LEADERSHIP & MARKETING AWARDS
B&T Award for Bravery
BMF, 'Algorithm of Disrespect', Department of Social Services
Violence against women is an endemic and alarmingly common problem in Australia.
The Australian Government has been trying to tackle the issue since 2016. However, in the past two years, there has been a regression in young men’s attitudes towards women, often being learnt and encouraged in spaces that are invisible to and inaccessible to adults.
Parents need help surfacing these hidden sources of disrespect and how they shape shift, groom, lure and infiltrate kids’ lives.
The ‘Algorithm of Disrespect’, the latest iteration of the Government’s ‘Let’s Stop it at the Start’ campaign. This iteration takes the form of an interactive social media platform for parents that simulates disrespectful content targeted at young people on popular social media apps.
Designed to mirror social media user interfaces used by teens and their social interactions, the ‘Algorithm of Disrespect’ provides parents with a unique and accurate insight into how easy it is for children to be exposed to harmful content.
Every detail replicates harmful content as closely as possible, from actors posing as toxic influencers to set designs authentically portraying different genres of social content.
As a result of the campaign, visits to relevant government websites have increased 400 per cent, and there has been a 9,500 per cent increase in resource downloads. Engagements with conversation guides have grown 14,000 per cent.
And if those resources and this campaign save the life of just a single woman, it will have all been worth it.
B&T Award for Diversity
Apparent, 'Change Direction', Jilya Institute
Australia has a suicide crisis. In Aboriginal communities, that crisis is amplified—the suicide rate is nearly triple the national average. Too many lives are lost because competent mental healthcare simply isn’t available where it’s needed most.
This was the colossal challenge Apparent was tasked to tackle by the Westerman Jilya Institute for Indigenous Mental Health.
To help combat it, Apparent created the pro-bono ‘Change Direction’ campaign aimed at shifting the narrative on how Aboriginal people can heal.
Rather than ascribing one-size-fits-all approaches to all Australians, the campaign recognised that the path to healing for Aboriginal people comes through culture—a culture that’s been stripped away over generations.
At the heart of the campaign is a short film with a central poem by poet Dakota Feirer (Bundjalung-Gumbaynggirr). Written as a palindrome, it conveys two meanings when read forwards and backwards: a story of a young man in despair, then a story of him finding hope.
It showed that the mental health crisis was beatable when faced together, as a community.
Despite a lack of government support, the Westerman Jilya Institute provides scholarships to train Aboriginal psychologists to help Aboriginal people. By reinstating agency in Aboriginal communities to direct their own healing journeys, non-Aboriginal Australians can come to appreciate the diversity of perspectives in our country.
‘Change Direction’ had an enormous impact, reaching nearly a third of Australians through support from pro-bono partners. It drove a 76 per cent increase in people viewing the crisis as “extremely serious”. It featured on Qantas in-flight, major TV networks, national radio, digital, out of home, social media and during primetime AFL coverage.
Beyond these metrics, the community felt heard. Aboriginal leaders described it as a life-saving initiative. “I have never seen such a powerful presentation ever until this,” said one community figure. Endorsements don’t come much better than that.
B&T Award For The Planet
Emotive, 'Don't Mine What's Mine', Deep Rising
It’s often said we know more about the moon than what’s at the bottom of the ocean. Perhaps that’s why we know so little of the real, pressing and growing problem of deep sea mining. Emotive and Deep Rising set out to change that with ‘Don’t Mine What’s Mine’.
Hidden on the deep seabed beneath the Pacific, an area the size of India has already been carved up for corporations to mine. Out of sight, but with consequences that affect the whole world. The ocean provides half the planet’s oxygen and, by international law, the seabed is the “common heritage of humankind”. Yet the International Seabed Authority, created to protect it, is also granting licences to exploit it.
Award-winning documentary filmmaker Matthieu Rytz asked Emotive to help make this invisible invasion visible and stop it before it began.
Through deeprising.com, it launched The World’s Largest Ocean Dispute. The threatened zone was divided into 8.17 billion GPS coordinates, one for every person alive. Each could be claimed as a personal plot, recorded on a carbon-positive blockchain with an NFT Birthright Certificate. Not a petition, but ownership.
The campaign unfolded in three waves. The Deep Rising documentary streamed on Apple, Amazon and Google, exposing cracks in international law. A digital protest was spread through out of home and social media, brought to life with NFT Birthright Certificates. And a global voice, led by Jason Momoa and Pacific leaders, carried the “Common Heritage” message into the halls of power.
The impact was felt around the globe, with six nations shifting their stance, clearing the way for the first moratorium on deep-sea mining. Today, 38 nations support the ban, laying the foundation for legal action at the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea.
Best Content Marketing Strategy
Today the Brave, 'Life's Different After', True North
True North offers once-in-a-lifetime and life-changing boutique cruises to some of the world’s most remote locations.
