LIA names WPP as holding company of the year

Delhi: The London International Awards (LIA) has revealed its 2024 global and regional of the year winners.

The 39th Annual London International Awards judging convened over 10 days at Encore at Wynn, Las Vegas. The Juries, drawn from the world’s most recognised talent and presided over by industry leaders, viewed and scored every entry within their categories together onsite through all rounds of judging. All jurors saw every piece of work, as there was no pre-judging to narrow the entries. This practice ensures that the work is judged fairly/equally and to its fullest merit.

This year LIA has introduced a ranking of its 2024 Global of the Year Winners.  These rankings can be viewed on our Winners Site.

Calculating the Of The Year Awards: All winning work is assigned a point value that correlates to a statue win. The points attained from all Grand LIA, Gold, Silver, Bronze and Finalist wins contribute to the Of The Year Awards, regardless of entering company. We use the credits input at time of entry to calculate these points. We do NOT calculate the Entrant field when allocating points. All standard company credit fields starting with the Client field through to the end of the credit form are used to calculate our Of The Year Awards.

After a meticulous and thorough calculation of the points assigned to Winners and Finalists, LIA is proud to announce this year's prestigious 'Of The Year' Winners:

WPP was named Holding Company Of The Year. Their agencies, representing 27 different countries, attained points from a total of 251 Statue wins, including 8 Grand LIAs. They also attained 93 Finalists. 

Rob Reilly, Global Chief Creative Officer of WPP, said, "Creative consistency is how you help build brands. Congratulations to all of our agencies that contributed to WPP being named LIA Holding Company Of The Year, for the second year in a row. And kudos to Ogilvy for continuing a run of four years as Global Network of the Year. Of course, none of this is possible without our brilliant production partners and brave clients—they are truly the best."  

Ogilvy was awarded Global Network Of The Year for the fourth consecutive year. They were also named Regional Network Of The Year for Asia and North America. Whilst, Ogilvy New York was named Global Agency of the Year and Regional Agency Of The Year for North America.

Barbara Levy, President of LIA, said, “This achievement by WPP and Ogilvy shows the commitment of a global network to the power of creativity. Its offices across the regions have demonstrated the same drive to make the best creative impact for their clients. Ogilvy Taipei, for instance, won a Grand LIA for Pharma & Medical. It is a shining testament to the strength of Ogilvy across the world. Congratulations to WPP for winning Holding Company Of The Year two years consecutively. And Ogilvy for winning Global Network Of The Year four years running. Well done!”

In a highly fragmented market, it's still undeniable that as attention spans are getting shorter, brands need to be more intentional and clever. A staggering 85% of viewers think that authentic humour, not something forced, makes an ad memorable. Consumers also say that the right celebrity can bring uniqueness and memorability to a campaign and make them most likely to buy something from the brand.

 CeraVe got it right. With their work for CeraVe Skincare titled "Michael CeraVe", taking an unconventional route that involved quirky appearances by the actor, Michael Cera, rumours were swirling on social media that he is now a skin influencer, and whilst publications tried to unravel if he invented this moisturizer. It surprised you, it made you laugh and it gave you something to watch. It got you hooked and culminated in a Super Bowl ad that later revealed it was an elaborate prank.

This piece of work earned CeraVe the LIA Global Client of the Year award. "Michael CeraVe" entered by Ogilvy PR, New York, was awarded 3 Grand LIAs, 9 Gold, 1 Silver and 2 Bronze Statues and attained 1 Finalist by seven different juries. These wins attributed to Ogilvy PR being named Global PR Network of the Year and Ogilvy PR, New York being awarded the Global PR Company of the Year and Regional PR Company for North America.

Susan Credle, Chair of FCB / Creative Advisor to IPG and LIA Integration and Direct Jury President, commenting on "Michael CeraVe", the work that won the Integration Grand LIA, stated, “When you look at all of the work being done under this idea, each of the components contributed to a bigger story. Without the components, the idea would not have been as good. But they all added up. To me, that is the best of integration—that every time you meet a piece of this work, the story gets richer, the idea gets richer.”

This piece of work also contributed to Prettybird being named Global Production Company of the Year and Prettybird, Culver City, being awarded Regional Production Company of the Year for North America. 

Mackcut was named Global Post-Production Company of the Year and  Regional Post-Production Company of the Year for North America for points attained from "Michael CeraVe" and Mike's Amazing - Jason Alexander Rights the Wrongs titled "Diner Date" and "Never Order Diner Tilapia"

Serviceplan Group, an independent network that has offices around the world, was named Global Independent Network Of the Year for the fourth consecutive year. Their agencies were honored with 11 Gold, 12 Silver and 10 Bronze Statues. Points from their 10 Finalists also contributed to their overall standing. They were also named Regional Independent Network Of The Year for Europe. Whilst, Serviceplan Germany, Hamburg, the largest independent and partner-managed creative agency in Europe, was awarded the Regional Independent Agency Of The Year for Europe.  

