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Johannesburg - Which is South Africa's most successful winner of creative awards?
The answer is not as simple as you may think. Based on the creative league table published in AdReview recently, the top group is The Jupiter Drawing Room & Partners (comprising five agencies), and the top individual agency is Ogilvy Johannesburg.
But in relation to size, measuring points per head of staff, FoxP2 far outstrips its rivals.
The discrepancies can be large. FoxP2 is only sixth in total points. There's an even bigger variation at KingJames Johannesburg (second per capita, 13th in total points), while Ogilvy Joburg is top in points, but 10th per capita. KingJames Cape Town is near the top of both rankings.
The table shows two of these rankings: points per head and points per agency.
The size of the agency clearly has an influence on the ranking. Big agencies have more staff and more clients and more potential for total awards than small agencies. But small agencies generally have less support staff, and a higher percentage of creatives.
But one must exercise caution in examining these figures. The employment numbers are at a single point in time (the year-end), whereas the creative scores are achieved over the full duration of the year. The average number employed in the agencies over the year may be different.
And as FoxP2 pointed out in its submission, it has geared up its staffing and employed freelances to handle extra business, so that its effective staffing number is actually 18. On this basis, its point-count per head comes down to 161, but is still the highest.
The AdReview creative table ranks agencies by creative points earned in worthwhile international advertising competitions. Both the point system and the accredited awards events are based, with some modifications, on the Creative Circle's system, which it has abandoned.
We have applied the same points to the various awards: 1 000 for a Cannes Grand Prix, 600 for a Loerie Grand Prix, 500 for a Clio Gold, and so on. But unlike the CC, we have tabulated points for individual agencies as well as groups. Where two agencies have collaborated to win an award, each receives half the points allocated.
We have not allocated points for "campaign elements", or for Ads of the Month. The result is that our totals differ from those of the Creative Circle.
- Fin24.com
