AD Agencies
ABBY Awards 2026 introduces Client of the Year, Network honours and new digital-first categories
The Advertising Club expands the ABBY Awards framework with new network-level trophies, client recognition awards and categories focused on influencer marketing, creative commerce and data-led creativity.
MUMBAI: The Advertising Club has announced a series of new categories and honours for ABBY Awards 2026, including client-focused recognitions, network-level trophies and expanded digital-first creative categories.
The 57th edition of the awards will introduce new honours for Creative Network of the Year and Media Network of the Year, alongside the launch of Creative Client of the Year and Media Client of the Year awards. The new client honours will recognise brands that collectively earn the highest points across Creative and Media ABBY categories.
The awards platform has also introduced Independent Agency of the Year as a new recognition category.
In line with evolving global creative industry trends, the ABBY Awards 2026 will add new Creative ABBY categories focused on Social Content & Influencer Marketing, Creative Commerce, Use of Data and B2B communication.
Additionally, the earlier Green ABBY, Red ABBY and Diversity, Equality & Inclusivity categories have now been consolidated under a broader Sustainable Development Goals category within Creative ABBY.
McCann India CEO and The Advertising Club president Dheeraj Sinha said the changes are aimed at aligning the awards platform with modern marketing and global industry standards.
“Abbys are the most definitive creative and media awards platform in India. This year we’ve made several upgrades to the award platform, introduced new categories to align the awards to modern marketing, and most importantly introduced trophies for the client and the client of the year trophy,” Sinha said.
ABBY Awards 2026 chairperson Ajay Kakar said the revised framework is designed to make the awards more globally relevant and inclusive.
“As the industry grows more global, our benchmarks must evolve too. This year’s updates bring a more inclusive and internationally aligned framework,” Kakar said.
The Advertising Club said it collaborated with creative leaders, agencies, global jury members and industry stakeholders while redesigning the awards structure for 2026.
The ABBY Awards 2026 Powered by The One Club | The One Show will be held during Goafest 2026 from May 20 to 22 at Taj Cidade de Goa Horizon.
