We have rigorously assessed over 3,800 advertising agencies worldwide, examining their creative capabilities, service diversity, portfolios, client testimonials, pricing structures, and industry recognition. Learn about our ranking criteria and how we identify the top players in the advertising industry.
Table of Contents
The Number 1 Advertising Agency as Selected by DesignRush Is:
1. Doner
- Best for: Overall
- Average hourly rate: $100 - $149
- Minimum budget: $10,000
- Founded: 1937
- Location: Southfield, MI
- Notable clients: Chrysler, Bloomberg Media, Aveeno Baby, Jeep, Tylenol
Doner is a full-service advertising agency founded in 1937 and headquartered in Southfield, Michigan, with additional offices in Los Angeles and London. Doner's approach is characterized by diversity, inclusivity, and a modern, content-driven method tailored to today's dynamic advertising market.
Renowned for creating iconic campaigns for major brands, Doner has crafted memorable slogans like "Timex takes a licking and keeps on ticking" and "Zoom-Zoom" for Mazda. The agency specializes in diverse sectors, including retail, consumer packaged goods (CPG), healthcare, consumer technology, destination, entertainment, and automotive.
Chrysler wanted to reinvigorate the image of its Chrysler Pacifica minivan in the eyes of modern families. The rise of the #VanLife trend on social media presented an opportunity but also a challenge: how to connect this trend with the everyday realities of parenting and family life.
Doner developed a campaign that leveraged the #VanLife trend, highlighting Pacifica's family-friendly features. The strategy involved creating engaging video content for broadcast and social media, emphasizing how Pacifica supports the real-life needs of parents.
This campaign successfully reframed Pacifica's image, leading to a year-over-year increase of 143% and a 95% increase in second-quarter sales.
2. FCB Global
- Best for: Creative advertising
- Average hourly rate: $100 - $149
- Minimum budget: $10,000
- Founded: 1873
- Location: New York City, NY
- Notable clients: Flash, BMO, Budweiser, Michelob ULTRA, Walmart
FCB (Foote, Cone & Belding) is a globally recognized advertising agency known for its innovative and effective advertising and marketing campaigns. As part of the Interpublic Group, FCB has a substantial global footprint, with over 120 offices across over 80 countries.
FCB's impact is validated by numerous awards and recognitions in the industry, including the Cannes Lions and Effie Awards. The agency combines creative storytelling with deep insights into consumer behavior, aiming to create accessible advertisements that capture attention and drive meaningful results for its clients.
During the 2022 FIFA World Cup, Brazilian football fans wanted to support their national team by wearing the official jersey. However, the high cost of the jerseys (R$350) was a significant barrier, especially given the inflation Brazilians were facing at the time. This situation challenged FCB's client, Flash, to engage with fans and allow them to express their support.
FCB offered a 50% cashback on jersey purchases from Nike's eCommerce site in exchange for fans customizing the jersey with Flash's brand name and sharing it on social media. This campaign turned fans into brand sponsors and significantly boosted Flash's visibility, getting more than 5.1 million interactions and increasing brand mentions by 2300%.
Check FCB Global Agency Profile
3. Marketing Architects
- Best for: All-inclusive TV advertising
- Average hourly rate: Inquire
- Minimum budget: Inquire
- Founded: 1997
- Location: Minneapolis, MN
- Notable clients: Joybird, Hurrycane, Nuts.com, Carparts, Bosley
Marketing Architects is an all-inclusive TV advertising agency renowned for integrating technology and data into its campaigns. With a unique model called All-Inclusive TV, the agency handles all aspects of a campaign, including media buying, strategy, creative development, production, and reporting. This allows clients to pay only for media while saving on other costs.
This strategy is powered by Annika, the agency’s own AI for media buying that analyzes large datasets to optimize media placements across linear and streaming TV. The agency serves B2B and B2C clients, leveraging TV advertising as a key growth driver.
Joybird, a furniture retailer and manufacturer primarily focused on online marketing, sought to expand its customer base and reach new audiences through offline channels. Marketing Architects launched TV ads on linear and streaming platforms, minimizing audience overlap with Annika's help.
The campaign led to over 700,000 web visits driven by TV, over 16,000 TV-attributable orders, and 7-10X return on ad spend (ROAS).
Check Marketing Architects Agency Profile
4. The AD Agency
[Source: The AD Agency]
- Best for: Full-service advertising
- Average hourly rate: $150
- Minimum budget: Inquire
- Founded: 1982
- Location: Washington DC, WA
- Notable clients: Montgomery County, MD, Remote Area Medical, Parkmobile, FlyingFish, Chicago Title
The AD Agency, founded in 1982, is a full-service research, marketing, online digital advertising, graphic design, media buying, IT support, and public relations firm. It serves a diverse regional, national, and international client base.
