Sir Tony Robinson, famed for time travel as Blackadder’s Baldrick and the denizen of TV’s Time Team, played host to a celebration of FMBE’s past, present and future at Troxy London as the Awards looked back on past champions, cheered the present winners and gained insight into future stars.
The event saw reverse birthday presents as the 16 most succesful agencies in FMBE’ s past were surprised with blue wall plaques at their tables during dinner to celebrate their pioneering achievements – ABM Experience Solutions, Blue Square, Circle Agency, CPM, Field Sales Solutions, Fizz Experience, Gekko Group, Logobrand, N2O, PrettyGreen, Powerforce, PRL, RPM, Smollan, TRO and Wasserman.
There was also a surprise Brand Enagemant special award, and industry thank you for event facilitator, SpaceandPeople.
Tonight’s winners saw a mix of old guard and new champions taking the stage in a year when the newly rebranded team at Smollan and leading FM agency CPM took some big prizes. There was Agency of the Year and FMCG Team (with BrewDog) prizes for Smollan in a year when Smollan landedseveral major new business wins including Unilever. Campaign of the Year was awarded to CPM and Asahi and the Group saw further success in Team -Non FMCG – for Cosine and TNT Sports.
Field Sales Solutions’ Jordan Nichols won the coveted Brand Ambassador of the Year trophy for his work with P&G and the agency also picked up sales campaign of the year award with Ferrero. Fellow Marvesting Group agency Yes Sir! of Belgium won the Overseas International Agency gold.
In Brand Experience 8 agencies contested for Agency of the Year, and a newcomer to FMBE put down a significant marker as Zeal Creative won Agency of the Year, also winning other awards including the Shopping Centre/Roadshow category that comes with a £25,000 value space prize courtesy of Network Rail and facilitated by SpaceandPeople.
Other big winners saw double gold for 2Heads and their global LEGO campaign.
Awards director Frank Wainwright chose to present the Client Relationship special awards in his mid-dinner speech, awards that showed off a core principle of FMBE – ‘building on success’. The winners in these categories were CPM with Mars Wrigley and We Are Collider with Waitrose.
No Limits Street Band played to a packed dancefloor with very high standards set throught the categories.
Here’s the full result – with insight per category:
Category A: Sales Campaign of the Year
GOLD Field Sales Solutions – Ferrero
SILVER Foster – Hershey’s and Reese’s
SILVER PRL – Pladis
How and Why
Team Ferrero showed us a new dynamic from one of the most practised and reputable of all field sales teams.
The entry was marked up with quite a bit of confidentiality. So, here’s a judging comment that gives nothing away…
“Clear and challenging objective. Blitz training and execution worked well to create a hybrid approach and the results are strong.”
Silver for PRL and Pladis was another good showing for agency and brand in the category where they notched up bronze last year. They are clearly a force top be reckoned with.
The category saw a ‘welcome to FMBE’ of a silver, for Foster and Hershey’s and Reese’s as it was a first ever entry for the growing agency.
Judges liked the high accountability and sales driven approach – one comment – “Results are impressive for a small team and are clearly attributable to the sales execution”
Category B: Most Effective Retail Experience
Sponsored by Nicholson
GOLD Agile Retail – Fanatics
SILVER Link Communication – Barilla
SILVER TCC – Netflix x O2 Priority
BRONZE Blue Square – HP
How and Why
If there was ever going to be a unique opportunity to so how to create a retail experience with fan appeal it was this build of a store serving memorabilia collectors called Fanatics! If the opportunity was huge – superstar attends such as Lewi Hamilton for the opening day – then it was down to our judges to look for near perfect delivery. And that’s what Agile Retail convinced them of, namely that what was seen on the first day would inspire Fanatics fans to multiple store visits.
Judge’s verdict “Overall, the entry communicated a deep understanding of how to build meaningful connections in a modern retail environment. The level of detail, creativity, and strategic cohesion resulted in a truly standout submission—one that clearly demonstrates how to turn a store into a vibrant, repeat-worthy destination for collectors of all ages.”
For Barilla and Link, judges noted the expected appeal of the convincing long term benefits of the sampling (expected as in that’s pretty much a Link trademark) but also admired how comprehensive the work had been delivered including the end-to-end shopper journey supported by FSDUs and the initiative to feed store staff too.
The Netflix x O2 Priority was a second success in the category in two years for agency TCC. The hallmarks of TCC at their best brings multisensory engagement into stores working an immersive brand experience into a relatively small footprint retail area. The Netfix x O2 Priority promotion delivered theatrics and flavour. The creative centred around Nevermore Academy — the fictional school at the heart of a Netflix series. O2 Priority became the exclusive route for fans to “enrol” in this world, through physical activations, digital campaigns and immersive photo moments – with Ice Scream served to swich on the tastebuds.
Bronze winner, Blue Square and HP saw HP Crush 2.0 following the silver winning Crush 1.0 from last year. Judges love to see a great campaign coming back even stronger showing the value of the extended relationship and learning. The category overall scored higher this year.
Category C – Field Data Award
GOLD Logobrand – JDE
SILVER Gekko Group – Opus AI
BRONZE SmartSpotter – KP Snacks
How and Why
The gold winner showed off data advances with stunning results for JDE. It was an entry wrapped up in confidentiality. The entry used Logobrand’s, AI Image Recognition called Snappy Decisions which is discussed on the website. One judge commented simply “The results speak for themselves. Very impressive”.
