The second evening of the 2026 Abby Awards at Goafest turned into a study in specialist agency dominance, with Leo India emerging as the night’s most visible winner across digital, technology and public relations categories. Yet amid the agency-heavy medal tally, one marketer briefly disrupted the hierarchy.
Perfetti Van Melle India secured a rare Grand Prix for a brand-led technology campaign, underlining how advertisers themselves are increasingly competing for creative ownership in categories once dominated entirely by agencies.
Held on the sidelines of Goafest at Taj Cidade De Goa, the second day of the Abbys spotlighted how advertising’s centre of gravity continues shifting towards digital ecosystems, gaming, technology-led storytelling and platform-native communication formats.
Leo India set the pace early, eventually amassing 51 metals comprising one Grand Prix, five Golds, 24 Silvers and 21 Bronzes across categories. The agency was named ‘Digital Specialist Agency of the Year’ with 120 points, powered by 24 metals including a Grand Prix and Gold.
Its Grand Prix came for Mountain Dew’s ‘Darescore’ in the Digital category, a campaign that also secured Golds in both Technology and Public Relations. Leo’s other Gold-winning work included Lay’s ‘Project Mitti’ in Public Relations, Whisper’s ‘Project Early Periods’ in Direct, and Krafton’s BGMI ‘Career Mode’.
The results reinforced a broader trend visible across global award shows: gaming culture, platform-driven behaviour and purpose-linked utility are increasingly becoming central to award-winning work rather than peripheral innovation experiments.
Independent agency Enormous followed Leo in the ‘Digital Specialist Agency’ rankings with 42 points, while McCann India finished third with 28 points.
Technology work moves beyond backend innovation
The technology category produced one of the evening’s more notable outcomes. While Leo India was named ‘Technology Specialist Agency’ of the Year with 54 points, the Grand Prix went elsewhere.
Perfetti Van Melle India secured the top honour in the Technology category for Centerfruit’s ‘Kaisi Jeebh Laplapayee’, earning 12 points and interrupting an otherwise agency-dominated leaderboard.
That outcome reflected a growing shift within Indian marketing, where brands themselves are becoming more directly involved in shaping technology-led storytelling rather than merely commissioning execution.
Mindshare Mumbai mounted a strong challenge in the technology discipline, finishing second with 30 points.
The technology-heavy winners list also suggested how categories once treated as specialised verticals are increasingly overlapping with mainstream brand communication. Campaigns now routinely move across digital, PR, gaming, experiential and technology categories simultaneously, reflecting how fragmented consumer attention has altered campaign architecture itself.
Legacy broadcasters still command scale
Despite the evening’s strong focus on digital-first work, traditional broadcasters demonstrated they still retain significant award-show muscle when scale, reach and entertainment integration align effectively.
Zee Entertainment Enterprises was named ‘Broadcaster of the Year’ after securing 82 points through 15 metals, including three Golds, six Silvers and five Bronzes. Two of its Gold-winning entries were for Zee Cinema’s ‘World TV Premiere Pushpa 2: The Rule on Zee Cinema’ and Zee Kannada’s ‘Sri Raghavendra Mahathme’.
The performance also highlighted how television networks are increasingly repositioning themselves as integrated entertainment ecosystems rather than linear broadcast businesses alone.
Newly merged media entity JioStar India finished second in the broadcaster rankings with 20 points.
PR categories reward utility and participation
Public relations work continued reflecting the industry’s broader movement away from announcement-led communication towards participation-driven campaigns. Tribes Communications won ‘Public Relations Specialist Agency of the Year’ with 50 points, built on one Gold, four Silvers and seven Bronzes. Its Gold came for HDFC Bank’s ‘Mutually Funded’.
Leo India followed closely in second place with 42 points in the PR specialist rankings.
The category itself increasingly rewards campaigns capable of generating behavioural engagement, utility or platform interaction rather than traditional earned-media visibility alone. Several shortlisted campaigns across PR and digital categories blurred distinctions between advertising, activation and public engagement formats.
The ‘Design Specialist Agency of the Year’ title ended in a tie between BMEG and VML, reflecting how fragmented and subjective design-led judging can often become.
VML’s performance included a Gold for Kalapuri’s ‘The Kolhapuri’, which also secured Gold in the Direct category.
BMEG, meanwhile, accumulated its tally through two Bronzes and five Merits.
Other Gold winners on the night included 22Feet Tribal Worldwide for campaigns linked to Battleground Mobile India and Godawan Single Malt, BBH India for HDFC Ergo Playable, JioHotstar for ‘Humare Chhore Chhoriyon Se Kam Hain Kya?’, and Interactive Avenues for Amazon Prime Video.
The Young Maverick Abby Award went to Famous Innovations’ Abhyuday Sen and Rueben Varghese Puthoor for Mia by Tanishq, alongside Leo’s Shrestha Das for Lenovo.
The younger winners reflected another increasingly visible shift within Indian advertising: younger creatives are often building ideas rooted in platform behaviour, gaming culture and internet-native storytelling rather than legacy campaign structures.
As Goafest moves into its final stretch today, the Abby results also reveal a larger industry pattern. The strongest-performing work is no longer neatly siloed into film, print or digital. Instead, it increasingly sits at the intersection of technology, entertainment, gaming, creators and community participation. And on day two in Goa, that convergence largely worked in Leo India’s favour.
