The Big 5 Agencies and Their Most Notable Achievements

The Big 5 advertising agencies, with their global reach and unmatched expertise, set industry standards, continually reshaping marketing and communications.

WPP

Founded in 1971 as a wire shopping basket manufacturer, WPP has evolved significantly. It is now the world’s largest advertising company, with operations in over 100 countries.

WPP’s ecosystem comprises specialized divisions:

• WPP Integrate networks include Ogilvy, AKQA, Grey, and VML, a newly formed from the merger of VMLY&R and Wunderman Thompson. 
• WPP media: GroupM, Mindshare, Wavemaker, EssenceMediacom, Xaxis
• WPP Data&Insight: Kantar, Choreograph.
• WPP Public Relations & Public Affairs: Ogilvy, BCW, HILL+KNOWLTON STRATEGIES, (H+K’s), FGS, WPP The Government & Public Sector Practice 
• WPP Brand Consulting: LANDOR & FITCH, Design Bridge & Partners.
• WPP Production: Hogarth

Ogilvy, GroupM, Mindshare, EssenceMediacom and Wavemaker are present in Vietnam. 

Moreover, WPP has proven its leadership in the advertising and marketing industry, boasting a notable track record of achievements through the years. From 2012 to 2020, the conglomerate held the prestigious title of the Most Effective Group in the Effie Index. Their agencies have excelled globally, collecting 176 Lions at different editions of the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity.

Furthermore, WPP was named the Most Creative Company of the Year at the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity. This accolade solidified its status as a creative powerhouse across 40 countries. These accomplishments underscore WPP’s unwavering commitment to excellence and its pivotal role in shaping the global advertising and marketing landscape.

In 2023, Ogilvy secured the prestigious Grand Prix at Cannes Lions for its “Dove: #TurnYourBack“ campaign. This initiative encouraged women to embrace their true beauty and challenge traditional glamour standards.

Meanwhile, VMLY&R earned another Grand Prix for its innovative “I Will Always Be Me“ campaign, developed for Dell and Intel. This campaign revolutionized voice banking for individuals with motor neuron disease, replacing the previous cumbersome process with one that allowed them to record a story, resulting in a more efficient and meaningful outcome. 

dentsu 

Dentsu, founded in 1901, is a renowned Japanese leading advertising and PR company in the Asia-Pacific region, with a global presence in 146 markets and a clientele of over 11,000 clients. 

Dentsu’s diverse ecosystem includes agencies like Dentsu Creative, Carat, dentsu X, iProspect, Merkle, and Tag, offering a comprehensive range of advertising and marketing services. In Vietnam, Dentsu made significant strides by acquiring Redder, resulting in the formation of Dentsu Redder. This subsidiary has gained recognition and acclaim for its outstanding work in Music Marketing strategies. 

Dentsu Group achieved significant recognition at Cannes Lions 2023, winning Regional Network of the Year for the Asia Pacific region for the second consecutive year and earning a total of 29 awards with Dentsu Inc. Tokyo and Dentsu Creative receiving the Grand Prix awards in the Industry Craft Lions and Pharma Lions categories.

In addition, Dentsu Creative in Argentina, Brazil, and the U.S. achieved success at The Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity 2023 with the “Scrolling Therapy“ campaign for Eurofarma. Interestingly, the idea is to use facial recognition technology to turn facial therapy exercises into social media interactions, helping Parkinson’s patients improve their facial muscles while seamlessly controlling their social media feeds. 

Crayola, dentsuMB, and Golin PR’s campaign, ‘Color Yourself into the World‘ earned the prestigious Iridium Effie award and was crowned the world’s most effective campaign at the second annual Global Best of the Best Effie Awards. Remarkably, the campaign aimed to promote inclusivity for children of all backgrounds with 24 specially formulated crayons to match over 40 global skin tones.

