By Jesse Sharp-O’Hare

So Many Agencies, So Little Time

While discussing agency visits and incoming mentors, I began to feel a little lacking in direction compared to some of my fellow classmates. While some of them have already nailed down where they want to go after S.C.A, I can safely say the sheer number of agencies with abstract single-word names or somewhat-similar abbreviations has at time felt a little overwhelming. I started to research more and more as the days went on, and now for those in the same boat, I present to you a brief crib sheet on some of the agencies you’ll want to keep an eye on, along with some of their past and present work.

Wieden & Kennedy

ECD: Freddie Powell

The world’s only independent full-service, creatively driven global advertising agency (in layman’s terms, they don’t have shareholders, are creative, and have offices in the US, UK and Netherlands). An industry darling, W+K have set themselves apart with a name for innovative and thought-provoking work including ‘Good Food Deserves Lurpak’ (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m1Y77SU3hD4) and one of the most popular video ads ever created, Honda’s ‘The Cog’ (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z57kGB-mI54). 

Lucky Generals

ECD: Danny Brooke-Taylor

A small, British-based agency with a staff of only 40. The trendy new kids on the block, Lucky Generals have already snagged two huge accounts in Paddy Power (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NQk1zsFGYs0) and Hostelworld (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iGG5OhEcpOQ). Creating witty work with a taste for the bizarre, nowhere in Adland is there more of a sense of excitement for the future than at Lucky Generals. 

AMV BBDO

ECDs: Alex Grieve & Adrian Rossi

Part of the monolithic Omnicom group (which also counts fellow giant TBWA amongst its subsidiaries), AMV BBDO is a giant in the ad world, with a staff of 431 to match. Despite losing big clients last year in Heinz and Aviva Insurance, AMV’s ECDs Alex Grieve and Adrian Rossi are (in the words of Campaign) ‘developing a style of pure entertainment’. Sainsbury’s Christmas advert ‘Mog’ (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kuRn2S7iPNU) and Jeff Goldblum’s performance for Curry’s PC World (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C8k2ZtzpMns) showed AMV BBDO are still one of the top dogs, even if this year wasn’t one of their best.

Ogilvy and Mather

Chief Creative Officer: Mick Mahoney

One of the more traditional agencies, started by the legendary David Ogilvy, O&M are part of the wider Ogilvy global network; part of a family of over 500 agencies worldwide. Clients may expect O&M to field slightly more conservative ideas than the other agencies on this list, but O&M still create some fantastic work. Clients for Ogilvy UK include Kronenbourg (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nTiVnj7g0rA), Hellmann’s (https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=3&v=OYBOp296bYc) and Dove. Recently, Ogilvy won three lions at Cannes for its work with Dove, with this piece titled ‘Self Conscious Breathing’ (http://www.dandad.org/awards/professional/2016/writing-for-advertising/25582/self-conscious/).

4Creative

The only in-house agency mentioned here, 4Creative have the spark and variety one would expect of an agency catering to hundreds of clients, not just one. A 40-man team, 4Creative produce spectacular and often extremely eye-opening content, from the bizarre to the funny to the informative. While their entire showreel is a delight to watch, two recent ads that have earned particular plaudits are ‘Superhumans’ (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IocLkk3aYlk ) for the Paralympics, and ‘Short Shorts’ (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HbLNs5wqsls) for the promotion of Channel 4 shorts.