World Creative Rankings: this year’s best art directors revealed
The World Creative Rankings is our annual study of the brands, agencies and people behind the world’s very best creative work. In this instalment, we reveal the world’s most award-winning art directors.
Takeshi Matsuda’s work on TBWA\Hakuhodo’s unique ping pong campaign propelled him up the rankings this year
Each year, The Drum’s research team analyzes the data from all of the advertising industry’s major awards schemes to find out which companies created the most award-winning work in the previous calendar year. This year, that meant examining 1,768 campaigns from 1,295 clients working with 964 agencies, including 1,222 art directors.
Below, you can see the ranked list of the world’s best-performing art directors. We’re also celebrating this year’s standout performers, and their work, in a special series of editorial features collected on our World Creative Rankings hub.
The most-awarded art directors of 2020
| Rank | Name | Company |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Max Marohn | Scholz & Friends |
| 2 | Max Hultberg | Ingo Stockholm |
| 3 | Ivan Montebello | Publicis |
| 4 | Camilo (Sazky) Jimenez | David |
| 4 | Sergio Takahata | David |
| 6 | Ivan Au | Cheil Hong Kong |
| 7 | Elsie Lau | Cheil Hong Kong |
| 8 | Eduardo Alvarez | Freelance (formerly Serviceplan Group) |
| 9 | Karl Risenfors | Forsman & Bodenfors |
| 9 | Adam Ulvegarde | Forsman & Bodenfors |
| 11 | Leo Dahl | Forsman & Bodenfors |
| 11 | Sophia Lindholm | Forsman & Bodenfors |
| 13 | Aurelie Scalabre | BETC Paris |
| 13 | Jessica Fecteau | BETC Paris |
| 13 | Takeshi Matsuda | TBWA\Hakuhodo |
| 13 | Yo Kimura | TBWA\Media Arts Lab (formerly TBWA\Hakuhodo) |
| 17 | Sara Meinecke | 72andSunny |
| 17 | Marcus Yuen | 72andSunny |
| 19 | Lance Vining | BBDO New York |
| 19 | Saulo Mohana | TBWA\Media Arts Lab |
| 21 | Ryosuke Miyashita | Dentsu Tokyo |
| 21 | Rodolfo Fernandes | Energy BBDO (formerly FCB Chicago) |
| 21 | Bijoy Valiya Purayil | Impact BBDO |
| 24 | Adriana Liotta | Heimat Berlin |
| 25 | Marco Russo | BOB (formerly Heimat Berlin) |
| 26 | Brian Noyes | DigitasLBi (formerly Digitas Boston) |
| 26 | Samantha Hodian | Digitas Boston |
| 26 | Michael Walsh | The Creative Cabinet (formerly Digitas Boston) |
| 29 | Andy Tamayo | Gut (formerly David the Agency) |
| 30 | Tengtao Yuan | Freelance (freelancer for Loong Beijing) |
| 31 | Eric Wang | Casanova//McCann |
| 31 | Jonathan Lackey | Casanova//McCann |
| 31 | Roman Gonzalez | Casanova//McCann |
| 34 | Eleanor Rask | Goodby Silverstein & Partners |
| 35 | Martin Noreby | Akestam Holst |
| 36 | Kfir Peretz | McCann Tel-Aviv |
| 36 | Joakim Khoury | Akestam Holst |
| 36 | Dana Moshkowitz | McCann Tel-Aviv |
| 39 | Jiyon Rhim | Innocean Worldwide |
| 39 | Jaeeun Kim | Innocean Worldwide |
| 39 | Ursel Barwinski | Heimat Berlin |
| 39 | Nari Moon | Innocean Worldwide |
| 39 | Valerio Amaro | Heimat Berlin |
| 44 | Julie Koong | Freelance (formerly McCann New York) |
| 45 | Sergio Gordilho | Africa Sao Paulo |
| 46 | Julia Kinast | BBDO Dusseldorf |
| 46 | Felipe Antonioli | DAVID the Agency |
| 48 | Lauren Culbertson | BBDO Atlanta |
| 48 | Sara Lowe | BBDO Atlanta |
| 50 | Yoshihiro Yagi | Dentsu Tokyo |
| 50 | Jan Schulz | McCann Worldgroup (formerly BBDO Dusseldorf) |
| 50 | Ann-Catrin Bloemer | BBDO Proximity |
| 50 | Denis Semionov | Freelance (freelancer for RT Creative Labs) |
| 54 | Steve Hansen | Clemenger BBDO Wellington |
| 54 | Prashant Pawar | Infectious (formerly FCB Interface) |
| 54 | Orange Qu | Ho Communication |
| 54 | Mayuresh Vengurlekar | Leo Burnett (formerly FCB Interface) |
| 54 | Murphy Huang | Ho Communication |
| 54 | Mukesh Jadhav | FCB Interface |
| 54 | Cecilia Choi | Ho Communication |
| 61 | Tommy Cehak | DDB Sydney |
| 61 | Tim Woolford | DDB Sydney |
| 61 | Idriss Dabre | DDB Paris |
| 64 | Zhongjian An | Cheil China |
| 64 | Evan Schmidt | Area 23 |
| 66 | Yusuke Koyanagi | Dentsu Tokyo |
| 67 | Lorenz Koch | Jung Von Matt |
| 67 | Julia Sachse | Innocean Worldwide (formerly Jung Von Matt) |
| 67 | Regine Heite | Scholz & Friends |
| 67 | Sheryl Ann Hartmann | Scholz & Friends |
| 67 | Sungu Hacisabanoglu | Jung Von Matt |
| 72 | Wan Kang | Freelance (freelancer for Giant Spoon) |
| 72 | Tobias Lindborg | BBH LA (formerly Droga5) |
| 74 | Martin Strobel | Kolle Rebbe |
| 74 | Yuki Tsutsumi | Dentsu Tokyo |
| 76 | Hayong Jung | Innocean Worldwide |
| 76 | Christiano Vellutini | AKQA Sao Paulo |
| 78 | Juan Ignacio Peirano | McCann London |
| 78 | Jeff Cheung | BBDO Canada |
| 80 | Matthijs Groos | Freelance (formerly Dentsu Achtung!) |
| 80 | Rafael Beretta | Leo Burnett (formerly Arnold Worldwide) |
| 80 | Fabrizio Tamagni | Publicis Italy |
| 80 | Anthony Asmar | Impact BBDO |
| 84 | Bruno Valenca | Africa Sao Paulo |
| 84 | Matt Willey | The New York Times |
| 84 | Michal Sitkiewicz | Akestam Holst |
| 84 | Marlon von Franquemont | Innocean Worldwide |
| 84 | Adriana Barreto | Accenture Interactive (formerly Africa Sao Paulo) |
| 84 | Andrea Sarcullo | Publicis Italy |
| 84 | Rick Garcia | AKQA Amsterdam (formerly Africa Sao Paulo) |
| 91 | Johan Van Oeckel | Freelance (freelancer for BBDO Belgium) |
| 91 | Yuki Tokuno | TBWA\Hakuhodo |
| 91 | Daisuke Matsunaga | Dentsu Tokyo |
| 91 | Scott Kelly | AMV BBDO |
| 95 | Melissa Grundlingh | TBWA\Hunt Lascaris |
| 95 | Christoffer Boas | Robert/Boisen & Like-Minded |
| 95 | Klara Vilshammer | Robert/Boisen & Like-Minded |
| 98 | Lauren Haberfield | BETC Paris (formerly McCann Paris) |
| 98 | Philippe Puech | McCann Worldgroup |
If you’d like to get your hands on the full World Creative Rankings, order our PDF report now.