• by Richard Whitman , Columnist, May 18, 2022

Leo Burnett Chicago had a big night at the Art Directors Club (ADC) 101st Annual Awards Wednesday evening, winning Agency of the Year and the coveted Black Cube for Best of Show for “The Lost Class” on behalf of Change the Ref.

The work, done with No. 6 New York and Hungry Man Los Angeles, also picked up Best of Disciplines in Advertising and Interactive, the Members’ Choice award, and the Designism Cube for the entry that best encourages positive societal and political change.  “The Lost Class” picked up a total of eight Gold Cubes, seven Silver, six Bronze and seven Merits.

Based on cumulative points for all Cubes and Merits won, the ADC 101st Annual Awards “of the Year” winners are:

• Agency of the Year: Leo Burnett Chicago
• Boutique Agency of the Year: L&C New York
• Brand-Side Agency of the Year: Google Devices & Services Creative Team Mountain View
• Design Team of the Year: The New York Times Magazine New York 
• Boutique Design Firm of the Year: Backbone Branding Yerevan (Armenia)
• Network of the Year: Leo Burnett Worldwide
• Production Company of the Year: Hungry Man Los Angeles
• Music & Sound Company of the Year: Beacon Street Venice
• Brand of the Year: Google 
• Non-profit Client of the Year: Change the Ref
• Freelancer of the Year (as selected by The One Club and Working Not Working): Ricardo Tomás Kalmar (Sweden) 
• Members’ Choice Awards: Leo Burnett Chicago with No. 6 New York and Hungry Man Los Angeles “The Lost Class” for Change The Ref

ADC 101st Annual Awards Best of Discipline winners:

• Advertising: Leo Burnett Chicago with No. 6 New York and Hungry Man Los Angeles “The Lost Class” for Change The Ref
• Brand/Communication Design: COLLINS New York for branding on behalf of Girl Scouts Of America
• Experiential Design: MullenLoweSSP3 with Macarena, both in Bogotá, “Illegal Classroom” for AB InBev Pony Malta
• Fashion Design: Zulu Alpha Kilo Toronto “Tough Turban” for Pfaff Harley-Davidson
• Illustration: The New York Times Magazine and Igor Bastidas "The Untold Story Of Sushi In America” for The New York Times Magazine
• In-House: Google Devices & Services Creative Team Mountain View for its own “Real Tone”
• Interactive:  Leo Burnett Chicago with No. 6 New York and Hungry Man Los Angeles “The Lost Class” for Change The Ref
• Motion/Film/Gaming Craft: WeTransfer Amsterdam “Aline - The French Dispatch” for Wes Anderson - Fox Searchlight Pictures
• Packaging Design: Zhihua He with Shanghai Version Design Group, both in Shanghai, “Yoseido” for Yoseido
• Photography: Todd Antony Photography London “Flying Stars - Amputee Footballers Of Sierra Leone”, Personal Project
• Product Design: Wunderman Thompson Argentina Buenos Aires “Degree Inclusive” for Unilever
• Publication Design: The New York Times Magazine for its own “The New York Times For Kids - October 2021”
• Spatial Design: Hakuten Corporation with Panoramatiks, both in Tokyo, “The Axis Of Peace” for Yokosuka City
• Typography: Superunion with Who Wot Why and There Is Studio, all in London, “Fight For Home” for Shelter

The ADC Fusion Cube, a global award that recognizes work that best incorporates underrepresented groups in both the content of the ad and the team that made it, went to The Martin Agency for UPS “Proudly Unstoppable”, and R/GA New York with Rock Paper Scissors Santa Monica, DeVries Global New York and M SS NG P ECES Brooklyn for “Black Beauty Is Beauty” on behalf of Sephora. 

The New York Times Magazine took home the most ADC Gold Cubes this year, winning nine for eight different entries, including two for “The Puzzle of Asian American Identity”.  Leo Burnett Chicago was close behind with eight Golds, followed by alma DDB Miami with seven, all working with OMD and Carbo Films for various executions of Pepsi’s “Better With Pepsi” work.  

Wunderman Thompson Argentina Buenos Aires won six Gold Cubes, all for “Degree Inclusive” on behalf of Unilever.  Area 23 New York picked up five Golds, including two each for The Columbia Journalism Review “The Inevitable News” and Insmed Incorporated “Trapped”.

A total of 10,565 pieces of content were entered from 54 countries in the ADC 101st Annual Awards, a 15.7% increase over last year.  Agencies, studios, freelancers, brands and production companies in 36 countries were awarded a total of 95 ADC Gold Cubes, 114 Silvers, 172 Bronze and 381 Merits this year.  

The top five countries for winners were the US with 372, Germany with 91, China with 73, Japan with 46, and Canada with 37.  

More on the ADC 101st Annual Awards Cube and Merit winners can be viewed here.