The Clio Awards, or simply The Clios, is an annual award in advertising that recognizes creative excellence and innovation in communication and design, judged by advertising professionals from around the world. The awards are presented by Evolution Media.

The Clios has several awards programs alongside the larger Clio Awards that recognize creative marketing efforts in specific industries: Clio Cannabis, Clio Entertainment, Clio Fashion & Beauty, Clio Health, Clio Music, and Clio Sports. Each media type has the opportunity to award the Grand Clio, the highest honor.

In 1991, the event was described as the most recognizable international advertising award by Time, the "Oscars" of advertising. the first Clios were awarded in 1960 for excellence in U.S. television advertising. Each winner received a gold Georg Olden–designed statuette. The competition was expanded to include work on international television and cinema in 1966, and then U.S. radio ads in 1967.

1970s–1980s

The Clio Awards were acquired by Bill Evans in 1971 for US$150,000 () and became a "for profit" company.

In 1984, a nearly identical situation occurred when Doyle Dane Bernbach, the ad agency for Ziebart, purchased time on a Detroit channel carrying the inaugural Cherry Bowl college football game in December in order for Ziebart's "Friend of the Family (Rust in Peace)" commercial to be eligible for the awards the following year. The commercial won the Clio Award in 1985.

The 1988 awards were aired on television on FOX and hosted by David Leisure on December 7, 1988.

1990s

1991 Clio Awards

Attendees of the 1991 Clio Awards who had paid the $125 admission price did not have tickets waiting at the door, as promised. Also missing was Clio President Bill Evans. Chicago publisher Ruth Ratny purchased the Clio name for an undisclosed figure. Evans had wanted $2 million, and trade publications reported a sale price of $10,000, which Ratny called low. Ratny reorganized the event as the New Clio Awards and combined what had previously been two events into a single presentation, which was delayed from June until September 1992. Advertising Age magazine reported 6,000 entries, less than one quarter of the 1990 total. As a concession to the 1991 winners who had not yet received the trophies, their entry fee was waived. The 1990 award show at the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts drew 1,800, while only 500 paid for the 1992 show at the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel, Another major change with the "New" Clios was direct competition between U.S. and foreign firms, which resulted in Swiss agency Comsult/Advico Young & Rubicam being named the winner of the best Television campaign.

A bankruptcy court ruled that the creditors of the 1991 Clio Awards should be paid. At the time, Ratny lacked the financial resources to settle the $600,000 debt. Another Chicagoan, former film editor James M. Smyth, put up the money and became sole owner of the Clio Awards. On New Year's Eve of 1992, Smyth began working on the 1993 show. The award ceremony was again delayed until September, and Jay Chiat of TBWA\Chiat\Day, Rick Fizdale from Leo Burnett Worldwide and Keith Reinhard at DDB Worldwide joined the Clio Executive Committee.

In 1997, the Clios were sold to Dutch-owned company VNU Media;

2000s - present

In 2007, VNU changed its name to the Nielsen Company.

In 2009, e5 Global Media assumed control of Clio, when it acquired magazines Adweek and Billboard, among others, from Nielsen Business Media.

In 2010, Nicole Purcell was appointed executive director of Clio and Brooke Levy was hired to run marketing for the organization. In 2015, Purcell was promoted to president.

In 2014, the Clio Awards absorbed The Hollywood Reporter<nowiki/>'s Key Art Awards (created in 1971 by Tichi Wilkerson) to celebrate marketing and communications in the entertainment business. In 2017, it was renamed the Clio Entertainment Award.

In 2020, the Clios were postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

  • Clio Entertainment – recognizes excellence in marketing and communications across film, television, live entertainment, and gaming. This award originates from The Hollywood Reporter<nowiki/>'s Key Art Awards, which was created in 1971 by Tichi Wilkerson and acquired by Clio in 2014. The award received its current name in 2017.
  • Clio Health—recognizes excellence in marketing and communications in health and wellness.
  • Clio Music – recognizes excellence in marketing and communications in the music industry. This program was introduced in 2014.
  • Clio Sports – recognizes excellence in sports advertising and marketing. This program was founded in 2014.

Subsidiaries

  • Ads of the World—Clio's global ad archive.
  • Muse by Clios—Clio's content platform. Muse is a news site and newsletter that covers "the best in creativity in advertising and beyond." Its coverage includes creative efforts in brand marketing, fashion, film and TV, gaming, healthcare, music, and sports. The publication is claims to be editorially independent from the Clio Awards, with its coverage not being "connected in any way to [its] parent company's award programs."

Archive

In 2017, the Indiana University Libraries Moving Image Archive acquired the Clio Awards Collection from the London International Awards, the organization that purchased the collection from the Clio organization in 1992. Composed of thousands of reels of 16 mm and 35 mm film, the collection contains Clio entries and winners from the 1960s through the early 1990s across a wide variety of categories. International submissions are also included in the collection.