World Creative Rankings 2023: the best copywriters of the last year, ranked
We reveal the most-awarded executive creative officers in the industry in the 2023 edition of The Drum’s World Creative Rankings.

L&C copywriters Gian Carlo Lanfranco and Rolando Cordova made our top 10; the agency’s Dole campaigns were praised also / L&C
This week, we have examined which chief creative officers, creative directors and art directors received the most critical acclaim via industry awards over the last year. As we close out the rankings for another year, we now take a look at which copywriters are the best in the world.
Mischief’s MacKenzie Hart bagged pole position, while Kelley Barrett of Leo Burnett and Serviceplan’s Alessia Coschignano followed closely behind.
The rankings are compiled by exhaustively analyzing the performance of thousands of pieces of creative work across 19 major industry awards programs, including The Drum Awards, throughout 2022.
1 | MacKenzie Hart | Mischief |
2 | Kelley Barrett | Leo Burnett |
3 | Alessia Coschignano | Serviceplan Group |
4 | Stuti Sudha | Dentsu Creative Bengaluru |
5 | Katharina King | Serviceplan Group |
6= | Ana Lins | MRM |
6= | Greg Collins | Freelance |
6= | Gian Carlo Lanfranco | L&C NYC |
6= | Rolando Cordova | L&C NYC |
10 | Jarrad Pitts | Impact BBDO |
11 | Maher Dahdouh | Impact BBDO |
12 | Benjamin Homsy | Freelance |
13= | Anne-Sophie Guerin | McCann |
13= | Farah Feghali | McCann |
15 | Geoff Baillie | Rethink |
16 | Shruti Subramanian | Serviceplan Innovation |
17 | Alexandre Girod | Marcel Worldwide |
18 | Ollie Jarrott | Freelance |
19 | Ruxandra Drilea | Mojo Supermarket |
20 | Alison Steven | Ogilvy UK |
Gian Carlo Lanfranco and Rolando Cordova of L&C ranked joint 6th in our league table. The agency caught plenty of accolades for its Dole campaigns last year.
21 | Paul Chan | Cheil Hong Kong |
22= | Andres Blumenthal | Freelance |
22= | Benjamin Merkel | Leo Burnett |
24 | Mario Loncar | Leo Burnett |
25 | Hemant Sharma | Ogilvy |
25 | Neville Shah | Ogilvy & Mather |
25= | Sukesh Nayak | Ogilvy |
25= | Sagar Jadhav | Ogilvy |
29 | David Krueger | David Madrid |
30 | Ken Syme | FCB New York |
31 | Sandi Spino | BBDO New York |
32 | Alannah Stritch | Scholz&Friends |
33= | Debby De Ridder | BBDO Belgium |
33= | Frederik Clarysse | Freelance |
35 | Jake Roland | Freelance |
36= | Rianna McKenzie | Howatson+Company |
36= | Will Halstead | Howatson+Company |
36= | Tim Smith | Howatson+Company |
39 | Eric Franken | Freelance |
40= | David Schneider | Jung Von Matt |
40= | Wilson Ang | Cheil Hong Kong |
42= | Jens Christl | Thjnk |
42= | Paula Purdon | Freelance |
42= | Merlin Meiss | Leo Burnett |
45= | Tobi Adebowale | Performance Art |
45= | Hemal Dhanjee | Courage |
45= | Jasmine Mans | Purple Hill |
48 | Anshuman Bhattacharya | Havas Middle East |
49= | Antonin Jacquot | Marcel Worldwide |
49= | Dan Cummings | Zulu Alpha Kilo |
51= | Riccardo Baita | VMLY&R |
51= | Martin Peters Ginsborg | KeepItStupidSimple.Agency |
51= | Nicoletta Zanterino | Publicis Italy |
51= | Ali Ali | Good People |
55 | Taro Taniwaki | HakuHodo Inc |
56 | Sebastien Rouviere | David Madrid |
57= | Alexandre Dodille | Marcel Worldwide |
57= | Claudia Illan | Marcel Worldwide |
57= | Aurel Cablan | Marcel Worldwide |
Marcel’s ’Hack Market’ campaign brought it accolades last year; copywriters Alexandre Dodille, Claudia Illan and Aurel Cablan were also lauded.
60= | Chris Davis | McCann NY |
60= | Sean O'Connor | Rethink |
62= | Florestan Roesemann | LimeWire |
62= | Dara Kleyer | R/GA Berlin |
64 | Mahesh Ambaliya | VMLY&R |
65= | Daniel Koller | Seven.One Entertainment Group |
65= | Friedrich-Paul Spielhagen | Seven.One Entertainment Group |
67= | Judd Wachstein | Formerly Known As |
67= | Josh Clayton | Anomaly |
69= | Ipsita Barik | VMLY&R |
69= | Ajinkya Shindgikar | VMLY&R |
71= | Tamika Berry | Area 23 |
71= | Patrick Egan | Area 23 |
71= | Gustavo Lauria | We Believers' |
74= | Tom Johnson | Special Group New Zealand |
74= | Kristian Eilertsen | &Co |
74= | Guillermo Aliaga Pueyrredon | Goodby Silverstein & Partners |
77 | John Fiebke | FCB Chicago |
78= | Emily Friedman | VMLY&R |
78= | Nicolas Defferrari | We Believers' |
78= | Nico Baumann | 72andsunny |
78= | Jon Dawe | The Garden |
82= | Bjorn Neugebauer | Freelance |
82= | Minwoo Kim | Serviceplan Korea |
84 | Erik Nystrom | BBDO New York |
85 | Richard Nott | VCCP |
86 | Sandra Valencia | Jung Von Matt |
87= | Angel Barahona | Ogilvy |
87= | Prasert Vijitpawan | Ogilvy Bangkok |
89= | Connor Reilly | Area 23 |
89= | John Roberts | Area 23 |
89= | Angela Williams | Deloitte Digital |
89= | Thiago Fernandes | Area 23 |
93= | Florian Kleiss | Jung Von Matt/Neckar |
93= | Xavier Blais | Rethink |
93= | Matteo Maggiore | Jung Von Matt |
93= | Matthias Hess | Jung Von Matt |
97 | Renato Simon | David Sao Paulo |
98= | Nicola Wood | Ogilvy UK |
99= | Alexander Catapano | Havas New York |
99= | Igor Pontes | AlmapBBDO |
World Creative Rankings:
Explore the best-performing campaigns, agencies and brands in this year’s World Creative Rankings.