Riding high

Best Agency over all criteria (top 25) Rank – – Agency Actual no. As % of Max* Change 00-01 01 00 99 – – – – 1 3 4 Abbott Mead Vickers.BBDO 227 17.7% +6.0 2 1 2 BMP DDB 165 12.9% -1.4 3 2 1 J Walter Thompson 164 12.8% -1.3 4 5 3 McCann-Erickson 148 11.6% +3.5 5 14 14 TBWA/London 93 7.3% +3.4 6 12 7 Bartle Bogle Hegarty 88 6.9% +2.6 8 8 10 Rainey Kelly Campbell Roalfe/Y&R 84 6.6% -0.2 8 4 5 Ogilvy & Mather 76 5.9% -4.0 9 16= 15 Zenith Media 73 5.7% +2.4 10 16= 16 Carat 71 5.5% +2.2 11= 11 18= Lowe Lintas 70 5.5% -0.5 11= 13 25 MediaCom 70 5.5% +1.3 13 7 8= M&C Saatchi 69 5.4% -1.7 14 10 18= Publicis 67 5.2% -1.0 15 35= ** OMD UK 63 4.9% +3.3 16 6 6 Saatchi & Saatchi 62 4.8% -2.9 17 9 20 HHCL & Partners 57 4.4% -1.8 18= 22 23 St Luke’s 54 4.2% +1.3 18= 24 12 WCRS 54 4.2% +1.7 20 21 39 BDH TBWA 53 4.1% +1.1 21 37= 34 Bates UK 47 3.7% +2.2 22 19 44 MindShare 44 3.4% +0.1 23 26= 29 CIA 43 3.4% +1.5 24 28= 13 Grey Worldwide 40 3.1% +1.3 25 40= 40= Mother 37 2.9% +1.7

<b>IMPORTANCE OF 9 CRITERIA</b> Rank – – Criteria – Importance rating* % scored as 9 or 10 Change Av. rating out of 10 01 00 99 – 2001 2000 00-01 2001 1 1 1 Creativity 64.5% 64.7% -0.2 8.89 2 2 2 Value for money in results achieved 57.2% 51.9% +5.3 8.58 3 3= 3 Ability to act in clients’ longer-term best interests based on understanding their business and their markets 47.4% 45.3% +2.1 8.36 4 5 4 Quality of account managers 46.7% 39.5% +7.2 8.45 5 7 7 Attentiveness and adaptability to client companies 38.8% 32.0% +6.8 8.06 6 6 6 Marketing strategy and analysis 36.2% 33.2% +3.0 7.78 7 3= 5 Media planning, buying and placement 33.6% 45.3% -11.7 6.40 8 8 8 Financial stability and strong agency management 26.3% 22.6% +3.7 7.62 9 9 9 Coverage of major markets outside the UK 9.9% 7.9% +2.0 3.78

IMPORTANCE OF 9 CRITERIA

<b>TOP 10 FOR VALUE FOR MONEY</b> Rank – – Agency name Overall rank Difference 01 00 99 – on 9 criteria against 00 1 3 4= Abbot Mead Vickers.BBDO 16.2% +7.7 2 4 3 McCann-Erickson 12.5% +4.6 3= 1 1 BMP DDB 8.8% -4.3 3= 2 2 J Walter Thompson 8.8% -0.3 5 15 10= Zenith Media 8.1% +4.0 6= 12= 14= Bartle Bogle Hegarty 6.6% +2.2 6= 16 17= Rainey Kelly Campbell Roalfe/Y&R 6.6% +2.6 6= 19 24= Carat 6.6% +2.4 6= 27= 17= TBWA/London 6.6% +4.7 10= 6 20= Publicis 5.9% -1.5 10= 7 10= HHCL & partners 5.9% -1.1 10= 20 14= St Luke’s 5.9% +2.8 10= 29= 14= WCRS 5.9% +4.1 10= 12= 24= MediaCom 5.9% +1.5 10= ** ** OMD UK 5.9% N/A