Known for its aggressive and agile approach, this award-winning agency focuses on effective communication strategies. With a reputation for on-target marketing, its expertise lies in developing brands and maximizing client visibility and impact.
The AD Agency developed a comprehensive marketing strategy for Montgomery County, MD, to promote yard waste recycling. The multi-faceted campaign included a strategic marketing plan, a new branding and logo, and diverse advertising efforts across print, radio, and TV. Key to the campaign was engaging, information-rich content paired with an emotional appeal to change resident behavior.
The initiative featured full-page newspaper ads, a grasscycling campaign, TV commercials, public relations, community outreach, and direct mail. It also introduced “Digger the Worm" in a school natural science project. This approach achieved the desired behavioral change and gained national and local recognition for Montgomery County.
Check The AD Agency Agency Profile
5. Play Creative
[Source: Play Creative]
- Best for: Digital and social media advertising
- Average hourly rate: Inquire
- Minimum budget: Inquire
- Founded: 2007
- Location: Lincoln, NE
- Notable clients: UPN, Masport, Custom View, The Waterford, NCBVI
PLAY Creative Design is an advertising agency that prioritizes strategy development before launching creative tactics. Its data-driven process focuses on achieving results through campaign engagement, targeted messaging, and a blend of print and digital media.
PLAY Creative grows businesses through website optimization, quality messaging, and precise media management, increasing brand awareness, customer retention, and lead generation. It thrives in industries like finance, higher education, and tech, as well as small businesses.
Unite Private Networks (UPN) faced the challenge of effectively targeting businesses in six specific locations. PLAY Creative's solution was to focus on LinkedIn and Google Display Advertising. It created dedicated ad groups for each location, combining precise targeting with tailored landing pages and submission forms for more efficient lead generation.
The campaign’s results outperformed industry standards for both platforms over 3.5 months. This includes:
- A click-through rate (CTR) of 1.12%,
- 35,000+ clicks
- Over 3.4 million impressions
Check Play Creative Agency Profile
6. DDB
- Best for: Awareness advertising
- Average hourly rate: Inquire
- Minimum budget: Under $1,000
- Founded: 1949
- Location: New York City, NY
- Notable clients: CALM, Volkswagen, Team Heroine, National Lottery, Marmite
DDB is an advertising agency that believes in the power of creativity as a business force, focusing on emotionally driven solutions to influence consumer behavior and choices. Driven by its “Unexpected Works” mantra, it strives to create work that drives behavioral changes and achieves significant business results.
In response to the UK's escalating suicide rate in 2022, DDB partnered with CALM and ITV to fight the suicide crisis by changing public perception. "The Last Photo" campaign featured an exhibition of 50 last photos of suicide victims and a 90-second film distributed across television, cinema, outdoor, digital, and social media channels. It also directed the audience to CALM's website for suicide prevention.
"The Last Photo" drew over 500,000 visitors to the exhibition, reached 7.5 million people through live TV, and generated 1.6 billion impressions. Additionally, it became the most talked-about video on Reddit globally for 48 hours and increased online discussions about suicide by 33%.
Financially, it led to a 400% year-over-year rise in donations to CALM. Most significantly, the campaign was crucial in preventing 161 suicides in the six months following its launch.
7. Wieden + Kennedy
[Source: Wieden + Kennedy]
- Best for: Advertising for big brands
- Average hourly rate: Inquire
- Minimum budget: Inquire
- Founded: 1982
- Location: Portland, OR
- Notable clients: Nike, Coca-Cola, Facebook, Ford, Duracell
With offices in major cities worldwide, Wieden+Kennedy (WK) is a global, independent advertising agency known for transforming some of the world's most famous and fascinating brands for over 40 years. It has earned several accolades, including Emmy Awards and recognition as global agency of the year.
W+K provides world-class creative, media, social, design, and strategy services with a core mission: to use creativity and influence to change the world and shape culture. The agency gained fame for its work with Nike, crafting the iconic "Just Do It" tagline.
Nike faced the challenge of promoting women's fitness and sports. W+K created the "Better for It" campaign, inviting women globally to share their fitness journeys and personal bests.
This campaign included "Margot vs Lily", a scripted series about two sisters with differing fitness goals, directed by Tricia Brock. It also launched Nike's first Tumblr site and short films "Inner Thoughts" and "Last," encouraging women to share their fitness missions.
