Australia secures two Gold, five Silver and six Bronze at the APAC Effie Awards 2025; Australia ranked 2nd most awarded country across APAC

Marketers from all over the region recently in Singapore over the weekend to celebrate marketing excellence and the reveal of the most effective campaigns across Asia Pacific at this year’s APAC Effie Awards.

 

Australia has walked away with an impressive two Golds, five Silvers and six Bronzes. Ogilvy Australia led the pack, picking up one Gold, one Silver and two Bronzes for campaigns including the Department of Health and Aged Care’s ‘A Masterclass in Government Sex Talks’ and KFC’s ‘Flying High in a Frugal World’ – work that helped secure Agency Network of the Year for the seventh consecutive year.

Leo Australia scored Australia’s second Gold for Suncorp Insurance ‘Road to Resilience’.

Droga5 Sydney scored two Silvers; one for Telstra ‘Hello Christmas’ and one for Meat and Livestock Australia ‘How Australian Lamb united the generations’, plus one Bronze for Meat and Livestock Australia ‘How Australian Lamb leapt to new heights’.

DDB Group Sydney and BMF both picked up one Silver and one Bronze apiece, whilst 303 MullenLowe scored one Bronze.

Australian Winners:

Gold:
Ogilvy Sydney for Department of Health and Aged Care ‘A Masterclass in Government Sex Talks’
Leo Sydney for Suncorp Insurance ‘Road to Resilience’

Silver:
Ogilvy Sydney for KFC ‘Flying High in a Frugal World’
Droga5 Sydney for Telstra ‘Hello Christmas’
Droga5 Sydney for Meat and Livestock Australia ‘How Australian Lamb united the generations’
DDB Group Sydney for McDonald’s ‘How the Boot McNugget became a collectable’
BMF Sydney for ALDI ‘Go Big on the Little Things’

Bronze:
Ogilvy Sydney for Department of Health and Aged Care ‘A Masterclass in Government Sex Talks’
Ogilvy Sydney for KFC ‘Flying High in a Frugal World’
Droga5 Sydney for Meat and Livestock Australia ‘How Australian Lamb leapt to new heights’
BMF Sydney for ALDI ‘Go Big on the Little Things’
DDB Group Sydney / OMD Sydney for McDonald’s ‘How a historic jingle unlocked a new love’
303 MullenLowe for Budget Direct ‘Six Years of Record Growth. Solved.’

Of the 123 finalists previously announced, 81 campaigns emerged with a metal. The jury awarded a total of 12 Golds, 31 Silvers, and 48 Bronzes to winners across 12 territories.

Ogilvy Mumbai snagged Agency of the Year, the third time they’ve achieved this feat, with their work ‘The Impossible Choice’ and ‘From Handwash Rebels to Handwash Legends’ contributing heavily to their metal count of 3 Golds, 3 Silvers, and 3 Bronzes.

For the second year in a row, Independent Agency of the Year went to the India-based agency The Womb. Their haul of 3 Silvers, and 5 Bronzes also led them to claim the 3rd rank for Agency of the Year.

St. Jude Childcare Centres clinched the double title of Brand of the Year and Marketer of the Year for ‘The Impossible Choice’, which attained phenomenal results by redirecting the focus from cancer patient to the heart-wrenching caregiver’s dilemma of having to choose which child can be housed within their limited space, and therefore who gets to continue cancer treatment.

The last award of the night went to Ogilvy for Agency Network of the Year for the seventh year in a row. Their work across 6 territories secured them 24 Effies – 7 Golds, 5 Silvers, and 12 Bronzes.

India topped the rankings with 33 awards, followed by Australia at 13, and a tie between New Zealand and Singapore at 6 metals each. This year’s competition also marks the first awardee for a Sri Lankan campaign in APAC Effie history for ‘Relive the Epic of The Ramayana Trail’ by Sri Lankan Airline and Phoenix Ogilvy O&M.

2025 Awards Chairperson Lex Bradshaw-Zanger says: “Winning an Effie is a symbol of marketing excellence – the gold-standard. The competition and the awards gala tonight is a steadfast reminder of the power incredible insights, ideas and strategy have in delivering phenomenal results for people, brands, and communities. I’m honoured to announce the results chosen by our judges; it is an amazing achievement to be recognised by peers all around the region. Congratulations!”

The Special Awards are given out based on the total calculation of points accumulated by each winner and finalist. This year’s Special Awards winners are:

Independent Agency of the Year
1st place: The Womb
2nd place: Pitchblack Partners
3rd place: Fenton

Agency of the Year
1st place: Ogilvy Mumbai
2nd place: Leo Mumbai
3rd place: The Womb

Agency Network of the Year:
1st place: Ogilvy
2nd place: Leo Burnett Worldwide
3rd place: DDB Worldwide

Brand of the Year
1st place: St. Jude Childcare Centres
2nd place: VinFast VF3
3rd place: Vaseline

Marketer of the Year
1st place: St. Jude Childcare Centres
2nd place: Unilever
3rd place: VinFast

Country of the Year:
1st place: India
2nd place: Australia
3rd place (tie): New Zealand + Singapore

The full list of winners can be accessed here. All winners and finalists will be accorded points towards the 2025 Effie Index, which will be announced in 2026. The Index ranks the most effective agencies, marketers, and brands globally, the results for the 2024 index can be found here.