The Annual Campaign Brief Hot List 2018

It was a big year for our 2017 Australian Agency of the Year, with impressive work across the board.
Notable work included MLA Lamb 'Australia Day', 'Currency kitchen' and 'Religions', Berlei 'Womankind', MLA Beef 'The greatest meat on earth', Qantas 'Dream Windows', Oak 'Race to kill hungry thirsty', Crownbet 'A better way to wager', Holden Equinox 'Nothing to prove' and  Ikea 'The best day is everyday'.
Awards during the year included wins at Cannes, D&AD and The One Show. The Monkeys was the second most awarded agency at AWARD and cleaned up at the Australian Effies.
The agency won nine pieces of business including iconic brands Holden, Australia Post and NRMA.
2017 was the best financial year in the agency's history. Revenue grew by 15% and profit margins were up by over 30%.
The Monkeys sold to Accenture Interactive in a much publicised $63m deal and opened an office in Melbourne, hiring the city's brightest talent, including Ant Keogh.

CB HOT LIST #2 
HOST/HAVAS SYDNEY
Host/Havas Sydney was a massive creative improver in 2017.
The merger of Host and Havas in early 2017 created a large agency with 220 staff, including one of the biggest creative departments in Australia, headed by chief creative officer Darren Spiller, who joined in early 2017. The agency also hired Ant Melder as Executive Creative Director and Paul Bootlis as Digital Creative Director, and promoted Jon Austin to Executive Creative Director. The agency includes over 100 digital specialists and 40 content specialists.
Notable work included Palau Visitor's Authority 'The Palau Pledge', Air New Zealand 'A very merry mistake', Defence Force Recruiting VRecruitment platform, Army 'Snapchat' ad '360 Hub', XXXX 'The Goldie', Oporto 'It bites back' and Fund for Peace 'Bottom 100'.

It was a year of significant new business wins, increased revenue and profit, a record awards tally both locally and internationally, some heavy hitting creative hires and some world class ideas.

Clemenger bbdo Melbourne put in a solid creative performance in 2017 but failed to reach the world-beating heights of 2016.
Notable work included Airbnb 'Until we all belong', TAC 'Breakpoint Instagram posters', Carlton Dry 'The Underthink Tank' and Splendour in the Grass Festival site, Carlton Draught 'It's that fresh', Myer 'Stocktake Sale in 6 seconds' and 'Christmas', Visit Victoria 'Melbourne: a twist at every turn' and NAB 'Mini legends' (new series).
Thanks mainly to the 2016 TAC 'Meet Graham' campaign Clemenger BBDO Melbourne was ranked #1 agency in the world at Cannes, D&AD, New York Festivals and AWARD in 2017. At D&AD the agency scored an amazing 6 Yellow Pencils and a coveted Black Pencil. At Cannes an incredible 14 Gold Lions and two Grand Prix. The agency won Best in Show and three Gold Pencils at The One Show. Clems also won Best of Show, two Grand Prix and three Gold at the New York Festivals, and four Grand Prix at Spikes Asia.

In June 2017 \TBWA Sydney lured highly awarded Andy DiLallo to the chief creative officer role and in July the agency snared Matt Sringate from Grey London to the chief strategy officer role. By year's end both hires paid off.
Notable work included MJ Bale 'The coolest suit on the planet', where over six weeks, MJ Bale's Cool Wool suit was put to the ultimate test. A suit was given to a weatherman who was sent on a heat-seeking mission to the hottest places on earth. Every day he travelled to some of the planet's most extreme locations and fed real time data of the conditions into the change room.
Other notable campaigns included Gatorade 'Bolt Rate', Australian Turf Club 'The Trojan Heel', David Jones 'Now it feels like Christmas', Foxtel 'Life happens', Nicorette 'Human Aquarium' and Philips 'The Unhaunting'.
Ten new business wins and no losses in 2017. Wins included global Woolmark, Australian Turf Club, David Jones, Foxtel 'Now' launch, Quickbooks and Thredbo Resort.

