At the Australian Effie Awards gala in Sydney, Special Australia and Uber Eats took home the night’s biggest honours: the Grand Effie and Effective Agency of the Year. The awards recognise work that proves marketing actually moves a business, not just creative craft.
Seven Gold Effies were awarded alongside 25 Silvers, 35 Bronzes and six Special Awards, with 32 agencies and 33 clients recognised across the night.
The winning formula: long-term brand conviction
The joint Special + Uber Eats entry, ‘How Uber Eats Embraced “Almost” to Become an “Anything” Delivery Brand’, won on hard commercial metrics. The jury pointed to revenue growth, market share and profit ROI as the deciding evidence.
“In an industry increasingly focused on short-term results, Uber Eats showed the conviction to back long-term brand building,” the jury said. “It evolved its proposition without losing what made it distinctive, and defended its market position while driving significant growth in new categories.”
The lesson for performance marketers: an effectiveness case needs more than a spike. You need to show the brand asset did the heavy lifting over time.
Who else took home Gold
The Gold Effie winners show effectiveness is spread across categories and agency models:
- Special for Uber Eats and Kitchen Warehouse
- 303 for Levande
- Bear Meets Eagle on Fire for Telstra
- Howatson+ Company for Selleys
- Wieden+Kennedy for McDonald’s
- Sunday Gravy for DiDi ANZ, which also won Best New Entrant
McDonald’s won Effective Advertiser of the Year with aggregated results across Wieden+Kennedy, Akcelo and OMD, including Gold for a Grinch-led summer campaign. Apparent and GTI Tourism received the Colin Wilson-Brown Award for Vanuatu Tourism Office’s ‘How Vanuatu got Aussies to Answer the Call’.
Why this matters for your next campaign
A record number of entries this year suggests Australian marketers are under more pressure to prove impact. ACA CEO Tony Hale noted the industry is focusing more on demonstrating the impact of work and proving the value marketing creates.
For growth teams, the night is a clear signal: back a distinctive brand platform, measure commercial outcomes, and give it enough time to work. That’s how you turn an “almost” idea into an “anything” growth engine.
Source: Campaign Brief
