HERO becomes first Australian agency in WINA history to achieve Global Top 2 ranking

June 16 2026, 11:02 am | BY Ricki Green | No Comments

HERO has become the only Australian agency to reach the Global Top 2 at the World Independent Advertising Awards, placing second overall at the 2026 WINA Festival. The result follows HERO’s sixth place global WINA ranking last year, seeing it become the first Australian agency to appear in the WINA Global Top 10.

 

HERO’s 2026 performance was led by Mastercard Transit Tales, which took home multiple awards, including Grand Prix and Gold in the Interactive category. The result also saw Mastercard named second-ranked Global WINA Advertiser of the Year, behind UNICEF in the number 1 spot.

The win also marks the second consecutive year HERO has taken home a WINA Grand Prix, following last year’s Grand Prix for Toyota C-HR Diamond Collection. In 2025, HERO also received Gold, Silver and Bronze recognition across Toyota C-HR Diamond Collection and Mindography for INSTAX Fujifilm, placing the agency sixth overall in the global rankings.

Says Andrew Woodhead, creative director at HERO: “It’s a huge accolade to take out back-to-back Grand Prix wins at the WINA Festival, for two pieces of innovative work for two major clients, Toyota and Mastercard. The whole team at HERO are pretty pumped to go for the three-peat.”

HERO’s full 2026 WINA tally included one Grand Prix, two Golds and two Bronze awards for Mastercard Transit Tales.

Grand Prix
HERO, Australia | Brand: Mastercard | Category: Interactive

Gold
HERO, Australia | Brand: Mastercard | Category: Interactive
HERO, Australia | Brand: Mastercard | Category: Interactive

Bronze
HERO, Australia | Brand: Mastercard | Category: Content
HERO, Australia | Brand: Mastercard | Category: Craft

See the full list of WINA winners at https://winafestival.com/wina-presents-the-best-of-the-creative-world-2026/

 

Register for FREE HERE and receive the Campaign Brief Daily Bulletin and/or the global Best Ads Best of the Week Bulletin.              Subscribe to Campaign Brief Magazine.

#More Creative News   #No paywalls   #No annual membership fees

Subscribe to Portfolio & Reel for current listings of Australian and NZ ad agency and production company leadership and key personnel