TOP 10 FOR VALUE FOR MONEY

<b>TOP 10 FOR ABILITY TO ACT IN CLIENTS’ LONGER TERM INTERESTS BASED ON UNDERSTANDING THEIR BUSINESS AND THEIR MARKETS</b> Rank – – Criteria % Naming* Difference 01 00 99 – agency against 00 1 3 3= Abbot Mead Vickers.BBDO 24.1% +10.9 2 1 2 BMP DDB 17.7% +1.4 3 2 1 J Walter Thompson 14.9% -0.1 4 5 3= McCann-Erickson 12.1% +2.9 5 15 8= Bartle Bogle Hegarty 7.8% +4.3 6= 4 3= Ogilvy & Mather 6.4% -3.0 6= 6 18= Publicis 6.4% -1.8 6= 28= ** OMD UK 6.4% +4.6 6= 9 15 M&C Saatchi 6.4% -0.1 10= 10 11 Lowe Lintas 5.7% -0.7 10= 11= 16= Saatchi & Saatchi 5.7% +1.2

TOP 10 FOR ABILITY TO ACT IN CLIENTS’ LONGER TERM INTERESTS BASED ON UNDERSTANDING THEIR BUSINESS AND THEIR MARKETS

<b>TOP 10 FOR MEDIA PLANNING, BUYING AND PLACEMENT</b> Rank – – Agency % Naming* Difference 01 00 99 – agency against 00 1 1 1 Zenith Media 24.3% +9.0 2 6 2 Carat 22.4% +10.9 3 8 ** OMD UK 12.5% +5.5 4= 5 5= MediaCom 11.8% -0.1 4= 11 ** Starcom Motive Partnership 11.8% +7.0 6 4 8= MindShare 11.2% -1.8 7 2 5= MediaVest UK 9.9% -5.1 8 3 4 New PHD 9.2% -4.1 9 12 10 CIA 7.9% +3.3 10 9 7 Optimedia 7.2% +0.6

TOP 10 FOR MEDIA PLANNING, BUYING AND PLACEMENT

<b>TOP 10 FOR QUALITY OF ACCOUNT MANAGERS</b> Rank – – Criteria % Naming* Difference 01 00 99 – agency against 00 1 3 3= Abbot Mead Vickers.BBDO 18.4% +6.8 2 1 1 J Walter Thompson 14.5% -1.4 3 2 2 BMP DDB 13.2% -1.7 4= 25= 16= TBWA/London 10.5% +8.2 4= 8 5 McCann-Erickson 10.5% +3.6 6 7 11 Rainey Kelly Campbell Roalfe/Y&R 7.2% -0.1 7= 11 14= Publicis 6.6% +2.1 7= 10 17 Lowe Lintas 6.6% +1.4 9= 4 6 Ogilvy & Mather 5.9% -4.6 9= 6 9= M&C Saatchi 5.9% -2.1

TOP 10 FOR QUALITY OF ACCOUNT MANAGERS

<b>TOP 10 FOR MARKETING STRATEGY AND ANALYSIS</b> Rank – – Agency % Naming* Difference 01 00 99 – agency against 00 1 3 3 Abbott Mead Vickers.BBDO 21.7% +6.2 2 2 1 BMP DDB 16.4% -1.9 3 1 2 J Walter Thompson 15.8% -3.4 4 8 8 McCann-Erickson 12.5% +5.1 5 13 10= TBWA/London 9.9% +5.5 6 12 5= Bartle Bogle Hegarty 9.2% +4.5 7 10 13 Lowe Lintas 7.9% +1.4 8 9 10= Rainey Kelly Campbell Roalfe/Y&R 6.6% -0.6 9= 6 4 Saatchi & Saatchi 5.3% -4.1 9= 14 14= Publicis 5.3% +1.3

TOP 10 FOR MARKETING STRATEGY AND ANALYSIS

<b>TOP 10 FOR COVERAGE OF MAJOR MARKETS OUTSIDE THE UK</b> Rank – – Criteria % Naming* Difference 01 00 99 – agency against 00 1 1 1 J Walter Thompson 27.1% -2.9 2 2 2 McCann-Erickson 19.6% -0.9 3= 4 3= Saatchi & Saatchi 15.9% -1.7 3= 10 7 Abbot Mead Vickers.BBDO 15.9% +9.5 5 7 5= BMP DDB 13.1% +3.9 6 3 3= Ogilvy & Mather 12.1% -7.5 7 14 14= TBWA/London 9.3% +5.0 8= 11 12= Carat 8.4% +3.1 8= 8= 8= Publicis 8.4% +0.7 10 5 5= Rainey Kelly Campbell Roalfe/Y&R 7.5% -4.0

