It’s time to review our finalists for 2011 Agency of the Year. To find out which of our top 10 shops takes top honours, pick up the January 2012 issue of Marketing.
BBDO
BBDO had a WTF kind of year with multi-award-winning work and strong account wins
To quote scott43670, “what the f**k.” That’s the same reaction a lot of people posted when they first watched BBDO Toronto’s “Cat” ad online—one of five in the agency’s “Touch the Rainbow” digital campaign for Skittles. Countless comments echoed the same sentiment as Mr. 43670.
That collective visceral response to the campaign helped it become a smash success that gained more than 1.5 million views within three days of being posted on a branded Canadian Skittles channel on YouTube. Chockfull of quirky characters, like the underweight roller skater that seemingly came from a Harmony Korine casting call, the videos used “non-technological technology” that had people touching their computer screen to interact with the ads.
The Skittles campaign for Wrigley, for which BBDO is agency of record, won two Gold Cannes Lions, Best of Show at Marketing’s recent Digital Marketing Awards and five London International Awards, including three Golds. More importantly, Skittles is growing dollar share at a double-digit rate, according to Dan Alvo, marketing director at Wrigley Canada.
BBDO took a brand positioning developed in the U.S. and came up with an original and winning campaign, says Alvo. “I think that speaks to their strength as an agency… Understanding how to take what we’ve defined as Skittles and bring that magic to life from a creative standpoint is challenging and I think BBDO has done a remarkable job.”
Skittles is far from the only brand for which BBDO has found magic in 2011. Over the past year, the agency has had an 83% success rate in new business pitches, winning an enviable list of clients, including Heineken, Molson M and Miller Genuine Draft. And, on a less carbonated note, it also won several Mars-owned brands, including Dove, Twix, Pedigree, Whiskas, Starburst and Uncle Ben’s. Then there’s also Sears, Twistos, United Way of Toronto, Ministry of Health, GE Canada and the list goes on. (Did we mention Skittles?)
These big wins, in addition to BBDO’s stellar list of existing clients—which includes Bayer, Campbell’s, Cara Operations (the Rotisserie Channel BBDO Toronto cooked up with MEC Canada for Cara won Best of Show at Marketing’s Media Innovation Awards, and also scored a Silver Media Lion at Cannes), FedEx (another winner in Cannes, the Marketing Awards and The Bessies), PepsiCo, Johnson & Johnson, Smart Canada and Starbucks—helped the agency increase its revenue by 6.9% from fiscal 2010 to 2011.
The agency’s growth has come from a balance of existing clients and new business, says Gerry Frascione, chairman and CEO of BBDO Canada. “We value our existing clients first and foremost as sources of future growth,” he says, adding that BBDO has exceeded its targets for growth in 2011. “Almost 60% of the growth has come from existing clients and 40% has come from new business.”
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