M&S Food and Mindshare have won the Grand Effie for Farm to Foodhall – Using Quality to Grow in a Cost-of-living Crisis at the 2026 Effie Awards UK Gala, that took place at Christ Church Spitalfields in East London on November 10. Their work demonstrated how staying true to your brand and doubling down on quality, not price, can pay off in a sector dominated by discounting.

In total, 31 Gold, Silver and Bronze Effies were awarded this year, selected from 52 finalist cases spanning 27 categories.  

Of this year’s eight Gold winners, the most awarded were: 

• Andrex with PHD UK & Omnicom Advertising for Getting Andrex Back on a Roll, that won Gold in the Renaissance category and also Bronze in Home Goods & Services
• Volkswagen UK with adam&eve\TBWA for The Power of People Like You, that won Gold in Automotive and also Silver in Marketing Disruptors, and went on to pick up Brand of the Year in the Special Awards
• Waitrose & Partners with Wonderhood Studios for The Perfect Gift, which won Gold in Retail and also Silver in Seasonal Marketing 

The other five Gold winners were: 

• KitKat with VML for The Value of Have a Break, in Sustained Success (Products)
• Lurpak with Wieden + Kennedy for How Lurpak Has Led a Category for 19 Years by Thinking Outside It, in Sustained Success (Products)
• M&S Food with Mindshare for Farm to Foodhall, in Sustained Success (Products)
• Nurofen with McCann London for From Fast Fixes to Fighting Bias, in Sustained Success (Products)
• Sainsbury’s with New Commercial Arts and PHD for How Sainsbury’s Went from a Bit Spenny to Money Well Spent, in Sustained Success (Services)

The biggest agency winner on the night was adam&eve/TBWA

It won Gold for Volkswagen UK; Silvers for Campaign Against Living Dangerously, Volkswagen UK & Avanti West Coast; Bronze (x2) for Jaffa Cakes. The agency also won Agency of the Year in the Special Awards for its ongoing commitment to effectiveness across its client base.

Other agencies to win big included:

• BBH London: Bronzes for Tesco & F&F
• Droga5: Silvers for British Army, Lidl GB (Droga5 London); Bronzes for British Army (Droga5 London) & Tourism Australia (Droga5 ANZ)
• Leo UK: Silver for Conused.com; Bronze for McDonald’s
• McCann: Gold for Nurofen (McCann London); Bronzes for CrossCountry Trains (McCann Birmingham) & Admiral (McCann Bristol)
• PHD (London): Gold for Andrex; Bronze for Andrex
• VML: Gold for KitKat; Bronze for Kraft Heinz (VML The Cocktail)

Joe Public, a PR agency based in South Africa, was named Newcomer of the Year in the Special Awards. The agency also won Silver for its Street Nipples campaign for Breast Cancer UK in the Positive Change: Social Good (Non-profit) category.

Effie UK managing director, Rachel Emms, stated, “This year’s winners are a powerful demonstration of the talent, tenacity and innovation of marketers in the UK at a time when proving your marketing is working has never been more important. The standard of submissions was high – which explains the higher number of winners and finalists. It was also a strong year for media agencies, with Mindshare the first to win a Grand Effie. Many thanks to everyone involved in this year’s awards – especially the entrants who put together their cases and the 400 judges who assessed them.”

Find the full list of winners here.