Creativity online has published its annual round-up of the most awarded agencies and people.

For the third year running Wieden + Kennedy Portland is the world's most awarded agency. Ad Age says:

In 2011 the agency rose to No. 1 off some heavy Old Spice fumes, but this year's win shows a more balanced assortment of bling for P&G and Old Spice, along with Nike, Chrysler, Coca-Cola and Levi's.

And, in an industry of scarce female leadership, take note that the year's most-awarded creative director is a woman — W&K's Susan Hoffman. It's her third appearance at No. 1, but the first time she's landed in the top spot without her fellow exec creative director, Mark Fitzloff, who makes a showing at No. 2.

The three advertisers who topped the list last year, P&G, Nike and Google, remain the most-awarded advertisers after playing a bit of musical chairs. Last year's No. 1 winner, P&G, is this year's No. 3, while Google jumps to the No. 2 position. Nike moves from No. 2 to earn the title of most-awarded advertiser.

NIke and P&G are W+K clients but the work of many other agencies will also have contributed to their position in this ranking.

Many congratulations to W+K Portland, Susan, Mark, Nike, P&G and all the many people who contributed to this achievement. Not that awards are important, but it someone's going to win them, we're happy that it's our friends.

Just started reading this book, which I borrowed from @Colman. It's good so far.
Here's a nice bit on media commission:

Gossage was appalled by a situation in which the agency that thrived best was the one which recommended ever higher expenditure on media. As he pointed out, a bad advertisement that ran twenty times earned more for the agency than a good one that ran once. To him this bred 'a sort of immorality and mutual distruct similar to that wich might prevail were the doctor paid for putting you in hospital rather than keeping you out of it – and was paid by the hospital at that.'

Joe Weiner and Howard Gossage broke ranks by insisting that their clients bought less advertising not more. In fact, it was an article of faith with Gossage that if the advertisement was good enough then the audience would notice and you'd only need to run it once. As he said, "It's like sexual intercourse. You don't have to keep doing it nine months to have a baby. You do it right first time and after that it's tender loving care."

Wise words. This is much the same thinking we have applied on accounts like Honda and Nike: rather than assuming that our message is boring/annoying and must be repeated until people are reluctantly forced to submit (the 'skinhead battering on your front door' school of advertising, as used by the likes of Confused.com) let's do something so great that people only need to see it once, or that they will even actively seek out so they can watch it / play with it / find out more about it. Recent examples of this thinking would be Wieden + Kennedy Portland's 2012 Grand Effie (effectiveness) winning campaign for Chrysler 'Imported from Detroit' or our extraordinarily successful My Time is Now campaign for Nike.

Gossage was in the same place sixty-odd years ago.