SAATCHI & SAATCHI NYC WINS CANNES AGENCY OF THE YEAR, BBDO NETWORK OF THE YEAR

Australian expat Leo Premutico, formerly of Colenso BBDO Auckland, who is now joint executive creative director at Saatchi & Saatchi New York with South African Jan Jacobs helped the agency win the coveted Cannes Advertising Agency of the Year title. The pair are second in seniority to Saatchi & Saatchi NY creative chief, Tony Granger - himself a South African.
The Saatchi win breaks the stronghold by TBWA Paris, who has won it for the past four years. Last year, Saatchi New York was third.
DDB London was the second most awarded agency of the year and Ogilvy & Mather Singapore third.
Saatchi New York’s award haul included the Grand Prix in print for Procter & Gamble’s Ultra Tide Stain Remover ‘Mayo’, ‘Soy Sauce’ and ‘Ketchup’. Winning the top prize for one of the world’s biggest packaged goods company signals a shift towards agencies winning awards for its biggest, and therefore most difficult, clients.
The Network of the Year was BBDO, with DDB in second place and Saatchi & Saatchi in third place. Clemenger BBDO Melbourne, which won the Cannes Radio Grand Prix for Snickers ‘Hoedown’ and Clemenger BBDO Wellington, which won a coveted Integrated Lion for The New Zealand Netherlands Foundation ‘World Press Photo Exhibition’ and several other Lions earlier in the week, helped BBDO emerge as the leading network of the year.
The US dominated the Palme d’Or, which awards the top 10 production companies at the festival, a list led by Smuggler New York, Biscuit Filmworks Los Angeles, MJZ Los Angeles and Hungry Man USA. In fifth place was Rebolucion Buenos Aires, Epoch Films Beverly Hills, Gorgeous Enterprises London, Phenomena Bangkok, Partizan London and Rattling Stick, London.