Special named runner-up Independent Agency of the Year in the 2023 Spikes Asia Creativity Report

Spikes Asia has today released the Spikes Asia Creativity Report, available to everyone for free through LIONS’ intelligence platform, The Work. The annual report shines a light on the best creative work, as selected by Spikes Juries and includes the rankings for this year’s top performing Networks, Agencies and Companies from APAC.

Special Auckland was named runner up Independent Agency of the Year behind Howatson+Company Sydney. The agency came in second place, netting a Grand Prix in Entertainment for ‘Last Performance’. It hijacked the viewership of a popular crime TV programme by weaving its ads directly into the show’s storyline, successfully reaching 45% of New Zealanders. ‘Last Performance’ also took a Gold Spike in Film and a Silver in Media.

DDB New Zealand ranked #3 Agency of the Year by Market. The Agency of the Year by Market Award is given to the agency from an individual market that obtains the most points overall for entries in the 2023 Spikes Asia Awards.

Leo Burnett was crowned Network of the Year, following four Grand Prix wins for four different clients.

DDB Worldwide came in second place. Its biggest win came from DDB New Zealand’s Tourism New Zealand work, ‘If You Seek’, that netted the Grand Prix in Integrated. This multi-channel piece saw a 590% increase in visits to NZ.com and 194,859 referrals to tourism operators from key markets.

Media Network of the Year was awarded to Wavemaker following its Gold Spike-winning work ‘Shah Rukh Khan-
My-Ad’ for Cadbury.

PHD Worldwide took second place following a Bronze Spike with ‘Phone It In’, an unconventional radio ad that resulted in Skinny’s highest sales result in the two years.

The Spikes Palm was awarded to production company Lunar Films, which is the first time Mainland China have been awarded in this category. Collider took second place. Its film for The Government of Tuvalu, ‘The First Digital Nation’, won a Grand Prix in Digital Craft. Revolver took third place. Its contribution towards ‘Until Then’ helped secure NRMA Insurance a Bronze Spike in Film Craft.

Says Simon Cook, CEO, LIONS: “The Spikes Asia Creativity Report is an essential tool for benchmarking creative excellence and effectiveness for the year ahead. It is also a celebration of the most creative ideas from the region and we are excited to be able to share this with our community in APAC. This year’s winners show us how to create the best conditions for creativity to flourish. Successful brands demonstrated that an insatiable quest for quality, combined with an open mind to new ways of working were essential to impactful work. I would like to congratulate all the shortlisted and winning companies. Together, they set the benchmark for creativity in APAC.”

The rankings are compiled using data from Spikes-winning and shortlisted work from 2023. The Spikes Asia Creativity Report is powered by The Work, the LIONS intelligence platform that houses 250,000 pieces of global work along with how it was briefed, researched, produced and crafted.

Also included in the report is analysis and insights from the winning work and lessons on how brands are growing businesses and tackling some of the region’s most challenging problems in innovative ways. The themes covered include: The quest for quality; Shaping behaviour change; Participation subverting convention; and How brands are hiding their messages.

Access the full report, for free here.

All results for the Spikes Asia Awards can be found at https://www.lovethework.com/en-GB/spikes-asia.