WPP Media's EssenceMediacom won the 'Agency of the Year' at the Media Abbys announced on day one at Goafest 2026. The agency won five Gold, six Silver and three Bronze.
The Gold wins were for adidas' 'Powering Performance through Paid Search', Airtel 5G Plus' 'Airtel The Safe Network', NPCI Corporate's 'India's Transaction Story', Thums Up's 'Thums Up Thunderwheel -The Wheel That Unleashed the Storm' and Uber India's 'Uber x SRH Hyderabaddies'.
Tribes Communications Pvt Ltd won the sole Grand Prix of the day for Kansai Nerolac Paints Ltd’s The Barefoot Journey in the micro-marketing sub-category.
In the Media Abbys, WPP Media's Wavemaker placed second with seven Gold, two Silver and two Bronze. Three of the Gold wins were for Birla Opus Paints' 'Indian Colours League: Birla Opus’ Game-Changing IPL Hack', 'Indian Colours League: Birla Opus Rewrote the IPL Sponsorship Playbook' and 'India's First AI Personalized Portfolios for Trade Experts'. It also won a Gold each for Cadbury 5-star (Celebrating Valentine's Day by Doing Nothing), Durex (Durex Podcast - Let's End Good Sex), Everyuth Naturals (Unlocking Gen Z's World: A Mobile-First Glow Up), and Netflix's (Orchestrating the 'Now' – From Breaking News to the Final Over).
Sharing third place was Mindshare and Tribes. Tribes had a Grand Prix, Gold, five Silver and four Bronze. The Gold win was for Wonder Cement's 'Life Saving Billboard'.
Mindshare won six Gold, a Silver, and three Bronze. It won two Gold each for Indriya Jewellery (Aasmaniyat by Indriya Cinema Projection and Indriya - AI-Powered Bridal Studio) and UltraTech Cement (Predicting Demand. Village by Village and Predicting Demand Before It Exists). The other Gold wins came for JioHotstar's 'Turning Cyber Fear into Curiosity: How Special Ops 2.0 Found Its Audience First (Hyderlocal Targeting)' and Horlicks' 'Horlicks Chhoto Byomkesh'.
Hiveminds won two Gold, a Silver, and two Bronze. The Gold wins were for Axis Max Life Insurance's 'The Creator Ops Stack: Al-Powered Media Operations at Scale' and Wakefit's 'Search Reimagined: How Wakefit Grew 25X In Revenue Via AI SEO'. Sparkfoundry also won two Gold, both for WhatsApp. The wins were for 'Encrypted even on Paper' and 'Making Encryption Felt, Not Explained'.
Other Gold winners included: Interactive Avenues, Madison Media, White Rivers Media, PHD, Sparkfoundry, Initiative, MudraMax, WPP OpenDoor, Zenith India, Lodestar UM, BC Web Wise, DentsuX, Roll Dot, Saatchi & Saatchi.
Powerful ideas mark Day 1 of Goafest
Day 1 of Goafest 2026 featured intriguing session on ‘Brand India’ and the emergence of the Indian prosumer.
“Global trust and respect for Indian professionals have grown significantly. Indian media and storytelling are now globally competitive,” Nikhil Sharma, Managing Director, Perfetti Van Melle, India, shared during the inaugural session of the day.
Prasoon Joshi, Chairman, Omnicom Advertising India and Chairman, Prasar Bharti, agreed, adding that how Brand India has grown beyond just a marketing term. “India today is witnessing both visible progress through UPI, infrastructure, and GST, and invisible progress through rising confidence and cultural pride. People are increasingly embracing their local language, roots, and identity. India must now focus on creating ‘Brands from India,’ not just ‘Brand India,’ by investing more in innovation, incubation, and original ideas,” he said.
Another popular session during the afternoon was ‘Resetting the Limits of What’s Possible’, where women’s cricket captain Harmanpreet Kaur recalled, in conversation with Mandira Bedi, recalled key inflection points in Indian women’s cricket. “My 171* against Australia in 2017 changed women’s cricket and inspired many girls to take up the sport, while the 2017 World Cup became a major turning point for visibility and support for women’s cricket,” she recalled.
The day concluded with a keynote on the Indian ‘Prosumer’ by Dave Yang, managing director – SMB and mid-market – APAC, LinkedIn Marketing Solutions, unpacked the growing influence of India’s ambitious professional consumer on business and brand strategy.
“Professional milestones today are increasingly shaping consumption behaviour. Promotions, new roles, and career growth moments are creating meaningful opportunities for brands to engage consumers at pivotal life stages, particularly as India’s rising professional class drives demand across premium and luxury categories,” Yang shared.