TOP 10 FOR COVERAGE OF MAJOR MARKETS OUTSIDE THE UK

The past two years have seen one of the most severe boom and bust cycles ever experienced by the advertising industry. Agencies rode on the crest of an “unstoppable” Internet wave last year and came crashing down against the rocks this year. Fears of a recession abound, and the “war against terrorism” has taken its toll on ad budgets. Some agency chiefs predict that next year could be even worse, as the bad news sinks in deeper with clients and ad spend dries up further.

Some agency bosses who voted for New Labour may justifiably be asking chancellor Gordon Brown for their votes back. Brown promised an “end to the boom-bust economy” and his party’s ad agency, TBWA/London, lampooned Conservative leader William Hague and Shadow Chancellor Michael Portillo as “Mr Boom and Mr Bust” in this year’s general election campaign. In the ad business at least, the swing from high to low has been wild.

The topsy-turvy fortunes of the UK advertising industry are amply reflected in this year’s survey of how marketing directors view advertising agencies.

Abbott Mead Vickers.BBDO has stormed to the top of Marketing Week’s agency reputations survey for the first time in the report’s 13-year history. While the agency has topped the rankings for billings in the UK in recent years, it has until now failed to capture the top slot in marketers’ esteem. Finally, the report says, it has moved from “imminence to eminence”. Perhaps this year the agency has been rewarded by marketers for coming back from the crisis that followed the retirement in 1999 of creative guru David Abbott. His departure was followed by a string of setbacks, notably the Sainsbury’s Christmas campaign in which a hectoring John Cleese insulted the supermarket’s staff, and the subsequent (temporary) loss of the account. Questions were raised over the creative succession at the agency, as youthful creative director Peter Souter was joined by Tony Cox from sister agency BMP DDB. AMV.BBDO receives the accolade in a year in which the agency made its first redundancies as a result of the advertising downturn, but in which it also won accounts including Campbell’s soups, Oxo, Yell.com, Oral B toothpaste, the launch of Henkel’s dishwashing tablet Glist, 02, BT Ignite and St Ivel Shape. Losses include Ready Brek, the resignation from Gossard and realignments out of Wella and Mars. Following the departure of boss Andrew Robertson for New York and a job with parent network BBDO, the agency has been run by managing director Cilla Snowball, with Michael Baulk as chairman and chief executive.

Quality across the board

AMV.BBDO’s reputation may have been enhanced by what is considered its greatest contribution to advertising creativity – the galloping horses of the Guinness surfer campaign – but the survey does not just measure creativity, although marketers say this is the most important criterion by which to judge an agency, just ahead of the thorny subject of value for money. AMV.BBDO was the most cited in six of the specific categories – it topped creativity, value for money, ability to act in clients’ long-term interests, quality of account managers, attentiveness and adaptability to clients, and marketing strategy and analysis.

Overall, AMV.BBDO received 227 mentions, easily outstripping its closest rival – and last year’s winner – BMP DDB, which had 165. Report author Sarah Horack of Consensus Research says: “AMV.BBDO is more dominant in first place this year than BMP DDB was last year. AMV.BBDO’s dominance comes more from improvements in its own ratings than from declines in the ratings of the agencies that held the places above it last year.”

A strong showing from last year’s winner

BMP, long recognised for the strength of its planning and the wry humour of its ads, has this year lost all the top rankings it achieved in individual criteria last year. Instead it takes three second-place and three third-place rankings dropping from first to third position in creativity. However, on coverage of major markets outside the UK it moved up two places from last year to number five.

