2026 Winners

Case Summary

During one of Australia’s biggest sporting events, Uber Eats partnered with tennis legend Andy Murray to turn culturalattention into a powerful demonstration of the brand’s long-term platform, “Get Almost Almost Anything”. Facing intense competition and an engaged live audience resistant to interruption, the campaign integrated seamlessly into the broader conversation. By blurring the line between entertainment and advertising, it invited participation rather than passive viewing. The campaign delivered +16% incremental revenue, a 278% ROI, and ranked #1 in brand attention and awareness.

Case Summary

Japan is admired for its healthy food culture, yet one in three people are malnourished and fruit intake is the world’s lowest. Zespri couldn’t lecture as a foreign brand, so it worked within culture. Fruit was long seen as dessert (“mizugashi”), not daily nutrition, reinforced by the beloved bento song “Obentō-bako no Uta,” which never mentions fruit.Zespri rewrote the song to include kiwi, embedding fruit into a ritual. The idea spread nationwide, driving trial, and record sales. By changing culture, the brand turned a small habit into lasting behaviour change.

Case Summary

Bedroom sales, IKEA’s largest revenue driver, had fallen 5%, threatening overall growth. In an aesthetics-driven market, the brand reframed the bedroom conversation from how it looks to what it does, anchoring it on its biggest utility: sleep. The “Sleep Beautifully” campaign shifted perception from sleep bought through mattresses to sleep shaped by the whole bedroom environment. Bedroom revenue grew +12%, volumes +18%, and in-app searches for sleep products +10.7%, proving that reframing sleep could reignite growth in a flat furnishings category.

Case Summary

KFC Thailand faced an unexpected challenge: a superstition among healthcare professionals that eating KFC during shifts would trigger an influx of patients, reducing traffic at KFC outlets near hospitals. Rather than denying the myth, KFC embraced it. “This Is Not KFC” reframed the belief through Thai curse-breaking rituals, repackaging food with talisman- inspired designs and messages like “This Is Not KFC”. Launched around Thai Doctor’s Day in hospital areas, the campaign broke psychological barriers, drove a 26% sales increase, generated widespread media coverage, and reinforced KFC as Thailand’s No.1 fried chicken brand.

Case Summary

KERI NZ HAD AN ORANGE JUICE SHORTAGE. SO IT MADE A HIT COMEDY MUSIC VIDEO ABOUT 'PULP FRICTION'. Instead of panicking over a product flaw, we created entertainment that sparked a national debate. The video achieved an 87.6% VTR on YouTube, boosting brand attention by 67%. This entertainment-first approach solved a tough business problem, driving a 22% revenue increase and proving great content moves product.

Case Summary

By 2035, around 1/10 homes are projected to become uninsurable due to extreme weather caused by climate change. To combat this rising threat, Suncorp Insurance has spent 5 years leading a strategic industry shift - from ‘recovery’ to ‘resilience’. ‘Suncorp Haven’ is a massive leap in making resilience personal for Australia’s 11 million homeowners. A world-first utility, delivering customised insights to strengthen home resilience against specific risks - e.g storms, bushfires and floods. Using cutting-edge technology ‘Haven’ gives every home in Australia a voice, fuelling resilience conversation into meaningful behaviour change.

Case Summary

Who says retirement means slowing down? Malaysia was facing chronic driver undersupply. Yet an untapped driver supply was hiding in plain sight: lonely, retired seniors. So Grab reframed driving—not as a job, but as a chance for "Warga Emas" ("Senior Citizens") to reconnect. To stay active. To feel needed again. Grab's "#WargaEmasBoleh" ("#SeniorCitizensCan") program turned the growing trend of financial anxiety and loneliness amongst retirees into a driver supply solution - with empathy, purpose, and a few laughs.

