Agency of the Year—look back at more than 50 years of winners

Ad Age awarded its first Agency of the Year in 1974 to Cunningham & Walsh, a Madison Avenue mainstay with a prized roster from AT&T to Procter & Gamble. What happened to Cunningham & Walsh? It was acquired in 1982 by Mickelberry Corp., a former meatpacking company that sold the meats business and moved into advertising. Five years later, Mickelberry sold Cunningham & Walsh to N.W. Ayer, which folded the agency into its operations. Ayer closed in 2002. Mickelberry’s, meanwhile, lives on today as a brand of ham owned by a U.S. subsidiary of Japan’s Mitsubishi Corp. (And pigs will fly.) In this timeline, Ad Age looks back at Agency of the Year winners from 1974 through 2024. Over that period, Ad Age handed out 51 awards to 30 agencies. Among those agencies, 16 won the top honor a single time. The remaining 14 agencies were repeat winners, capturing the top prize 35 times. Five agencies accounted for one-third of Agency of the Year honors: Nine agencies won the top honor two times. Read about Tombras, Ad Age’s 2025 Agency of the Year See all of Ad Age’s 2025 A-List winners Below, read more about winners dating back to 1974. *Timeline shows agency company affiliation at time of award. 1970s 1974: Cunningham & Walsh New York Affiliation*: Independent See Ad Age’s print cover from 1974. 1975: Scali, McCabe, Sloves New York Affiliation*: Independent Ogilvy & Mather bought the agency in 1976. WPP, which acquired Ogilvy in 1989, sold Scali, McCabe, Sloves to Interpublic’s Lowe network in 1993. The agency operated as Lowe & Partners/SMS until it was reorganized and the SMS dropped from the name in 1999. 1976: Leo Burnett Chicago Affiliation*: Independent Leo Burnett won Agency of the Year in 1976 and 1988. Burnett in 1999 created a holding company, Leo Group. The same year, Leo Group merged with MacManus Group (D’Arcy Masius Benton & Bowles), forming Bcom3 Group. Publicis Groupe bought Bcom3 in 2002. Publicis in 2025 merged Leo Burnett and Publicis Worldwide, forming Leo. 1977: DKG Advertising New York Affiliation: Independent Delehanty, Kurnit & Geller opened in 1961 and later shortened its name to DKG. The agency evolved into Calet, Hirsch, Kurnit & Spector and then Calet, Hirsch & Spector. Ross Roy bought the agency in 1986 and renamed it Calet, Hirsch & Ferrell. Ross Roy sold the bulk of the New York agency’s accounts to agency management in 1994 and recast the remaining portion of Calet Hirsch as New York Partners/Ross Roy. Omnicom in 1995 bought Ross Roy, whose operations were later folded into BBDO. 1978: Needham, Harper & Steers Chicago Affiliation*: Independent Needham Harper Worldwide in 1986 merged with Doyle Dane Bernbach Group to create DDB Needham Worldwide and, along with BBDO International, form the holding company Omnicom. DDB Needham won Agency of the Year in 1995. The Needham name was dropped in 1999. 1979: N.W. Ayer and Young & Rubicam New York Affiliation*: Independent Ad Age named two Agencies of the Year in 1979—N.W. Ayer and Young & Rubicam. N.W. Ayer & Son opened in 1869. Adcom Investors bought Ayer in 1993. D’Arcy Masius Benton & Bowles bought Adcom Investors (including Ayer) in 1996, forming MacManus Group as a holding company. MacManus and Leo Group (Leo Burnett) merged in 1999, forming Bcom3 Group. Bcom3 shut down Ayer in April 2002. Publicis Groupe bought Bcom3 in September 2022. Young & Rubicam opened in 1923. Y&R went public in 1998, and WPP bought it in 2000. Y&R morphed into VMLY&R, which merged with Wunderman Thompson to form VML effective in January 2024. 1980s 1980: Henderson Advertising Greenville, South Carolina Affiliation: Independent Henderson Advertising built its business on Texize, a marketer of cleaning products. Ad Age’s Agency of the Year profile said: “This is the first year ... that an agency outside of New York or Chicago has been selected. The choice was based on the belief that effective creative advertising is not limited to the big-city agency.” Henderson Advertising closed in 2006. 