WARC has released its annual WARC Media 100 Ranking highlighting the best media ideas from across the marketing industry, featuring the most awarded campaigns, agencies, and brands worldwide. While the US continued its dominance as the most awarded country 22 campaigns in the top 100, Australia moved up to second place in 2019 with 10 campaigns and China jumped from 6th to third place.
The ranking combines the results of the industry’s “most important global and regional media award” shows tracked throughout 2019, as determined by the WARC Rankings Advisory Board and a worldwide industry survey.
“Campaigns leading with artificial intelligence and creative data strategies dominate the top of this year’s Media 100, reflecting the challenges and priorities of media businesses,” said David Tiltman, VP Content, WARC. “The top two campaigns, Foxtel’s Monty Predictive Commentator and KFC’s The First Colonal to Conquer eSports, both used AI to make sporting predictions and deliver real-time ads and offers to fans.”
Top Ranked for 2020
Most awarded campaigns for media
Foxtel’s Monty: The World’s First AI Predictive Commentator created by Mindshare Sydney, ranked number one as the most celebrated campaign for media excellence of 2019. The “game-changing campaign” aimed at encouraging people to pay to watch cricket, a product they had previously enjoyed for free.
As part of the campaign, Foxtel created Monty, a predictive AI commentator able to forecast when wickets would fall in live games. When Monty predicted a wicket, it triggered mobile display ads, pre-roll video and OOH to get people to watch, delivering an average weekly sales increase of 18%.
“As a self-respecting Aussie I love the cricket and I am thrilled to see Monty not only recognized as best in class but best in the world. It shows the power of provocation, one of our core values at Mindshare,” said Katie Rigg-Smith – CEO, Mindshare Australasia. “It sees a great consumer insight married with powerful AI that delivered innovation and real outcomes. Credit to Jack Smyth and the team for dreaming it up, the Foxtel and the Fox Sports team who were bold enough to back it and our partners at Google.”
Coming in second was The First Colonel to Conquer eSports, by Mindshare Shanghai, which looked to strengthen KFC’s relationship with gamers in China by integrating itself in League of Legends.
In third, The Adaptive Data Lighthouse by Mindshare Mumbai for soap brand Lifebuoy, targeting people in rural India, at most risk of infections preventable by good hand hygiene.
| Rank | Campaign title | Brand | Agency | Points |
| 1 | Monty: The World’s First AI Predictive Commentator | Foxtel | Mindshare Sydney | 216.4 |
| 2 | The First Colonel to Conquer eSports | KFC | Mindshare Shanghai | 167.3 |
| 3 | The Adaptive Data Lighthouse | Lifebuoy | Mindshare Mumbai | 165.3 |
| 4 | Digital Window Shopping | Sport Chek / Canadian Tire | Touché! Montreal | 106.1 |
| 5 | Samsung x Fortnite: The Galaxy Skin | Samsung Galaxy | R/GA New York / Starcom London / Starcom Chicago/ Wasserman New York | 92.8 |
| 6 | Australian Open Ambush | Uber Eats | MediaCom Sydney / Special Group Sydney | 90.5 |
| 7 | The Oh Henry! 4:25 Bar Launch | Oh Henry! | UM Toronto / Anomaly Toronto / Reprise Toronto | 80.7 |
| 8 | Missguided Styles Love Island | Missguided | MediaCom Manchester | 77.2 |
| 9 | Not Just One Creator | Vans | Starcom Chicago / MRY New York | 76.5 |
| 10 | Hacking Prime Day | Cheerios | Mindshare Chicago | 76.4 |
Top 10 world’s most awarded agencies for media
Starcom Chicago ranked as the top media agency, an ascension from #20 in last year’s WARC rankings. Campaigns for Samsung, Vans, ESPN and The North Face, all ranked in the top 100, driving the agency to the top spot.
Mindshare Shanghai improved its rank by one place, up to #2 this year, with work for KFC, Maybelline and Lay’s ranked in the top 30 campaigns. Mindshare Sydney ranked third, up from 12th last year, largely driven by Monty, the top-ranked campaign.
| Rank | Agency | Location | Points |
| 1 | Starcom | Chicago, USA | 335 |
| 2 | Mindshare | Shanghai, China | 271.8 |
| 3 | Mindshare | Sydney, Australia | 216.4 |
| 4 | Mindshare | Mumbai, India | 199.8 |
| 5 | Touché! | Montreal, Canada | 159.8 |
| 6 | MediaCom Connections | Tel Aviv, Israel | 132.6 |
| 7 | MediaCom | Sydney, Australia | 123.1 |
| 8 | MediaCom | New York, USA | 103.1 |
| 9 | UM | Toronto, Canada | 102.5 |
| 10 | PHD | Sydney, Australia | 100.8 |
Top 10 world’s most awarded networks for media
Mindshare Worldwide claims the top position as the most awarded Network, improving its rank from #3 last year. The media network had 27 different agencies contributing to its total points, eight of them in the top 50, with 16 campaigns ranked in the top 100.
