• by April 11, 2008

Omnicom's OMD topped the 2007 ranking of the world's most creative media agencies, compiled annually by international publisher The Gunn Report For Media. It's hardly a surprise, considering that OMD also finished first in the list's first three years. The third-place finish of Omnicom's BBDO--commonly considered a creative agency--could raise some eyebrows.

A year earlier, BBDO had finished in 14th place, but Isabelle Musnik, editor of The Gunn Report, explained that the agency has risen in the ranks because it is increasingly entering and winning award competitions versus media agencies. The Gunn rankings use a point system based on honors bestowed by dozens of annual competitions including Media magazine's Creative Media Awards.

"Today there's a big battle between media agencies and creative agencies," Musnik explained, "because each wants to take claim as most creative." She noted that "creative agencies want to be perceived as creative media agencies."

Taking second place in the agency rankings was Group M's MindShare--up one position from 2006--while Publicis Groupe's Starcom MediaVest fell from second in 2006 to fifth place in 2007. Interpublic's Universal McCann placed fourth, up one slot.

With both OMD and BBDO faring well individually, Omnicom Media Group topped the list of media agency holding company units--knocking the 2006 winner, WPP's Group M, into second place. Publicis and Interpublic finished third and fourth--the same as the previous year--while Aegis at No. 5 and Havas at No. 6 flipped rankings.

For the second straight year, Nike was ranked the most creative of media clients, followed by Coca-Cola, McDonald's, Adidas and a fifth-place tie between top-five newcomers Axe and Nissan. Sony and Lynx, the second- and third-place finishers in 2006, dropped out of the top five.

Nike's "Barrio Bonito" won for media campaign of the year, followed by Nissan's "Qashqai," Amnesty International's "Not Here But Now," and Mastercard's "Happy New Year." And the U.S. repeated as the country earning the most creative media points, followed by the U.K., Germany, Spain and India.

Most Awarded Agencies Worldwide 2006 & 2007

	2006			2007
Rank	Agency	Points	Rank	Agency	Points
1	OMD	206	1	OMD	234
2	Starcom MediaVest	116	2	MindShare	110
3	MindShare	107	3	BBDO	101
4	Mediaedge:cia	69	4	Universal McCann	87
5	Universal McCann	64	5	Starcom MediaVest	81
6	Mediacom	59	6	Carat	57
7	ZenithOptimedia	56	6	Mediacom	57