Here are the YouTube-NZ Marketing Awards 2026 finalists in the Marketing Excellence section. The call for entries for the 2026 Awards have now closed, with a record number of entrants keen to celebrate their work.
The Marketing Excellence Awards recognise excellence in specific disciplines across different sectors. The judges look for entries that demonstrate how effective marketing strategy has led to measurable results for a business/or brand.
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Marketing Excellence Awards 2026 finalists
| Company | Marketing initiative | Marketing partners |
| 2degrees | Beating Bigger Budgets with Better Strategy: The Data Piñata Battle | OMD, TBWA, FiftyFive5 |
| 2degrees | Emojis to Enterprise: How 2degrees Grew in to Business | OMD, TBWA, FiftyFive5, One Plus One |
| 2degrees | Fixing the Funnel: How Warehouse Mobile Unlocked Growth Through Brand Salience | TBWA, OMD, FiftyFive5 |
| 2degrees | Meet Wolfie. How a Werewolf Fixed Warehouse Mobile’s Funnel | TBWA, OMD, One Plus One, FiftyFive5 |
| 2degrees | My Internet is Bung: Pivoting to People Language | OMD |
| 2degrees | SupportHER Club Merch | TBWA, OMD, Eleven, Smile Dealers, NZ Sport Collective, FiftyFive5 |
| 2degrees | The Decision Layer: How MMM Sits Above Activation to Drive Growth | OMD |
| 2degrees | The Value Shift: Smarter Broadband Growth, Built on Data | TBWA, OMD |
| Abe’s Bagels | Abe’s Bagels Thiiins | Abe’s Bagels Internal Team |
| Air New Zealand | Dream Seats: Sponsoring New Zealanders Dreams | Bastion Aotearoa, dentsu Aotearoa |
| Air New Zealand | Synthony In The Sky | Duco Touring (owners of Synthony) |
| AMI Insurance | From a Passive to Powerful Platform – How AMI Re-earned Category Leadership Three x finalist | Colenso BBDO |
| ANZ New Zealand | ANZ Behind Auckland FC | TBWA, Eleven, PHD |
| Asahi Beverages | Hard Rated Launch – One Less Reason To Move To Aussie | Droga5 ANZ, 1House, Hearts and Science, Spark Foundry, OMD |
| ASB | Powering Adviser Success | Quantum Jump |
| Auckland Council | Who Let the Dogs Out? Roaming Dogs Marketing Communication Strategy | Auckland Council (Jess Lynch, Nichole Phelan, Liz Kirschberg, Alice Galletly, Elly Waitoa, Lisa Cribbens, Robert Irvine, Angus Hennah, Jasper Johnstone, Jay Farnworth, Janine Aagaard, Brett Sanders, Darron Leslie, Lori Gibbs, Susan Browne, Amy Walliss, Tim Aitken), MBM, Exit Films (Declan Cahill, James Watson, Leigh Nelson, Adrian Dentice, Miryam Jacobi, George Hennah, Nat Brunt, Raphaella Holder Monk, Fraser McKay, Jonny Moffatt, Ant Nevison, Peter Marshall, Jules Armishaw, Shakera Mackereth), Lagi Tuuholoaki, Kieran Charnock, Hariata Komene, Eve Cheesmur, Mark Mitchinson, Liquid Studios (Craig Matuschka, Nick Cunningham, Tamara O’Neill, Shirleyanne McDonald-Shaw), The Rig (Lisa Eversden, Dave Gibson, Glen Atkins) |
| Auckland Transport | AT Travel Choices Two x finalist | Creative@AT, Federation, MBM, QMS, DarkHorse, Thompson Spencer |
| Auckland University of Technology | AUT ‘Knowledge That Works’ | Principals, Motion Sickness, MBM |
| Bank of New Zealand | BNZ x Payap | Bad Magic, Hearts & Science |
| Bank of New Zealand | Navigating the Refix Moment: BNZ’s TotalMoney Strategy | Colenso BBDO, Hearts & Science |
| BLIS Technologies | Owning the Moment: BLIS M18™ and the Oral Probiotics Opportunity | Amy McTaggart, Bunker Street |