BMF Sydney put in a solid creative performance in 2017, the last year under the creative direction of ECD Cam Blackley, who is set to join M&C Saatchi in early 2018.
Notable work included Aldi 'the more the merrier', 'Stop and Smell the Savings', 'Good Different',  'Epic Reminders' and 'Good Different Prices', Sportsbet 'Roid in Android' and 'Inside Things', MLA Beef 'You're better on beef', Dulux 'The joy of colour' and Dept of Treasury 'Earned here, taxed here'.
Many industry punters ~ including CB ~ believe Aldi beat John Lewis at Christmas. The campaign was praised by the industry and yielded the biggest sales week ever.
BMF Sydney was named 2017 Effective Agency of the Year at the Effie Awards (with one Gold, seven Silver and three Bronze Awards), two Grand Awards at Clio Sports, two Bronze Awards at LIA, and one Silver Pencil and six Bronze Pencils at AWARD.
It was a great year for new business, with 14 new brands added plus overseas assignments from P&G, Paddy Power and Agoda.
It was another strong year for M&C Saatchi Sydney, Australia's largest agency, with above average worth on a wide range of clients.
Notable work included AIME 'Cogs', NRMA 'Fire Blanket', Lexus 'Hidden Artistry', Keep Sydney Open, Optus 'Fancestry', Woolworths 'Glorious', Comm- Bank 'Future Savers' and 'ATM that listens'.
M&C Saatchi was ranked Most Innovative Company in Australia and NZ by the Australian Financial Review, with NRMA Fire Blanket named Best Product Innovation and Best Overall Innovation.
M&C Saatchi Group added 131 new hires to increase total staff to 550. The agency currently has 20% staff churn, which is significantly less than the 35% industry average.
The agency added 21 new clients in 2017, bringing total billings to $587m. Revenue growth was 15% and profit growth was 35%. New clients included Big W, Netflix, Origin, CGU, NRL, G'Day USA, Intercontinental Hotels & Resorts, ancestry.com, Reebok and Fairfax Media.

 

CHE Proximity Syd/Melb came out of nowhere creatively in 2017, perhaps shedding once and for all the big, dull agency image of old.
Notable work included Virgin Australia Velocity Frequest Flyer 'The Billion Point Giveaway Mistake' and 'Giant Expo', Swann Insurance 'Inconvenience Stores' and 'Motorbike VR tech', Lego 'Making the list', Latitude 'You can do better', Nasonex 'Exodus to Mars' and Virgin 'Frequent Flyers'.
CHE Proximity claims its one agency in two locations, with 305 staff with 121 roles of speciality.
It was another year of 15% growth, which has been the trend for the last five years.
2017 was the most creatively successful year in CHEP's history, with three Gold, five Silver and three Bronze at LIA, two Silver Lions and two Btronze Lions at Cannes, one Clio Grand and one Gold at Clio Health, two Gold, one Silver and seven Bronze ar Clio, plus one Pinnacle Award and two winners at ADMA. AFR ranked CEP as #7 Most Innovative Company in Australia.

CB HOT LIST #8 
VML SYDNEY
In 2017 VML sydney once again put in an impressive performance.
Seen and noted work included McDonald's 'Snaplications', 'Monopoly', 'My Maccas' and 'Retail Experience', RM Williams 'Walk a mile', Ripcurl 'Search 2.0' and Oxipay.
The agency won two Silver Lions and two Bronze Lions at Cannes, two Silver and three Bronze at Clio, two Silver and one Bronze at LIA and Best of Show 2nd Place at the Mobius Awards.
VML Australia is one of a few Australian agencies who work for clients regionally and globally. Clients include ASB in NZ, Netflix in Asia, Bankwest in Perth, and Australian Open and Ripcurl in Melbourne. Globally VML Australia worked with Microsoft, Ford, Sprint and Tyson.
VML created impressive platforms and experiences for Australian Open, Bankwest and Flexigoup.
Plus product and service design for McDonald's, American Express and Teachers Mutual Bank.

