by Herman Manson (@marklives) The Creative Circle, a trade body representing senior creatives in the advertising industry, has released its awards based ranking of South African ad agencies.
The ranking works on a points based system – agencies receive points based on their position at a selected number of local and international 
award shows. After tallying the points, the Circle releases its own final overall ranking.
On the international award circuit only Cannes Lions, D&AD, the Clio’s and One Show wins count to the Creative Circle ranking, while locally only the Loeries, the Eagles and its own Ad of the Year are included in the tally.
According to the ranking, released to Adlip and FM, Ogilvy comes in at number one in the Agency Group category with 160 points, followed by BBDO with 99 points.
Overall Group Agency Ranking
1. Ogilvy
2. BBDO (Net#work/140)
3. TBWA Hunt Lascaris
4. DDB SA
5. The Jupiter Drawing Room (Jhb, CT, Zimbabwe)
6. Black River FC
7. FoxP2
8. King James Group
8. MetropolitanRepublic
9 Y&R SA
10 Lowe Bull
10 Joe Public
Individual agency ranking
1. Ogilvy Cape Town
2. TBWA Hunt Lascaris JHB
3. Ogilvy JHB
4. Net#work BBDO
5. DDB SA
6. Black River FC
7. FoxP2
8. King James
8. MetropolitanRepublic
8. Y&R
9. Lowe CT
10 Joe Public
Awarding points based on ranked positions at award shows can be a tricky proposition to say the least. Here the top slot at the Eagles count as much as the top slot at Cannes (25 points each to be exact). And the Pendorings don’t count at all – but Ad of the Year does.
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