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Most agencies like winning awards because it boosts egos (and arguably work morale) and impresses clients. It’s not strange, therefore, that agencies at the top take awards very seriously. Most often, as above graphics clearly show, it becomes a numbers game. The more award entries you submit, the better your chances are for an award – given the fact that your work holds a certain standard (let’s say seven out of ten points).

I did a quick calculation on the handful Swedish agencies that got awarded this year in Cannes and found that the entry-to-award ratio didn’t differ that much among the agencies. Average ratio was about seven percent plus minus two percent (so, between 5 and 9 percent). In other words, given a certain quality of work, a Swedish top agency can expect to get ONE Cannes Lion for every 10-14 entries.

Then there are agencies like Wieden+Kennedy and Droga that totally beat the statistics through absolutely fantastic work. I think getting there takes a lot more than just above average work and statistics. In this world it’s probably more about how the things that make your agency different and how these translate into real-world advantages. Things such as creative culture, business philosophy and a powerful agency brand are probably key in building and sustaining a successful agency over time when the exact same people go in and out of every agency. Either that or you can go building a large global network with hundreds of thousands of people and hope for the best (yes, that works too).