The Clio Awards is an annual award program that recognizes innovation and creative excellence in advertising, design, and communication, as judged by an international panel of advertising professionals. Time magazine, in 1991, described the event as the world's most recognizable international advertising awards.

Wallace A. Ross (1923–1974) was the founder of The Clio Awards. He was an advertising executive in New York City from the late 1940s through the early 1970s and was responsible for improving the quality, creativity, and innovation of American television and radio advertising during the "Mad Men" era.