CB HOT LIST #9 
OGILVY SYDNEY
In 2017 Ogilvy Sydney made the move from the North side to a cool new office in Barangaroo, housing the agency's 209 staff.
Notable work included IBM 'Outthink Melanoma' and 'Cognitive Collection', Aquim 'Help stop the germ swap', KFC 'Shut up and take my money', 'Gravy Mashies', 'Brand film', 'Home Cricket Ground' and 'Taking the Bird to Birdsville', Coca-Cola 'Gay Marriage' and 'Kings Cross Auction', U By Kotex and Soothers 'YouTube' campaign.
Overall 12 clients were acknowledged at award shows in 2017. Ogilvy Sydney was named #3 Innovative Agency of the Year in the world at Cannes.
Apart from resigning Seafolly, no clients were lost in 2017. New business wins included Lion (Iron Jack and Beer the Beautiful Truth), Coke (regional), Nestle (infact nutrition), KFC (website), NSW Treasury, Purina (Search), Uncle Toby's (digital), Transport for NSW (point to point), KPMG, Freedom Kitchens, Destination NSW, Tabcorp and Bankwest.

CB HOT LIST #10 
CLEMENGER BBDO SYDNEY
Over the past year Clemenger BBDO Sydney continued to create work that got noticed across a wide spread of clients.
Notable work included Visa 'Waveshades' and global campaign, Hungry Jack's 'Keeping it real', Tourism Australia 'Aussie News Today', Arena - Real Housewives of Sydney 'Kevlar Couture' and Sydney Homeless 'Street life view'.
The agency started 2017 with the snaring of highly awarded Ben Coulson from Y&R Melbourne to the chief creative officer role. Twelve additional hires in the creative department included creative director Darren Wright from Wieden + Kennedy, London.
The agency added eight new clients to the roster in 2017: Aurrum, Eclipse Mints, Japan Airlines, RHR Group, Western Sydney Wanderers, HP, YouTube, and Rugby League World Cup 2017.
Clemenger BBDO Sydney's commercial success has always been envied by others, and 2017 was no exception, with 5% growth in revenue and 20% profit.


CB HOT LIST  
AGENCY MOVERS & SHAKERS
(in alphabetical order)

BWM DENTSU, SYDNEY
5 Star Work: BabyLove 'Premmie Proud'.
4 Star Work: Qantas 'Passport take-off' and 'Mother's Day', Baby Love 'Uncomfortable baby names', Jemena Natural Gas 'Dragon'.

BWM DENTSU, MELBOURNE
5 Star Work: Victoria Govt 'Bushfire Alert Ad'.
4 Star Work: Qld Police 'Snapchat Disappearing Persons', Latitude 'Little stuff for big stuff'.

THE CORE AGENCY, SYDNEY
4 Star Work: Marriage Equality logo, Fred Hollows Foundation 'Vivid'.

CUMMINS & PARTNERS, SYDNEY
5 Star Work: Go Gentle Australia 'Stop the horror'.
4 Star Work: QT Hotels & Resorts 'Room for dessert', Puma '#letusalltietheknot', Movember 'mayeight!!'.

DDB SYDNEY
5 Star Work: Virgin Australia 'Fan Report'.
4 Star Work: Westpac 'The Bump Account' and 'Lite Credit Card', McDonald's 'Ronald McDonald House', Volkswagen Golf '360 VR' and 'Korama', Skoda 'You don't have to be brilliant', Streets 'Vogon'.

J WALTER THOMPSON SYDNEY
4 Star Work: Kit-Kat 'Snap out of it', Kleenex 'Puppy replacement', Virtual Equality 'Queer Az', Parkinson's NSW 'The Hold', Subway 'Live Feed', DreamLab 'Linked-In Hack'.

LEO BURNETT MELBOURNE
5 Star Work: Glide Fins 'Fin for a Fin'.
4 Star Work: Honda 'Centre of everything', Marriage Equality 'For every bachelor and bachelorette', Goulburn Valley 'Food tours', Bond's 'Mash up'.
 
