Omnicom-owned network BBDO has had two agencies named as regional agencies of the decade at Cannes Lions, with Colenso BBDO taking the Pacific regional prize, while AlmapBBDO takes the Latin American gong.

This is according to an announcement at Lions Live, this year held as an online event, which has sought to recognise the sustained creative success at the festival since 2010.

In Latin America, where Brazilian agencies reign supreme in terms of sustained success, AlmapBBDO beat WPP’s Ogilvy São Paolo in second, and VMLY&R São Paolo.

The agency, based also in Brazil’s largest city, has ranked in the top two regional agencies seven times, taking the top spot over 5 times thanks to multi-award winning campaigns for clients including Volkswagen, Getty and Havaianas.

Meanwhile, in the Pacific region there is one agency that is prodigious in creating both creatively admired and also effective campaigns: Colenso BBDO, a giant in the hotbed of advertising creativity that is Australia and New Zealand.

Colenso BBDO has ranked in the top five no fewer than nine times, taking the top Pacific ranking four times. With hyper innovative work for brands like Pedigree and DB Export.

In 2018, Colenso BBDO’s Creative Chairman Nick Worthington wrote about what he diagnoses from his agency’s success. A big part of it is the size of New Zealand, as a small country with a small advertising world, the chains of command are shorter, the money is tighter, and ideas are the force multiplier.

“The culture," he wrote, "is simply to get smart people to work out the real problem. And then come up with practical solutions.”

Lions Live is a free digital event taking place all this week. You can read the agenda and access the live feed here.

Sourced from Cannes Lions