Cannes Lions ranks Special Auckland in top #5 independent agencies in the world
Cannes Lions, the world’s largest and most competitive award festival, has just released its ‘Creativity Report’ for 2023, complete with global creative rankings for the world’s leading agencies. The report places New Zealand’s Special amongst the who’s who of creative independent agencies globally, ranking Special Auckland in 4th place, two spots above Uncommon London (who recently sold for just over £100m), and just behind legendary agency, Wieden & Kennedy Portland. Number one spot was taken out by Gut, Argentina.
Says Tony Bradbourne, founder, Special: “It’s been a dream couple of years really, and the whole team are pretty proud to be considered amongst such incredible global agencies as W&K and Uncommon. It just shows you what you can do from far away New Zealand, and that great ideas are still great ideas, no matter where they come from.”
After beating over 1,300 other entries to win a Grand Prix and multiple Golds for its ‘Last Performance’ work for Partner Life, Special was also named ‘Independent Agency of the Year’ in the Strategy track.
Says Rory Gallery, chief strategy officer, Special: “It’s incredible to be acknowledged for our strategic thinking by our peers who are amongst the very best clients and strategists on the planet.”
2023 also proved a stellar year for the Auckland founded Special global network, who now have offices in Auckland, Sydney, Melbourne, Los Angeles, Wellington, New York and London, seeing them climb 3 places from last year, to now sit as ‘#4 Independent Creative Network’ in the world.
Special also impressively rank #2 Network in the Pacific region. Ahead of global giant Accenture Song and just behind Omnicom owned BBDO. The announcement comes just weeks after AWARD in Australia named Special as ‘Network Agency of the Year’ after a dominate display at the Sydney based awards.
Adds Bradbourne: “It’s amazing to see the group grow. And for all the hard work from our partners in every office earn such recognition. We’re still getting used to the word ‘network’ as it doesn’t really seem an accurate way to describe the incredible group of talent and friends we have across the world.”
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An agency with big balls deserves big awards. Simple.