Colenso BBDO Named Cannes Lions Festival of Creativity Pacific Agency of the Decade

Cannes Lions Festival of Creativity has named Colenso BBDO as the Pacific Agency of the Decade.

The announcement was made during Cannes Lions Live where the New Zealand creative agency virtually collected the accolade, complemented by an acceptance showreel. Over the ten years, Colenso has been awarded a grand total of 99 lions (1 x Grand Prix, 1 x Titanium, 29 x Gold, 31 x Silver, 37 x Bronze) across 58 campaigns for 30 brands.

Some of the standout work from this period includes The Pedigree Child Replacement Programme (the most awarded campaign in Colenso history), DB Export Brewtroleum (the second most awarded campaign at Cannes from NZ), and the much-loved global platform Pedigree SelfieSTIX.

The agency celebrated its 50th anniversary in 2019 and Scott Coldham, who joined Colenso in 2006 and has been managing director for the past five years, expressed his delight in winning this prestigious title, and its significance: “It is a career highlight. Looking back over the last ten year’s work, the people involved, the brands we’ve had the privilege of representing and the audacity of some of our work is a wonderful reminder of how special this agency is, and how lucky I am to be a part of it.”

Says Levi Slavin, who returned to Colenso in 2017 as chief creative officer: “Colenso has an incredible history of extraordinary creative work. It’s something we all feel every time we set foot in the building, so it’s wonderful to have that history formally recognized.”