World Creative Rankings: the 20 most-awarded advertisers of 2024 so far
It’s the turn of advertisers as we continue our presentation of the mid-year leaderboards for the first time. Read on to find out how the definitive annual creative rankings are shaping up at the halfway stage.
Kraft Heinz is up two places in its search for the top spot / Heinz
AB InBev and Unilever continue to hold the top spots in the World Creative Rankings, but Apple and Kraft Heinz are on the charge.
Our first-ever mid-year advertiser leaderboard, below, shows the current standings in terms of creative awards success now that four of 2024’s six ‘majors’ have concluded.
As such, it provides a glimpse of what the final rankings may look like when all of this year’s eligible awards are complete. However, there remains all to play for in the second half of 2024, with shows including The Drum Awards Festival still to come.
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Global giants AB InBev, Unilever, Apple and Kraft Heinz are joined by Orange, which has shot up 71 places, in rounding out the top five at it stands.
The Paris-based telco enjoyed big success at first-half awards thanks to the popularity of its women’s football campaign, which has been lauded as one of the best sports ads in recent memory and showered with awards accordingly.
However, given the Marcel-created spot was released in July 2023, it is unlikely to be eligible for the second-half award shows and Orange is likely to need newly created work to cling on to its position towards the summit.
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| Rank (previous) | Advertiser | |
|---|---|---|
| = | 1 (1) | AB InBev |
| = | 2 (2) | Unilever |
| ↑ | 3 (4) | Apple |
| ↑ | 4 (6) | Kraft Heinz |
| ↑ | 5 (76) | Orange |
| ↓ | 6 (3) | Mondelez |
| ↑ | 7 (22) | Renault |
| ↑ | 8 (20) | Adidas |
| ↑ | 9 (42) | The Coca-Cola Company |
| ↓ | 10 (8) | Heineken |
| ↑ | 11 (42) | Microsoft |
| → | 12 (new) | L'Oréal |
| = | 13 (13) | Molson Coors |
| → | 14 (new) | DoorDash |
| ↓ | 15 (12) | MasterCard |
| → | 16 (new) | Digital Public Library of America |
| ↑ | 17 (54) | Makro |
| ↑ | 18 (130) | Channel 4 |
| ↓ | 19 (9) | Burger King |
| ↑ | 20 (28) |
AB InBev remains in the lead, with its Michelob beer brand enjoying a particularly strong showing in this year’s awards so far.
Unilever, which was crowned creative marketer of the year at Cannes Lions, is also well-placed to cement its place at the top with its Dove, Magnum and Pot Noodle brands scoring well.
Elsewhere, DoorDash is one of the surprise new entrants thanks to the popularity of its ‘All the Ads’ Super Bowl spot and Apple is up a place helped by work such as its Taika Waititi-directed fantastical bedtime tale.
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The Drum’s research team compiled the mid-year leaderboards after analyzing the awards performance of 1,106 campaigns from 732 advertisers working with 629 agencies. See the top 20 agencies leaderboard here.
For 2024, The Drum has reformulated the points system that drives the rankings, with awards competitions now grouped as global majors and regional and local shows. You can see the full methodology here.
This week’s rankings are a snapshot of the current picture and there’s still all to play for to determine the final standings in the next annual World Creative Rankings.
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As one of the Majors, The Drum Awards Festival in November and specifically its creative categories will have a big bearing on the eventual outcome. Entries are open until July 31 at thedrumawards.com.
The full annual World Creative Rankings, including the people categories, will follow in the new year after the 2024 calendar of creative awards is complete.