Omnicom agencies win 19 Greater China AOY awards

Omnicom Group (OMG)-owned creative shop BBDO won 13 awards in the Greater China 2020 Agency of The Year awards, highlighted by a near sweep in the people/team awards, even as its creative units across China and Taiwan won bronzes. Elsewhere, another Omnicom agency, TBWA, also had a strong showing, scooping six metals, including Hong Kong SAR Creative Agency of the Year and Digital Agency of the Year golds.

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In the headline regional awards, the Greater China Creative Agency of the Year title went to SG, while the top digital award was retained by Leo Digital. UM took the Greater China Media Agency of the Year award. Switching Time won the Greater China PR Agency of the Year award.

Among the homegrown agencies, Leo Digital made a deep impact, winning six awards this year, including golds for China Digital Agency of the Year, Greater China Brand Experience Agency of the Year and a people/team win for Greater China Agency Head of the Year. It also got a silver for Greater China Marketing Agency of the Year.  

This performance from BBDO marked a sharp step up from 2019, when the agency won just five awards, while fellow Omnicom agency TBWA's haul was just one more than 12 months ago. While BBDO did retain the Hong Kong creative prize, it slipped from silver to bronze in China for the same award. It also gained heft by winning golds for Greater China Integrated Marketing Agency of the Year and Production Company of the Year, in 2020. 

In the Hong Kong market, meanwhile, TBWA retained the gold it won last year for creative agency, even as it stormed to the top in the digital agency category. OMD won gold for media agency of the year, as Golin and Sinclar won joint silver medals in PR, where no gold was awarded.  

Publicis-owned Starcom won two key awards in Taiwan, bagging digital and media agency golds, even as its only other metal was a bronze in Greater China best culture. In Taiwan's Creative Agency awards, no golds were won, instead Dentsu Dentsu One Taipei and Dentsu Mcgarrybowen Taiwan won joint silvers. 

These awards were among the seven won by the Dentsu group this year overall, even if the network failed to land any key metals in the Greater China awards. It did, however, win a pair of silvers for Taiwan's creative awards, as mentioned, and a couple more in the Brand Experience Agency of the Year categories, as well as two bronzes for digital and specialist agency awards. Its strong performance in the people and team categories in 2019 was overshadowed by BBDO and Leo Digital Network this year. 

In the PR awards, Switching-Time retained its gold for China PR agency of the Year, while Golin won silvers in Hong Kong and Taiwan.   

Other key gold winners in 2020 include:

• DDB Group Hong Kong / McDonald's for Greater China Agency Marketer Partnership of the Year
• BBDO Greater China for best culture 
• Artefact China for Greater China Consultancy of the Year 
• Tomorrow for Greater China Independent Agency of the Year 
• Two golds for TBWA China for Greater China Integrated Marketing Agency and Production Company