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<p>THE JUPITER DRAWING Room and TBWA Hunt Lascaris were this week named jointly as AdReview agencies of the decade. Though the judges agreed a split decision wasn't the perfect solution they were unable to reach agreement on a single winner. Hunt Lascaris was the dominant agency of the first six years of the decade, heading the creative league table in five years and placed second in another, twice winning agency of the year and making the running as South Africa's most successful agency business. It then went into a slump, falling to a low point of 11th in the creative league and would have blown its chances of winning the decade accolade were it not for last year's stunning comeback with its Zimbabwean trillion dollar billboard. </p>
<p>Its Zimbabwean campaign was made up of a single idea - that it's cheaper to make a billboard out of depreciated Zimbabwean currency than out of paper or normal billboard facings - illustrating how its economy has been brought to the point of collapse. But it was an idea so big it turned the campaign into one of the largest in the world last year. The campaign was run for an exile newspaper - The Zimbabwean. </p>
<p>Jupiter, for its part, has had a decade of spectacular growth that took it from a national size ranking of 10th (in 2000) to fourth by the end of the period. It was also at the centre of some of the most talked-about events of the period, including the "Perfect storm" - when it won more than a billion rand's worth of new billings from three accounts in two weeks of frenzied pitching - and the widely acclaimed deal of the decade, when it sold 49% of its equity to WPP group. Though Jupiter has won an admirable reputation for its creativity, its greatest successes have been more about the business. </p>
<p>The awards were presented at the AdReview awards on Wednesday, 21 April when the publication Tony Koenderman's AdReview was released to a pre-publication audience of 600 movers and shakers from SA's advertising and marketing industry. </p>
<p>The other major award - Ad Agency of the Year - was presented to Ogilvy Johannesburg, which was considered to have the best combination of business and professional performance. </p>
<p>Three other agencies were considered contenders for Agency of the Decade. Few would dispute Ogilvy South Africa is the current number one, a supremely professional, well-founded outfit producing winning work in all disciplines. But Ogilvy wasn't in the same position of strength in the early half of the decade. </p>
<p>Another strong contender was Net#work BBDO Johannesburg, a high-flier responsible for many groundbreaking ideas that regularly punched above its weight creatively. However, its founding partners have relocated to Cape Town, leaving the Johannesburg agency in a rebuilding phase. </p>
<p>Draftfcb has been a regular near the top of the agency size table for decades and is still a solid, safe place to entrust your advertising. It's a star at producing likeable, South African-themed advertising but hasn't produced the results to match its rivals.
<p>Its Zimbabwean campaign was made up of a single idea - that it's cheaper to make a billboard out of depreciated Zimbabwean currency than out of paper or normal billboard facings - illustrating how its economy has been brought to the point of collapse. But it was an idea so big it turned the campaign into one of the largest in the world last year. The campaign was run for an exile newspaper - The Zimbabwean. </p>
<p>Jupiter, for its part, has had a decade of spectacular growth that took it from a national size ranking of 10th (in 2000) to fourth by the end of the period. It was also at the centre of some of the most talked-about events of the period, including the "Perfect storm" - when it won more than a billion rand's worth of new billings from three accounts in two weeks of frenzied pitching - and the widely acclaimed deal of the decade, when it sold 49% of its equity to WPP group. Though Jupiter has won an admirable reputation for its creativity, its greatest successes have been more about the business. </p>
<p>The awards were presented at the AdReview awards on Wednesday, 21 April when the publication Tony Koenderman's AdReview was released to a pre-publication audience of 600 movers and shakers from SA's advertising and marketing industry. </p>
<p>The other major award - Ad Agency of the Year - was presented to Ogilvy Johannesburg, which was considered to have the best combination of business and professional performance. </p>
<p>Three other agencies were considered contenders for Agency of the Decade. Few would dispute Ogilvy South Africa is the current number one, a supremely professional, well-founded outfit producing winning work in all disciplines. But Ogilvy wasn't in the same position of strength in the early half of the decade. </p>
<p>Another strong contender was Net#work BBDO Johannesburg, a high-flier responsible for many groundbreaking ideas that regularly punched above its weight creatively. However, its founding partners have relocated to Cape Town, leaving the Johannesburg agency in a rebuilding phase. </p>
<p>Draftfcb has been a regular near the top of the agency size table for decades and is still a solid, safe place to entrust your advertising. It's a star at producing likeable, South African-themed advertising but hasn't produced the results to match its rivals.
