BCW has taken the top spot in the 2020 edition of the Global Creative Index, marking the first time that the WPP PR firm has ranked first in PRovoke Media’s annual benchmark of creativity in the public relations world.
The ninth edition of the Global Creative Index analyses entries and winners from more than 25 PR, digital, and marketing award programs from around the world over a 12-month period, up to the 2020 Global SABRE Awards. The formula takes into account the expansion of ‘public relations’ work across multiple categories at advertising-oriented shows such as the Cannes Lions, although several of these competitions did not take place this year.
BCW’s performance was powered by a range of work from across its global network, including award-winning campaigns for Boehringer Ingelheim, Coca-Cola, Huawei, Lenzing, the NBA, and Tencel—with much of the work originating from its Asia-Pacific, EMEA, and LatAm markets.
BCW moves up from second in 2019, ahead of Edelman and Ketchum, with just four points separating the top three this year. Edelman jumps from fourth, benefiting from campaigns for Causes for Animals Singapore, Coop, Gerber, and Unilever, among others. Ketchum, meanwhile, stays third, supported by campaigns for Gillette, Mastercard, and Wendy’s.
Weber Shandwick, which ranked first in 2019 for the fourth time in five years, drops to fourth in 2020, ahead of Ogilvy and Dentsu—neither of which change positions. There is a major leap for Golin, up from 21st last year to seventh in 2020, while Fleishman-Hillard, H+K Strategies, and ICF are next to round out the top ten.
Once again, the top of the overall agency table is dominated by global PR networks, thanks to their volume of awards.
However, an alternative measure of agency creativity comes from weighting agency scores according to their staff size. Accordingly, PRovoke Media has again used a points per head calculation to identify which are, ‘pound for pound’, the most creative PR agencies in the world.
In 2020, this title is taken by Nigerian firm Image Merchants, thanks to campaigns for the Nigerian Air Force, the Nigeria Comms Commission, and the Nigerian Customs Service. Finland’s Kurio ranks second, moving up from third in 2019, with Brazil’s Sherlock Communications dropping from second last year to fourth.
In third spot is US firm Joy Collective, thanks to its Crown Act campaign for Dove, while Romania’s Rogalski Damaschin moves up from ninth to fifth.
The geographic diversity of the weighted table again stands out. In addition to Nigeria, Finland, Brazil and Romania in the top five, there are also firms from Australia (CampaignLab), South Africa (Tribeca), Slovakia (Seesame), Singapore (AKA Asia and IN.FOM), Norway (Trigger) and Peru (Orange 360). Three firms from the UK also make the top 15, led by The Romans, up to eighth from 15th last year.
To better rank agencies against their peers, the weighted table is also segmented along regional lines, producing top five rankings for North America, EMEA and Asia-Pacific, as follows:
