The ACE Report 2024

The ACE Report

[Annual of Creative Excellence 2024]

Belgium-based, award-winning photographer and filmmaker, Jef Boes, combines art direction with a keen eye for storytelling. His diverse portfolio spans international campaigns, commercials, music videos and documentaries, showcasing his passion and unique style.

Talent represented by ILA.

WWW.JEFBOES.BE

The three letters – A, C and E – stand for Annual of Creative Excellence. Simple as that promise is, it opens up a devilishly complicated task.

Welcome to the first Lürzer’s Archive ACE Report

In the coming pages, we present the first-ever ACE 100 Agencies and ACE 100 Works. We also relaunch Lürzer’s Rankings with a taster of the detailed rankings that exist in full online with their supporting data. We’ll also deliver not one, but two interviews with creative leaders at the top of their game: first is the CCO of our top-ranked agency, and second, the CCO of the network that is perhaps the most-rated across various competitions and reports over the last three years. Love them both, take issue with them … it’s hard to ignore their credentials and their vision. More on that in our round-up back page.

Meanwhile, why did we take on producing these new ACE Rankings and why is Lürzer’s relaunching its own Rankings? It’s not as if the creative world is short of lists.

However, here at L[A], we feel it’s time to sift and filter the stream of creative data. Our take is to try and strengthen the focus on creativity and who does it. This is a first attempt at ACE and we are very open to feedback that we can use to finetune ACE 2025.

L[A] has for 40 years focused on selecting, reviewing and analyzing the very best in advertising creativity. We are not alone, of course. We also appreciate the great work done by many awards juries every year and, indeed, other commentators out there. We love the discussion of creativity and the cut-and-thrust of trying to pull out trends and what’s truly outstanding. The ACE Report is an attempt to assimilate and yet stand a little aside from that mass of judgements and opinions. We aim to give a refreshed perspective back over what has happened … and point up the directions for what we might do next.

Our usual task here at Lürzer’s is a fascinating quest to recognise and showcase the hot creativity, rating the emotional and intellectual excitement of encountering innovation and craft excellence rather than the trend towards weighty or worthy case studies. But we appreciate there is a fascination in the creative industry for the measurable. Indeed, the industry lives by the measurable. Numbers help drive performance, and reports and rankings influence what is looked at most and who works with whom. It’s where creativity comes up against one aspect of the primordial nature of existence … who gets to eat better and who gets eaten.

So we bow to this and, once a year, with the ACE Report we will take stock of the (many) numbers that fall out of various rankings and awards.

So here it is, ACE number one, and for more about the methodology please turn to the back of the Report.

One of the sources, of course, is the L[A] Rankings, relaunched with this issue. We also list here the highlights of some of the many tables available in L[A] Rankings. For the full lists and support data, please go online to luerzersarchive.com/rankings.

If anything, the L[A] Rankings in this first ACE report serve as an alternative selection to the main aggregated ACE rankings, a more focused and in many ways different take. That’s because until now the L[A] rankings only measured work in print and film advertising. However, in 2024 all kinds of creative works can and will be submitted and assessed at L[A]. Whoever comes out on top of the tables at year-end will stand to celebrate big-time in the next ACE Report, so be sure to submit!

In contrast to the L[A] Ranking, the two new tables we present for the first time in these pages are fully reviewing the mass of what makes up the creative awards culture. But the ACE Agency 100 and the ACE Work 100 come with a different twist.

With the ACE Work 100 we drew on a selection of key but differentiated global awards (Cannes, Cresta, D&AD and The One Show). We then balanced those with any information our editors deemed as significant in varying them, particularly drawing on the two well-known aggregator rankings of World Creative Rankings and WARC. We also used a wide range of other indicators around work that were getting noticed and fast-rising reputations. Some added value, some decreased values in our ultimate rankings.

For example, ACE Work 100 is likely to represent a piece of work in a high position that has had high-level and repeated global acclaim. If that’s one of several pieces of work that the agency behind it has produced, then they will be high on the agency table.

In an attempt to counterbalance the tendency to promote one or two pieces of work into many categories, we’ll introduce a “one hit wonder” effect. This will be where awards success is down to just one widely-entered piece of work, which will lead to some downgrading in the overall agency rating. We’re not saying they are gaming the system … but we’d just like to focus on the work, not the entry strategy. It’s early days and we have much to finetune in this regard.

On which subject, we would really welcome your feedback and suggestions as to how we can produce rankings that reflect the values you care about most. Take this first ACE Report as a prototype for you to help us develop.

Many more ways of analyzing the creative quality, as work or as talents, could be devised. Help us nail the information you would like to see. Is it the best writers, the best young talents, the best AI prompters or the best CCOs? Do tell us. And also … submit your work or agency now as it is, after all, free!

The ACE 100 AGENCIES lists the top 100 advertising agencies who stood out for creative excellence. They get there based on many thousands of jury decisions around the world over the past year or more, which have been aggregated and averaged, and further weighed and reviewed and compared with other data sources.Then our editors have a final filter as they endeavour to sift out the impurities and see more clearly where the real quality lies. It is a work in progress.

We will say more soon at luerzersarchive.com about ACE methodology and the race to feature in the next ACE Report.

1 Ser viceplan, Munich

2 FC B, New York

3 adam&eveDDB, Lon don

4 BBDO Canada, Toronto / Montreal

5 Ogilvy UK, Lon don Agency Agency

6 BETC, Paris

7 Rethink, Vancouver / Toronto / Montreal

8 We Believers, New York

9 Leo Burnett India, Mumbai

10 DD B, Chicago

BB H, New York 34 Nord DDB, Stockholm

35 DD B, Mexico City

Havas, Paris

Publicis Conseil, Paris

VML, Mexico City Dentsu Creative, bon vid, São Paulo

41 Virtue Worldwide, New York

42 TBWA\Chiat\Day, New York

43 BBDO, New York

44 Try Norway, Oslo

46 lePub, Milan

45 Ogilvy Germany

47 Uncommon Creative Studio, London

48 DDB Colombia, Bogotá

49 Mischief @ No Fixed Address, New York

50 FCB, Toronto

51 VML, Sydney

52 McCann Worldgroup, London

53 Energy BBDO, Chicago

54 Edelman, New York

55 Havas Germany, Dusseldorf

56 FCB, Chicago

57 180LA, Los Angeles

58 GUT, Buenos Aires

59 Cheil Worldwide, Seoul

60 DDB, Paris

61 Cheil China

62 Havas, London

63 Special Group, Sydney

64 David, Buenos Aires

65 McCann Worldgroup, Warsaw

66 R/GA, Sydney

67 Grey, Buenos Aires

68 LOLA MullenLowe, Toronto

69 Angry Butterfly, Toronto

70 Saatchi & Saatchi, New York 71 TBWA, Sydney

Horizon FCB, Dubai 73 Neverland, London 74 Abbott Mead Vickers (AMV) BBDO, London 75 Edelman, London 76 Ogilvy, New York 77 FCB, Lisbon

78 The CHEP Network, Melbourne / Brisbane / Sydney 79 Geometry Ogilvy, Tokyo

80 Wunderman Thompson, Riyadh 81 Ogilvy Honduras, Tegucigalpa 82 Ogilvy, Johannesburg 83 Prime Weber Shandwick, Stockholm 84 Weber Shandwick, Paris 85 VML Wunderman Thompson Commerce, Noida

Thinkerbell, Melbourne / Sydney 87 VML Commerce, New York 88 Innocean Worldwide, Berlin

El Ruso de Rocky, Madrid 90 FCB, New Delhi

Arnold Worldwide, Boston

Herezie, Paris 93 Bear Meets Eagle On Fire, Sydney 94 Publicis Middle East, Dubai

Fred & Farid, Paris 96 DDB Mudra Group, India 97 Leo Burnett, Sydney 98 Ogilvy, Mumbai

draftLine, Buenos Aires 100 Leo Burnett, London

www.circovisual.com

contact@circovisual.com

5th place in the international

ranking of Lürzer ’ s Archive and the best-ranked creative agency from Switzerland. ruflanz.ch

Ruf Lanz, Zurich

Service culture

Serviceplan tops our first-ever ACE 100 agency list … but this remarkable independent network out of Germany wasn’t always a creative titan. We interview the long-time CCO Alex Schill on why all that he really loves can’t keep him coming back for more from advertising.

L[A] How did you get into advertising?

Alex Schill I never wanted to be in advertising. I wanted to be a doctor. I had a place to study medicine in the city of Giessen in Germany and I was already looking for an apartment there. Then, I also got accepted at the High School of Fine Arts in Berlin. It was in 1989 when the Berlin Wall came down and it was 1990 when I started my studies. So I went to Berlin for the reason that I thought it was really cool to be there at that time and at the High School of Fine Arts. Berlin was then perhaps the hottest place to be on Earth, I would say. My four years of studying in Berlin was the most crazy time because everything was … changing. You had the east side of Berlin, you had the west of Berlin. We opened a nightclub with friends in an abandoned slaughterhouse. The crazy places became the crazy nightclubs. And besides that, I was studying at the High School of Fine Arts. And then after my studies, I got my first job at Springer & Jacoby, which was in Hamburg and the most creative agency in those days.

L[A] Why did you think to go into advertising rather than, say, paint pictures?

AS I more or less ran into it without planning. People from Springer & Jacoby came to the school, they gave lessons and they asked students to do campaigns or whatever as an exercise. I had an offer from them half a year before I ended my studies. I thought: ‘OK, that sounds interesting. I have friends in Hamburg, it is a nice city. It’s a cool agency … why not?’

L[A] And the aspiration to be a doctor … ?

AS I still wanted to be a doctor. I never wanted to be in advertising. But I have a good relationship with advertising because I enjoy

life more than advertising. I do advertising but I do not live for it. I have to be honest. And maybe it’s good to have a little distance, to be able to step outside and look at what we’re doing because this is a crazy business. One should not lose yourself in something too much. It helps to have a broader horizon for looking at things in life. So I started with Springer & Jacoby as a junior copywriter.

L[A] You were working with the words rather than as an art director …

AS Well, I checked out everything. Besides medicine, I wanted to be a designer as well. I was unclear where I should go. But I came down to copywriting because I enjoy the power of words. How you put the letters into words and how you put the words together into sentences … and then you can write a poem. Or you can do propaganda like in the terrible times of wars … and what’s going on today. You can put them together to make people cry. You can put them together to make people live. This was fascinating for me. You can do it in very short sentences or you can write books. It was not so much about doing the best advertising, it was more about how to put the words together to make them really work. If we write a script for a TV spot or whatever, how do we put the words that people love? Or: how can I write long-form copy? Sometimes I still can quote the first copy that I wrote for Mercedes Benz … the copy was about the wings. The Mercedes …

L[A] Gullwing Mercedes [Mercedes 300 SL]?

AS Yes. It was first produced in 1954 and that year was what the copy was all about. Putting words together to pull people into the story … that fascinated me.

L[A] So in 1994 you joined Springer. How did that develop?

fascination with putting the words together so that people are really attracted. But then pretty fast I became creative director, and then CCO of Springer & Jacoby [2003]. And then I got kicked out after 12 years because Springer & Jacoby were sold. Even though we were quite successful at the time.

L[A] And then Serviceplan?

AS I met Florian [CEO of Serviceplan since 2002, son of the founder Dr. Peter Haller]. And from 2006 until today, I’m here. Obviously, I talked to many agencies and almost by chance, I met Florian. In the beginning, we were not much interested in each other. For about 35 years Serviceplan, since starting, had never had a creative head. They were very successful … very reliable, very German, very consistent in what they did. When I started there were around 600 people in one office in Munich. They were not interested in awards. I don’t think they won an award in the first 35 years, more or less.

I was not much interested in Serviceplan because it was totally uncreative and Florian was not interested in me because it was not in the genes of the agency to be creative. But we met, we liked each other and we said, ‘Well, what would happen if … ?’ In those days it was more like either you had a big network or you had a hotshot creative agency. We said, ‘What would happen if we bring the two together?’

Maybe one plus one is three. Then we would have an offer where clients can buy crazy stuff and yet can be sure that it really works. I was fascinated by the idea and Florian said, ‘There’s no need for me to do it but I would love to do it.’ I said, ‘Well, there is no need for me either but I would love to do it, so let’s try.’ But I didn’t want to move to Munich. And because the people that were around me and my crew were all in Hamburg, we decided to open an office in Hamburg. The first office outside of Munich, which still exists. I started in 2006 with Serviceplan and two years later became the CCO for all offices, which were then very little. I became the partner of Florian on what was effectively the board level.

AS It was an amazing journey we took. We didn’t change many of the people. It was more like being the lighthouse for creativity and sparking the idea that creativity is an amazing thing to do, that it’s more fun to do things with creativity. You can sell stuff without being creative but it’s more fun to sell it with creativity. Then we started an amazing journey … and now we have become number one! Sometimes in Germany, sometimes in Europe, sometimes in the world, sometimes in different award shows. Today we have around 6,000 employees. So, that’s an amazing story from one office in Munich to let’s say 35 offices around the world. And still being 100% independent, which is very important for us.

L[A] The ownership is … ?

AS The ownership is with the partners, I’d say. From being a family-owned business, today we call it a partner-owned company because in all offices, the managing directors – whether suits, creative, strategists, whatever – they own substantial shares of their own company. Majority is with the Serviceplan Group but the office management owns substantial shares.

This is a crucial difference between Serviceplan Group and other agencies in that we give substantial shares to our partners. We are really partners. We are not looking for managers … we look for partners. So I think we have no hierarchies because we are working as partners.

L[A] In the US you are getting more of a presence, with minority stakes in Pereira O’Dell and L&C, Lanfranco & Cordova.

AS It’s like we have two ways of growing. In the US, it’s very difficult, I have to say, because for German or European agencies jumping to the US, most of them fail. Our first attempt, we failed as well. And so there are two ways. Either we hire or we find partners, and we start from scratch with them as an agency. This is the thing that we prefer, to be honest. On the other side, there are examples

Left: A minimalist design language created for MINI communicates the car’s advanced technology.

Above: Serviceplan launched WASTECARE, a skincare range that uses the natural benefits of the waste water from innovative textile start-up Aizome.

Above right: Serviceplan’s packaging for Freedom Grams, a US cannabis brand that campaigns for the release of people imprisoned for cannabis use.

where we buy into agencies. Either we buy the minority or we buy the majority. Generally, we prefer to buy the majority. But in the US, we found perfect partners with Andrew [O’Dell and PJ [Pereira].

So, we said, ‘OK, we go in with a minority share.’ And then we build around Pereira O’Dell. We then build the House of Communication, which is what we do in every country. House of Communication means that we have mainly the three columns that we strongly believe in, which is Serviceplan for creative and content, Plan.net, which is tech and platform business, and Mediaplus, which is media and data. So, these are the three columns that we combine mainly in every House of Communication around the world.

L[A] How long has that model been operating?

AS Well, the House of Communication is the basic idea of the older Mr. Haller, when he started the agency in 1970. By the beginning of the ‘90s, or even the end of the ‘80s, there were already the three columns. If we put together these three things, at least these three things, we can come up with a very good result for the client.

L[A] So, that model you take to working with your new partners as you bring them in, like Pereira O’Dell?

AS Yes … obviously, at the same time, it’s a little expensive because we have to fund three companies. We have Pereira O’Dell, which is a creative agency. We have Mediaplus, and we have Plan.net also in the House of Communication in the US. Now Andrew and PJ are running Serviceplan Americas, which is the House of Communication in New York. And this is basically the structure everywhere where we go. We go to create a House of Communication. We still have a company which is called Serviceplan, but the basic creative agency is Pereira O’Dell. And we just recently bought a minority share in L&C as well, to cover a little of the Hispanic market. They are in the same building.

L[A] And why do they want to work with you? Is it because you’re bringing that more robust structure for them?

AS I think what makes us attractive to Pereira O’Dell, L&C, or others, is that we are truly independent. They can talk to the owners of the whole thing. They talk to a partner and not to a network manager who is driven by numbers or, even worse, by a stock exchange. Being this size, around 6,000 people and 100% independent still, we are still making our own decisions. That’s unusual. We can decide matters by sitting together in a small group. This makes us very fast. This can make us brave. Sometimes because we just want it, because we just believe even if the numbers say no but our stomachs say yes, then we can decide to go like that.

We give stakes of the real business and we expect people to work like an entrepreneur. We expect people to drive the business. It’s a little bit like being independent but with a huge backbone that’s also independent and that helps, as it is there if something goes wrong. You do not sell your soul to a network or to whatever, some people sitting somewhere around the world making decisions solely based on numbers. You can build your own business and yet you’re not alone.

Even if we have different names, sometimes with Plan.net and Serviceplan, we are one company. So, you talk to your partner. And you know the partner because in every house we have cafeterias, we have terraces. It’s important that we all sit together, that you know the people. You go in, get your coffee and while you’re doing that you meet someone who is maybe working in media or is working in tech. So, it’s not like calling someone you do not know, but someone to who you may ask ‘Can you help me?’

L[A] Why not just call it all Serviceplan?

AS Heavily discussed! No, we have clients that only ask for media. And they feel more comfortable with a media agency than with something that is all in. And, also, historically, it’s grown like that. I think we were the first integrated agency before someone invented the word integrated. Let me show you the first plan now.

When I entered the company I said, ‘Let’s change the name. I can’t go to creative pitches with the stupid name of Serviceplan.’ But there is a plan, from 1970, all set down, written and drawn.

This is the original Serviceplan [holds large framed diagrammatic plan]. This is a service plan, and it says …

L[A] It’s in German: please translate.

AS It sets out everything for an integrated agency here. It talks about brand and brand experience. It talks about CRM. It talks about … activations. It goes on about media. It even talks about distribution. It covers everything that you have to do to be successful. This is the service plan.

L[A] It was a big vision from the off.

AS It says in the future, the ‘holistic’ concept will be relevant. And this is from 1970. This was before any of the networks came to the idea and said, ‘Let’s offer an integrated approach.’ This was in 1970, and that was when the founders came up with it. This is the plan for how to service a client to be successful.

This is still the DNA and the basis. Clients, if they come to us, they know that they can get highly creative products, but they also know that we can make it work. So, we don’t sell it because we think it’s funny. We sell it only if we know that it will work. And even if we are not asked to, we bring media experts to the pitch, and we bring tech experts to the pitch. Even if we are just asked for a campaign, we might bring someone from Plan.net, from the tech as well. ‘If this is the campaign, if this is the insight that we are following, you have to adjust your website as well. Even if we are not the agency, you have to do this, and this, and this.’ Then we bring someone from the media who can say: ‘We are sure that it will work because we checked. If we do it like this then it will work. Please feel free to hand this to your media agency or hand the business to us.’

L[A] It’s great that that vision has sort of come true because that vision was there from the … But of course, things have continued to change, and the nature of what advertising is today is so different to what it was 20 years ago and then 50 years ago. How does that sort of live in Serviceplan today when you’re thinking about the pillars, the columns, or you’re thinking about which agencies you should acquire or partner and work with?

I’m sort of asking where it is going? How do you stay on top of things and expand? Creativity seems to be very different today from what it was then and the nature of the media that advertising is in. You produce these amazing projects with innovative products and with the kind of experiential things that are so far from what advertising has been.

AS The basis of everything is that we are our own partner. You mentioned our spatial offering now. So we just hire the right people who are interested in developing that. We are not built like a pyramid, so it’s not everything going through my table. We deeply trust the partners that join our company. And if they are experts in spatial … they lead that. For example, see the iii Museum that we did for an Iranian art collector.

It’s an amazing project driven by people who joined our group. It’s not driven by me. We find the right partners to cover that area. And the thing is there will always be TV spots. In the ‘80s, there were only TV spots. Maybe in the future, there are still TV spots but this will probably not be the only major thing that we do in a campaign. Perhaps we are doing a museum, or a special experience, or we are inventing products. We are also inventing products for O2 Telefonica, for example.

We are thinking about what would be a good virtual product to sell there. Things like that. So, we do not concentrate solely on producing campaigns or whatever, but we want to cover the whole thing. Which, again, is something that I especially like a lot – just to cover everything and to look around everything.

L[A] So, what do you describe yourself as? Because it’s not solely advertising, is it?

AS We do advertising but we’re doing more than advertising. With O2 Telefonica now we are building music studios to produce music and content, and to do cultural marketing. We are covering artists and we are producing young artists. We take the young artist and believe in the young artists and might put their songs on a TV spot, or we do a podcast with them … whatever. We start from a different angle to the business. We do not call ourselves an advertising agency solidly because we are doing a broader communication role.

L[A] ‘Communication’ is the link?

Left page: The iii Museum is a massive virtual art gallery for an Iranian collector, challenging borders and also a prototype for new museum experiences.

Left: Dot Pad, a smart tactile graphic display for the visually impaired, is one of several award-winning products that Serviceplan has collaborated on with Dot Inc.

Above: The Munich House of Communication features a 130m x 6m typographic light installation.

AS Communication is probably the thing. But it’s about finding the right insights. For example, with the cultural marketing agency, I think it’s a very good example where we have to step down from the stage of communication down to the audience. We are becoming part of the audience in order to really understand it. We have specialists go into the subcultures to understand how we could get our brands to be properly in that culture.

If we don’t reach a specific community anymore through advertising, then we must do something else. We have to produce an artist and put concerts out there and stuff like that. We tackle the problems from different angles. We can also come in with product ideas and with designs. This is crucially important.

For example, what we did with the Dot Corporation. We have a very long-term relationship with the company Dot, developing products. The first product was the watch. Then we came in with tech innovations from our side. So, the braille translator was a technology that we invented, and then they put it on their brand, on the Dot. We do some design on that. It’s a true partnership. We took shares in what was a startup and we still own shares in the company.

This is not advertising. Sometimes people say, ‘What are you doing for Dot?’ I say, ‘It doesn’t matter because we are partners, we own shares on Dot. And sometimes we do packaging. Sometimes we do design. Sometimes we do technology. Sometimes we’re just advising.’ This is not what traditional agencies do. But if we see a chance and if we think it’s interesting, that leads me to a key point, I think: we have the power to do something good also in the world. We have enormous power.

L[A] How does this work?

AS People listen more to brands than to politicians these days, so brands have to take a stand. We are the advisors of brands so we can help brands to be lighthouses for people, and people need lighthouses to follow. They need some purpose and whatever. They need an opinion. I think this is what our mission is. It’s way more than to do some funny stuff, to put the right media behind it, or to come

up with the latest tech. It’s to give guidance on the side of a brand to societies that are lost in our political systems these days.

L[A] So this is how we can do more in this industry, this is where we can go next?

AS We have to understand the amount of power that lies in creativity. Every change is driven by creativity or innovation. You have to innovate to change the world. We have these tools in our hands. We have this together with brands who need to understand that they have the power to be lighthouses and a guide to their customers, or to society … to people. And then they can gather people behind the brand because they understand what the brand stands for.

An agency cannot be the lighthouse because nobody follows an agency – people follow brands. In the combination of these two there is enormous power for preventing the world from bad and putting some good out there. I don’t mean finding some stupid purpose that a brand should cover but that a brand really must have something to say. And they must say it out loud. If they believe something is right or something is wrong, they should just say it, and people will appreciate it.

L[A] The industry needs the best talent to do that well. How does this industry better attract great young talents to work in it? One thing we have heard is that the industry is losing out to other seemingly sexier occupations, when once it was hot.

AS I think I see it turning again. In the last few years, it was hard to attract people to come into advertising because we had to work a lot, especially after Coronavirus times. You have to go to the office to work long hours and stuff like that. And for, in the beginning, not much money, to be honest. It was difficult. But I think now as the whole business is changing and people understand that advertising agencies are not only doing advertising.

In this industry, you do not have to be in business for five years or ten years until you get a break where you can reach people. In advertising, as a junior, you can write the social media posts that really hit everybody during the Super Bowl and you reach millions of people. You can do campaigns for good. You can find clients.

With our skills, we can identify people who can change the world and we can help them become more successful.

L[A] And you didn’t even want to do this.

AS I never wanted to do work in advertising. But even if I never wanted to be in advertising, I have been doing it now for 30 years and I still love it because I see a little from the outside the power we have.

L[A] How do you get any space for yourself at the end of all this? Managing all this, and bringing all this together, working with however many people you are working with, it’s endless in some ways.

AS It’s a question that most creatives get sooner or later: where does the inspiration come from? I am happy I have a distance from advertising in a way and that I am fascinated by life. My problem is that if you put me somewhere, in a museum or whatever … I dive in. Just recently I got fascinated by Russian avant-garde, the art era in the 10s, and the 20s, and the 30s. I could spend days just focusing on this, because suddenly I got so fascinated by that. I could dive so deeply into that.

Just to be alive is the best inspiration, not to sit every day in an office or somewhere. The stories are told outside, so you have to go outside. You have to talk to people. People are fascinating. What frustrates me the most is that I have to sleep some days!

There are so many things to explore and to experience but I have to protect myself occasionally. Sometimes I do not go to the museum because I know if I go to the museum I’m, again, lost in something that I see there. Sometimes I need to get a little quiet and rest.

What I always teach my children is to see the things that are not immediately there. So, to find something that is not here. If you buy something, you have to see how it should be in the end. If you start with communication, you have to see what you want to achieve. And just follow that vision, and this is how I live my whole life. Adver-

tising is part of my life, but not all. I do advertising the same as I do motorcycle races or whatever. I love old motorcycles.

L[A] Yes, you are a fan of these. Do you do the mechanics on the bike as well as the racing?

AS I’m not very good at doing the engines but I have the vision. I can see what the bike will stand for in the end. I really go into that. Life is so beautiful. There are so many things out there to explore. Do not close your eyes to the things that are out there. If you really can, light the fire in yourself to be interested in things.

L[A] What AI development do you have at Serviceplan?

AS At Serviceplan now we have an AI studio, and we built up a House of AI, as we call it, working across countries to connect those working with AI and the knowledge. I’m not so frightened about whether we can do text or copies faster with AI. This will happen. But the fascinating thing is to understand data and media, to understand how through media, AI can put the asset out there.

AI understands dramatically faster and better if something works or not. If an asset is not working, it can be replaced automatically. So it will be. There are completely different ways of using AI that are way more important and way more fascinating than whether AI can do a better picture than a human for less money. Yes, this will happen, and we all have to deal with that. But it is not the main thing. We have to collect the data on the problems that we want to solve and then we put AI on it to make us understand the data.

For all my career, I always come to a point where I say, ‘Oh, I’m a little bored now. I did my 50th TV spot. I’m going … ’ And always something comes up that changes the whole situation. Now, again, with AI this will turn around everything and all the possibilities that we have. And so I’m fascinated, again, with advertising!

Alex Schill is the global Chief Creative Officer of Serviceplan.

Above: the popularity of MINI polar bear character Nanuq led to the launch of a special polar-bear car paint option. Created by new Serviceplan Group US partners, Pereira O’Dell.

Right: ‘Dyslexia Unetided’ campaign raised awareness of how 1 in 5 people live with dyslexia.

Right page: Serviceplan’s new House of Communication in Munich includes a remarkable art collection.

TIM TADDER STILLS AND MOTION

From big-budget global integrated campaigns from massive networks to shoestring-budget and all-hands-helping work out of start-up agencies... the ACE 100 Works runs the gamut. Each masterpiece of creativity racked up recognition, awards and more to then be reviewed by our editors rating and appear in this table. Perhaps some of them changed the world for the better, we hope. And being each sits a great team. Here we name the work, the agency and their client but many more credits may be due. We have listed some of them online at Lurzer's Archive or plan to soon.

Check luerzersarchive.com/work and forward your credit if due!

DDB, Chicago; adam&eveDDB, London; Nord DDB, Copenhagen Client: Molson Coors

THE GREATEST Apple, in-house, Cupertino, California Client: Apple

THE BRIDGE

Klick Health, Toronto Client: Paws NY

Havas, Paris

Client: Fondation Anne de Gaulle

The Monkeys, Sydney

Client: The Government of Tuvalu

Title / Agency / Client

THE SINGULARITY Squarespace, in-house, New York Client: Squarespace

EY EDAR

Area 23, New York

Client: Horizon Therapeutics 32 HIGH VALYRIAN LESSONS

Duolingo, in-house, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

Client: Duolingo

BLACK-OWNED FRIDAY EVERY DAY

BBH, New York

35 I WILL ALWAYS BE ME VMLY&R, New York

36 WHERE TO SETTLE McCann Worldgroup, Warsaw

37 THE RIFT Serviceplan, Munich

38 TOXIC INFLUENCE Ogilvy UK, London

39 THE COST OF BEAUTY Ogilvy Toronto / London

40 SEE MY SKIN Edelman, New York

41 THE TATTOO DUO OVER BETC, Paris

42 BURGER GLITCH DAVID, São Paulo

43 OREOCODES VML Commerce, New York

44 BILL IT TO BEZOS Angry Butterfly, Toronto

45 ARE YOU PRESS WORTHY? TBWA\Chiat\Day, New York

46 PROJECT CONVEY 180LA, Los Angeles

47 SOLAR IMPULSE – Publicis Conseil, Paris PRET A VOTER

48 STAYBL Havas, New York; Havas Germany, Dusseldorf

49 BRING HOME THE BUD Wieden + Kennedy, Portland; Africa, São Paulo

50 CH ATPAT FCB, New Delhi, FCB, Chicago, FCB Kinnect, Mumbai

51 GUN SURVIVOR REVIEWS Energy BBDO, Chicago

52 DREAM CASTER FCB, New York

53 SAMSUNG UNFEAR Cheil Spain, Madrid

54 FREEDOM GRAMS Serviceplan, Munich

55 NIGHT CREATURES Riff Raff Films, London; Burberry, in-house, London

56 QUEST FOR DYSLEXIA Cheil, Hong Kong; Cheil PengTai, Beijing

57 THE INNOCENT EYES/ Ogilvy Thailand, Bangkok LEF T AND RIGHT/THE BATTLE/ CONTACT LENS

58 ESCAPE: FUCK/PAIN/HELL Ogilvy Germany

59 DOT GO. THE FIRST CUSTOM- Serviceplan, Munich IZABLE OBJECT RECOGNITION APP FOR THE VISUALLY IMPAIRED

60 NEWSPAPERS INSIDE Impact BBDO, Dubai THE NEWSPAPER

61 MIDDLE SEAT LOTTERY Special Group, Sydney

62 THE ART OF SELF EXAMINATION David, Buenos Aires

63 TOUCH CARD McCann, New York

64 UNEXPECTED ENCOUNTERS BETC, Paris

65 GENDER SWAP BETC, Paris

66 FLIPVERTISING The CHEP Network, Melbourne / Brisbane / Sydney; Ogilvy PR, Sidney

Client: Google 34 THE FORGOTTEN TEAM

Dentsu Creative, Lisbon

Client: Amnesty International

67 HEINZ KETCHUP FRAUD Rethink, Vancouver / Toronto / Montreal

68 THE POSTPONED DAY Grey, Buenos Aires

69 BEAUTIFUL MUTATIONS Dentsu Inc., Tokyo

70 PLASTIC FISHING We Believers, New York TOURNAMENT

71 THE ELECTIONS EDITION Impact BBDO, Dubai; Impact BBDO, Beirut

72 SCRATCHBOARDS DAVID, Madrid

73 PORTUGUESE FCB, Lisbon (RE )CONSTITUTION

74 OUTHORSE YOUR EMAIL SS+K, New York; Peel, Reykjavik; M&C Saatchi TALK, London

75 HAVE A WORD Ogilvy UK, London

76 ADLAM: AN ALPHABET McCann, New York TO PRESERVE A CULTURE

77 DOGS WITHOUT BORDERS VMLY&R Health Spain, Madrid; VMLY&R, New York;VMLY&R, São Paulo

78 EVEN MORE CONFUSING David, Madrid TI MES

79 RAISE YOUR ARCHES Leo Burnett, London; OMD, London

FILL VMLY&R Commerce, Mumbai

A FLAMMABLE PLANET Nomint, London

CLASSIFY CONSENT TBWA, Sydney; TBWA\Eleven, Sidney; FleishmanHillard, Sidney

AIRTEL 175 REPLAYED Leo

Ogilvy consistently tops network rankings for creativity, with strong performances from multiple offices worldwide. What’s the secret? Global CCO Liz Taylor opens up to L[A] with unique insights on her professional vision and her personal inspirations.

MAD

WOMEN

Image: Gassi Ólafsson

L[A] When you think of ‘creative excellence’ in advertising, what comes to mind?

Liz Taylor For me, creative excellence is a way of operating. You only have ‘excellence’ in the creative product if you internalize an idea of what that means and a way of working to achieve it. Having systems for staying on top of creative trends and facilitating learning and industry engagement for our talent; for coming together as a community to vet, debate and collaborate to make work – and each other – better; for understanding and maintaining both agency and client vision, goals business strategy in how we partner; and for making sure that we’re aligning our creative efforts to the right industry honors.

I know that might sound a little unromantic coming from a creative but, in my experience, creative excellence is about how you perform at a high level again and again. In the past year, Ogilvy’s global network has been repeatedly recognized atop the major industry lists and honors. That’s not a brag, but neither is it a coincidence. It’s how we turned falling fish into a miracle business, helped India’s small business economy stay afloat through the pandemic, and just upended years of Super Bowl marketing campaign norms. I have the best job in the world getting to gush about what Ogilvy makes – but I get to do it because we’ve made excellence the throughline of our entire creative culture.

I’ll put it succinctly: Don’t settle any step of the way. Not on the brief, the idea, the writing, art direction, design, craft, UX –even the comps. One of my favorite Ogilvy-isms is about ‘divine

discontent’, which describes the state of always being a little restless, a little dissatisfied with the way things are. To always seek out ways to do it differently, better, with more surprise and impact. To come at everything with high standards. The highest. Be passionate. Put care into all you do. That’s excellence.

L[A] Over many years, there have been suggestions that creativity in advertising is becoming less important – at one time to media buying, at another time to the influence of social media, and perhaps now because of the ‘threat’ of AI. What do you think of its survival chances?

LT Advertising is creativity – there’s no separating the two. But the art and practice of advertising is always changing. Because we are always changing.

We – and I mean big ‘we’, not just ad people – are constantly coming up with new ideas, innovating to make what we already have work better for us, measuring the impact of that, and then opening up even more new opportunities. For our industry, creativity is the thing that makes that go round. Creativity informs the practice, the practice reinvests in the ability to be creative. It’s a virtuous cycle. And not media buying, nor social media, and no, not even AI, has ever been a threat to creativity. They are a boon to it.

There are two truths I’ve experienced as a creative and an ad person that I think offer something here. The first is flexibility. What we do only works if we are willing to follow the spark, fan the

1 Museum Of Feelings

2 The Lost Class, Change The Ref

3 Turn Your Back, DOVE

4 Morning After Island, Grupo Estrategico Pae

5 Shah Rukh Khan-My-Ad, Cadbury

flame a little bit. When something new and exciting occurs at any step of the process, you’re better served adapting, embracing, adjusting. The second is that the success of any project comes from the chemistry of the team. Trust, partnership, collaboration. These are what allow magic to happen. It doesn’t matter how many bells and whistles you have otherwise – a team that can step away from ego, can welcome the POV of others, and actually wants to build something together – that’s the definition of strength in creativity and advertising. No one makes anything alone.

L[A] Is creativity an essential aspect of good advertising?

LT The operative word here is ‘good’. All advertising, good, bad or in-between, is built upon creativity as a practice, right? The bare bones process of ‘come up with the idea, make something that represents the idea, put that thing into the world’. But the best advertising combines creativity with a real human need, real human impact.

One of my guiding philosophies is that a great idea, a great human insight, will always prevail. A great idea is more important than anything else you add to it – though technology, data, and media can and should be key ingredients in bringing that idea to life.

Creativity’s super power is that it can literally change lives. So why not start there? You just have to want to use creativity that way, and not settle for anything less.

LIZ TAYLOR’S WORK

1 Museum Of Feelings, SC Johnson, Ogilvy, 2015

Can a $4 candle inspire people’s feelings? We created a modern, data-driven, beautifully designed, immersive interactive experience in the heart of NYC to answer this question. The building was a mood ring of the city based on a unique algorithm tied to the product benefit: scent, mood, feelings. It became a top tourist destination during the holidays and had wait times of 4+ hours. It was written up by the likes of Wired, Travel + Leisure, Vanity Fair and The New York Times and we gave the world a whole new way of looking at a traditional CPG brand. This client had never done something like this before, and I’m endlessly grateful for their belief in the power of creativity, their willingness to try something new, and their partnership along the way. We won with consumers. We won in award shows. And this work changed the trajectory of my career.

2 The Lost Class, Change The Ref, Leo Burnett, Chicago, 2021

We took on the NRA in the most unexpected way [at Leo Burnett Chicago]– by turning pro-gun advocates into anti-gun spokespeople. The backstory of how this work came to be will stick with me forever. Change the Ref was started by parents who lost their son in a school shooting, an all-too common tragedy in the U.S. The haunting idea here was to hold a graduation ceremony for the 3,044 students who would have graduated that year if they hadn’t

6 Heaven Fish, Regal Springs 7 Michael CeraVe, CeraVe

8 Can’t B Broken, Verizon

9 IKEA Second-Best, IKEA

10 Corona Extra Lime, Corona

11 Even More Confusing Times, Burger King

12 Burger Glitch, Burger King

lost their lives to guns. We invited well-known gun advocates to give the commencement speech, ultimately addressing 3,044 empty chairs. I have spent a large portion of my creative career trying to tackle gun violence in America for personal reasons that hit too close to home. I don’t do it to win awards. Some say the creative efforts aren’t having the impact they need to. It doesn’t mean we shouldn’t keep trying, and I will never stop.

The following are from Ogilvy, 2022-2024:

3 Turn Your Back / Cost of Beauty / Black Hair is Professional, DOVE

It’s a dream to work with an iconic client like Dove where the relationship runs so deep, as it has done for us at 60 years strong. At the heart of our partnership, and all three of these campaigns, is a commitment to creating actual impact. #TurnYourBack fought digital distortion from creating dangerous beauty norms, Cost of Beauty illuminated the real-life harm of online beauty content on young people, #BlackHairIsProfessional took on race-based hair discrimination in the workplace. In the process, each one changed hearts and minds, drove brand engagement, and even went so far as to affect policy change and legislation. Real, consequential change in people’s lives.

4 Morning After Island, Grupo Estrategico Pae

Never underestimate the power of creativity to change the world. When a ban on emergency contraception pills in Honduras – that incurs up to six years in prison for using them – led to a surge in underage girls giving birth, we knew we had to do something entirely out of the bounds. Literally. We created Morning After Island, a simple physical platform off the coast of Honduras in international waters where women could take the pill without risk of penalty. Simple, stunning, life-changing. And a defiant act in furtherance of women’s rights, which are under threat all over the world. I think about this work on a weekly basis.

5 Shah Rukh Khan-My-Ad, Cadbury

For all those years creatives heard ‘personalization at scale’ and cringed, this campaign made that promise into something palpable. Harnessing ground-breaking technology, we found a way to support thousands of local businesses in India through the pandemic in the most creative way possible – by using machine learning to create custom advertisements featuring Bollywood’s biggest star. A Cannes Titanium winner and Grand Prix in Creative Effectiveness – it doesn’t get bigger than that. Shah Rukh Khan-My-Ad was forward-thinking, industrychanging creativity that drove real business results, not only

12

for the Cadbury brand, but for the broader India economy. No small feat in the world’s most populous country.

6 Heaven Fish, Regal Springs

Every year in the Yoro region of Honduras, a curious phenomenon occurs – fish fall from the sky as a result of water cyclones. Working with Regal Springs, a leader in sustainable fish production, we took this curious event that’s viewed by locals as a miracle and turned it into just that. Heaven Fish became its own thriving business that created new occupations and bolstered an economy, for starters. New product lines are continuing to generate benefits for the Yoro community while creating opportunities for other local farmers, artisans and tradespeople. A distribution center has been opened and the product is being exported throughout Central America. The multiplier effect of creativity – wow.

7 Michael CeraVe, CeraVe

This campaign rewrote the playbook on Super Bowl teasers. It is a shining example of how a brand can co-create with people, and proof of the power of social and influence to build, tease and take people’s anticipation to new levels. A thoughtful, strategic and hilarious way to get the world chattering. And it all ultimately sold

the biggest reason to believe in the brand: that it was developed by dermatologists (not Michael Cera). Functionality and funny are a winning combo.

8 Can’t B Broken, Verizon

Who says a product demo can’t be Super Bowl-worthy? This is another example of creatively taking on functionality, and not shying away from the scrutiny of a cultural moment like the Big Game. The idea here was to prove to the world that you have the best network by truly testing it. Who better to do that with than one of the biggest stars in the world – Beyoncé – someone who breaks the internet on a regular basis with her music and mogul moves? Through an outlandish series of scenarios within the spot, to an actual album drop at the end, we showed no amount of fan-driven duress can stop Verizon from delivering for its customers.

9 IKEA Second-Best, IKEA, DAVID Madrid / INGO Hamburg, L[A] 2/23

10 Corona Extra Lime, Corona, DAVID Bogotá

11 Even More Confusing Times, Burger King, DAVID Madrid, L[A] 2/22

12 Burger Glitch, Burger King, DAVID São Paulo, L[A] 2/22

Places, People, Items That Inspire

ART

Weird, quirky, humorous, ironic, unexpected – my favorite kind of art is art that makes me smile, giggle, give a sideways grin. Knowledge Bennett’s Cojones Series with Madonna is a hard yes, David Shrigley’s Fucking Ace print – I love the crude-meets-cleverness of his work – or a naked Kermit the Frog from the ever-playful Donald Robertson. Give me an oversized NWA – Straight Outta Compton cassette by Julien Roubinet, a Leo Luccioni potato chip geode sculpture, and a giant pickle rug handmade by Moira Quinn, of course. These are actual pieces you can see if taking a turn though my home. We moved a couple years ago after both kids were out of the house, and design and art curation became an even bigger obsession for me. I have to give a shoutout to my friend and art curator Anna Cerniglia of Johalla Projects for all the care and help. Everything was chosen to spark conversation and contradiction, rooms where curiosity and meaning can unfold and be enjoyed.

BOOKS

I identify as the ultimate bibliophile. I surround myself with books on everything – the wall of my office is a cascade of art, fashion, design, travel, architecture, interior design tomes. Reading-wise, I average a book a week with dysfunctional memoirs as my go-to, like Educated, Dry, The Glass Castle, The Year of Magical Thinking, The Liars’ Club, A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius, I’m Glad My Mom Died. But stepping beyond real life, even when it’s not my own, is essential, so I make sure to rotate in great fiction. The Extraordinary Life of Sam Hell, Heaven and Earth Grocery Story, The Heart’s Invisible Furies, The Goldfinch are some that have left a mark. If you want to venture into the mind of Liz Taylor, start with the bookshelves and bedside piles.

FURNITURE

I have a thing for mid-century modern chairs. There, I said it. But I just love the simultaneous sense of modernity and nostalgia. There’s nothing like taking a seat in The Egg, The Womb, The Tulip, The Swan, The Panton, or The Eames recliner – please and thank you. Functionality, practicality, beauty and an effortless design sensibility. Who doesn’t want to be enveloped by that after a long day or on a lush weekend morning? It suits.

HEDGEBROOK

My love of dysfunctional memoirs is certainly tied to the fact that I’m writing one of my own. Taking on a labor of personal love and exploration like that requires a cabin in the woods, without internet, with absolute solitude, where time and space to write are the currency of life. Built specifically for women writers (Gloria Steinem sits on the board), I’ve done three separate writing retreats here, and each time I walk away feeling closer to where I’m going with my story. One day I will finish my book, and some day after that, I’ll hopefully host a masterclass retreat here.

CAMP

WANDAWEGA

If Wes Anderson went to camp, it’d be here. It is the most well-art directed and peaceful lakeside place I’ve ever encountered. Owned by some of my good friends, and former Ogilvy-ers, I’ve been coming here for years – for the relaxation, absolutely, but also for the chance to relive all our summer adventures. Archery, shuffleboard, banana boats and s’mores. It’s a wholesome, meticulously designed existence and I’m here for it.

CHÂTEAU DE TOUFFOU

TV AND MOVIES

One thing about traveling between our 120+ global offices throughout the year is that I’m a captive audience, and I’m totally fine with that. I will take any excuse to sit and consume great content – shows like The Bear (shoutout to Chicago), Barrie, Beef, Fleabag, The Last of Us, The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, Severance, Succession, Squid Game, Ted Lasso. And all the talked-about movies. Killers of the Flower Moon, Poor Things, The Holdovers, the dynamic duo that is Barbenheimer … How much space do I have, because the list goes on? I can’t get enough of the craft that goes into great TV and film – the story arcs, the structure, the character development, dialogue, set design and wardrobes (swoon) … I live for the binge of it all.

THE BEACH

When I first took on my current role, I had the privilege of spending time here with Herta Ogilvy, David’s widow. Touffou was David Ogilvy’s home from 1973 until his death in 1999. Touffou was always more than just David’s retirement refuge. It was the inspirational basecamp from which he went forth to make speeches all over the world, hosting clients and Ogilvy executives. The stories. The gardens. The bookshelves. The desk. The history. What a profound experience. David’s legacy and teachings are a gift. It’s an honor to be the Global CCO of the house that David built. I feel an immense responsibility to keep his legacy alive and kicking.

Sand in my toes, salt in my hair, book in my hand, the sound of waves in the background, the vastness of the world stretched out in front of you. Beach days have a way of keeping you present from start to finish, with their casual consistency and easy pace. This is my happy place. It’s the IRL version of Headspace for me. Maldives. Mexico. Maui. St. Barths. Greece. Whitsunday. Bora Bora. Oak Street. I never met a beach I didn’t love.

annabelle breakey

shaun fenn

randal ford

sara forrest will graham

margaret lampert

rj muna

matthew turley

With the return of the Lürzer's Archive Rankings, as part of our new website, we present here a taster of some of the rankings available.

The following pages provide a snapshot of three-year rankings – our default setting. Individual years, plus five, 10 and all-time perspectives are also available.

Various tables are sampled here but many more variants can be generated on the website. Much more information is available online to subscribers, with those ranked being linked to the works that have driven their position. The rankings are live, they will keep changing in response to the latest inclusions in the archive.

Historically, L[A] Rankings have only been derived from film and print or outdoor work. However, now all kinds of creative work can be submitted and will count towards the rankings if they get accepted. We are also expanding the disciplines credited to represent the wider range of roles.