On bringing home their fourth Global Independent Network statue, Alex Schill, Global CCO and Partner at Serviceplan Group, commented, "I’m incredibly proud that, for the fourth time, we have once again achieved the honour of being named LIA’s Global Independent Network of the Year. It is a testament to the talent, dedication, and creativity of our teams worldwide.

Rethink, Toronto was named Global Independent Agency of the Year. Across the competition, five different juries awarded the agency a total of 2 Grand LIAs, 6 Gold, 3 Silver and 1 Bronze statue from three different pieces of work. They also attained one Finalist. These wins contributed to Rethink being named Regional Independent Network for North America and Rethink, Toronto winning Regional Independent Agency for North America.

For the third consecutive year, IPG Health was awarded Global Health & Pharma Network Of The Year. They were also named Regional Health & Pharma Network for North America. The juries awarded 13 Statues to their agencies, Area 23 and FCB Health New York; 2 Gold, 4 Silver and 7 Bronze, they also attained 5 Finalists. 

“This tremendous distinction is a testament to the incredible talent across IPG Health and their relentless commitment to doing what’s right for our clients, their brands and each other every day,” said Dana Maiman, CEO of IPG Health. “And of course, none of this would be possible without our brave client partners, with whom we have the opportunity to work alongside and create innovative, behaviour-changing work that transforms lives.”

TBWA\Health Collective, New York, was awarded the Global Health & Pharma Agency of the Year and the Regional Health & Pharma Agency for North America. Their work for Moderna “Ashe Versus” contributed to this honour, winning the Pharma & Medical - Craft Grand LIA, 3 Gold LIAs and 1 Finalist. 

Jonathan Isaacs, Global Chief Creative Officer, TBWA\Health Collective, commented, "This was already an unbelievable year—and then to get this honour on top of our sundae? I have run out of superlatives so I'll just say, thank you to our incredible client partners who demand disruptive thinking and thank you to our hyper-talented people who find a way to bring it every day." 

Klick Health was awarded Global Independent Health & Pharma Agency of the Year. This is their second coveted black Global Statue win. This year they’re credited for work that won 20 statues for four different clients including the Health & Wellness - Craft Grand LIA awarded to Café Joyeux titled “47.” Klick Health, Toronto was also named Regional Independent Health & Pharma Agency Of The Year for North America. 

Café Joyeux, fueled by their multiple wins, was awarded the Global Health & Pharma Client Of The Year. With 18 locations across Europe, Café Joyeux was established with a global mission: to transform society's perception of disability by dedicating its efforts to the employment and training of people with mental and cognitive disabilities. “47” is a piece specifically about Down syndrome, every aspect, from music to voiceover to character design, is created with individuals with and touched by Down syndrome. 

In celebrating the win for his client, Rich Levy, Chief Creative Officer of Klick Health, stated, "We fell in love with the Café Joyeux team and their mission during our very first phone call. Seeing them recognised as the Health & Pharma Client of the Year just reaffirms something we've known for a long time; they are truly an amazing, inspirational organisation that others can learn from.

Creative X, Menlo Park was honoured with their first Global In-House Company Of The Year award. They were also named Regional In-House Company for North America.

Circus Grey, Lima garnered 12 LIA Statues including a Grand LIA. It was their Design wins that brought them the honour of taking home their first Global Design Company Of The Year award. They were also awarded the Regional Design Company Of The Year for South America and Regional Agency Of The Year for South America.

Oskar Lübeck, Chief Creative Officer of Bold, Stockholm served as the 2024 Design and Package Design Jury President. In discussing the exceptional work that was unanimously awarded the Design Grand LIA, he stated, “This project was just so smart and so beautifully executed. It is a simple clean solution and a great fusion of design, creativity and social impact. We all [the jury] fell in love with it.”

Canja Audio Culture was awarded Global Music & Sound Company Of The Year; this is their second coveted black Global Statue win. This year they’re credited for work that won 15 statues for two different, including two Grand LIAs, one awarded to work entered by Klick Health, Toronto for Café Joyeux "47,” and the other entered by AMVBBDO, London for Sheba "Gravy Race". Canja Audio Culture was also named Regional Music & Sound Company Of The Year for South America. 

The Global Radio & Audio Company of The Year was awarded for work created for Siemens Healthineers and entered by Area 23, an IPG Health Company. This work garnered 9 statues, including the Audio & Radio Grand LIA. It was the Audio & Radio wins that brought Sonido, Lisbon and Tempest, Brooklyn the honour of taking home the Global Audio & Radio Company of the Year statue. 

Sonido, Lisbon also brought home the spectacular blue LIA Statue for Regional Audio & Radio Company for Europe. Whilst, Tempest, Brooklyn brought home the Regional Music & Sound Company Of The Year for North America and the Regional Audio & Radio Company Of The Year for North America.    

Across 29 categories, 935 LIA Statues were awarded to 45 countries. The Winners and Finalists announced represent some of the top work globally, with 29 Grand LIAs, 274 Gold, 300 Silver and 332 Bronze Statues, alongside honouring 270 Finalists. The top countries were United States (277), Germany (85) Canada (75), the United Kingdom (67) and France (64). The statue wins, as well as, the Finalists were used in determining the ‘Of The Year’ Winners.