1981: Chiat/Day Los Angeles Affiliation*: Independent The agency is a three-time Agency of the Year winner—1981, 1989 and (as TBWA\Chiat\Day) 1998. Ad Age in 1990 named Chiat/Day the Agency of the Decade. Omnicom bought Chiat/Day in 1995 and merged it with TBWA International. 1982: Ally & Gargano New York Affiliation: Independent The agency is remembered for its fabled work for FedEx—and for a financial tale that did not end well. Ally & Gargano went public in 1983 and was bought three years later by Marketing Corp. of America, a marketing-services venture. Ally & Gargano was then acquired in a leveraged buyout in 1988 that saddled it with debt. The agency closed in 1995. Interpublic bought the agency’s one-time owner, Marketing Corp. of America, in 1997. 1983: Ogilvy & Mather New York Affiliation*: Ogilvy & Mather International Ogilvy & Mather won Agency of the Year in 1983 and 2002. Ogilvy & Mather International went public in 1966. The holding company changed its name to Ogilvy Group in 1985. WPP bought Ogilvy Group in 1989. Founder David Ogilvy died in 1999. The agency network now goes to market as Ogilvy. 1984: Fallon McElligott Rice Minneapolis Affiliation*: Independent Fallon McElligott Rice opened in 1981 and went on to win Agency of the Year in 1984 and (as Fallon McElligott) in 1996. Publicis bought it in 2000. The agency now goes to market as Fallon. 1985: BBDO New York Affiliation*: BBDO International BBDO won Agency of the Year three times over three decades—1985, 1994 and 2006. BBDO International in 1986 united with Doyle Dane Bernbach Group and Needham Harper Worldwide to form Omnicom. 1986: Hill, Holliday, Connors, Cosmopulos Boston Affiliation*: Independent Hill, Holliday, Connors, Cosmopulos opened in 1968. Interpublic bought it in 1998. Interpublic in 2024 sold Hill Holliday and a second agency, Deutsch New York, to Attivo Group, a marketing-services company in New Zealand. 1987: Foote, Cone & Belding Chicago Affiliation*: Foote, Cone & Belding Communications FCB won Agency of the Year in 1987 and, a decade later, in 1997. Foote, Cone & Belding Communications (FCB’s holding company) in December 1994 changed its name to True North Communications. Interpublic bought True North in 2001. FCB continues as one of Interpublic’s agency networks. Omnicom in December 2024 signed a deal to buy Interpublic. 1988: Leo Burnett Chicago Affiliation*: Independent Leo Burnett won Agency of the Year in 1976 and 1988. 1989: Chiat/Day Los Angeles Affiliation*: Independent The agency is a three-time Agency of the Year winner—1981, 1989 and (as TBWA\Chiat\Day) 1998. 1990s 1990: Goodby, Berlin & Silverstein San Francisco Affiliation*: Independent The agency is a three-time Agency of the Year winner—1990, 2001 and 2008. Jeff Goodby, Andy Berlin and Rich Silverstein opened Goodby, Berlin & Silverstein in 1983. Omnicom bought the agency in 1992. The agency took the name Goodby, Silverstein & Partners after Berlin left for a post at Omnicom’s DDB. See Ad Age’s print cover from 1990. 1991: No award given 1992: Wieden+Kennedy Portland, Oregon Affiliation: Independent Wieden+Kennedy has had the ultimate independent streak, scoring Agency of the Year a record five times—1992, 2011, 2018, 2019 and 2020. It’s the only agency to take the prize in three consecutive years. Co-founders Dan Wieden and David Kennedy died in 2022 and 2021, respectively. 1993: Hal Riney & Partners San Francisco Affiliation*: Independent Hal Riney bought the San Francisco office of Ogilvy & Mather in 1985 and renamed it Hal Riney & Partners. Publicis Groupe bought the agency in 1998 and made it part of the Publicis network. Riney stepped down from active management in 2002 and died in 2008. 