Gunn Report, the global index of excellence in advertising, has released the results of the 2018 Gunn Media 100, a global ranking of the world’s most awarded and applauded campaigns and companies based on their performance in media competitions around the world.
Gunn Report, now part of WARC, tracks the winners’ lists of close to 30 of the most important global, regional and national media awards shows to compile Gunn Media 100 – a list of the 100 best campaigns for creativity and innovation in media, along with the best-performing agencies, networks, holding companies, brands, advertisers and countries.
The highest-ranked campaign in the Gunn Media 100 is McDonald’s ‘Capacity Based McDelivery’ by OMD Singapore. To maintain competitive advantages, McDonald’s promoted its delivery service McDelivery in Singapore in partnership with Google. By integrating McDonald’s first-party data with Google’s hyper-local targeting, they maximised media cost efficiency and managed consumer expectations of delivery time through tailored messages, mapping real-time restaurant data against paid search spends via a live API.
Stephen Li, CEO of OMD APAC, said: “To have our work for McDonald’s recognised as best of the best globally, is testament to our unwavering commitment and relentless focus on helping our clients’ leading brands continue to cut-through with data-driven creativity. This recognition motivates us to continue our drive in helping brands make better decisions, faster. The ‘Capacity Based McDelivery’ campaign is the perfect example of this in practice, leveraging real-time data to generate fresh growth for a market-leading brand in a highly competitive category. I could not be more proud of this achievement, and all the other great work coming out of OMD Singapore. It only inspires us to continue raising the bar even further still for our clients.”
Three themes have emerged from the world’s top campaigns for media excellence:
- Data is driving fresh media thinking. The top campaign is built around smart use of data. This is a recurring theme in the rankings, as brands look to harness multiple data sources to deliver competitive advantage.
- An event-led strategy helps brands stand out. As brands struggle to be heard in a fragmented media landscape, there is a growing focus on ‘events’ such as Super Bowl, US Presidential debates, and Olympics, that can draw a crowd and interest from the press.
- Partnerships are central to youth-focused media strategy. Partnerships with organisations or individuals that bring their own reach are now a key element of media strategy, particularly for brands targeting younger demographics.
MediaCom London claims first place in the Gunn Media 100 agency rankings with four campaigns ranked in the top 100: ‘Best Day Of My Life’ for Shell (#6), ‘Singing Our Way To The Top Of The Box Office’ for Universal Pictures’ Sing (#22), ‘Missing Type’ for NHS Blood & Transplant (#30) and ‘Dark To Light’ for Gucci Guilty (#77=).
MediaCom is the top-ranked network with eight agencies from around the world – Auckland, Bogota, Dusseldorf, London, Mumbai, Melbourne, Mexico City, New York – contributing to the network’s poll position.
For the first time Gunn Media 100 has included a ranking of holding companies. WPP tops the leader board, with three of its networks – MediaCom, Mindshare Worldwide and Wavemaker – ranked in the top 10.
Nike takes first position as the top brand with four campaigns featured in the top 100, all from the US. And Unilever tops the Advertiser’s ranking by a significant margin.
The US dominates the rankings with 30 campaigns in the top 100, 12 of which feature in the top 20. UK is second with 11 campaigns. Australia and India follow. In total, 24 countries are represented.
Commenting on the results of Gunn Media 100, Emma Wilkie, managing director of Gunn Report, says: “Hot on the heels of the recently published Gunn 100 ranking for creative excellence and the WARC 100 index for effectiveness, the newly launched Gunn Media 100 benchmarks media creativity and innovation as well as highlighting media trends based on an independent global analysis.
“We’re seeing that the smart use of data, event-led strategies and partnerships that provide new consumer reach are the main themes currently driving the media industry forward offering new and exciting opportunities in the market place.”
The full Gunn Media 100 rankings – including the world’s top 100 campaigns for media excellence, top 50 agencies, networks, brands, advertisers, countries and top holding companies as well as commentaries, the work and credits – are available by subscription on www.warc.com/gunnreport.
