Mumbai: Contagious has declared the 2023 Contagious Pioneers list, an annual round up of the agencies that consistently set the standard for innovation and creative excellence in marketing.

The 2023 winners include AMV BBDO, London; BETC Paris; Colenso BBDO,  Auckland; Edelman, New York; FCB, New York; GUT Miami; Mother, London; and Ogilvy India, Mumbai.

The campaign demonstrated the highest levels of creativity and strategic thinking. The pioneer agencies are those that had multiple campaigns featured on Contagious IQ throughout 2022 and which performed well against other metrics, such as the ratio of campaigns created to the number of clients, and whether the campaigns were selected for more in-depth coverage.

Contagious IQ editor Chloe Markowicz said, “The Contagious IQ team is notoriously hard to impress. We’re only interested in covering the very best marketing in the world on our intelligence platform. Getting work featured on Contagious IQ is something that anyone should be proud of us but being named a Contagious Pioneer signifies that an agency has truly reached the pinnacle of creative excellence. While we were impressed with all our Pioneers this year, Colenso BBDO shows remarkable consistency in having made the list almost every year since Contagious first launched the Pioneers ranking in 2016. Edelman meanwhile, stands out for being the sole PR firm amongst a catalogue of creative agencies, proving that effective, groundbreaking communications can come from any discipline. I’m often asked what an agency needs to do to become a Contagious Pioneer. You can take me out to lunch or buy me gifts, but it won’t help. There is only one answer: produce truly exceptional work.”