Publicis Dublin has picked up three awards at the annual D&AD Awards which were announced this week.
The three awards include two wooden pencils and one coveted yellow pencil. Wooden pencils are awarded for “the best of the year in advertising, design, craft, culture and impact. This door-opening honour often represents work that would win the top award at other shows. Yellow pencils are awarded for “outstanding work that achieves true creative excellence. The career-defining Yellow Pencil commands deep industry respect.”
All three pencils were awarded for the agency’s work with Heineken Ireland and its “Pub Succession” initiative, which sparked a movement to save family pubs in Ireland, starting with McLoughlin’s Bar, located on an island off the west coast of Ireland.
The Yellow pencil came in Direct/Innovation category and was awarded in collaboration with Heineken’s Le Pub agency in Milan. The wooden pencils, meanwhile, were awarded in the Experiential/Activation category and the PR/Events category.
Pub Succession has already won multiple awards, including three Silver Lions and two Bronze Lions at the Cannes Lions in 2025. It was also shortlisted for the highly coveted Titanium Lion.
Two other Irish agencies were acknowledged by D&AD by making the shortlist for “work that demonstrates merit, worthy of recognition and in the top echelon of entries.
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Ireland made the list for its work with the Irish Blood Transfusion Service (IBTS) and its campaign to celebrate the importance of O negative donors while Catapult was singled out for its work with Diageo/Guinness, called “FanFair”, its inclusive live rugby experience transforming how visually impaired fans experience the game.
Elsewhere, Biscuit Filmworks London picked up a wooden pencil for its animation work for part of BBH Dublin’s Tesco Mobile campaign featuring the talking cats.
Speaking about this year’s winners, Lisa Smith, D&AD President and Uncommon Global Chief Design Officer, said: “What stood out most was the sheer creative bravery and excellence on display. Across disciplines we saw teams pushing into genuinely new territory, from storytelling and traditional craft to emerging technologies and new forms of expression. Creativity is very much alive and the work that won did so because it moved the standard of creative excellence forward.”