1994: BBDO and Deutsch New York Affiliation: Omnicom (BBDO); Independent* (Deutsch) Ad Age named two Agencies of the Year in 1994—BBDO and Deutsch. BBDO won Agency of the Year three times over three decades—1985, 1994 and 2006. Deutsch also won the award three times—1994, 1999 and 2003. The agency was started in 1969 by David Deutsch and later run by his son, Donny Deutsch. Interpublic bought Deutsch in 2000. Interpublic in 2024 sold Deutsch New York (now DNY) and a second agency, Hill Holliday, to Attivo Group, a marketing-services company in New Zealand. Interpublic continues to own Deutsch LA (now branded as simply Deutsch). 1995: DDB Needham New York Affiliation: Omnicom Predecessor Needham, Harper & Steers won Agency of the Year in 1978. Doyle Dane Bernbach Group in 1986 merged with Needham Harper Worldwide to create DDB Needham Worldwide and, along with BBDO International, form Omnicom. The Needham name was dropped in 1999. 1996: Fallon McElligott Minneapolis Affiliation*: Independent The agency previously won Agency of the Year in 1984 (as Fallon McElligott Rice). 1997: Foote, Cone & Belding (San Francisco) San Francisco Affiliation*: True North Communications FCB is a two-time Agency of the Year—1987 and 1997. 1998: TBWA\Chiat\Day Los Angeles Affiliation: Omnicom The agency is a three-time Agency of the Year winner—1981 and 1989 (as Chiat/Day); and 1998 (as TBWA\Chiat\Day). 1999: Deutsch New York Affiliation*: Independent Deutsch won Agency of the Year three times—1994, 1999 and 2003. 2000s 2000: McCann-Erickson New York Affiliation: Interpublic McCann-Erickson was created in 1930 by the merger of H.K. McCann Co. and Erickson Co. It began the 2000s by being named Agency of the Year. The agency now goes to market as McCann. 2001: Goodby, Silverstein & Partners San Francisco Affiliation: Omnicom The agency is a three-time Agency of the Year winner—1990 (as Goodby, Berlin & Silverstein), 2001 and 2008. 2002: Ogilvy & Mather New York Affiliation: WPP Ogilvy & Mather won Agency of the Year in 1983 and 2002. 2003: Deutsch New York Affiliation*: Interpublic Deutsch won Agency of the Year three times—1994, 1999 and 2003. 2004: Berlin Cameron/Red Cell New York Affiliation: WPP Andy Berlin, a co-founder of Goodby, Berlin & Silverstein, in 1995 co-founded Fallon McElligott Berlin as a joint venture in New York with Minneapolis agency Fallon McElligott. Two years later, Berlin broke away to start Berlin Cameron & Partners. WPP bought the agency in 2001, making it part of WPP’s Red Cell network. Berlin Cameron is now part of WPP’s VML network. 2005: Crispin Porter & Bogusky Miami Affiliation*: MDC Partners Crispin Porter & Bogusky, founded in 1965, won Agency of the Year in 2005 and 2009. Ad Age in 2009 scored it No. 1 in a ranking of Agencies of the Decade. MDC Partners bought a 49% stake in 2001 and increased its ownership to 100% in 2009. MDC and Stagwell merged in 2021 under the name Stagwell. Crispin Porter & Bogusky evolved into CPB and in 2024 rebranded as Crispin. 2006: BBDO New York Affiliation: Omnicom BBDO won Agency of the Year three times over three decades—1985, 1994 and 2006. 2007: “The Consumer” Amid the rise of viral content created by consumers on YouTube and elsewhere, Ad Age crowned “The Consumer” as Agency of the Year. “A portfolio of consumer-generated commercial content … would easily trump any single agency’s offering,” Ad Age wrote. 2008: Goodby, Silverstein & Partners San Francisco Affiliation: Omnicom The agency is a three-time Agency of the Year winner—1990 (as Goodby, Berlin & Silverstein), 2001 and 2008. 2009: Crispin Porter & Bogusky Boulder, Colorado Affiliation*: MDC Partners Crispin Porter & Bogusky won Agency of the Year in 2005 and 2009. 2010s 2010: mcgarrybowen New York Affiliation: Dentsu Mcgarrybowen won Agency of the Year two times—in 2010 and 2012. The agency opened in 2002 and was acquired by Dentsu in 2008. The agency in 2020 morphed into dentsumcgarrybowen. Co-founder John McGarry died in 2021. Dentsu Group’s Dentsu International network in 2022 consolidated its creative agencies—including what was then called DentsuMB—into a single agency network brand, Dentsu Creative. 