There are significant differences between L[A] rankings and more conventional creative awards. For one thing, it is absolutely free to enter. For another, a piece of work is only entered once, can only "win" one spot in the archive, one award. To be on top of the L[A] rankings indicates repeated creative excellence.

1 Mother, London

2 Abbott Mead Vickers (AMV) BBDO, London

3 Uncommon Creative Studio, London

4 adam&eveDDB, London

5 Ruf Lanz, Zurich 6 The Newtons Laboratory, At hens

KesselsKramer, Amsterdam

Bartle Bogle Hegarty (BBH), London

Sanco BBDO, Bogotá

LOLA MullenLowe, Madrid

MullenLowe SSP3, Bogotá

BBC Creative, Manchester

Les Evades, Montreal

1 Markus Ruf

Adam Hessel

Jose Montoya E

It’s hard to reach the top.

Top. Top. Top.

Rafael Gil 2 Jaime Duque

Isabelle Hauser

Juan Espitia

Matthias Spaetgens

Juan Jose Posada

1 Markus Ruf 2 Jose Montoya E

Camilo Garzon

Eduardo Vargas

Jaime Duque

Gustavo Costa

Saji Johnny Kundukulam

1 Ale Burset

2 Jef Boes

3 Carioca

4 Köhler Studio

5 Alex Telfer

6 James Day

7 Sofie Barfoed

8 Leyther Orozco

Carioca

Diego Speroni

Illusion

2 Charles Andara

3 Black Madre Atelier

4 Adrian Méndez Akamine

5 Carioca

5 Jaime Duque

7 Luis Acha 8 Owen Gent

8 Fabian Fernandez "Faco" 10 Miguel Angel Lopez

BR AD P ICK AR D

The Sacred Egg

Steve Rogers

Nick Ball

Jeff Low

Andreas Nilsson

Tom Hooper

Kim Gehrig

Tom Kuntz

Juan Cabral

Sam Pilling

Mark Zibert

@PatrikJohall

Bourne in the USA

One of the most popular usages of the L[A] Rankings is to search by country. While it's impressive to be in the top 100 on a global scale, it is perhaps even better if you are in the top 10 or 20 in your own country, spotlit for the interest of any passing partners, clients or employers.

As an example, here are various results from the USA submissions. All but one of the tables show three-year views on agencies, photographers and digital artists. To that we have added the 10-year-agency view, which gives one of our all-time favourite creative leaders, David Lubars, outgoing chair and global CCO of BBDO, a nice retirement present (we suspect it won't be the only one he gets). Online, you can search by other disciplines, over other times, in other places ... it's a lot of fun. For example, if you tweak US agencies to a one-year view then you see that in 2023 Alma DDB Miami and Mischief@no fixed address are rising fast up the charts.

By the way, our charts also include an algorithm that ages older entries ... so nobody can sit on the laurels too long. That said, there are a couple of giants who sit atop the all-time US charts who won't be caught any time soon ... we won't name them here, go and check out our live rankings. And, if you want a masterclass or two, just check out the "view all works" option on those names!

Wherever you are, now is the time to get busy submitting. We have a little catching up to do with the new creative areas that we added. To help overcome this we have opened the date range of submissions so that you can submit a work from up to one year back if it has not been submitted before. All work accepted into the archive will generate points towards the 2024 end-of-year ranking.

The method in the madness

We hope you have been stimulated by the ACE Report. This matters whether you are in it, work with the people and companies who appear in it, or are perhaps now thinking of working with them. Or compete with them. All options are available. We just want you to engage and find it useful.

There has been a lot of work behind the first ACE Report. This is, of course, not just all our work at Lürzer’s Archive. We are very much standing on the shoulders of others. The data in these pages is based on the depth of work created, and then the work judged in many competitions, work reviewed and commented on in many places, and so forth. In truth, there are years of human resources sitting behind all those achievements that our team has sifted, filtered further, questioned and discussed, and finally now celebrates in presenting these lists for your use.

To those outside the world covered in these works and by these companies and people, it can look a bit mysterious, arcane, or overblown. It’s advertising is it not? Or at least “communication” if we go a bit wider in our description these days, of the works that we cover. Somebody might ask why it has to be so complicated, so precious. Is it overblown?

We can but refer to something Alex Schill says in his interview with us. He has a storied career at Serviceplan, a great creative leader, but he’s seemingly not that passionate about advertising. And yet he is passionate, a little crazy almost, about what advertising can do for the world when combined with great creativity and innovation. We are 100% with that thought and attitude.

We are also with Liz Taylor in her inclusive and engaging creative leadership. Her broad enthusiasm for inspiration sources certainly inspired us. This is an industry for precise yet enthusiastic vision-setting coupled with an endless appetite for creative inter-

rogation. The sharp yet unlimited focus she somehow represents reminded us of the need for all of us to constantly hone our craft. (By the way, that portrait, that ‘Mad women’ headline … it came from Liz.)

Advertising, or whatever we should call its sprawling disciplines now, is only primarily interesting – to us at least – for the creativity, not for the vast amounts of money, or the jobs, or the mass of media tied up in it. At L[A] we believe advertising is significant when it demonstrates an ability to shape culture and society with its ideas. Increasingly, this is not through entertaining spots or eye-catching posters but through life-changing creative ideas, often in experiences and products, that redefine communication media. That said, the traditional media are still strong elements. Almost everything is “integrated” these days. So what should we be measuring and treasuring? If it is not here in our first Annual of Creative Excellence, then tell us. Actually, if it is here, then tell us … reinforce us to make the right choices as well as to evolve.

This report is intended as our first annual round-up of the measuring of creative excellence … after 40 years of publishing. It also marks the point at which we relaunched our own live rankings at www.luerzersarchive.com, which is a free competition for recognition and archive of the best. As we approach that 40th anniversary, we have finally (not before time) opened out to review the full breadth of communication work, should it be submitted. So please test our submissions system and our new critical judgment.

Our ACE processes may need further tuning, as will our own rankings online. We strongly welcome your engagement. It will help build towards a second ACE report in early 2025. We do that with the intention to help you be stronger, wherever you are around our global community.

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The contents of this magazine may not be reproduced in whole or in part without prior written permission from the publisher, Lürzer International Ltd. Lürzer’s Archive is a trademark of Lürzer International Ltd, London.

Submissions

We welcome published work, as individual or campaigns, in print, OOH, film, digital, experiential and all other marketing categories.

Please submit at luerzersarchive.com

The submitter must have the authority to grant Lürzer’s Archive the rights and permission to reproduce, edit, comment editorially on the submission and to use the submission in print, online and in any marketing material for Lürzer’s Archive. All work is featured free of charge. We accept no responsibility to return unsolicited material and reserve the right to accept or reject any material for any reason.

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