Telco, Banking, Retail: The Categories To Watch in AUNZ In 2026

A flurry of pitch activity, CMO switch-ups, and bold work has reshaped categories, setting up many sectors for a lively year.

The telecommunications sector has been fueled by Telstra’s award-winning creativity, leading competitors Optus and Vodafone to try new agency models and prioritise indie shops. In banking, the likes of Westpac and NAB are rolling out new platforms. And with Qantas out for pitch, the airline industry also has our attention.

Here, we dig into the categories we’ll be keeping a close eye on in 2026.

Telco

For the past two years, Telstra has breathed life into a typically dull category with an onslaught of creative work via its partnership with indie agency Bear Meets Eagle on Fire, TBWA, and OMD -- a model called +61.

CMO Brent Smart’s strategy of doubling-down on creativity has led to some of the most varied creative work in the world, including a Steve Buscemi headlined “workplace comedy set in space”, a series of cinema shorts, and an animated Christmas ghost story. The brand ended the year with four Global Immortal Awards finalists, a Cannes Grand Prix, and AWARD domination. And now, Brent is turning his attention to product marketing, primed to go even bigger in 2026.

In response, competitor Vodafone followed the brand’s into indie-land, appointing Howatson+Company as its agency of record last year (it shortlisted only indies), with the first creative work expected in early 2026. Optus also developed an agency village, appointing Droga5 last June, alongside Apparent and BRXin B2B and production capacities, respectively. Optus’ first work with its new agencies has been on hold while the brand has weathered crisis, but we’re keeping an eye out for what both Vodafone and Optus do creatively in 2026.

In New Zealand, the category has also felt alive. New Zealand brand Skinny created an AI clone of its happiest customer, a cinematic spot from Spark was one of our favourite projects of 2025, and 2Degrees has leaned into interesting community partnerships, supporting girls in sport with SupportHER Club and healthy digital behaviours with ‘NOtifications’.

Banking

We’re already off to the races in banking. After appointing BMF last year, ending a 13-year run with DDB, Westpac debuted a brand campaign this week – finding an idea “hidden in plain sight” with ‘Double You’. It’s new CMO Michelle Klein’s -- formerly IAG’s marketing lead -- first work with the business, and we know she’ll be intent on making her mark alongside head of creative excellence Anna Jackson, who joined her from Telstra.

National Australia Bank (NAB) has also launched new work over the past month: a business banking campaign via TBWA\Melbourne which unites all marketing activity under its long-running ‘More than Money’ brand promise.

Commonwealth Bank continues to run its 2025 campaign, ‘Doubt Never Did’, while ANZ was more creative across the Tasman, launching limited-edition vinyl records and football jerseys in collaboration with TBWA\New Zealand and Auckland FC, blending sport sponsorship, street culture, and audio branding.

PSA

From road safety to public health, the PSA is an advertising staple so ubiquitous it tends to melt into the background static. But in 2025, New Zealand agency Motion Sickness re-wrote the textbook with a Cannes, AWARD, and Effie-winning platform to ‘Make New Zealand the Best Place in The World to Have Herpes.’​

And it didn’t stop there, with innovative work for the Auckland Business Association’s Heart of The City -- including a fleet of vintage taxis and a shop opened on Karanghape Roadto drive foot traffic and reinvigorate the CBD. Outside-the-box and varied thinking has proven to cut through for Motion Sickness -- what will other agencies learn from this in 2026?

Already, NZ has impressed this year with a road-safety campaign using handmade puppets, miniatures, and prosthetics to bring a “human feeling” to the tired old speeding TVC. It was the first-ever work from McCann New Zealand since the merger of DDB and FCB.

Transport Accident Commission (TAC) is the most iconic account in the category thanks to the renowned ‘Meet Graham’. It went to pitch last year, and awarded its creative account to DDB Melbourne in October. Clemenger BBDO was the incumbent, but two months later, DDB became part of Clemenger following the agency brand’s global retirement -- can the agency that led ‘Meet Graham’ deliver bold work for the government client this year?

Retail

Supermarket giant Woolworths has a new CMO. US marketer Sean Barrett moved to Australia to bring brand and marketing transformation experience to the role. The brand still works with M+C Saatchi, but moved its Everyday Rewards account to TBWA\Sydney and Big W to 72andSunny last year -- we’re keen to see the work that comes from the former appointment, in particular, under new-ish TBWA\Sydney CCO Matt Keon.

Meanwhile, Clemenger BBDO won retail chain Kmart last year, with new creative work understood to be on the horizon. Household Aussie brand Myer also went to market in 2025, with indie agency Howatson+Company winning the department store’s creative and production accounts. Since then, we’ve only seen the brand’s Christmas campaign launched publicly, but we expect Howatson and sister AI studio Plus Also to deliver big this year.

Travel

A spate of tourism ads launched last year, all vying for limited holiday funds and annual leave: Tourism Australia was the biggest, but there was also Air New Zealand, Vanuatu Tourism, Fiji Airways, Qantas, Jetstar, Tourism Tasmania, and more. There was Webjet’s biggest brand transformation in 27 years. Plus, M+C Saatchi and Droga are currently vying on a soon-to-be-wrapped Qantas pitch.

This year so far, we’ve seen work from Virgin Australia’s Velocity, and a new platform from Carnival and newly-appointed agency Innocean. Still to come, we’ll likely see the first major work for Tourism New Zealand since the account went to TBWA\NZ in June and Ogilvy PR locked down the brand’s PR account.