Executive jury president, Javier Campopiano, has led the 2025 executive jury to award the 2025 winners – Best of Show Award, eight Grand Awards, 57 Gold Tower Awards, 68 Silver Towers, and 114 Bronze Towers.
The 2025 Best of Show Award was won by Dentsu Digital Inc. Japan for Sato 2351 for Think Name Project.
The campaign aimed to advance gender equality by addressing the identity loss and career setbacks many women face due to Japan’s law requiring married couples to share the same surname. Asuniwa, a leading gender equality organisation, partnered with Professor Yoshida of Tohuko University to conduct an original study revealing that, under the current law, where 95% of women adopt their husband’s surname, surname diversity could vanish by the year 2531. If unchanged, nearly everyone in Japan could be named “Sato.”
“We imagined a future where everyone ends up with the surname “Sato”…so we rebranded companies and sports teams across Japan to reflect that. We even wanted to change the Onitsuka Tiger to ‘Sato Tiger’—and turn car brands like Toyota, Honda, Mazda, and Suzuki into ‘Sato’ too. Only Nissan would survive,” stated Kei Ishizuka, Creative Director & copywriter, and Shiho Kurihara, art director, Dentsu Digital Japan.
The campaign was featured by over 1,500 media outlets in 102 countries, presented at a Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare press conference, and submitted to UN Women. Forty organisations joined the movement by temporarily adopting the surname, Sato. The UN has since urged Japan to revise the law within two years. The public momentum helped elect a Prime Minister who supports the change.
The 2025 Grand Awards winners are:
BRANDED CONTENT/ENTERTAINMENT: McCann XBC From Fan to Featured for Mastercard
COLLABORATIONS & PARTNERSHIPS: Dentsu Digital Inc. SATO 2531 for Think Name Project
FILM CRAFT: Klick Health 47 for Café Joyeux
NYF CRISTAL VILLAGE AWARD: MullenLowe MENA The Art Of Stains for OMO (Dirt is Good)
OUTDOOR: VML Thanks for Coke-Creating for Coca-Cola
PUBLIC RELATIONS: Dentsu Digital Inc. SATO 2531 for Think Name Project
PURPOSE: Dentsu Digital Inc. SATO 2531 for Think Name Project
SOCIAL MEDIA & INFLUENCER: Serviceplan Germany Rainbow Wool for Schäferei Stücke
Agency of the Year – Klick Health
Klick Health is the first health agency to earn Agency of the Year at NYF, reflecting the power of its innovative and purpose-driven creativity. The agency’s creative work stood out across multiple categories, earning top scores from the NYF Executive Jury. Among its award-winning campaigns was the Grand Award-winning film, 47 for Café Joyeux, a hand-crafted stop-motion film created with and for the Down syndrome community. Klick Health’s impressive performance included eight Gold trophies among its many honors.
“We are proud to be named New York Festivals Advertising Awards Agency of the Year. To be the first health-focused agency ever to receive this distinction and join the ranks of the greatest consumer agencies of all time is a huge honor and milestone. On behalf of our entire team, thank you to the festival, its esteemed jury, and the entire industry for recognising our work and acknowledging the important role health plays in the world,” stated Klick Health chief creative officer, Rich Levy.
Agency Network of the Year – VML
“Congratulations to all the New York Festivals winners, and a huge thank you to the global jury for their invaluable time and efforts. Being named Network of the Year is a tremendous honour for VML, and it wouldn’t be possible without the partnership and commitment from our exceptional clients like Ford Motor Company, Tennessee Tourism, Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, and The Coca-Cola Company. This remarkable work from around the world truly showcases the power of our human-first approach, demonstrating how putting people at the center of our solutions drives groundbreaking creativity and real impact,” stated Debbi Vandeven, global chief creative officer, VML
Holding Company of the Year – WPP
WPP has been named Holding Company of the Year for the third consecutive year. The award reflects WPP’s continued commitment to creative excellence and its ability to deliver impactful, award-winning work across the industry.
Production Company of the Year – Zombie Studio
Zombie Studio, the global creative company with locations in New York, São Paulo, and Lisbon, is known for its expertise in animation and visual storytelling. The studio was recognised at NYF for its stop-motion work on 47, created for Klick Health and the Down syndrome community. The film’s surreal, whimsical visuals were perfectly balanced with a deeply emotional narrative about finding joy in the everyday. Zombie’s creative contribution played a key role in Klick Health’s awards performance, that included the 2025 Grand Award.
Says Paulo Garcia, director & co-founder, Zombie Studio, stated “Zombie just got named Production Company of the Year at the New York Festivals — and we’re honestly over the moon. This festival has been around forever, so seeing our name up there feels pretty wild. It’s a huge nod to the crazy-talented team we have, and to everyone who believes in the kind of work we love to do. Big shoutout to Klick and Café Joyeux for jumping into this adventure with us. What a ride.”
Brand of the Year – Café Joyeux
Over 8 million people in the US have intellectual or developmental disabilities (IDD), and 80% of them are unemployed. That’s exactly why Café Joyeux was founded to create meaningful jobs and promote true workplace inclusion. Launched in 2017 in France, Café Joyeux trains and employs individuals with mental and cognitive disabilities. Today, the brand has grown to over 25 locations and continues to challenge inequality while championing dignity through employment.
All entries into the 2025 NYF Advertising Awards competition were judged by 350+ members of NYF’s Shortlist Jury, 2025 Executive Jury, and specialty Executive Juries, including Film Craft, Design, PR, and Future Now.
Get an exclusive peek behind the scenes at the judging process here:
Stay tuned for the NYFAI global competition winners. This cutting-edge initiative, made possible through our exciting partnership with LTX Studio, pushes the boundaries of storytelling through the power of AI.
View all the winning campaigns in the 2025 NYF Advertising Awards winners’ showcase here.
