Are these the most important agencies of the 21st century?
Forbes commentator Avi Dan has produced a list of the 25 most important agencies of the 21st century, noting that most of them didn’t exist at the turn of the century.
For the ad agencies he’s picked a campaign, so CP+B makes the list for KFC’s ‘Subservient Chicken’ although that seems a long time ago now. Essentially they’re campaigns amplified via social media. Wieden+Kennedy and Isaiah Mustafa are tops.
Others in the list include PR firms Edelman and Weber Shandwick (if they’re still so defined) and the likes of Vayner Media and WPP’s Xaxis, although you don’t hear much from the latter these days. Maybe it’s heads down time.
It’s a US list (adam&eveDDB and BETC Paris should surely be included in a global one) but interesting for all that. Some notable big names are missing: Ogilvy, DDB, Leo Burnett, JWT. An augury maybe?
Good to see Mad Men’s Sterling Cooper clings on at 25 for its traditional emphasis on “booze, broads and bad behaviour.” Maybe they’re due for a comeback.
Isn’t that Leo Burnett at number 17?
Was it? Whoops