PHD Media was named Effectiveness Agency of the Year at this evening’s (Thursday 1 October) IPA Effectiveness Awards ceremony, while Omnicom won Effectiveness Company of the Year.
PHD Media also claimed one Silver and one Bronze Award for their work with Škoda and Volkswagen. Their remarkable haul was four of the 11 total prizes won across six Omnicom agencies as they were named Effectiveness Company of the Year.
In total, six Omnicom agencies took home a combined three Golds, two Silvers, three Bronzes and two Special Prizes.
AMV BBDO and Spark Foundry were awarded a Gold Award and the Grand Prix for generating £500m in incremental revenue for Currys in just two years by turning the decline of physical retail into a competitive advantage.
Meanwhile, MG OMD also won a Gold Award for their paper telling the story of how ‘Should’ve gone to Specsavers’ became a fixture in British culture, before localised variations had a similar impact across Australia, New Zealand, Canada and Northern Europe.
Other prizes contributing to Omnicom’s Effectiveness Company of the Year win were:
- Silver for Great Western Railway by adam&eve\TBWA
- Silver for Volkswagen by adam&eve\TBWA and PHD Media
- Bronze for Škoda by AMV BBDO and PHD Media
- Bronze for Admiral by McCann Bristol
- Bronze for Jaffa Cakes by adam&eve\TBWA and MG OMD
Commenting, Laurence Green, Director of Effectiveness at the IPA, said:
“Huge congratulations to PHD Media and Omnicom for being named Effectiveness Agency and Company of the Year at the IPA Effectiveness Awards. Each of their papers is an outstanding example of how brilliant strategy and creative ideas come together to deliver significant commercial results for their clients, and they have rightly taken home a truly exceptional collection of prizes.”
All winning case studies are available to download from the IPA website or from WARC. The IPA Effectiveness Awards are sponsored by Analytic Partners, System1, Thinkbox and WARC.
2026 IPA Effectiveness Awards winners:
Special Prizes:
Grand Prix:
- Currys by AMV BBDO and Spark Foundry: The Superpower In-store
Effectiveness Agency of the Year:
- PHD Media
Effectiveness Company of the Year:
- Omnicom
The Broadbent Prize for Best Dedication to Effectiveness:
- Specsavers
Best Not-For-Profit:
- Alzheimer's Society by Medialab, New Commercial Arts and Alzheimer's Society: How a 'cultural multiplier' generated the short and really long-term income to fight dementia
Best Small Budget:
- NHS Blood and Transplant by VML: Waiting to live: Shining a light on children waiting for a transplant
The President’s Prize for Creative Effectiveness:
- Andrex by Omnicom and PHD Media: Getting Andrex back on a roll: How confronting toilet truths unlocked a bold new chapter of growth
The Channon Prize for Best New Learning:
- Nationwide by Mother and Wavemaker London: Marketing and finance: Pioneering a new kind of alliance
Gold Awards:
Global Market:
- Specsavers by MG OMD and Specsavers Creative: The serious value of humour
Not-For-Profit:
- Alzheimer's Society by Medialab, New Commercial Arts and Alzheimer's Society: How a 'cultural multiplier' generated the short and really long-term income to fight dementia
Single Market:
- Andrex by Omnicom and PHD Media: Getting Andrex back on a roll: How confronting toilet truths unlocked a bold new chapter of growth
- Currys by AMV BBDO and Spark Foundry: The Superpower In-store
- Lurpak by Wieden+Kennedy London and Arla: How Lurpak has led a category for 19 years, by thinking outside it
- Nationwide by Mother and Wavemaker London: Marketing and finance: Pioneering a new kind of alliance
Silver Awards:
Not-For-Profit:
- NHS Blood and Transplant by VML: Waiting to live: Shining a light on children waiting for a transplant
Single Market:
- AJ Bell by Pablo London: Clear as a bell: The stupidly simple strategy that made AJ Bell the talk of the town
- Great Western Railway by adam&eve\TBWA: Consistency starts here: How committing to a single campaign idea paid back for Great Western Railway
- Volkswagen by adam&eve\TBWA and PHD Media: The power of people like you: How popularity paid back for Volkswagen
Bronze Awards:
Not-For-Profit:
- Capita, for the British Army by Droga5 and EssenceMediacom: You Belong Here: Sharpening belonging for the next generation of Army recruits
Regional Market:
- Škoda by AMV BBDO and PHD Media: Škoda Elroq: From complexity to confidence – how Škoda unlocked Europe’s EV market
Single Market:
- Admiral by McCann Bristol: Ahoy Admouth! The power of a fluent world to create emotional connections
- Confused.com by Leo UK and Zenith UK: From chasing efficiencies to growing efficiently: How Confused.com made the whole system work harder
- easyJet by VCCP, T&P London and Kepler: Not a campaign, a creative system for the modern era of algorithmic media
- Gousto by the7stars: Gousto rewrote the rules of DTC growth by building a brand before chasing performance
- Jaffa Cakes by adam&eve\TBWA and MG OMD: How a modern brand-building strategy reignited an age-old debate about Jaffa Cakes
- Madrî Excepcional by Ogilvy UK and Carat: “You don’t need history, to make history”: How Madrí Excepcional became a £1bn brand in 5 years
- SMARTY mobile by The Gate London, Zenith UK and VodafoneThree: Less Malarkey. More SMARTY: How a flanker brand reignited growth in a shrinking market
- Vitality by VCCP: Life, not death
Last updated 01 October 2026