"Margot vs Lily" led to 3.5 million downloads of the Nike Training Club App and inspired two million new workouts. The campaign's Tumblr quickly gained 175,000 followers, becoming the most reblogged fashion brand of 2015. Moreover, two months after the campaign's launch, Nike's women's division sales increased by 20%.
Check Wieden + Kennedy Agency Profile
8. McKinney
- Best for: Food and beverage advertising
- Average hourly rate: $100 - $149
- Minimum budget: $10,000
- Founded: 1969
- Location: Durham, NC
- Notable clients: De'Longhi, Samsung, ESPN, Ad Council, Little Caesars
McKinney is a full-service integrated agency with 54 years of experience specializing in strategy, creative development, production, and digital measurement. It includes a full media entity and provides a wide range of services, including media strategy, activation, and optimization. It has offices across the United States, including Los Angeles, New York, Dallas, and Phoenix.
Its philosophy is to provide clients with a perspective that differs from the Madison Avenue standard. Recognized for creativity and effectiveness, McKinney has been named a top agency by Adweek, Campaign US, and Influencer Marketing Hub.
De'Longhi, known for its espresso machines, wanted to expand into the North American automatic coffee machine market. McKinney launched the TrueBrew campaign starring Brad Pitt to highlight the machine's appeal in a realistic, emotionally resonant way.
The campaign increased brand engagement by 134% compared to the previous three months and led to strong sales, reaffirming the success of the celebrity-driven strategy.
9. Grey
- Best for: Health and wellness advertising
- Average hourly rate: Inquire
- Minimum budget: Inquire
- Founded: 1917
- Location: New York City, NY
- Notable clients: Dole Sunshine, Makro, Haleon, Volvo, ASCO
Grey is an advertising agency with over a 100-year legacy. Grey's expertise includes advertising, communications, and design, especially in the health and wellness industry. Grey is part of AKQA, an international family of autonomous agencies.
Its "Famously Effective" approach produces memorable and highly effective ads. The agency taps into "Cultural Value" to understand what resonates in society and culture, ensuring its campaigns connect deeply with audiences and achieve results.
Dole Sunshine Company wanted to address the stigma associated with the "forbidden fruit" to encourage healthier eating and start a global discussion about the importance of fruit. The agency humorously requested Pope Francis to rebrand the fruit's bad image, suggesting a biblical revision to replace "fruit" with an unhealthy snack.
The campaign was launched on International Fruit Day 2022. It generated over 55 million media impressions and appeared in 784 media outlets, including Design Taxi and Bloomberg, earning $2.2 million in media value. This innovative approach significantly raised awareness about the benefits of fruit and a healthy diet.
10. MJS Advertising
- Best for: Automotive industry advertising
- Average hourly rate: Inquire
- Minimum budget: Inquire
- Founded: 2000
- Location: Boca Raton, FL
- Notable clients: Volkswagen, Q Auto, Lyle Pearson, Gettel Automotive Group, John Harvey Toyota
MJS rejects a one-size-fits-all approach, focusing on tailored advertising campaigns that include creative elements, time-sensitive offers, and a unique selling proposition.
With over 20 years in the business, MJS prides itself on building long-lasting client relationships and delivering big agency capabilities with personalized service. The agency specializes in various sectors, including automotive, healthcare, and legal. That said, it particularly excels in diverse media channels, ranging from broadcast TV to digital advertising, ensuring memorable and effective marketing solutions.
Volkswagen wanted to outshine its competitors in the Tier 2 market. MJS crafted a strategy emphasizing VW's superior features through various mediums, including TV commercials and digital marketing. This approach focused on its advantages in technology and fuel efficiency, effectively positioning VW against direct competitors.
The strategy increased brand visibility and customer engagement, particularly during the annual "Better Drive Sales Event." The campaign's success was further evidenced by high-quality dealer hand-offs and better showroom marketing materials.
Check MJS Advertising Agency Profile
How We Picked the Best Advertising Companies
To select the top advertising companies in 2024, we reviewed their testimonials, case studies, industry reputation, team expertise, client roster, and executive management. Our team of agency experts developed a scoring system to measure their overall performance based on several important factors:
- Reviews: Quality of work, client satisfaction, and level of trustworthiness
- Portfolio: Tangible examples of an agency's track record
- Awards and press: Industry reputation and innovation
- Team bios: The agency’s qualifications and team dynamics
- Top services: Core competencies and areas of expertise
Visit the DesignRush Agency Ranking Methodology for more information on how we research and rank agencies.
