Mindshare, HUL end three-year EMVIES winning streaks

Mindshare has won the Best Media Agency of the Year title at the EMVIES Awards 2026, breaking the three-year hold Wavemaker had on the trophy. In the client category, Hindustan Unilever Limited (HUL) claimed Best Media Client of the Year, ending Mondelez’s three-year run, while WPP Media took Best Media Agency Network of the Year.

The Advertising Club announced the winners at a ceremony on October 23 at the Jio World Convention Centre in Mumbai. The awards, presented by The Advertising Club and supported by Tata Communications and UltraTech Cement, recognise media planning, strategy, research, innovation and execution.

01 · The major trophies

• Grand EMVIE: Wavemaker India and Colgate (Palmolive) Pvt. Ltd. for the Colgate Oral Health Movement, in the Best Digital Strategy category.
• Trophy count: one Grand EMVIE, 57 Gold, 74 Silver and 91 Bronze.
• Young EMVIE: Chitwan Sharma of Zenith and Aditi Salian of EssenceMediacom.

The split of wins matters. A different agency took the Grand EMVIE from the agency of the year, and a network won at group level. For evaluators, it shows that excellence is distributed across the market, not concentrated in one shop.

Two streaks ending on the same night is the headline. Wavemaker had won Media Agency of the Year for three consecutive editions, and Mondelez had done the same on the client side. Both were replaced by serious contenders: Mindshare and HUL.

02 · Why this matters for marketers

For CMOs and brand teams, the EMVIES are an annual barometer of where media thinking is moving. The judged work covered strategy, planning, research, innovation and effectiveness. Dheeraj Sinha, president of The Advertising Club, said the winners reflect the industry’s “ambition, strategic rigour and creativity”.

Punitha Arumugam, chairperson of the EMVIES Committee, pointed to how insight, strategy, data and technology are being used to “deliver outcomes for brands”. That is the practical thread for any media review: awards increasingly reward measurable business results, not just standout media ideas.

03 · What brand leaders should watch

The Grand EMVIE going to a digital strategy for an oral health movement is the clearest signal. It suggests the judges rewarded a connected programme designed to change behaviour, not a one-off burst. For marketing teams, that raises a useful question: is your media plan a sustained consumer programme or a series of disconnected activations?

A trophy count cannot replace pitch chemistry or capability fit. But when partners change at the top after multi-year runs, it is worth benchmarking the new winners on data, digital strategy and outcome-led planning rather than creative flair alone. The Young EMVIE wins for Zenith and EssenceMediacom talent are also a reminder to watch the next generation of media specialists.

Source: Afaqs!

Mad About Marketing Desk The strategists and writers at Mad About Marketing, writing up what we see in the work every week.