“Color yourself into the world”, Crayola

Publicis Groupe

Established in 1926 in Paris, Publicis Groupe has grown to encompass over 100,000 employees across 100+ countries. Recognized as one of Europe’s most creative advertising agencies in 2022, they are also a key player in Vietnam through Leo Burnett and Saatchi & Saatchi. The company’s Publicis Solution Hub includes divisions such as Publicis Communications, Publicis Media, Publicis Sapient, and Publicis Health. 

The Group is recognized with the highly-coveted  Lions Health Grand Prix for Working with Cancer. Essentially, the campaign is to combat the stigma surrounding the workplace that makes patients with cancer fear disclosing their condition at work. The pledge encourages companies to create more supportive work cultures for cancer patients.

This 2023 Clio Awards Silver winning entry titled ‘Cheat Cookies‘ was entered for Oreo by Saatchi & Saatchi, Düsseldorf. OREO teamed up with Xbox to add fun to gaming, introducing cookies with embossments of Xbox controller buttons. This allows consumers to create their own cheat codes. Fans could visit the campaign website, scan the cookies, and discover the right cheat codes to access exclusive in-game content.

Interpublic 

Interpublic Group, a purpose-driven company founded in 1961 in New York City, is a major player in U.S. advertising. In 2022, it ranked third among the most creative media-holding groups and earned recognition as a Best Employer for Diversity. The Interpublic ecosystem comprises various agencies, including McCann Worldgroup, FCB, MullenLowe Group, and The Martin Agency. While having a global presence, MullenLowe is its sole representative in Vietnam.

This 2023 Clio Awards Gold winning entry titled ‘Trapped in the 90s‘ was entered for IKEA by McCann, Madrid. The campaign featured a reality show with six Gen Z contestants. It aimed to showcase the importance of IKEA’s furniture in a setting reminiscent of a ’90s house.

This 2023 Clio Awards Gold winning entry titled ‘Something To Offend Everyone‘ was entered for Brooklyn Film Festival by MullenLowe U.S., New York. Embracing the current state of heightened sensitivity and polarization in America, the campaign includes a digital film that parodies typical human resources training videos. This film offers humorous guidance on how to discuss some of the festival’s films without offending.

“Something to offen everyone”, Mullenlowe Global

Omnicom Group

Founded in 1986 and headquartered in New York City, Omnicom has solidified its position as one of the world’s top media and advertising agency groups and ranked third globally in the first quarter of 2023. With a presence in over 70 countries and a diverse range of clients, Omnicom’s key advertising agencies play a vital role in its global success. Omnicom’s ecosystem includes renowned agencies such as BBDO Worldwide, DDB Worldwide, TBWA Worldwide, and GSD&M, collectively contributing to its industry leadership. After the withdrawal of BBDO, TBWA remains the sole representative in Vietnam. 

In 2021, all three of Omnicom’s creative networks (DDB, BBDO, and TBWA) secured positions in the top ten at the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity with over 180 Lions collectively. They are also recognized as America’s 2023 Best Employers for Women by Forbes ranking.

DDB Paris earned the Clio Grand for “Volkswagen – Inside Job” campaign. Instead of posting jobs on social platforms, Volkswagen Group France used a unique strategy by hiding job ads in vehicles needing service at garages across France by engraving messages on car parts. QR codes on these parts directed potential candidates to Volkswagen’s job offers. 

This 2023 Clio Awards Gold-winning entry titled ‘Apologize the Rainbow‘ was entered for Skittles by DDB Chicago. The team used online criticism about discontinuing lime flavor to issue personal apologies to all 138,880 complainers through Twitch, Twitter, Times Square, and more. Additionally, Skittles also sent free Lime Skittles as a meaningful gesture, creating an exceptionally personalized corporate apology.

Conclusion

From groundbreaking campaigns to global acclaim, the Big 5 have firmly established their positions as trailblazers in the advertising industry. Indeed, these agencies have not only made a lasting impact on advertising but also redefined creativity and innovation. Exploring the legacies and success of these giants offers an exciting journey for advertising enthusiasts keen on understanding the industry deeper.