15 Most Creative Agencies...

In advertising, you usually spend all your time looking for the hot, the new, the next. But sometimes it’s good to look back, to appreciate the old that was once new, to see how far we’ve come.

To celebrate our 150th issue, shots takes a nostalgic trip and browses the industry’s rich creative history to pick our favourite 150 agencies, directors, production and post houses, spots, Super Bowl spots, creative gurus, brands, music videos, online campaigns, shots staff most admired work and most important changes…

AKQA

Their work for Nike alone redefines how brands can operate in the current digital climate. The Xbox game Nike+ Kinect Training, their footballing talent search The Chance and the Nike Training Club app are a few examples of this. Add in the phenomenal WWF app, 221b Baker Street – the online game for the 2009 Sherlock Holmes film, Heineken’s mobile football game Star Player and their Future Lions event at Cannes, and you can see why this agency has had such an impact on the industry.

BBDO

It could be AMV BBDO’s oft-cited best TV spot ever made, Guinness Surfer, or their subsequent Guinness campaigns which have almost (almost!) been as lauded that lands them here. It could be AlmapBBDO’s great work for Pepsi, Mizuno and Volkswagen or CLM’s equally celebrated Pepsi work. Maybe BBDO New York’s AT&T executions, or brilliantly funny Snickers and FedEx work. Take your pick.

BBH

When shots first launched, BBH was flying high with campaigns for Levi’s that crossed the cultural divide to become more than just TV commercials. They deserve to be on the list for those alone – Launderette, Swimmer, Creek et al. Nearly 25 years later, though Levi’s has left the building, the agency continues to create beautiful, impactful and category-defining work for a host of clients.

BETC

More recently opened BETC offices in Brazil and London have created some great work, but it’s the French office which has so far established BETC as a creative force to be admired. Award-winning work for Canal+, Peugeot and Evian ushers the agency onto our list.

CP+B

They made IKEA cool (Lamp, Bored to Death, Makeover, Clutter). They made cigarettes uncool with their hard-hitting State of Florida anti-smoking work and they were early adopters of online campaigns, with Burger King’s Subservient Chicken in 2005, and brilliant, later online executions for Burger King, Whopper Sacrifice and Whopper Freakout.

DDB

They would make it on this list purely with their work for Volkswagen, but when you also factor in such innovative campaigns for brands like Centraal Beheer in the Netherlands, Sky Television in New Zealand and Budweiser/Bud Light in the US, you begin to see what an impact they’ve had on global advertising output.

Droga5

Like Midas, most of what David Droga touches turns to gold. Launched in 2006, Droga5 created immediate impact with the Ecko Unltd Still Free viral, which made it look like Air Force One had been graffitied, and the agency has gone on to lead the way in new advertising approaches with work for UNICEF’s The Tap Project, and Jay-Z’s Decoded campaign for Bing.

Fallon

From the branded content forbear of BMW’s The Hire through to the art-meets-advertising campaigns for Sony Bravia, Fallon has caused the industry to sit up and take notice on more than one occasion. Add in sterling, category-defining work for brands such as Cadbury and Skoda and there can be no argument that it deserves its place on the list.

Forsman & Bodenfors

The recent success of their Jean-Claude Van Damme-starring spot for Volvo Trucks has shone a light on this Swedish agency which has been a consistently creative presence on shots over the years. Imaginative work for IKEA and If insurance, plus a host of pre-JCVD Volvo work has made them one of Europe’s most creativity-conscious agencies.

Goodby Silverstein & Partners

A behemoth in the US ad industry, GS&P has been the force behind some of the most well-known advertising campaigns since shots began. Jeff Goodby and Rich Silverstein have led the agency to creative summits, and have turned campaigns for brands such as the California Milk Processor Board, Saturn, Chevy and Budweiser into iconic advertising history.

KesselsKramer

Weird and wonderful are two words which spring to mind when thinking of this Dutch agency. Though possibly less ‘out there’ now than they were in the late 90s and early 2000s, their madcap but brilliantly memorable work for brands including Diesel jeans, mobile operator Ben and the Hans Brinker Budget Hotel chain have made KesselsKramer an influential creative hothouse.

Mother

Be it Mother in London or New York, or Madre in Buenos Aires, the Mother ethos pervades all that they do. A collective of creatives that often defies definition, the London agency was created in 1996 to launch UK TV channel, Channel 5, and spawned a NY and BA office in 2003 and 2005 respectively. Work for Coca-Cola, Boots, IKEA and Stella Artois, as well as a host of side projects and artistic ventures, have kept them at the top of the creative pile.

R/GA

Like AKQA, R/GA is not really an advertising agency. The company has evolved on a number of occasions into a number of entities, from movie title specialist to what is now an innovative ‘product and service innovator and consultancy’. What this means is that they are behind groundbreaking concepts like the Nike+ FuelBand, the promotion-based app Pay With a Tweet and a number of other apps for clients including spice brand McCormick.

TBWA

The London agency’s work for PlayStation is, in our eyes, enough to get them on the list – Double Life is a stand out – but Hunt/Lascaris in South Africa also produced some notable work for the same client, plus local brands such as Stanlib and Uniball. The US offices must obviously get a mention for consistently creative work for brands including Apple, Gatorade, Jameson and Skittles, and outposts in Helsinki, Toronto and Amsterdam add more fuel to an already roaring creative fire.

Wieden+Kennedy

One word: Nike. OK, two more words: Old Spice.