LEO BURNETT SYDNEY
5 Star Work: Samsung Galaxy S8 'The wettest town showdown'.
4 Star Work: Samsung 'The Frame', 'Jomo' and 'Unbox your phone', Earth Hour 'The Tomorrow Show', Twinings wellness, Canon 'Blink'.

MARCEL, SYDNEY
4 Star Work: Four Seasons Condoms, Tiger Beer TVC, Tiger Beer '#3890TIGERS', Virgin Active '2nd finishing line', Byron Bay Film Festival, Creative Spirit US launch.

McCANN MELBOURNE
4 Star Work: AGL 'Are you with us?', AGL Plus launch, University of Melbourne 'For every future', WorkSafe 'Christmas Carol', L'Oreal 'True match, true stories', Bakers Delight 'Lo-fo loaf'.

McCANN SYDNEY
4 Star Work: Uncle Toby's Oats, Mastercard 'Sponsor of the Happy Slam', and 'Tap for your town', Friskies 'Licks, not Likes', Cathay Pacific 'Perfums de Voyage', Purina 'Peturnity Leave'.

OGILVY, MELBOURNE
4 Star Work: AAMI 'Woop Woop', BPME app, Mini Countryman BnB.
R/GA SYDNEY
4 Star Work: Telstra 'Smart Home', Samsung Galaxy S8 'Unbox the internet', Google Pixel 2 'City Now'.

THE ROYALS, MELBOURNE
4 Star Work: The Equality Campaign, 'Say No to No', Aperol 'Australian Open', Strand Arcade AW17, White Pages 'The Connective Collective'.

SAATCHI & SAATCHI, SYDNEY
5 Star Work: Westpac / CPR Kids 'Rescue Rashie'.
4 Star Work: Toyota 'Unbreakable Hilux poster', RSPCA 'Cat Ballads', Toyota Kluger.

SDWM, MELBOURNE
4 Star Work: La Trobe University, Multicultural Museums Victoria, Christian Kimber, Noble Boy.

SHOWPONY, ADELAIDE
5 Star Work: SA Health 'Waiting is not an emergency'.
4 Star Work: Breastscreen SA 'What you see. What we see', Department of Health Tasmania 'Hands off our ambos', Balfours 'Stars of Summer'.

SPECIAL GROUP, SYDNEY
4 Star Work: Haier 'Together together', Amaysim 'Say goodbye', Uber EATS 'Tonight I'll be eating', Uber Rider 'Qantas partnership', BE Bone Broth, Red Bull 'Music academy', Harris Farm Markets 'Designing Potts Point'.

TBWA\ MELBOURNE
4 Star Work: ANZ 'Champagne', Nissan Navara 'Wildebeest', Origin Energy 'Bill Schplitter', Australian Marriage Equality, Peroni, ALT drink, Melbourne Convention & Exhibition Centre.

10 FEET TALL, MELBOURNE
4 Star Work: Haval 'Luxury you won't have to sell the house for', RE 'Plastic surgery', Far East 'The Star Residences'.

303 MULLEN LOWE, SYDNEY
4 Star Work: Magellan, Budget Direct 'Bear', 'Camel' 'Road Trip', TK Maxx, Audi 'Cup Holder'.

WE ARE SOCIAL, SYDNEY
4 Star Work: Netflix 'Cheaterz', 'Australians for Underwood' and 'The Crown', Bright-Netflix 'Will Smith', Samsung '#tothemakers', 'Note Touch'.

THE WORKS, SYDNEY
4 Star Work: Black Hawk 'Real Food movement', Foxtel 'The Wentworth Rat', Volvo XC60.

Y&R BRISBANE
5 Star Work: Australian Road Safety Foundation 'Safely Back Packs'.
4 Star Work: The Lott 'Picture Pack', Powerball 'Gift Jet'.

Y&R MELBOURNE
4 Star Work: Australia Post 'Care Packages', Fair Trade 'The cleanest uniform in Australia', Monash University, Public Transport Victoria.