Case Summary

In a fiercely competitive dining landscape, hot pot restaurant chain Jiang Nan was struggling to stay hot. It had to find a way to stay relevant to attract hungry customers. By hijacking the revered Michelin Guide’s entry into the Philippines and leveraging an unlikely influencer, Jiang Nan’s online Share- of-Voice grew by a piquant 356.1%, increasing weekly baseline sales by a mouthwatering 88%--all without a media budget. Who knew being irreverent could be so delicious?

Case Summary

To conquer learners' speaking anxiety, Speak AI partnered with Olympic gold medalist Lee Yang, valuing his courageous communication over linguistic perfection. While competitors typically feature fluent speakers, Speak AI selected Lee to embody the insight that confidence stems from imperfect practice. This strategy aligned Lee’s authentic struggles with the app's judgment-free, AI-powered environment. By positioning Lee as a "proof of concept" rather than a polished endorser, the campaign successfully validated the brand’s philosophy, driving significant credibility and meaningful user engagement.

Case Summary

During post‐pandemic recovery, Shanghai’s small street bars re‐emerged as a vibrant, fast‐growing channel accounting for significant Hoegaarden growth. In early 2025, new municipal safety barriers unintentionally suffocated this culture, reducing atmosphere, visibility, foot traffic and sales at core venues. Rather than advertise around the problem, Hoegaarden rebuilt the experience, transforming mandatory barriers into warm, compliant extensions where people could sit, gather and unwind. Delivered as a free ongoing service via a B2B app, 70% of bars opted in, reversing decline: foot traffic rose 84% and sales grew 36%.

Case Summary

This Effie case is about automated, trigger‐based CRM — the “annoying” notifications you get from your bank, telco, and every app you’ve ever installed. For an e-commerce super app like Grab, those pings are oxygen: a far bigger driver of traffic and conversions than paid media, yet chronically neglected creatively. Awwbandon Cart was our bet that if we treated these unsexy, automated messages with the same insight, craft, and care as our brand films, customers would notice, respond, and ultimately, sales would follow. We were right.

Case Summary

This Effie case is about automated, trigger‐based CRM — the “annoying” notifications you get from your bank, telco, and every app you’ve ever installed. For an e-commerce super app like Grab, those pings are oxygen: a far bigger driver of traffic and conversions than paid media, yet chronically neglected creatively. Awwbandon Cart was our bet that if we treated these unsexy, automated messages with the same insight, craft, and care as our brand films, customers would notice, respond, and ultimately, sales would follow. We were right.

Case Summary

Vaseline redefined what brand authority looks like in the creator economy – successfully expanding the horizons from a humble petroleum jelly for skin healing created in the 19th century, to now a cultural icon which has made its way to many new categories it has never been before. Introducing Vaseline Verified, the world’s first Social R&D Lab that validates culture through science while creating a roadmap for culture-led innovation. The results? Thailand’s best- performing campaign to date, delivering +15% sales value growth and 30% new-to-brand users.

Case Summary

"Without long-term brand marketing, we wouldn't have a business." (Uber APAC CMO)

In an industry increasingly chasing short-term spikes, Uber Eats took the opposite approach: building consistent, brand-led growth. The conviction was tested in 2022 when the business pivoted from takeaway-food to 'everything' delivery. With its new platform 'Get Almost Almost Anything', Uber Eats extended the promise beyond restaurants while protecting existing equity. The campaign defended leadership in food delivery while accelerating growth into new categories. Over three years, the platform delivered +63% incremental revenue at a 338% marketing ROI.

Case Summary

Wimbledon 2025 was no ordinary year. Alex Eala, a Nike athlete, became the first Filipina ever to qualify. For Nike, it was a chance to turn global attention into a deeper connection with Filipinos. In 14 days, Nike created a white hair tie inspired by the Sampaguita, the Philippines’ national flower symbolising hard work that blooms. The gesture deepened national pride in Philippines, rallying a basketball-obsessed country behind a tennis star, making Nike the most talked-about sports brand and the Sampaguita product line into the best-selling one yet.