Ireland walked away with three awards at Effie Awards Europe which were held in Brussels this week.
Topping the list was Droga5, which won the gold in the Best of Europe: Media Strategy & Idea category for its “The 26th Minute” campaign for Dublin Samaritans
As part of a volunteer recruitment drive, the digital audio campaign- which had a media budget of just €2,500- hyper-targeted listeners to podcasts and sports broadcasts 26 minutes into the listening experience. This is the average call length of a typical conversation between a caller and Dublin Samaritans. The result generated a 250% increase in volunteer applications for the charity.
Elsewhere, a Bronze Effie was picked up by Boys+Girls and Core in the Environmental/Brands category for An Post Sell with “Send it, Cash it in: “How An Post Became the Everyday Enabler of Circular Living.” The campaign provides practical and convenient postal solutions to make reselling, donating, and recycling pre-loved items simple for people across Ireland.
The other Irish winner was Tourism Ireland and Publicis London, which picked up a Silver Euro Effie in the Travel, Transport & Tourism category for “Halloween’s Irish Soul: Resurrecting a Lost Legacy”, a campaign which tells the story of Halloween’s ancient Celtic roots in Ireland’s Samhain festival.
Overall, there were 13 Gold Effies, the ultimate recognition of campaign effectiveness, with McCann named Europe’s Most Effective Agency Network thanks to one Gold, three Silvers, eight Bronze awards as well as six finalists, while BetterSvit was named Independent Agency of the Year thanks to its success with two Golds and a finalist.
In total, the jury of almost 250 agency and client leaders from 25 European countries awarded 63 trophies (including 13 Golds, 17 Silvers and 33 Bronzes to 45 agencies from 21 countries, recognizing the most effective work of the year. The UK was the most successful country with nine wins in total, with Romania on eight and Denmark on seven.
Despite a number of very strong contenders, no Grand Effie was awarded this year. The jury collectively decided that this prize should only go to a campaign that attracted unanimous support, a decision that reflects both the high ambition that agencies and brands should aspire to and challenges everyone to raise the bar still further in 2026.
An analysis of all entries and winners found that longer relationships are more likely to create more effective work, with 50% of entries having worked with brand partners for five or more years. Seventy-five percent of these entries were selected as finalists, with 50% going on to win. By contrast 54% of entries from partners who had worked together for less than a year were not shortlisted and just 23% of these entries went on to win an award.
“We live in a short-term world driven by quarterly results, but the evidence of this year’s Effie Europe is that long-term relationships deliver greater success. Agencies that have worked with companies for longer are better able to identify what can drive business results when they have had the time to understand every facet of the brand, its consumers and its competitors. Close long-term relationships enable great agencies to truly demonstrate their growth skills and deliver the best results for brands,” said Charley Stoney, CEO of EACA.