| Dricon | Dricon Makes it a Bagful of Easy | Quantum Jump, Contagion |
| Ecostore | Ecostore – Long Term Marketing Strategy | Special NZ, OMD, JCDecaux, Thompson Spencer, Sayso PR, Catalyst, Tracksuit |
| Fisher & Paykel Healthcare | F&P Solo: Innovative and Intuitive | Beehive Creative, Designworks, Borderless, A Perfect Curve Creative, Kantar, USIM, Atlantis Health |
| Goodman Fielder | Vogel’s Excellence in Long Term Marketing Strategy | McCann New Zealand, MBM, Fleishman, Hilard Aotearoa, Together |
| Goodman Fielder Foodservice NZ | From Supplier to Partner: Goodman Fielder Foodservice B2B Marketing Strategy | Multiplied NZ, Hashbrown, 36 Presents |
| Greyhounds as Pets | Greathounds | Special PR, Special PR, MBM, Go Media, JCDecaux, LUMO Digital, MetService, NZME, oOh!, Phantom, ShopTalk, Shout Media |
| Greyhounds as Pets | New Zealand’s Little Helper | Special, Special PR, Together, The Simpsons, Go Media, JCDecaux, LUMO Digital, NZME, Outdoor Network, Flux Animation |
| Honeysticks | Honeysticks – A World of Pure Creation | NZTE, MILK, Insights Exchange, StickyBeak, Beyond Usual |
| Lactalis-Mainland Dairy | Taking Protein+ to the Masses | TBWA, Essence Mediacom, Kantar |
| Legend Story Studios | Legend Story Studios Silver Age Launch Campaign | Authentic Digital |
| Lion NZ | #1 in Japan to #1 in New Zealand – The RTD Reset | Motion Sickness, PHD Aotearoa, Corner Store, Hyper |
| Lion NZ | Reinvigorating Steinlager – New Zealand’s Finest Three x finalist | The Tuesday Club, PHD Aotearoa, Corner Store, Chris Chong Consulting, Kantar, The Purpose Business |
| Lion NZ | Steinlager – NZ’s Finest Marathon Sponsorship | PHD Aotearoa, The Tuesday Club, QMS NZ, Mediaworks, Corner Store, LAB 5, Auckland Marathon |
| McDonald’s New Zealand | Scaling the Brand Experience from the Street to Your Pocket | McCann New Zealand, Track/Tribal, OMD NZ, FleishmanHillard Aotearoa |
| Meridian Energy | Closing the Charging Gap – Meridian Energy’s Zero EV Charging Network | EightyOne, MBM, Utility |
| Meridian Energy | Navigating Kiwi’s Out of the Sea of Sameness and the Discount Doldrums | EightyOne, MBM, Kantar, TRA |
| Mitre 10 | Mitre 10 Club Discount Days: Loyalty as a Retail Sales Engine Two x finalist | Quantum Jump, McCann (FCB) |
| Mitre 10 | Success isn’t Judged Online; it’s Judged at the Store Till | McCann Group NZ, Team Circle |
| Natural Hazards Commission Toka Tū Ake | Dynamic by Design: AfterQuake’s Data Powered Strategy & System | VML, Natural Hazards Commission Toka Tū Ake |
| NZ Post | Digital Customs Forms | The Research Agency |
| NZHL (New Zealand Home Loans) | NZHL – Have a Mortgage & a Life | Bad Magic, Rascal Media, KBR Digi |
| NZME | iHeartCountry NZ Launch | NZME Internal Team |
| One New Zealand | One New Zealand Satellite | McCann (FCB) |
| Outward Bound NZ | Become a Weapon at Outward Bound | Motion Sickness, Ground Control, TRA, Search Republic |
| Pizza Hut | Pizza Hut | Motion Sickness, PHD Media, The Attention Seeker |
| Powershop | Powershop’s Long Game: Turning Set & Forgetters into Shoppers and Savers | EightyOne, MBM, Kantar |
| Powershop | Super Specials. Super Growth. | EightyOne, MBM, Kantar |
| Samsung New Zealand | Samsung Long Term Marketing Strategy – Apple Disrupt | McCann New Zealand, FleishmanHillard Aotearoa, Spark Foundry |
