The Effie Awards and Global Index purport to rank the most effective brands, marketing companies and agencies by their performance in effectiveness awards and in 2017 Pepsi displaced Coca-Cola at the top of its rankings, even though the only Pepsi ad anyone can remember is Kendall Jenner’s terrible in-house effort as a supposed “protester.” Vodafone, Movistar, IBM, KFC, Chevrolet and Mastercard came next.
Burger King tied for tenth with oddballs Poker from Bavaria Brewery and Sr. Toronjo (left). Haven’t the faintest idea what this is.
Which may suggest that performance in effectiveness awards doesn’t tell the whole story. Unilever was top marketer.
Top agency was McCann Worldgroup, displacing BBDO, which may be something to do with that Fearless Girl while WPP was the top holding company for the seventh straight year.
Effie Worldwide CEO Traci Alford says: “The Global Effie Index has become the gold standard for measuring marketing effectiveness throughout the world. Despite a rapidly changing landscape, Effie winners continue to create exceptional work, deliver results in all forms and drive growth for their business. The top ranked teams represent the very best of our industry.”
Some companies enter more awards than others of course, which may account for the usual suspects in the top brands table (can’t speak for Sr. Toronjo). The Cannes Lions Creative Marketer of the Year was Google, which doesn’t appear in this top ten, and previous awards have gone to the likes of IKEA. Maybe a case of less is more.
So these rankings are to be taken with a pinch of salt perhaps.
