Traditional agencies dominate 2015 Loeries rankings

The Loeries, South Africa’s most prominent advertising awards showcase, has announced its official rankings with the traditional big agency players continuing to dominate.

Taking top spot in this year’s rankings is Impact BBDO Dubai, following its run of wins at this year’s awards. Those wins only became possible following the organisers’ decision to expand eligibility beyond agencies working in South Africa and Africa to those working within the Middle East.

It’s a decision that didn’t come without controversy and it’ll be interesting to see how the event adapts in 2016.

Leading the South African pack is the King James group, followed by Ogilvy&Mather Johannesburg and Y&R SA. King James is also the only agency in the South African top five without any kind of international agency brand attached to it.

Read more: Loeries 2015: All the digital and interactive winners

Also if interest is the fact that a couple of non-agencies made the top agencies list. Included in these is Haldane Martin, a company best known for its furniture concepts and interior designs.

While the big agency players have been beefing up their digital stocks (mostly through acquisitions) of late, it’s a little disheartening that Publicis Machine is the only “digital-first” agency in the top 15.

Ranking points are allocated to brands, agencies and individuals, based on results from Loeries Creative Week held in Durban this past August.

“The Loeries Official Rankings are the best way to gauge who’s doing the most innovative work throughout our region. This year we’ve expanded the tables to highlight agencies in South Africa as well as outside our borders, which offers a comprehensive overview of the regional landscape,” says Loeries CEO Andrew Human.