MediaCom dropped to second place and IPG Mediabrands moved up one place to third.
| Rank | Network | Points |
| 1 | Mindshare Worldwide | 1239.5 |
| 2 | MediaCom | 823.5 |
| 3 | IPG Mediabrands | 782.6 |
| 4 | PHD Worldwide | 744.7 |
| 5 | Starcom | 438.7 |
| 6 | OMD Worldwide | 367.0 |
| 7 | Dentsu Aegis Network | 313.5 |
| 8 | McCann Worldgroup | 248.6 |
| 9 | Havas Media Group | 244.4 |
| 10 | BBDO Worldwide | 218.0 |
Top 10 most awarded holding companies for media
WPP continues its run at the top of the media holding companies ranking, driven by the strong performance of its Mindshare Worldwide network, together with a further 10 networks in the top 50. Omnicom Group retained its second position, as did Interpublic Group in third.
| Rank | Holding company | Points |
| 1 | WPP | 3062.1 |
| 2 | Omnicom Group | 1584.9 |
| 3 | Interpublic Group | 1323.5 |
| 4 | Publicis Groupe | 932.3 |
| 5 | Dentsu | 326.5 |
| 6 | Havas Group | 303.1 |
| 7 | MDC Partners | 43 |
| 8 | Accenture | 33.6 |
| 9 | The&Partnership | 30.8 |
| 10 | Hakuhodo DY Group | 12.3 |
Top 10 world’s most awarded brands for media
A strong performance in Asia by KFC led the fast-food retailer to the top of the brand rankings this year, with two campaigns in the top 100, including #2 campaign, The First Colonel to Conquer eSports.
Foxtel improved its rank from sixth last year to second this year and Lifebuoy moves up from 13th to second place. Three brands entered the top 50 for the first time: Sport Chek / Canadian Tire goes straight in at #7, while Uber Eats and Uber rank #9 and #10 respectively.
| Rank | Brand | Product Category | Points |
| 1 | KFC | Retail | 278.2 |
| 2 | Foxtel | Media & Publishing | 216.4 |
| 3 | Lifebuoy | Toiletries & Cosmetics | 209.7 |
| 4 | Nike | Clothing & Accessories | 205.5 |
| 5 | Samsung Galaxy | Technology & Electronics | 149.6 |
| 6 | Burger King | Retail | 108.5 |
| 7 | Sport Chek / Canadian Tire | Retail | 106.1 |
| 8 | McDonald’s | Retail | 105.2 |
| 9 | Uber Eats | Retail | 90.5 |
| 10 | Uber | Transport & Tourism | 82.3 |
Top 10 world’s most awarded advertisers for media
Unilever ranked as the #1 advertiser this year. The FMCG giant had three brands in the top 50 – Lifebuoy, P/S, Knorr – with a further 25 brands contributing to its success. Yum! Brands followed in second place and Procter & Gamble in third.
| Rank | Advertiser | Location | Points |
| 1 | Unilever | Netherlands / UK | 594.7 |
| 2 | Yum! Brands | USA | 287.1 |
| 3 | Procter & Gamble | USA | 258.3 |
| 4 | PepsiCo | USA | 227.3 |
| 5 | News Corp | USA | 216.4 |
| 6 | Nike | USA | 205.5 |
| 7 | Uber | USA | 177.9 |
| 8 | Samsung | South Korea | 165 |
| 9 | Anheuser-Busch InBev | Belgium | 160.8 |
| 10 | The Walt Disney Company | USA | 155.8 |
Top 10 most awarded countries for media
The United States retained its top country rank with a dominant #1 ranking for a third year with 22 campaigns in the top 100, three of which made the top 10. Australia improved its rank by one place to take second place, with 10 campaigns within the top 100. China jumps from 6th to third place with 11 campaigns.
| Rank | Country | Points |
| 1 | USA | 1895.4 |
| 2 | Australia | 695.9 |
| 3 | China | 663.9 |
| 4 | UK | 605 |
| 5 | Brazil | 566.2 |
| 6 | Canada | 490.7 |
| 7 | India | 406.2 |
| 8 | Turkey | 329.7 |
| 9 | United Arab Emirates | 290.1 |
| 10 | Vietnam | 252.4 |