J Walter Thompson continues its gentle drift down from the top slot it held for some ten years, dropping out of the top ten for creativity altogether. An area that has been seen as the agency’s weak point over the years of this survey has become a serious Achilles’ heel. JWT is still seen as the top agency for financial stability and strong agency management, however – which gives a boost to chief executive Simon Bolton, who took over from long-standing boss Stephen Carter, now managing director of NTL. Sister WPP agency Ogilvy has received its lowest ranking since the inception of the survey, and has experienced a steeper drop than any other top 25 agency in its overall percentage score, down by four points to 5.9 per cent of the maximum possible number of mentions. The third WPP agency, Rainey Kelly Campbell Roalfe/Y&R, has held its position at number eight.

After a slight decline last year, McCann-Erickson has recovered slightly, nudging up from fifth to fourth – and has now been counted among the top five agencies for four years in a row. Despite never being rated first in any criterion, McCann has improved its standing in all of them. Perceptions of its creativity have improved, and the agency enters the top ten again, with ninth place after last year’s 12th. It could be that the ever-popular Tom, Bacardi Breezer’s dancing cat, has been given some recognition. McCann’s best ranking comes in attentiveness and adaptability to clients, where it has jumped from eighth to third place.

TBWA/London leaps nine places

The greatest jump by any agency has been achieved by TBWA/London, which enters the top five for the first time. It has risen nine places since last year, and strongly improved its standing in the two most important categories, creativity – where it has achieved seventh position – and value for money, where it has risen to sixth equal, up from 27th last year. But as the report points out: “Despite impressive gains, TBWA/London is still some way off the pace set by the four agencies ahead of it in this year’s overall rankings. In fifth place, TBWA is closer to all but one of the agencies ranked below it in the sixth through to 24th places than it is to McCann-Erickson, which is in fourth place, with 55 more mentions than TBWA/London.”

This underlines the gap between the very top agencies and those of middle and lower rankings. Agencies seem to be mirroring the situation among the brands they advertise. There are a handful of top brands, followed by a long tail of smaller, niche offerings. It is predicted that this trend will continue and deepen as brand owners and agencies consolidate into ever larger groups.

Media agencies come to the fore

Media agencies appear to be steadily improving their standing in the eyes of marketers, signaling a greater influence on advertising strategy. Zenith has entered the top ten for the first time, with a strong performance in media planning, buying and placement – where it remains number one with a dramatically increased score, and it has entered the top ten in value for money. Carat follows in tenth position, retaking the second place for media planning, buying and placement which it held from 1995 to 1999, and adding nearly 11 points.

Meanwhile OMD UK has made its first appearance in the top 25 agencies, up from 35th last year. It only appeared in the survey’s results last year, and is another agency that has had a number of confusing name changes. MediaCom has achieved its highest position to date, sharing 11th-equal position with Lowe Lintas. MindShare drops slightly to 22nd, just pipping CIA. The positions of the agencies in the overall table reflect their rankings as best media specialists.

Other positive news to come from the survey is the recovery of Bartle Bogle Hegarty, which last year slumped to 12th position after a decade in the top ten. Instability at the agency and a number of account losses appear to have been turned around, and the agency is back up to number six overall, achieving fourth position in creativity.

Mother will be so pleased

Mother appears for the first time in the top 25, up from 40th position last year. It can take some years for small agencies to be recognised by marketing directors, but Mother has crashed into the top ten on creativity, taking fifth position this year compared to 17th last year. And St Luke’s, while nudging up to 18th overall for the first time, took the number two slot in creativity.

Significantly, Mother also came top in a category called “Agencies gaining most in esteem”. This normally correlates quite strongly with the top five overall, as it has this year with the exception of JWT, which did not figure.

Four agencies have dropped out of the top ten this year. Saatchi & Saatchi, M&C Saatchi, HHCL & Partners and Publicis have all lost out to some extent. Saatchi has collapsed from sixth position to 16th, and disappeared from the top ten on the important creativity measure. M&C is down from seventh to 13th and HHCL has slipped from ninth to 17th. The latter has suffered account losses which include Egg and the AA. Publicis has fallen from tenth to 14th place, with its biggest decline occurring in attentiveness and adaptability to clients.

