Volkswagen took home more worldwide ad awards this year than Levi’s, Ikea and MTV, Automotive News Europe reported, citing the 2003 Gunn Report.
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VW beat Nike, which placed second and Sony, which finished third, in Gunn’s worldwide “league table,” which is a complete count of all the ad industry awards a particular brand won during the course of the year.
The Gunn Report, which is published every November, combines the winners’ lists from the world’s most important creative award shows. In 2003, this included the top 32 shows for television and cinema, and the top 20 shows for print.
VW has won the overall title four of the last five years the Gunn Report has been published. Joining VW on the list this year are Mini (fourth), BMW (13th), Peugeot (15th) and Audi (22nd).
European car makers have consistently made it onto Gunn’s top 25 list of most awarded advertisers. VW and Audi have made the list five out of five years while BMW and Mercedes-Benz have cracked the top 25 three times in five years.
Car makers also won numerous individual awards for their ads. Peugeot’s “Sculptor” commercial was the most honoured TV ad, the report shows.
Set in India, the Peugeot ad shows a young man using an elephant and a hammer to sculpt his Indian-made car into the shape of a Peugeot 206. The “Sculptor” ad, created in Milan, Italy, by Euro RSCG Mezzano Costantini Mignani, won the Gold Award for Best International TV campaign in Automotive News Europe’s inaugural Advertising Awards (ANE June 16, 2003).
Six of the 50 most honoured TV commercials in the world came from the car industry. The Peugeot 206 “Sculptor” is joined by: VW, “Squares” (7th); BMW, “Beat the Devil” (13th), VW, “Bubble Boy” (21st); and Saturn, “Sheet Metal” (22nd). The VW, BMW and Saturn ads were only shown in North America.
The “Cog” ad for the Honda Accord placed 33rd, but Donald Gunn predicts it will place higher next year because it was shown too late to qualify for many of the creative award shows.
Four of the 25 most awarded print ads in 2003 were for car makers. They include: Mini, “Ride” (11th); VW, “Squares” (15th); Mini, “Boxing Gloves” (18th); Mini, “Sip not Guzzle” (25th). The ads were only seen in North America.
