Motion Sickness Wins Grand Effie, Special Crowned Effective Agency of the Year

Motion Sickness' 'Make New Zealand the Best Place in the World to have Herpes' has taken out the Grand Effie at the New Zealand Effie Awards, adding to its Cannes Grand Prix. Special was named Most Effective Agency of the Year, while Dentsu Creative's 'Change is Possible' won Hardest Challenge, with the Ministry of Social Development.

The 2025 Effie Awards celebrated New Zealand's top achievements in advertising and marketing last night, spotlighting campaigns that set new standards in effectiveness. Held at Auckland Town Hall, this year’s awards recognised winners across 26 categories of effective advertising.

Murray Streets, this year’s convenor of judges, said, “The ultimate point of the Effie Awards isn’t the rivalry or the metal. It’s the learnings and insights we share on how to create great marketing and advertising. It’s the case studies that become teaching tools. Entrants must combine storytelling, persuasion and quantified proof to demonstrate – beyond reasonable doubt -- that it was their thinking and creative campaign that delivered the results”.

The 2025 Effie Awards Aotearoa, proudly presented by the Comms Council in association with TVNZ, were made possible thanks to the generous support of our other commercial partner oOh!media, Gold partners Meta, Silver partners Cartology, NZME and Stuff, and Bronze partners The Radio Bureau.

The Commercial Communications Council extends their congratulations to all finalists and winners at the 2025 Effie Awards Aotearoa in association with TVNZ.

The full list of winners are below:

Grand Effie

​The New Zealand Herpes Foundation - Motion Sickness - Make New Zealand the Best Place in the World to have Herpes

Most Effective Agency of the Year

​Special

Hardest Challenge

​Dentsu Creative - The Ministry of Social - Development - Change Is Possible

Food Service / Restaurants

​Stanley St / Special - KFC NZ - How KFC reclaimed its status as a modern icon

Retail / Etail

​FCB Aotearoa - Green Cross Health - How avoiding embarrassment attracted growth

Insiders - Animates - The Pawprint Petition

TBWA\ New Zealand - The Warehouse Group -- Noel Leeming - Supreme NOELedge

Food, Confectionary and Snacks

​Bastion Shine - Whittaker's - Hello Chocolate Lovers

Dentsu Creative - Tegel - Free Feels Good

Beverages

​Special - DB Breweries - The Cold Calls That Saved Summer

TBWA \ New Zealand - Anchor - Anchor: Reigniting New Zealand’s love for milk

Consumer Durables

​Saatchi & Saatchi New Zealand - Toyota New Zealand - RAV4 -- The Original Recreational Activity Vehicle

Financial Services

​Droga5 Aotearoa - ASB - ASB -- Helping New Zealanders Stay One Step
Ahead of Scammers

TBWA\ New Zealand - ANZ Bank New Zealand - HOW ANZ took the fight to scammers

Telcos and Utilities

​Colenso BBDO - Skinny - Get The Skinny, Once Again

Colenso BBDO - Spark NZ - Are you not entertained?!

FCB Aotearoa - Mercury - Bring The Buzz - How going all-in on optimism
turbo-charged Mercury’s transformation

Other Consumer Services

​jnr. - RotoruaNZ - Go On A Robe Trip To Rotorua

Special - University of Otago -- Ōtākou Whakaihu Waka - Reigniting NZ’s oldest university with one question: DOWN FOR IT?

Thinkerbell Aotearoa - Arvida - Arvida Brand Platform Launch Campaign

International Marketing

​Special - Tourism New Zealand - 100% Pure Play

Social Marketing / Public Service

​Dentsu Creative - The Ministry of Social Development - Change Is Possible

FCB Aotearoa - NZ Transport Agency - Making safety the hottest feature for Kiwi car buyers

Special - Sport New Zealand | Ihi Aotearoa - Unpro: Getting girls moving by showing you don’t need to be pro to play

Charity / Not For Profit

EightyOne - National Collective of Independent Women's Refuges - Safe Night Beds

Motion Sickness - The New Zealand Herpes Foundation - Make New Zealand the Best Place in the World to have Herpes

Special - Sexual Wellbeing Aotearoa - Sexual Wellbeing Aotearoa: Getting Kiwi Comfy with the Uncomfy

Special - Wellington City Mission - Wellington's Greatest Deed: Turning Donors into Owners

New Product or Service

​EightyOne - UCC Coffee / Caffee L'affare - Death to instant: Launching new L’affare coffee bags

Limited Budget: Less than $250,000

​Quantum Jump - Firth - Worst Kept Secret

Special and FCB Aotearoa - Kiwibank ScamSpotter: How experiencing scams helped prevent it

Customer Experience

​Special and FCB Aotearoa - Kiwibank ScamSpotter: How experiencing scams helped prevent it

Content or Social-First Campaigns

​EightyOne - Powershop - Powershop's 15th B-day Bash

Motion Sickness - The New Zealand Herpes Foundation - Make New Zealand the Best Place in the World to have Herpes

OMD New Zealand - Kiwibank - This Is Getting Kiwi On The Ladder with Kiwibank

Special - Sport New Zealand | Ihi Aotearoa - Unpro: Getting girls moving by showing you don’t need to be pro to play

Most Original Thinking

​Colenso BBDO - Skinny - Get The Skinny, Once Again

Insiders - Animates - The Pawprint Petition

Motion Sickness - The New Zealand Herpes Foundation - Make New Zealand the Best Place in the World to have Herpes

Special - DB Breweries - The Cold Calls That Saved Summer

Clever Use of Research / Data

​FCB Aotearoa - Instant Finance - How an NZ-first data solution led to higher-value loans for Instant Finance and better rate pricing for customers

Most Effective PR / Experiential Campaign

EightyOne - National Collective of Independent Women's Refuges - Safe Night Beds

Insiders - Animates - The Pawprint Petition

Special - Wellington City Mission - Wellington's Greatest Deed: Turning Donors into Owners

Short-term Success

​EightyOne - National Collective of Independent Women's Refuges - Safe Night Beds

jnr. - RotoruaNZ - Go On A Robe Trip To Rotorua

Special - DB Breweries - The Cold Calls That Saved Summer

VML - Accident Compensation Corporation (ACC), NZ Transport Agency -- Waka Kotahi (NZTA), NZ Police - Ghosting is the ultimate act of care

Insights and Strategic Thinking

Bastion Shine - Whittaker's - Hello Chocolate Lovers

jnr. - RotoruaNZ - Go On A Robe Trip To Rotorua

Motion Sickness - The New Zealand Herpes Foundation - Make New Zealand the Best Place in the World to have Herpes

Diversity, Equity and Inclusion - Community Engagement

​Special - Sport New Zealand | Ihi Aotearoa - Unpro: Getting girls moving by showing you don’t need to be pro to play

Positive Change

​Dentsu Creative - Ministry of Social Development - Change Is Possible

Motion Sickness - The New Zealand Herpes Foundation - Make New Zealand the Best Place in the World to have Herpes

Special - Wellington City Mission - Wellington's Greatest Deed: Turning Donors into Owners

Brand Revitalisation / Transformation

​Special - KFC NZ - Winner, Winner, Chicken Dinner: KFC’s Cultural Comeback

Special - University of Otago |Ōtākou Whakaihu Waka - Reigniting NZ’s oldest university with one question: DOWNFOR IT?

TBWA \ New Zealand - Healtheries - Healtheries -- Live Life in the Green

Sustained Success

​TBWA\ New Zealand - 2degrees - Fighting for Fair: How 2degrees redefined telco…again.