 9 Snickers Food 100.2
Two brands have entered the top 50 for the
7 New* Swedish Tourist Association Transport & tourism 95.4 first time through strong top 10 campaign
performances; the Swedish Tourist Association
8 New* Audi Automotive 89.7 and Whirlpool.

9 New* Whirlpool Technology & Electronics 89.3 Burger King, Mastercard, IBM, Snickers
and Audi all had their highest ever ranking.
10 8 McDonald's Retail 88.8

View full rankings on the WARC 100 website *New = outside the top 50

14 WARC 100: The global effectiveness rankings © Copyright WARC 2018. All rights reserved.
Top advertisers for effectiveness

Top 10 advertisers in the WARC 100 Commentary

Rank Last year Advertiser Location Points
Unilever was the most effective advertiser for
1 2 Unilever Netherlands/UK 505.0 the third time. Last year's leader, Procter &
Gamble, dropped to fourth. Unilever had four
2 4 PepsiCo US 398.6 campaigns in the top 100, with a further 50
campaigns across all competitions contributing
3 7 Mars US 339.0 to its tally.

4 1 Procter & Gamble US 327.9 PepsiCo equalled its best ever performance in
second, followed by Mars, also with its best ever
5 5 Heineken Netherlands 265.3 performance in third.

The Coca-Cola Company has dropped out

6 17 Anheuser-Busch InBev Belgium/Brazil 192.0
of the top 10 for the first time.
7 3 Nestlé Switzerland 191.7 Heineken remains the top alcoholics
drinks company, but a strong showing from
8 New* Restaurant Brands International US 167.6 Anheuser-Busch InBev sees it move just behind
Heineken in sixth place.
9 20 Volkswagen Group Germany 143.9
The only new entrant into the top 50 advertisers
10 40 L'Oréal France 138.1 is Restaurant Brands International, boosted by
Burger King’s top brand ranking.

View full rankings on the WARC 100 website *New = outside the top 50

15 WARC 100: The global effectiveness rankings © Copyright WARC 2018. All rights reserved.
Top countries for effectiveness

Top 10 country rankings in the WARC 100 Commentary

Rank Last year Country Points
36 of the top 100 campaigns came from
1 1 US 3360.1 the US, compared to 12 from the UK and
12 from Australia.
2 2 UK 1478.3
Despite only having six campaigns in the top
3 4 Australia 949.9 100, New Zealand entered the top five countries
this year through strong performances by
4 3 India 630.8 Colenso BBDO for brands including Burger
King, DB Export and Bank of New Zealand.
5 6 New Zealand 531.8
Last year’s fifth-placed country, China,
dropped out of the top 10 for the first time.
6 7 Colombia 474.4

7 10 Canada 456.3

8 8 Turkey 418.9

9 12 Brazil 405.7

10 11 Argentina 403.6

View full rankings on the WARC 100 website

16 WARC 100: The global effectiveness rankings © Copyright WARC 2018. All rights reserved.
About the WARC 100
The WARC 100 is now part of the Gunn Report,
which tracks the winners' lists from all the most
important advertising award contests, everywhere
in the world. The results of effectiveness
competitions are used to compile the WARC 100
– a list of the top 100 campaigns for effectiveness,
along with the best-performing agencies,
networks, holding companies, brands, advertisers
and countries.
To learn more, visit the site for this year’s rankings.
17 WARC 100: The global effectiveness rankings
How we built the rankings
The WARC 100 rankings are built on
a rigorous methodology, developed
in consultation with Douglas West,
Professor of Marketing at King’s
College London. The methodology
is applied consistently across all
competitions we track. First, a
list of relevant competitions was
compiled. Campaigns that won
awards in those competitions were
awarded points based on the level
of award they won (Gold, Silver,
Bronze, etc). Those points are then
weighted according to the standing
of each competition in the global
marketing industry. The calculation
includes data from:
P
 lanner Poll: WARC has
conducted a survey of over 100
senior agency planners and
strategists to gauge which of the
competitions we track are viewed
as most prestigious or rigorous.
Winners at the most-cited awards
schemes are given extra weighting
in the final rankings.
Size of market: WARC takes into
account how much of the global
advertising market the eligibility
for each competition represents.
It is able to do this using WARC’s
comprehensive adspend data
resources, which includes analysis
by channel and by geography.
A campaign’s ‘score’ reflects the sum
of all the weighted points attributed
to it from different competitions. We
have also collated information on
the agencies behind the campaigns
(including, where they have been
listed, contributing agencies), and,
where possible, the authors of the
campaign case studies.
© Copyright WARC 2018. All rights reserved.
More from Gunn Report
Gunn Report is the global index
of excellence in advertising.
It identifies the most awarded
and applauded creative ideas
in the world and their creators.
It currently offers the following
rankings:
G
 unn 100 ranking – the world’s
most creative advertising ideas
(formerly The Gunn Report
rankings, which have run every
year since 1999).
W
 ARC 100 ranking – the world’s
best advertising based on
performance in strategy and
effectiveness awards.
As well as the full rankings,
subscription to the Gunn Contact Gunn Report
Report site includes access to
a searchable library of more Emma Wilkie Follow Us
than 5,000 creative campaigns, Managing Director
commentaries and proprietary +44 (0) 20 7467 8156
research. emma@gunnreport.com
The Gunn Report was founded
by Donald Gunn in 1999, after a Contact WARC
career of more than 30 years at Leo
Burnett. In 2016 it became part of London Washington DC
WARC, an online service offering 85 Newman Street 2233 Wisconsin Ave NW
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