2011: Wieden+Kennedy Portland, Oregon Affiliation: Independent Wieden+Kennedy won Agency of the Year five times—1992, 2011, 2018, 2019 and 2020. 2012: mcgarrybowen New York Affiliation: Dentsu Mcgarrybowen won Agency of the Year two times—in 2010 and 2012. 2013: 72andSunny Los Angeles Affiliation*: MDC Partners 72andSunny was started in 2004 by a trio of Wieden+Kennedy alums. MDC Partners bought a 51% stake in 2010. MDC increased its ownership to 100% in 2015. MDC and Stagwell merged in 2021 under the name Stagwell. 2014: Grey New York Affiliation: WPP Grey opened in 1917. WPP bought the agency’s holding company, Grey Global Group, in 2005. 2015: R/GA New York Affiliation*: Interpublic R/GA was founded in 1977. True North Communications bought R/GA in 1995, a year after True North and R/GA formed a strategic joint venture in digital and interactive technologies. Interpublic acquired True North in 2001. Interpublic in March 2025 sold R/GA, a digital agency, to Los Angeles-based buyout firm Truelink Capital in partnership with R/GA’s global management. 2016: Droga5 New York Affiliation*: Independent Droga5 won Agency of the Year in 2016 and 2021. David Droga started the agency in 2006. Talent agency William Morris Endeavor acquired a 49% stake in 2013. Accenture Interactive (now Accenture Song), part of global consulting and outsourcing company Accenture, bought Droga5 (including Endeavor’s stake) in 2019 in a deal that rocked the industry. Droga is CEO of Accenture Song, which Ad Age ranked as the world’s second-biggest agency company (behind WPP) in Ad Age Agency Report 2024. 2017: Anomaly New York Affiliation*: MDC Partners Anomaly opened in 2004. MDC Partners in 2011 bought a 60% stake and over time increased its ownership to 100%. MDC and Stagwell merged in 2021 under the name Stagwell. 2018: Wieden+Kennedy Portland, Oregon Affiliation: Independent Wieden+Kennedy won Agency of the Year five times—1992, 2011, 2018, 2019 and 2020. 2019: Wieden+Kennedy Portland, Oregon Affiliation: Independent Wieden+Kennedy won Agency of the Year five times—1992, 2011, 2018, 2019 and 2020. 2020s 2020: Wieden+Kennedy Portland, Oregon Affiliation: Independent Wieden+Kennedy won Agency of the Year five times—1992, 2011, 2018, 2019 and 2020. 2021: Droga5 New York Affiliation: Accenture Interactive (now Accenture Song) Droga5 won Agency of the Year in 2016 and 2021. 2022: Mischief @ No Fixed Address New York Affiliation: Independent Less than two months after being laid off by BBDO in April 2020 amid the COVID-19 pandemic meltdown, Greg Hahn partnered with independent Canadian agency No Fixed Address to open a U.S. outpost. Two years later, Mischief @ No Fixed Address snared Agency of the Year—and won again in 2024. See Ad Age’s print edition profile from 2022. 2023: The Martin Agency Richmond, Virginia Affiliation: Interpublic The Martin Agency opened in 1965. Scali, McCabe, Sloves bought a majority stake in 1986. Scali McCabe at the time was owned by Ogilvy & Mather. WPP, which acquired Ogilvy in 1989, sold Scali McCabe—including Martin—to Interpublic in 1993. Omnicom in December 2024 signed a deal to buy Interpublic. 2024: Mischief @ No Fixed Address New York Affiliation: Independent Mischief @ No Fixed Address won Agency of the Year in 2022 and 2024. Source: Ad Age. Year represents year award given based on results for the previous year. *Timeline shows agency company affiliation at time of award. See all of Ad Age’s 2025 Agency A-List winners here Top marketers, brands and agency ventures Ad Age Datacenter’s definitive rankings of the biggest U.S. and global advertisers and agency companies Click here

Agency of the Year—look back at more than 50 years of winners

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