Ogilvy and Mindshare triumph at Southeast Asia AOY awards

<< 2019 Agency of the Year Awards home page

While WPP has had another rollercoaster year of mergers, restructures and leadership overhauls, its dominance in Southeast Asia has not waned.

>> See the full list of Southeast Asia Agency of the Year winners <<

At this year’s Southeast Asia Agency of the Year awards, the network won awards in every market except for Malaysia, where IPG hailed, with Ogilvy and Mindshare sweeping the lion’s share of the board.

Ogilvy scooped the most gongs with 14 awards in total, including Southeast Asia Creative (which it snagged from TBWA), Digital, PR and Social Media Agency of the Year. It won nine golds in total—including both Creative and Digital Agency of the Year in the Philippines and Thailand, and Digital Agency of the Year in Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar (for Myanmar’s Today Ogilvy)—plus three silvers and two bronzes.

It was followed by Mindshare which took home 12 awards in total including the coveted Southeast Asia Media Agency of the Year. Mindshare also won gold as Media Agency of the Year in Indonesia, the Philippines, Thailand and Vietnam, and gold in Digital Agency of the Year in Indonesia and Vietnam. It also won two awards in the talent category for Southeast Asia Agency Head of the Year (Shankar Rajagopal) and Southeast Asia Channel/Engagement Planner of the Year (Mai Do).

GroupM sister agency Mediacom won seven awards, with one gold as Singapore Media Agency of the Year, and one talent award for Southeast Asia Strategic/Brand Planner of the Year (Irsyad Iryenal). Wavemaker won one bronze in the Philippines.

It was another strong year for Omnicom’s TBWA, which took home nine gongs in total; including two golds as Indonesia and Singapore Creative Agency of the Year, and two people awards for Southeast Asia Creative Person of the Year (Melvin Mangada) and Southeast Asia New Business Development Team of the Year (TBWA Singapore).

Elsewhere for OMG, both BBDO and DDB won three awards each (but no golds), while OMD won one silver in Vietnam Media Agency of the Year.

The bright spot for IPG was Ensemble Worldwide, which won four awards, including two golds in Malaysia as Creative and Digital Agency of the Year, plus a talent award for Southeast Asia Account Person of the Year (Phang, Mei Jeng).

R/GA won two golds as Southeast Asia Consultancy of the Year and Southeast Asia Experiential Marketing Agency of the Year. MRM McCann won gold in Singapore Digital Agency of the Year, Universal McCann won gold in Malaysia Media Agency of the Year, and McCann Worldgroup won gold in Southeast Asia Integrated Marketing Agency of the Year.

Dentsu had three agencies in the winning lineup (Dentsu Jayme Syfu, Iprospect Valuklik and Isobar Indonesia) and Publicis had two (Digitas and Leo Burnett). Neither network won a gold. Hakuhodo’s IdeasXMachina won two awards—Southeast Asia Talent Development Program of the Year and Best Culture. M&C Saatchi Indonesia won a silver and a bronze.

Across the independent categories, gold AOY titles went to Myanmar's Nexlabs (Cambodia, Laos and Myanmar), RedComm (Indonesia), Ampersand Advisory (Malaysia), Seven A.D. (Philippines), The Secret Little Agency (Singapore), CJ Worx and Spore Bangkok (Thailand), and Ki Saigon (Vietnam).

S4 Capital production house MediaMonks took home two awards in total—silver in Southeast Asia Production Company of the Year and bronze in Singapore Digital Agency of the Year. Impressive for a newcomer, but there’s a way to go for Sir Martin Sorrell’s darling to chip away at his former employer’s dominance.

Ki Saigon added to its Vietnam Independent gold with a second gold as Southeast Asia Boutique Agency of the Year, while Singapore’s Goodstuph won gold for Southeast Asia Specialist Agency of the Year.