Overall, this year has seen some big changes in the way marketers view ad agencies. AMV.BBDO’s strong lead over its rivals suggests it may be in a good position to repeat its victory in the future. But with a new volatility in marketers’ perceptions revealed by the survey, the situation for all of the agencies concerned could be turned around next year.

Best Agency over all criteria (top 25) Rank – – Agency Actual no. As % of Max* Change 00-01 01 00 99 – – – – 1 3 4 Abbott Mead Vickers.BBDO 227 17.7% +6.0 2 1 2 BMP DDB 165 12.9% -1.4 3 2 1 J Walter Thompson 164 12.8% -1.3 4 5 3 McCann-Erickson 148 11.6% +3.5 5 14 14 TBWA/London 93 7.3% +3.4 6 12 7 Bartle Bogle Hegarty 88 6.9% +2.6 8 8 10 Rainey Kelly Campbell Roalfe/Y&R 84 6.6% -0.2 8 4 5 Ogilvy & Mather 76 5.9% -4.0 9 16= 15 Zenith Media 73 5.7% +2.4 10 16= 16 Carat 71 5.5% +2.2 11= 11 18= Lowe Lintas 70 5.5% -0.5 11= 13 25 MediaCom 70 5.5% +1.3 13 7 8= M&C Saatchi 69 5.4% -1.7 14 10 18= Publicis 67 5.2% -1.0 15 35= ** OMD UK 63 4.9% +3.3 16 6 6 Saatchi & Saatchi 62 4.8% -2.9 17 9 20 HHCL & Partners 57 4.4% -1.8 18= 22 23 St Luke’s 54 4.2% +1.3 18= 24 12 WCRS 54 4.2% +1.7 20 21 39 BDH TBWA 53 4.1% +1.1 21 37= 34 Bates UK 47 3.7% +2.2 22 19 44 MindShare 44 3.4% +0.1 23 26= 29 CIA 43 3.4% +1.5 24 28= 13 Grey Worldwide 40 3.1% +1.3 25 40= 40= Mother 37 2.9% +1.7

* Maximum possible response: 152 respondents x 9 criteria = 1,368 (the max if every respondent nominated an agency as best on all criteria) minus the sum of those abstaining on each criterion (87) = 1,281

** Not ranked in Top 50

^ Figures for 1999 are for Lowe Howard-Spink only

^^ Figures for 1999 are for Grey London only

<b>IMPORTANCE OF 9 CRITERIA </b> Rank – – Criteria – Importance rating* % scored as 9 or 10 Change Av. rating out of 10 01 00 99 – 2001 2000 00-01 2001 1 1 1 Creativity 64.5% 64.7% -0.2 8.89 2 2 2 Value for money in results achieved 57.2% 51.9% +5.3 8.58 3 3= 3 Ability to act in clients’ longer-term best interests based on understanding their business and their markets 47.4% 45.3% +2.1 8.36 4 5 4 Quality of account managers 46.7% 39.5% +7.2 8.45 5 7 7 Attentiveness and adaptability to client companies 38.8% 32.0% +6.8 8.06 6 6 6 Marketing strategy and analysis 36.2% 33.2% +3.0 7.78 7 3= 5 Media planning, buying and placement 33.6% 45.3% -11.7 6.40 8 8 8 Financial stability and strong agency management 26.3% 22.6% +3.7 7.62 9 9 9 Coverage of major markets outside the UK 9.9% 7.9% +2.0 3.78

IMPORTANCE OF 9 CRITERIA

* The criteria are ranked by the percent rating them as nine or ten on a ten-point scale of importance

<b>TOP 10 FOR CREATIVITY </b> Rank – – Criteria % Naming* Difference 01 00 99 – agency against 00 1 2 3 Abbot Mead Vickers.BBDO 21.7% +3.6 2 7 7= St Luke’s 15.8% +7.0 3 1 2 BMP DDB 15.1% -6.8 4 4 1 Bartle Bogle Hegarty 13.2% -1.6 5 17 20 Mother 11.8% +8.6 6 5 4 HHCL & Partners 11.2% -2.2 7 9 5 TBWA/London 9.9% +2.4 8 8 12= Rainey Kelly Campbell Roalfe/Y&R 8.6% -0.7 9= 3 6 M&C Saatchi 7.9% -7.5 9= 12 7= McCann-Erickson 7.9% +2.5 9= 15 16 Lowe Lintas 7.9% +3.6

