Berlin scores Bronze at Australian Effies for ‘Big Gas is Taking the Piss’ as Kitchen Warehouse wins Gold and multiple Silvers

Berlin is the only creative agency in WA to score at the 2026 Australian Effie Awards, taking home Bronze for The Australian Institute’s ‘Big Gas is Taking the Piss’. Local client Kitchen Warehouse also picked up multiple Effies, including Gold for ‘How Kitchen Warehouse Mumnipulated Mother’s Day’ and three Silvers. Seven Gold Effies were awarded at the gala event in Sydney, plus 25 Silver, 35 Bronze, and six Special Awards, bringing the total number of agencies recognised to 32 and the number of clients to 33.

John Linton, Managing Partner, Strategy at Berlin, said: “Being recognised alongside Australia’s most effective brands is a real privilege, and a reminder that creativity is as powerful in public advocacy as it is in commerce.”

Special Australia and Uber Eats has taken out the Grand Effie + Effective Agency of the Year at Australian Effie Awards.

Gold awards went to Special for Uber Eats as well as Kitchen Warehouse, 303 for Levande; Bear Meets Eagle on Fire for Telstra; Howatson+ Company for Selleys; Wieden+Kennedy for McDonald’s and Sunday Gravy for DiDi ANZ, which also took home Best New Entrant.

On Kitchen Warehouse’s results, outgoing Chief Customer Officer, Simon Lamplough, said: “Such an incredible result for the team at Kitchen Warehouse. Our studio, design, eComm, performance media and marketing teams all contributed to making ‘Mumnipulate the Algorithm’ the success that it was.

“Selfishly for me, this is the perfect ‘full stop’ on my time at Kitchen Warehouse. A gold Effie is a wonderful way to sign off before starting at 303 next week!”

Special+Uber Eats’ joint entry, ‘How Uber Eats Embraced “Almost” to Become an “Anything” Delivery Brand,’ was praised for its strong commercial results across revenue growth, market share and profit ROI.

The jury also highlighted the strategic ambition behind expanding Uber Eats beyond takeaway food without sacrificing its established brand equity.

“In an industry increasingly focused on short-term results, Uber Eats showed the conviction to back long-term brand building,” the jury said. “It evolved its proposition without losing what made it distinctive, and defended its market position while driving significant growth in new categories.”

McDonald’s won Effective Advertiser of the Year with aggregated scores across multiple winning entries from Wieden + Kennedy, Akcelo and OMD, including Gold with Wieden+Kennedy for How The Grinch ‘Ruinin it’ Helped Macca’s Reclaim Summer Sales and Family Share.

The Colin Wilson-Brown Award, which honours the Effie Chair of Judging, was presented to Apparent and GTI Tourism for Vanuatu Tourism Office’s entry ‘How Vanuatu got Aussies to Answer the Call”.

Says ACA CEO Tony Hale: “A record number of entries this year tells us something important about where the industry is heading. Agencies and marketers are focusing more on demonstrating the impact of their work and proving the value marketing creates for business. The standard of work recognised tonight demonstrates that creativity is the most powerful accelerant for growth. Congratulations to all this year’s winners.”