• by Joe Mandese  @mp_joemandese, February 11, 2010

Omnicom's OMD once again ranked as the most creative media agency, according to a compilation and analysis of the major ad industry creative media-related awards published by the Gunn Report. With a total of 155 points, OMD held the top position in the 2008 edition of the Gunn Report for Media, a title it has held since 2004 when Gunn first began compiling data on media awards programs.

Isabelle Musnik, editor of The Gunn Report for Media, said this year's report was delayed due to technological issues, but noted that WPP's Mindshare has made significant inroads in its level of creativity, and has narrowed OMD's lead considerably, ranking second with 131 points, and way ahead of third place agency, Omnicom's BBDO unit, with 100 points.

In the fall of 2008, WPP acquired red hot U.K. communications planning shop Michaelides & Bednash, and merged it into Mindshare's "invention" and planning units largely to provide more of a creative media spark.

Interestingly, other than BBDO and Publicis' Leo Burnett unit (ranked fourth with 91 points), pure play media agencies dominated the top rankings of the 2008 Gunn Report for Media (see table below).

The grades in the report are derived from a point system assigned to each agency based on how they ranked in the major international media awards programs, including ones like the Cannes Festival of Advertising's Media Lions, and Media magazine's Creative Media Awards.

While Omnicom's individual agency networks dominate as standalone shops, WPP's GroupM accumulated the most points of any global media agency network, scoring 432 points in the 2008 report, a significant margin over Omnicom Media Group's 389, and third place Publicis Groupe Media's 280. Interpublic ranked fourth with 144.

 

The Most Awarded Agencies Worldwide 2008

Rank	Agency	Points
1	OMD	155
2	MindShare	131
3	BBDO	100
4	Leo Burnett	91
5	Mediacom	89
6	Starcom MediaVest	81
7	Carat	63
8	Universal McCann	62
9	ZenithOptimedia	56
10	Mediaedge:cia	52
11	Ogilvy & Mather	49
12	TWBA	46
13	JWT	45
14	DDB	38
15	MPG	34