But it faced a problem: the world’s largest luxury cruise companies dominate the market with performance-focused, transactional marketing propped up by Titanic media budgets. In that sea of sameness, it needed to cut through with something different.
With that in mind, Today The Brave embarked on a rethink of True North’s owned channels and marketing. It made the brand think like a content creator and publisher, rather than an advertiser. It shifted from campaigns to an always-on ecosystem of content that focused on the experiences and the richness of a True North journey, rather than the predictable comms and presentation of other cruise lines.
The website became a cinematic hub of destination storytelling, redesigned brochures and downloadable itineraries became editorial-style magazines and a social-first video strategy for Instagram and TikTok was created. Paid media mirrored this with native and interactive storytelling formats–to create micro-content experiences instead of static ads. PR activity amplified this storytelling, with earned media reaching some 18 million people with entirely positive sentiment. This approach allowed True North to operate and excel through the funnel whilst its competitors remained focused on the bottom.
The results were impressive, with consideration improvements surpassing targets. Most importantly, True North achieved record numbers of enquiries received and deposits taken. That level of engagement set True North back on a course for growth and then some.
Best Digital Services
Digitas
It has been a pivotal year for Digitas’ Australian arm. Rather than simply scaling capability or restructuring teams, the agency fundamentally redefined what a modern digital services partner should look like.
This transformation began by bringing together two award-winning businesses: Balance Internet and Digitas. The outcome was a new operating model, a ‘Connected Experience’ agency designed to link every digital touchpoint with clarity and consistency.
Under this unified vision, Digitas delivered connected work across campaigns, CX, commerce and CRM for some of the region’s most influential brands, including McDonald’s, ALDI, Exetel, Mitre 10 and the New Zealand Government.
The focus remained on creating digital ecosystems that seamlessly talk to one another, building loyalty programs that turned customers into fans, and designing experiences people actively choose to return to.
Internally, the agency also evolved. A new leadership team was established, and strategic investment was made in learning pathways, inclusive policy design and career development frameworks to ensure talent could thrive.
The results spoke for themselves. Digitas secured ten pitch wins, grew the business by double digits, and retained every existing client, a rare achievement in an increasingly fragmented category.
Digitas enters its next chapter with momentum, clarity and focus on meaningful connection across platforms, experiences and people.
Best Digital Transformation
Plus Also Studios
AI is reshaping advertising and marketing as we know it. But rather than risk getting sucked under, Howatson+Company created Plus Also Studios to try riding the wave with a new approach to creative production.
Howatson’s aim was to create an AI-powered creative technology company that delivered high-quality endlessly personalised assets at speed. Rather than disrupting workflows, Plus Also Studios boosts efficiency by enabling designers to generate numerous variations using data-driven elements such as product feeds and pricing.
The business launched in September last year with Endeavour Group—parent of BWS and Dan Murphy’s among others, as its foundation client.
The Plus Also Platform rewrites the rules on creative production by integrating directly with industry-standard design tools such as Figma and Adobe’s After Effects. Rather than disrupting workflows, it enhances efficiency by enabling designers to generate numerous variations using data-driven elements such as product feeds and pricing.
Its success in a short period of time is impressive, to say the least.
In now employs more than 50 people across creative, strategy, design production, content management and business services. It marries the human touch with AI engineers, upskilling the agency’s workforce for an AI-powered future.
The business now has 12 clients ALH, BWS, Dan Murphy’s, Langtons, Pinnacle, Myer, Movember, Foxtel, Qantas, oOh!media and Petbarn and has grown revenue by 130 per cent year on year and its campaigns for Myer, Qantas, Foxtel and Dan Murphy’s have led to huge efficiency gains and reductions in time.
Best Media Platform
Broadsheet Media
Nothing says a superbly curated restaurant recommendations list like one from Broadsheet Media.
But Broadhseet goes above and beyond recommendations lists–it taps into the cultural zeitgeist like no other media platform.
Broadsheet has been kicking since 2009. Since then, it’s grown into Australia’s leading culture guide, shaping how Aussies experience their cities. More than a publication, Broadsheet is a cultural force, and this past year marked a milestone in longevity and evolution.
In its most ambitious step yet, Broadsheet launched Broadsheet London earlier this year, expanding its footprint to international shores.
Broadsheet’s top 10 clients, including Mastercard and Square, increased their revenue, driving growth and reach. While the broader media industry faced headwinds, Broadsheet posted a 10 per cent year-on-year revenue increase, helping deliver its biggest-ever quarterly result in Q2.
Its audience is not just growing but deepening its engagement, with return visits surging and average session times climbing by nearly three-quarters.
Broadsheet writes stories no one else is telling, championing independent businesses and bold cultural commentary through Local Knowledge, long-form features, new op-eds, and bi-monthly digital issues.