| Samsung New Zealand | Samsung Q7B7 Launch | McCann New Zealand, FleishmanHillard Aotearoa, Spark Foundry |
| Sharesies | Sharesies – Wealth Together | Lassoo Media |
| Sixt New Zealand | Sixt New Zealand: From Functional Utility to Lifestyle Authority | Krunch, Rob Barlow, Sebastian Buechele |
| Skills Group | Winning the Next Generation of Tradies | Many Minds, Stitch, Film Construction/Good Egg, Libby Sinclair |
| Skinny Mobile | Skinny4Lyfe Two x finalist | Colenso BBDO, PHD Media, Platform29, Creature Post, Anthem |
| Spark New Zealand | It’s Better with Spark – Brand Transformation Strategy | Colenso BBDO, Spur, Mister Wolf, Bastion Aotearoa, TRA, One Picture |
| Spark New Zealand | Spark – Are you not Entertained?! Two x finalist | Colenso BBDO |
| Spark New Zealand | Spark Xmas 2025 | Colenso BBDO |
| Stihl | Using Battery as a Strategic Lever for Brand Growth – STIHL | True, OMD |
| The Optimisers | Building New Zealand’s First GEO and AEO Agency Practice | The Optimisers |
| Tourism New Zealand | The Invitation that Brought Michelin to Dinner | Special New Zealand |
| Trade Me | Kiwi Can Fly: How Trade Me’s Marketing Guild Soared with AI | PwC, Braze, Segment, Hightouch, Windsor AI, Gemini Enterprise, Claude, Manus AI |
| Trade Me | Rebuilding Growth: From Fragmented Campaigns to a Unified Lifecycle Engine | Braze |
| Trade Me | Right Place, Right Time, Real Time | Hightouch, Snowflake, Segment, Claude |
| Trade Me Marketplace | The Ping Primer – How a Shoestring Slingshot Took on the Banking Goliaths | TRA, DarkHorse, MBM |
| Turners Auto Retail | Tina from Turners 2.0 | The Agency of So. (Darryl Parsons, Olivia Woodroffe), Lassoo Media and PR (James Robert, Karen Tipper, Micheal Woollerton, Elizabeth Louw, Lang Du), Turners Marketing Team (Natalie Grainger, Sean Koh, Tien Yu Wong, Anton Borodatov, Murray Lee, Ali Rajabimehr, Sean Wiggans) |
| Vitaco Health | Healtheries Live Life in The Green | TBWA New Zealand, Eleven PR, Spark Foundry NZ |
| Westpac New Zealand | Westpac House of Credit Card Fears | Saatchi & Saatchi NZ, Spark Foundry, Digitas, SPUR, Herd MSL |
| Whittaker’s | Caramel’s Gone Bananas Two x finalist | Bastion Shine, MBM, SweeneyVesty, Breakout Room, GoodEye Design |
| Whittaker’s | The Perfect Gift, Impossible to Giveaway | Bastion Shine, MBM, GoodEye Design, SweeneyVesty |
| Whittaker’s | Whittaker’s Hotel Sweet: A Suite Approach to Making 130 Years Matter | Special PR, MBM, Save the Kiwi, Hotel Fitzroy, Kayla Jurlina, Subgenre |
| Zuru Group | Being Haircare: for Being You | Zuru Group Teams (Design, Media, Creative, Brand Engagement), Utendahl (USA), SEEN Group (USA), Black & White Communications (UK), Advisory Board: Akili King, Alyx Liu, Sky Kim, Emily Flores, Numerator |
| Zuru Group | Better When It’s Bonkers Two x finalist | Zuru Group Auckland (Design, Media, Creative, Brand Engagement), This January USA, Utendahl USA, SEEN Group USA, Craig and Bridget, Daley PR, Google, TikTok, Meta, WMC, Roundel, Black & White Communications UK, Advisory Board: Akili King, Alyx Liu, Sky Kim, Emily Flores, Numerator |
| Zuru Group | Daise Beauty | Zuru Edge |
These were the YouTube-NZ Marketing Awards 2026 finalists in the Marketing Excellence section.
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