TOP 10 FOR CREATIVITY

Unable to say which are best at providing creativity: 0%

* Percents, based on all responding, total more than 100% because up to

three nominations were accepted

<b>TOP 10 FOR VALUE FOR MONEY </b> Rank – – Agency name Overall rank Difference 01 00 99 – on 9 criteria against 00 1 3 4= Abbot Mead Vickers.BBDO 16.2% +7.7 2 4 3 McCann-Erickson 12.5% +4.6 3= 1 1 BMP DDB 8.8% -4.3 3= 2 2 J Walter Thompson 8.8% -0.3 5 15 10= Zenith Media 8.1% +4.0 6= 12= 14= Bartle Bogle Hegarty 6.6% +2.2 6= 16 17= Rainey Kelly Campbell Roalfe/Y&R 6.6% +2.6 6= 19 24= Carat 6.6% +2.4 6= 27= 17= TBWA/London 6.6% +4.7 10= 6 20= Publicis 5.9% -1.5 10= 7 10= HHCL & partners 5.9% -1.1 10= 20 14= St Luke’s 5.9% +2.8 10= 29= 14= WCRS 5.9% +4.1 10= 12= 24= MediaCom 5.9% +1.5 10= ** ** OMD UK 5.9% N/A

TOP 10 FOR VALUE FOR MONEY

Unable to say which are best at providing value for money: 10.5%

* Percents, based on all responding, total more than 100% because up to

three nominations were accepted.

**Not ranked in Top 50

<b>TOP 10 FOR ABILITY TO ACT IN CLIENTS’ LONGER TERM INTERESTS BASED ON UNDERSTANDING THEIR BUSINESS AND THEIR MARKETS </b> Rank – – Criteria % Naming* Difference 01 00 99 – agency against 00 1 3 3= Abbot Mead Vickers.BBDO 24.1% +10.9 2 1 2 BMP DDB 17.7% +1.4 3 2 1 J Walter Thompson 14.9% -0.1 4 5 3= McCann-Erickson 12.1% +2.9 5 15 8= Bartle Bogle Hegarty 7.8% +4.3 6= 4 3= Ogilvy & Mather 6.4% -3.0 6= 6 18= Publicis 6.4% -1.8 6= 28= ** OMD UK 6.4% +4.6 6= 9 15 M&C Saatchi 6.4% -0.1 10= 10 11 Lowe Lintas 5.7% -0.7 10= 11= 16= Saatchi & Saatchi 5.7% +1.2

TOP 10 FOR ABILITY TO ACT IN CLIENTS’ LONGER TERM INTERESTS BASED ON UNDERSTANDING THEIR BUSINESS AND THEIR MARKETS

Unable to say which are best at acting in client’s longer term interests: 7.2%

* Percents, based on all responding, total more than 100% because up to

three nominations were accepted.

**Not ranked in Top 50

<b>TOP 10 FOR MEDIA PLANNING, BUYING AND PLACEMENT </b> Rank – – Agency % Naming* Difference 01 00 99 – agency against 00 1 1 1 Zenith Media 24.3% +9.0 2 6 2 Carat 22.4% +10.9 3 8 ** OMD UK 12.5% +5.5 4= 5 5= MediaCom 11.8% -0.1 4= 11 ** Starcom Motive Partnership 11.8% +7.0 6 4 8= MindShare 11.2% -1.8 7 2 5= MediaVest UK 9.9% -5.1 8 3 4 New PHD 9.2% -4.1 9 12 10 CIA 7.9% +3.3 10 9 7 Optimedia 7.2% +0.6

TOP 10 FOR MEDIA PLANNING, BUYING AND PLACEMENT

Unable to say which are best at providing media planning, buying and placement: 0%

* Percents, based on all responding, total more than 100% because up to

three nominations were accepted

**Not ranked in Top 50

<b>TOP 10 FOR QUALITY OF ACCOUNT MANAGERS </b&