Newsletters reach nearly 200,000 subscribers with remarkable open rates. Its integrated video strategy delivered 59 million views. The Hot List, launched with Square, has already attracted more than 582,000 visits.
At a time when others are just making noise, Broadsheet is cutting through it and deriving the essence of stories, people and ideas.
Best Retail Media Network
MixIn Media by endeavour
In just two years, MixIn, Endeavour Group’s in-house retail media network, has become an integral part of Australia’s media landscape, setting new standards for product offerings.
With diversified revenue streams, explosive growth, and innovative offerings, MixIn has taken the industry by storm. After launching in 2023, MixIn has grown rapidly and now reaches 80 per cent of Australia’s adult drinking population. Its digital screens network now features in more than 90 per cent of Dan Murphy’s stores around the country and it has reimagined its online products to great success.
Its revenue growth—65 per cent in FY24 and a projected 62 per cent in FY25—against an otherwise flat market is incredibly impressive. It has now delivered thousands of campaigns, and saw a 59 per cent increase in non-biddable work and a 39 per cent increase in on-site campaigns in this financial year.
This success has come from its pioneering creative offerings in the liquor space, such as its ‘Magic Moments’ store takeovers and influencer partnerships. Its ongoing investment in the “Store of the Future” experiences also demonstrates its commitment to creating a better retail and retail media experience.
It has also prioritised providing sharper reporting and data-led recommendations to brands and agencies, lending the MixIn team a feeling of credibility and reliability. Its grown to a team of 10, too, focused on categories rather than agencies to deliver better client results.
But most importantly, perhaps, MixIn’s sales represent new, incremental advertising budgets, not just reallocated existing spend.
Data-Driven Marketing
Hatched & Special, Mum-nipulate the algorithM', Kitchen Warehouse
They say mum knows best. But when it comes to Mother’s Day gifting, it seems none of us know what our mothers want.
In order to combat this epidemic of disappointing gifting, Hatched and Special created and ran digital display, social, out of home and print catalogue ads with a simple promise: If Mums simply clicked, scanned or tapped the gifts they wanted, their families would be served hyper-specific ads for those gifts. The agencies even gave mums a suite of unbranded cute animal videos with hidden cookies in them to send to their families
Hatched and Special identified family members by using a bespoke Household ID mapping graph, specifically created for this Kitchen Warehouse campaign. This identified household members and served them ads featuring their preferred gifts and humorous copy that explained their mum was in on it. As an opt-in campaign, the media spending was uber-precise with minimal wastage.
Needless to say, this smart, out of the box thinking and super-tight precision led to an impressive set of results for Kitchen Warehouse. Some 640,000 family members were targeted with ads as a result of 220,000-odd Aussie mums engaging with the campaign. Traffic to Kitchen Warehouse’s website increased by more that 200 per cent, Kitchen Warehouse-branded searches jumped nearly half, too. Sales, the most important metric, climbed nearly a fifth.
This mum-nipulation of the algorithm proves smart, precise targeting is not only possible in today’s crowded social market but it can also deliver huge business results too.
Marketing Team of the Year, sponsored by birdeye
Kellanova
For years, the cereal category has quietly been losing cultural relevance.
Competing breakfast formats were stealing share, health discourse was polarising shoppers, and social commentary had reduced cereal to a nostalgic treat rather than a credible, nutritious choice.
As category leader, Kellogg’s felt this pressure most sharply, but rather than retreat into short-term tactics or price-led defence, its team made a bold strategic call: unify the portfolio under a single, powerful identity.
This shift required architectural change, new processes, new operating rhythms, and a new agency ecosystem. Kellanova became the founding client of Bastion Media’s fully integrated model, allowing creative, media and strategy to operate as one connected unit with shared accountability and shared objectives.
The ‘Kellogg’s For REAL’ campaign then set out to tackle misinformation. The team partnered with Celeste Barber, whose self-aware comedic tone made the conversation human.
A three-day, highly orchestrated production sprint delivered a year’s worth of modular assets spanning television, digital, retail media, long-form content and behind-the-scenes storytelling featuring real Kellogg’s employees.
Packaging for more than 75 products was redesigned to introduce the ‘Real Nourishment Scorecard,’ a simple front-of-pack system that guided shoppers with clarity, whether they were choosing a functional, protein-forward option or a nostalgic, indulgent family favourite.
The early results speak volumes. The Kellanova marketing team protected a legacy brand while still modernising it, future-proofing it, and restoring belief in a category millions grew up with, but many had stopped thinking about.
Marketing Technology Company of the Year
Smartly
Smartly is leading the charge in marketing technology, transforming results and engagement through its AI-powered technology. This past year saw the platform boost its unified offering across creative, media and intelligence with several new innovations.
Smartly’s unified approach has helped advertisers work faster, smarter, and more creatively with measurable improvements.
