Ad agencies M&C Saatchi Group Sydney, Leo
Burnett Sydney, Clemenger BBDO Melbourne and Isobar, Sydney have been
including in the 2016 edition of the AFR 50 Most Innovative Companies
list.
M&C Saatchi Group
Sydney is ranked #6, Leo Burnett Sydney is at #14, Clemenger BBDO
Melbourne is ranked #43 and Isobar Sydney is placed #44.
Says Jaimes Leggett, CEO, M&C Saatchi: "M&C Saatchi
Group has gone through rapid change. This is largely driven by the
re-articulation of our vision - to be the most influential creative
company in Australia by 2020. To deliver on this vision, we've built a
group of companies with best-in-class capabilities designed to connect
with a consumer at every point they encounter a brand. And invariably
innovation has been a big part of that.
"We no longer just
create communications. The M&C Saatchi Group of the future has a
laser precision view of the customer experience. And we're building our
brands around that."
M&C Saatchi's "Game of Balls" campaign
was awarded the best CSR/social innovation. Hailed as one of the biggest
marketing stories in the world, it has reached over sixty million
people. M&C Saatchi Group approached one of the largest Adult
Entertainment studios in the world and convinced them to include a
message in their biggest release of the year. The idea has disrupted the
way marketers target audiences with key health messaging.
The
company has improved on its ranking of eighteenth in 2015 and has beat
fellow agencies including Leo Burnett, Clemenger BBDO Melbourne and
Isobar. One of the company's biggest clients, Commonweath Bank of
Australia, has also been ranked third.
Leo's made the list after a year after embarking on a very deliberate transformation strategy focused on innovation.
The
company implemented innovation-first processes and programs, completely
restructured its business model and fostered a culture that delivers
innovative solutions to complex business problems. Along the way, it
created world-first technology, new products, media firsts, new services
and tech-enabled ideas.
Says Pete Bosilkovski, CEO Leo Burnett
Sydney: "Our unwavering focus on 'consumer first innovation' has utterly
transformed our business. We have evolved into a creative solutions
company and have created an environment and business that ensures we
will remain not only relevant, but at the forefront, in a rapidly
changing industry.
"The new connected economy is creating exciting new opportunities for our business.
We
have invested a lot of our money and time talking to consumers to
understand new behaviours and tensions. As we learn more about these
behaviours, we've become unrelenting in our ambition to create and
unlock ground breaking new user experience ecosystems and products for
our clients' businesses.
"We strongly believe in the power and
value of our innovation-centric approach and are proud to be recognised
as one of the most innovative businesses in the country."
Core
innovative initiatives delivered by the company included an innovation
program that facilitates a new stream of ideas, creates new ways to
collaborate, and builds inventive thinking into the agency fabric; the
creation of Samsung brainBAND, creation of new Bundaberg Rum RTD
product, just product line for WWF, the world's first VR birth for
Samsung and the formation of strategic and ground-breaking partnerships
with Google and Facebook.
M&C Saatchi's Jaimes Leggett and Leo Burnett's Pete Bosilkovski have both also been announced as finalists in both CEO of the Year and Media Executive of the Year categories at The CEO Magazine's Executive of the Year Awards.
VIEW THE FULL AFR LIST HERE.