For more strategy resources sign up to Planning Dirty at https://www.planningdirty.com/newsletter A common problem for planners moving markets is understanding the best agencies to work for. With a great list of international planners in the Planning Dirty newsletter group I thought I would ask the planners who they thought was the best agency to work for. I compiled the first 10 agencies for the shortlist by analyzing the planning (IPA, Effies, Jay Chiats) and creative awards (Gunn Report) from the last three year looking at the agencies that consistently perform well. I am making a shortlist of 20, so would love to get recommendations on agencies that you think should make the list. Next week on the newsletter through an anonymous vote, I’ll put out the poll and report back the results. Sign up to the Planning Dirty newsletter to vote and get the best planning tools and resources fortnightly. bit.ly/PlanningDirty

1. TOP PLANNING DEPTS
IN ADVERTISING

2. METHODOLOGY
Analyzing the Gunn Report, Effies, Jay Chiat, and IPA
awards from the last 3 years these were the top
agencies from around the world.
Next week on the Planning Dirty newsletter I am
going to get an anonymous vote for the what
planners think is the best agency to work at for
planning.

3. DROGA5 NEW YORK
Droga5 New York in the last 5 years crossed over
from small independent agency to being one of
the biggest agencies in New York.
Planning has been at the center of the agency
process however they keep a low profile in the
media when it comes talking about what they do.
However the results speak for themselves they
have had a good showing at the Jay Chiat’s
winning across categories from Under Armour I
Will What I Want, Airwick ‘Home Is In The Air’,
Newcastle Brown Ale ‘If We Made It’, to the
Clinton Foundation ‘Not There’.
CSO JONNY BAUER

4. AMV BBDO LONDON
AMV consistently have a great showing in the IPA
awards which arguably are the most rigorous
planning awards globally.
Last year they were able to pick up awards at the
IPA for Snickers, Guinness, Pepsi, Sainsbury.
Equalling the number of awards with Agency of
the Year DDB Adam&Eve
JOINT CSO: BRIDGET ANGEAR & CRAIG MAWDSLEY

5. GREY LONDON
The agency was behind one of the best
performing works last year at Cannes the double
Grand Prix winner Volvo Paint.
They also consistently perform well at the IPA
awards, they were the 2014 IPA Agency of the
Year and last year they continued that good form
with awards for Sensodyne, Sixt, Volvo and
McVite’s.
This year, Grey London has also changed the
name of their agency for 100 days to Valenstein &
Fatt in a move to highlight its jewish founders and
highlight prejudice that exist in the industry.
CSO: MATT TANTER

6. CLEMENGER BBDO AUSTRALIA
The agency consistently performs well in both
creative and planning awards. In the last month
they were named most awarded agency in the
world for D&AD and they also had a clean sweep
of the APAC Effies Gold along with sister agency
BBDO Colenso.
Their iconic work for Bond’s ‘The Boys, TAC ‘Meet
Graham’ and Snickers ‘Hungerithm’ have been
global standouts for the last 12 months.
CSO: PAUL REES JONES/KIT LANSDELL

7. MCCANN NEW YORK
In terms of transformations, McCann New York
has had the biggest in North America over the last
3 years.
They have gone from another one of the big
network agencies to consistently producing the
most talked about pieces of advertising every
year. This year it is Fearless Girl, last year Field
Trip to Mars.
They have been consistently leading the network
charge on thought leadership papers under
McCann’s Truth Central.
CSO STEVE ZAROFF

8. WIEDEN & KENNEDY AMSTERDAM
Wieden and Kennedy’s Amsterdam office has
always been a strong point in their network.
Producing a lot of the iconic european Nike work.
They have one of the most thought provoking and
generous with their time CSO at the helm Martin
Weigel.
Martin blog Canalside View has been dropping
pearls of wisdom for the past 7 years. This is all
coming to head soon with Weigel about to author
his first book.
CSO: MARTIN WEIGEL

9. FP7/DXB DUBAI
Consistently one of the top two agencies in the
global Effies Index for the past three years. They
were the most effective agency in the world last
year.
They did this on the back of fully integrated
campaigns for Fanta, Coca Cola, SmartLife,
Emirates and Sony which all picked up Golds in
multiple categories at the MENA Effies.
CSO: TAHAAB RAIS

10. SANCHO BBDO COLOMBIA
In an ongoing battle with FP7 to be the most
effective agency in the world according to the
Effies Index.
They are the leaders in advertising effectiveness
in South America winning the last four years at the
Effies South America.
Last year they were able to create iconic work for
Visa, Pepsi, Pernod Ricard
CSO: ANDRES CARVAJAL

11. ADAM&EVE DDB LONDON
Adam&Eve are the planning powerhouses of the
UK. They have picked up the Grand Prix for the
IPA Effectiveness Awards for the last three times
with (John Lewis in 2016 and 2012 and Foster’s in
2014)
That is in no small part to having Les Binet
heading up effectiveness for the agency.
Les is one half of the power duo of Field and Binet
that have helped shape advertising effectiveness
over the last ten years with their pivotal IPA
papers such as ‘Long and Short of It’ and
‘Marketing in the Era of Accountability’.
CSO: ALEX HESZ

12. OGILVY & MATHER NEW YORK
Ogilvy has made a name for itself as being able to
deliver business strategy not just advertising.
Going upstream in client organisations they often
have a great showing at the planning awards
doing much more than just creative work.
New York is the hub for this thinking and it shows
in the planning awards that they pick up every
year for key clients like IBM, Kimberly Clark and
American Express.
HEAD OF PLANNING: COLIN DRUMMOND