Zenith Media, for example, combined Brand Pulse and Cross-channel Platform Budget Allocation (xPBA)—two of Smartly’s new innovations—to gain a unified view of performance across channels in real time. The team diversified the channel mix and optimised against a custom KPI, reallocating budgets automatically across channels. As a result, Zenith saw a 16 per cent increase in reach, while the cost per reach dropped by 13.8 per cent.
The last year has seen the company’s growth turbocharged, fuelled by partnerships with Xero, Samsung, and Zenith Media, as well as Publicis.
Smartly generated significant revenue in APAC, an eightfold increase on the previous year, with projections to double again by 2026.
The firm has been recognised across the global adtech space for its time-saving and efficiency-boosting offerings, and scored a 97.3 per cent customer satisfaction score. Smartly has no plans on slowing down and every intention to keep scaling.
One client described Smartly as the: “cornerstone of their tech stack, enabling them to scale and automate global paid social campaigns efficiently”.
Smartly is shaping a stronger, more innovative future for the Australian advertising industry.
People & Culture - Fewer than 100 Employees
The Content Division
Company culture is why people stay, do their best work and show up as the best version of themselves.
The Content Division takes that seriously. Its values aren’t tucked away in a handbook—they’re lived every day, guiding what projects make it through the door and how it approaches its staff. Its mantra, “The best team, the right work, from anywhere,” encapsulates its philosophy.
Take Lorae Misipeka, the agency’s design lead, who described starting at The Content Division as feeling like a breath of fresh air.
Flexible working and a culture of trust allowed Misipeka and her partner to achieve life goals that had previously felt out of reach and unrealistic.
From day one, expectations at The Content Division are clear. Every role sits within a published progression framework, from junior through to director, with transparent pay bands and expectations. Thereʼs no mystery about how to grow, and no gender pay gap in like-for-like roles. Promotions are based on skills and impact, not time served.
The agency provides its team with generous leave options, including paid mental health days, encourages them to participate in team activities such as a monthly walking club and an annual offsite event, and provides professional development opportunities.
The proof is in its retention; many of its team have been there for five years or more.
Culture isn’t just what leadership says—it’s how people experience it.
People & Culture - More than 100 Employees
BMF
BMF is unmistakably itself, anchored by three simple values: Cheeky, Gutsy, Humble.
BMF describes itself as, “Cheeky because we take the work seriously but not ourselves. Gutsy because we run towards a challenge. And Humble because we’re smart enough to know we don’t know everything.”
BMF even has its own employee recognition platform, BRAVO, that doubles as its most successful retention tool.
It reinforces and rewards people for living the BMF values, and connects all employees across departments. BRAVO isn’t just about recognition; it’s about making the whole team feel seen.
You might know BMF as the home of the long idea. But its longest idea is culture. This idea is shaped by the same principles that power client work, create a culture where values are impossible to ignore, universal yet personal, and live in the way the agency thinks, decides, creates and connects.
It’s why staff at the creative agency have an average tenure of five years, significantly higher than the industry average.
The culture is deep-rooted in the numbers: 98 per cent of employees are proud of their work, 97 per cent are proud to work at BMF, 92 per cent feel their manager genuinely cares about them as a person, and 91 per cent feel a sense of belonging.
Sales Team of the Year
MixIn Media by endeavour
The MixIn sales team represents a rare combination of commercial excellence, strategic maturity and cultural strength. In just two years, they have taken a launch-phase offering and built it into a fast-growing retail media commercial engine.
The team’s impact is reflected in the numbers. The team delivered 65 per cent year-on-year revenue growth in FY24, followed by 62 per cent in FY25, establishing a sustained 63 per cent compound annual revenue growth, growing it to a multimillion-dollar retail media business.
Crucially, this growth didn’t rely on shifting existing spend; the team consistently unlocked incremental retail media budgets, activating new categories and educating a rapidly evolving market on the power and measurability of retail media.
Their evolution has been equally strategic. As the market matured, the team transitioned from a generalist, agency-style structure to a category-aligned model of ten specialists, enabling deeper supplier expertise, tighter commercial alignment and stronger relationships across FMCG, alcohol, lifestyle and emerging advertiser segments.
What sets the team apart is how they achieved it. Guided by the principle that ‘Credibility + Reliability + Intimacy = Trust,’ they built a relationship-first sales model supported by insights.
Their collaborative, developmental and forward-looking work environment reinforces that mindset. Through initiatives like AI-powered planning tools, including the Media Mix Recommender, the team has become one of the most future-fit sales organisations in the retail media space, continuously upskilling in data, automation and attribution.
MixIn’s sales team are the commercial backbone of a rapidly scaling retail media business, proving that excellence in sales is measured in capability, credibility and the strength of relationships built along the way, just as much as it is revenue.
