ICA Boosts Transparency and Celebrates Creativity in Canada’s Agency Sector with Creative Power List

The ICA is launching a transparent ranking system of agency creativity in Canada based on the awards that matter. Called Creative Power List, the new rankings are designed to help Canada’s agencies focus on the national and international awards that will deliver the greatest impact in the wake of many creative leaders questioning the number of awards both internationally and on a national level.

ICA’s move to launch the Creative Power List follows the organisation’s rebranding of its long-standing Creative Leadership Group as the Creative Power Group and the identification of the value, cost and impact of awards as a significant issue in the agency sector. An issue further compounded by Covid-19, budget tightening and rising concerns over awards and ranking list transparency.

The Creative Power List introduces a transparent methodology to rank agencies on their creative awards performance, allocating a sliding scale of points based on achievements at national and international awards. The ICA also enlisted the support of RSM Canada’s internationally recognised audit practice, to advise on methodologies employed.

International awards selected by the Creative Power Group to count towards Creative Power List scoring are Cannes Lions; Clio Awards; D&AD; The One Show; and The Webby Awards. National schemes allocated scores are: ADCC Awards; CMA Awards; Effie Awards Canada; and Marketing Awards. The Creative Power Group, with RSM Canada, began the process of attributing the scoring mechanism for the first ever Creative Power List based on 2019 performance. BBDO tops the list, followed by FCB/Six and Cossette.

A 2020 ranking won’t be available due to the ICA’s call to not support awards in the wake of Covid-19 but the same scoring mechanic will now be in place for 2021, so that the industry can transparently see what is on offer for their overall ranking from each award show.

Graham Lang, chief creative officer, Juniper Park\TBWA and member of the Creative Power Group, said: “Creativity is the lifeblood of any successful agency. Judging and recognising creative performance has never been more expensive and onerous for agencies because of the vast number of awards schemes both on a national and international level. The Creative Power List is designed to cut through the confusion by providing a transparent, authoritative, guide to creative excellence by placing a firm emphasis on the awards that truly matter.”

“The ICA admired the work of the Creative Circle in South Africa, and decided a similar approach was needed in Canada." added Scott Knox, president and CEO of the ICA. "The Creative Power List provides a way for agency creative leaders to collectively decide which national and international awards matter, build stronger relationships with those programs, and then create a transparent ranking system that will allow agencies to decide the awards to go for to boost their national standing.”

As well as setting up the Creative Power List, the Creative Power Group will be building stronger relationships with each of the international shows, looking to improve training for judges and provide greater understanding of how each show works. The ICA has already become the Canadian judge nominating partner for the D&AD, as part of its continuing to build a strong relationship between Canada and the international shows.

1) BBDO 5253

2) FCB/Six 3419

3) Cossette (Montreal/Toronto/Vancouver) 3145

4) Rethink (Montreal/Toronto/Vancouver) 3128

5) Leo Burnett 2178

6) Jam3 1995

7) Bensimon Byrne 1923

8) Taxi 1721

9) FCB 1599

10) LG2 (Montreal/Toronto) 1513

11) Ogilvy 1455

12) Zulu Alpha Kilo 1308

13) Anomaly 1205

14) Bensimon Byrne/Narrative 1198

15) John St 1125

16) Sid Lee (Montreal/Toronto) 786

17) Grey 710

18) DDB (Edmonton/Toronto/Vancouver) 541

19) National Film Board of Canada 450

20) Juniper Park\TBWA 385