The winners of the 2026 Effie Awards Aotearoa in association with TVNZ were announced on October 22, as the Comms Council celebrated 25 years of recognising effective advertising and marketing communications in New Zealand.
Held at the New Zealand International Convention Centre in Auckland, the awards brought together agencies, marketers and industry representatives to celebrate the year’s most effective campaigns and the results they delivered.
This year’s awards recognised achievements across a broad range of industries and marketing challenges, with 57 gold, silver and bronze awards presented, comprising eight gold, 27 silver and 22 bronze awards.
Standout achievements
The evening’s highest honour, the Grand Effie, was awarded to AA Insurance and McCann New Zealand for eight years of living a little freer. The campaign also received gold in the Sustained Success category.
The Hardest Challenge award was presented to 2degrees and TBWA\New Zealand for The blind network test: How 2degrees turned industry parity into a market advantage. The campaign also received silver in the Telcos & Utilities category.
Most Effective Agency of the Year was awarded to McCann New Zealand, while Most Effective Advertiser of the Year was awarded to Goodman Fielder.
The eight highly coveted gold awards were:
- Retail: Door Dash and Federation
- Retail: New World and McCann
- International Marketing: Tourism NZ and TBWA\
- Most Original Thinking: Goodman Fielder and McCann
- Clever Use of Research/Data: Goodman Fielder and McCann
- Insights & Strategic Thinking: NZTA and McCann
- DEI, Community Engagement: Whānau Ora and Motion Sickness
- Sustained Success: AA Insurance and McCann
Full winners list
| Award | Category | Campaign/Winner | Client/Brand | Entrant/Agency |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Grand Effie | Grand Effie | 8 years of living a little freer | AA Insurance | McCann New Zealand |
| Executive Award | Hardest Challenge | The blind network test: How 2degrees turned industry parity into a market advantage | 2degrees | TBWA\ New Zealand |
| Executive Award | Most Effective Advertiser of the Year | Goodman Fielder | — | — |
| Executive Award | Most Effective Agency of the Year | McCann New Zealand | — | — |
| Gold | Clever Use of Research/Data | Fantasy Herd | Goodman Fielder | McCann New Zealand & Together |
| Gold | Diversity, Equity & Inclusion – Community Engagement | The Māori roll call | Whānau Ora | Motion Sickness |
| Gold | Insights & Strategic Thinking | Booze maths | NZTA Waka Kotahi | McCann New Zealand |
| Gold | International Marketing | Making the world fall in love with 100% Pure New Zealand again | Tourism New Zealand | TBWA\New Zealand |
| Gold | Most Original Thinking | Fantasy herd | Goodman Fielder | McCann New Zealand & Together |
| Gold | Retail/Etail | DoorDash: The saviour of mealtime disaster | DoorDash New Zealand | Federation |
| Gold | Retail/Etail | New World’s find your wonderful | New World | McCann New Zealand |
| Gold | Sustained Success | 8 years of living a little freer | AA Insurance | McCann New Zealand |
| Silver | Brand Renaissance | Charged for life. Changing Stihl’s future. One battery at a time. | Stihl Ltd | True |
| Silver | Brand Renaissance | One question: Down for it? | University of Otago | Special |
| Silver | Charity/Not for Profit | Lump lottery. The ticket is in your pants. | Testicular Cancer New Zealand | Colenso BBDO |
| Silver | Charity/Not for Profit | There’s nothing grey about greyhounds | Greyhounds as Pets, New Zealand | Special |
| Silver | Clever Use of Research/Data | Giving the nation a second set of eyes for their power bills | Electricity Authority | Daylight |
| Silver | Consumer Durables | Toyota – let’s go places | Toyota | Saatchi & Saatchi |
| Silver | Content or Social-First Campaigns | How smashing up phones led to smashing sales targets | Oppo | YoungShand |
| Silver | Financial Services | The furry home intruder | AA Insurance | McCann New Zealand |
| Silver | Financial Services | Westpac – House of credit card fears | Westpac | Saatchi & Saatchi |
| Silver | Food, Confectionary & Snacks | Fantasy herd | Goodman Fielder | McCann New Zealand & Together |
| Silver | Food, Confectionary & Snacks | Vogel’s certified toasters | Goodman Fielder | McCann New Zealand |
| Silver | Insights & Strategic Thinking | DoorDash: The saviour of mealtime disaster | DoorDash New Zealand | Federation |
| Silver | Insights & Strategic Thinking | Lump lottery. The ticket is in your pants. | Testicular Cancer New Zealand | Colenso BBDO |
