Our agencies topping Australia's

New Zealand advertising agencies are out-smarting their Australian counterparts, the latest rankings of industry creativity show.

Australian-based industry magazine Campaign Brief has placed NZ advertising agencies in first, third and fourth place on its annual "Creative Rankings" list.

The rankings, based on a tally of wins for creativity at certain industry awards, are a high-profile badge of honour within the awards-fixated advertising community.

For the third year in a row, Campaign Brief named Auckland-based Colenso BBDO as Australasia's hottest creative agency.

Saatchi & Saatchi's Sydney office was second, ahead of Auckland's DDB New Zealand and Publicis Mojo, also based in Auckland.

As well as taking four of the top seven spots on the agency creativity list this year, NZ also did well on the list of top-ranking creative directors.

Saatchi & Saatchi Auckland's deputy creative director, Toby Talbot, was ranked the top transtasman creative talent with four other NZ-based creative directors featuring on the top 10 individual list.

Advertising executives said yesterday it was easier to do award-winning work here because clients were more willing to take the risk of running with a campaign that would turn heads.

Colenso BBDO's creative director, Richard Maddocks, an Australian, admitted he shifted here 11 years ago "because the work just seemed to be better".

In Australia, the corporate clients often "over-researched" campaign ideas before committing to them and "marketers lack the intuition that they have over here", said Maddocks.

"Over here, there just seems to be a culture of 'Yeah, let's go out and do ads that people love because that turns into brands that people love and people who love brands usually buy them'."

Saatchi & Saatchi executive creative director Mike O'Sullivan attributed his drop in the individual rankings - from first place last year to seventh - to a brief spell in Australia.

Colenso BBDO chief executive Roger MacDonnell said the agency was delighted to take top spot in the rankings for the third year in a row because it believed creative work led to the best results for clients.

The agency, whose clients include Mini, Frucor and SkyCity, also put significant effort into winning awards judged on a campaign's business effectiveness.

* AT THE TOP OF THEIR CREATIVE GAME

Campaign Brief Creative Rankings

1. Colenso BBDO New Zealand.
2. Saatchi & Saatchi Sydney.
3. DDB New Zealand.
4. Publicis Mojo (Auckland).
5. M&C Saatchi Sydney.
6= Clemenger BBDO (Wellington).
6= BMF Sydney.

NZ creative directors in top 10

1. Toby Talbot, Saatchi & Saatchi Auckland.
3. Richard Maddocks, Colenso BBDO.
4. Paul Catmur, DDB.
6. Nick Worthington, Publicis Mojo.
7. Mike O'Sullivan, Saatchi & Saatchi Auckland.