IPA announces 2026 Effectiveness Awards winners

The night’s top prize, the prestigious IPA Effectiveness Awards Grand Prix, was won by AMV BDDO and Spark Foundry for a campaign that transformed Currys from a retailer threatened by online shopping into the UK's most-preferred technology retailer, generating £500m in incremental revenue, increasing long-term ROI by 44% and returning the business to sustained growth.

Omnicom were named Effectiveness Company of the Year for their remarkable haul of three Golds, two Silvers, three Bronzes, the Grand Prix and President’s Prize.

Meanwhile, the Channon Prize for Best New Learning was awarded to Mother, Wavemaker London and Nationwide, and Specsavers took home the Broadbent Prize for Best Dedication to Effectiveness.

All entries into the Awards were rigorously analysed by Technical and Industry judging panels of leading strategists and econometricians to evaluate the payback of their marketing activity. The final prizes were then determined by a panel of Client experts, led by Tesco’s UK Customer Director and Chair of Judges, Suzanne Quinn.

Commenting on the IPA Effectiveness Awards winners:

Says Charlie Ebdy, Convenor of Judges for the IPA Effectiveness Awards and Chief Strategy Officer UK, Omnicom Media:

“Anyone taking home an IPA Effectiveness Award should be extremely proud. Your work has passed more scrutiny than anywhere else in the industry, and your cases now sit alongside some of the most famous work ever produced. But more importantly, you’ve helped contribute to our collective understanding of how marketing communication works – a task vital for a world in which our output is changing beyond recognition.”

Says Suzanne Quinn, Chair of Judges for the IPA Effectiveness Awards and UK Customer Director, Tesco:

“It has been an absolute privilege to chair this year’s IPA Effectiveness Awards. Throughout the judging process, we saw some truly outstanding examples of what can be achieved when exceptional creativity is combined with clear commercial ambition. Congratulations to all of this year’s winners. The standard of entries was exceptionally high, making for a fiercely competitive and inspiring set of awards.”

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