| Silver | Limited Budget | Next stop – making a difference | New Zealand Police | EightyOne |
| Silver | Most Effective PR/Experiential Campaign | Greayhounds | Greyhounds as Pets, New Zealand | Special |
| Silver | Most Effective PR/Experiential Campaign | The worst children’s library | Samsung New Zealand | McCann New Zealand |
| Silver | Most Original Thinking | How not to launch a zero-sugar RTD | Asahi Beverages (NZ) Limited | Droga5 Aotearoa |
| Silver | Other Consumer Services | One question: Down for it? | University of Otago | Special |
| Silver | Positive Change | Lump lottery. The ticket is in your pants. | Testicular Cancer New Zealand | Colenso BBDO |
| Silver | Positive Change | The Māori roll call | Whānau Ora | Motion Sickness |
| Silver | Short-Term Success | Helping New Zealand fall in love with their homes again. | ANZ Bank New Zealand | TBWA\New Zealand |
| Silver | Short-Term Success | Karangahape returns | Karangahape Road Business Association | Motion Sickness |
| Silver | Social Marketing/ Public Service |
The Māori roll call | Whānau Ora | Motion Sickness |
| Silver | Sustained Success | Reigniting New Zealand’s relationship with Kiwibank | Kiwibank | Special |
| Silver | Sustained Success | Toyota – let’s go places | Toyota | Saatchi & Saatchi |
| Silver | Telcos & Utilities | Let’s get connected – Turning a loved campaign into an engine for growth | One New Zealand | McCann New Zealand |
| Silver | Telcos & Utilities | The blind network test: How 2degrees turned industry parity into a market advantage | 2degrees | TBWA\New Zealand |
| Bronze | Beverages | The launch that should have failed | Asahi Beverages (NZ) Limited | Droga5 Aotearoa |
| Bronze | Business to Business (B2B) | Meridian mooving day | Meridian Energy | EightyOne & MBM |
| Bronze | Charity/Not for Profit | Premmie Knitting Club | The zero-budget campaign that stitched a nation together | Premmie Knitting Club | In-house |
| Bronze | Consumer Durables | How Volvo went from respected to desired | Volvo | Bastion Aotearoa |
| Bronze | Content or Social-First Campaigns | How a sloth supercharged growth for Healtheries | Healtheries | TBWA\New Zealand |
| Bronze | Content or Social-First Campaigns | The recorder that moved a government | NZEI Te Riu Roa | Bad Magic |
| Bronze | Customer Experience | Giving the nation a second set of eyes for their power bills | Electricity Authority | Daylight |
| Bronze | Customer Experience | How exposed am I? | National Cyber Security Centre | Special |
| Bronze | Financial Services | How BNZ entered the home loan rate war without cutting the rate | Bank of New Zealand | Colenso BBDO |
| Bronze | Food, Confectionary & Snacks | Life needs a biscuit | Griffin’s | Motion Sickness & The Tuesday Club |
| Bronze | Limited Budget | Karangahape Returns | Karangahape Road Business Association | Motion Sickness |
| Bronze | Most Effective PR/Experiential Campaign | ANZ and Auckland FC’s record-breaking first season | ANZ Bank New Zealand | TBWA New Zealand |
| Bronze | Most Original Thinking | Cheat codes – How Mercury cracked the telco code | Mercury | McCann New Zealand |
| Bronze | New Product or Service | Hard launching hard rated | Asahi Beverages (NZ) Limited | Droga5 Aotearoa |
| Bronze | New Product or Service | Helping New Zealand fall in love with their homes again. | ANZ Bank New Zealand | TBWA\New Zealand |
| Bronze | Other Consumer Services | AA “It’s all right now” | New Zealand Automobile Association | Quantum Jump |
| Bronze | Other Consumer Services | Do big things | Barfoot & Thompson | Pitchblack Partners |
| Bronze | Retail/Etail | The Swede as road trip | Ikea | Mindshare NZ |
| Bronze | Short-Term Success | Vogel’s certified toasters | Goodman Fielder | McCann New Zealand |
| Bronze | Social Marketing/ Public Service |
Booze maths | NZTA Waka Kotahi | McCann New Zealand |
| Bronze | Social Marketing/ Public Service |
Do you fit the description? | New Zealand Police | EightyOne |
| Bronze | Sustained Success | It’s always been good to be home | Contact Energy | Special |
Embody best practices in effectiveness
Murray Streets, convenor of judges for the 2026 Effie Awards Aotearoa, says: “This year’s winners embody best practices in effectiveness from which the marketing industry and businesses can continue to learn.”
The 2026 Effie Awards Aotearoa were presented by the Comms Council in association with TVNZ, with the support of sponsors Meta, NZME, TVNZ, Stuff, TRB and Nielsen.
The post Winners announced at the 2026 Effie Awards Aotearoa appeared first on stoppress.co.nz.
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