Adweek 2018 Global Agency Of The Year TBWA

Entering A new golden age of creativity.

- David Griner

When it was a creative powerhouse and fearsome pitch competitor circa 2007 and 2008, TBWAWorldwide was the envy of the agency world. Then all that progress seemed to unravel amid internal disarray and an exodus of talent.

But with the arrival of president and CEO Troy Ruhanen in 2014, TBWA has been quietly rebuilding, assembling a strong roster of leaders across its global operation (which it refers to as a “collective,” reflecting the sovereignty given to each office).

And now, a decade after last being named Adweek’s Global Agency of the Year in 2008, TBWAWorldwide has again reclaimed the honor for 2018. Only this time, the network seems to be enjoying the first days of a new golden age rather than receiving the title while teetering on the brink.

In 2018, from London and Los Angeles to Helsinki and Dubai, TBWA produced some of the world’s best advertising, grew its client roster in multiple regions, deepened its increasingly diverse leadership bench, expanded its foothold in key areas like China and built out new offerings that help redefine the value agencies can bring to clients.

It was an incredibly strong year for flagship branches like TBWAMedia Arts Lab, its multinational agency solely dedicated to Apple, which produced the instantly iconic short film Welcome Home.

TBWA agencies created culture-influencing work in the Middle East, Finland, South Africa, France and beyond, while in the U.K. the network invested in reviving its once-revered TBWALondon office and saw tremendous work come out of its recently acquired agency Lucky Generals, which created Amazon’s beloved “Alexa Lost Her Voice” Super Bowl ad.

Yet you’d be hard-pressed to find anyone at the network, including its top execs, who feel they’re already at the top of their game.