Into Creative and Chupps Footwear emerged as the biggest winners at the 2026 edition of the IAA Olive Crown Awards, securing multiple top honours and setting a new benchmark for sustainability-led advertising.
The agency was named ‘Green Agency of the Year’ and also won ‘Green Campaign of the Year’, while Chupps Footwear was awarded both ‘Green Brand of the Year’ and ‘Green Advertiser of the Year’. Together, the agency-brand partnership delivered a total of 12 awards, including 10 Golds and 2 Silvers, marking the highest single-campaign tally in the awards’ 16-year history. Notably, the duo accounted for 10 out of the 15 Gold awards presented at the event.
The wins were spread across multiple formats, reflecting a fully integrated campaign approach. Into Creative secured Gold awards in press for consumer products, TVC/cinema for the ‘Earth film’, digital for the ‘Earth film’, and out-of-home. The campaign’s ‘Water film’ also earned Silver awards in both TVC/cinema and digital categories. Individual recognition further reinforced the agency’s creative strength, with Tiya Padhi winning ‘Young Green Writer of the Year’ and Devam More named ‘Young Green Art Director of the Year’.
The performance underscores the effectiveness of cohesive, multi-channel storytelling in sustainability communication. By extending a unified narrative across traditional, digital and experiential formats, the campaign demonstrated how ‘green advertising’ can achieve both creative excellence and cultural relevance.
The International Advertising Association launched the Olive Crown Awards in 2010 to recognise excellence in sustainability communication. Widely regarded as Asia’s first awards dedicated exclusively to environmental messaging in advertising, the platform encourages brands and agencies to use creativity as a tool for promoting a greener and more responsible future.
This year’s edition saw close to 300 entries from around 60 brands, including major agencies such as Ogilvy, VML, FCB and Havas, alongside companies like Coca-Cola, The Times of India, The Hindu, the Dainik Bhaskar Group and Adani. The scale of participation highlights the growing importance of sustainability narratives within mainstream brand communication.
Santosh Padhi, chief creative officer and founder, Into Creative, said, “We are happy that in the first year of Into Creative, we were able to create such a significant impact by winning a historic dozen-metal haul. These meaningful awards will always remain special for us, as the partnership between Chupps Footwear and Into Creative has helped raise the standards of this kind of work.”
Yashesh Mukhi, founder, Chupps Footwear, added, “We didn’t set out to win awards. We set out to prove that comfort, design, and sustainability don’t have to be trade-offs. These recognitions tell us that people are noticing and that matters. But the real win is when someone wears Chupps and forgets they’re wearing sustainable footwear. They just know it feels right.”
The outcome reflects a broader shift in advertising, where sustainability is no longer a peripheral message but a central creative platform. Through a combination of craft, consistency and purpose-driven storytelling, Into Creative and Chupps Footwear have demonstrated how brands can integrate environmental narratives into mainstream communication without compromising on impact or scale.