Winning silver, Gekko showed how using Gekko Group’s Opus AI platform to transform complex field data into instant, actionable insights for Hisense’s managers. The impact was a staggering 87% rise in training modules covered and a 32% increase in staff trained. Gekko turned an administrative burden into a powerful tool for growth, unlocking the strategic potential of Hisense’s field team.
The bronze winner showed how the SmartSpotter app enables data use to be both streamlined and provide realtime actionable insights.
Category D – Most Effective Instore Campaign
Sponsored by Teamhaven
GOLD ABM Experience Solutions – Whisky Festival
SILVER CPM Ireland – Smirnoff
SILVER Crossell – Kellanova
BRONZE Field Sales Solutions – Mas+
BRONZE TCC – Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra
How and Why
The category saw a wide spread of instore styles and techniques and a matching spread of judging opinions with just enough favour for ABM’s Whisky Festival to carry the day. The event, held in store World of Whiskies benefited from ABM’s long-established expertise in delivering Airside shopping experiences.
One judge commented “A very well thought out campaign, with strong execution and results. I particularly liked the celebration of the diversity of the various brands represented.”
The dual silver winners were both from Ireland, CPM with Smirnoff, defending their category win from last year impressed again with a very polished presentation of the instore retail execution. For Kellanova, Crossell presented a very good understanding of the nuances of each store they visited allowing them to take advantage of opportunities that others might have missed.
Two campaigns also made the bronze standard. For TCC a neat piece of gaming via the S24 Ultra instore that delivered impressive results and for Mas+ a Field Sales Solutions campaign that pleased judges in multiple categories, with a sell-in chiller unit for convenience stores.
Category E1 – Most Effective Tactical Campaign (ROI)
Sponsored by Retailwise
GOLD CPM – Asahi
SILVER Logobrand – JDE
BRONZE N2O – Tesco
How and Why
It took something special top beat the silver winner Logobrand and JDE that had already won gold for a very innovative entry in field data.
The Asahi/CPM entry will likely be a landmark case study in tactical for some years to come. It had a little bit of everything – blended field and digital comms for a light on its feet shared resource team that drove tactical sales supported digitally using CPM’s store comms app shopt. The 12-week activity stepped in to energise Asahi’s sponsorship of the Women’s Rugby World Cup.
Costing less whilst doing more and also delivering better for the environment this campaign surpassed the keen 3:1 ROI target and came with a very clearly worded and appreciative testimonial from Asahi’s National Account Controller, C&C and Convenience, Joe Watts.
Callage created by CPM’s call file creator Aquifer set the team to reach a tailored 4000 stores – a collation of the stores it – rightly – deemed to be best equipped for the promotion and most likely to deliver sustained profitable success for Asahi’s small brand and sku portfolio.
One judge scored this 97/100 reasoning – “Strategically innovative using permanent shared team, rapid mobilisation, and integrated digital reinforcement. Strong justified challenge in current economic climate and entry showed both resilience and ability to adapt and flex to meet changing demands – the core essence of tactical field execution.”
A note on the bronze award – this was a bold marketing approach from Tesco, deploying N2O to engage with shoppers who were going to shop at a rival store in the same shopper catchment area. One judge called it “strategically unique.”
.
Category E2 – Most Effective Tactical Campaign (Service – Led)
Sponsored by Retailwise
GOLD PRL – Catrice
SILVER Field Sales Solutions – Mas+
BRONZE Highjam – Winnrz
BRONZE Smollan – Disaronno
How and Why
The gold winner would go on to win Operational Success of the Year and contend for Campaign of the Year. To pick up this gold as well wasa deserved extra – the tactical category is hard to win with an installation project.
PRL’s category overhaul for Catrice leant into the full power of PRL as a group, the agency delivering expert logistics alongside an accountable shopper focussed team.
One Judge noted “I liked this entry from the start, it was a challenge of some. The solution immediately went to delivering a full 360 service to ensure complete control I thought there was a real attention to detail. Focus on having the right personnel in the right roles was a key success factor…Significant training and cross collaboration with multiple areas of the business. They finished 4 weeks ahead of schedule and secured further contracts on the back of the success.”
The Silver award, a campaign that judges liked in several categories drew praise in this one for the hard-working team. “I think they hit a huge success factor on the head by building a team of champions and advocates to sell the brand.”
The Highjam/Winnrz bronze winner, a London-based sign-up activity for promotions scheme Winnrz drew praise for its robust results, whilst the Smollan/Disaronno bronze built upon historical data to maximise results in the key season campaign for the drink’s brand.
Category F1 – Team of the Year (FMCG)
Sponsored by Movista
GOLD Smollan – BrewDog
SILVER CPM – Diageo
SILVER Powerforce – Pladis
BRONZE Field Sales Solutions – P&G
BRONZE Smollan – Weetabix
How and Why
The category really split the panel with several different views as to who the gold winner should be. The gold, silver and bronze winners all had at least one judge rating their entry as the best.
In the end there was just enough support for team BrewDog to declare a winner, a win that comes at a time of well-documented decline for the brand. It was the entry that delivered a bit of everything summarised by one of the judges that favourited the campaign:
“Great use of data insights to achieve the Right Stores at the Right Time strategy. Really enjoyed to see Team Culture being at the heart of everything and the goal of bringing the field team together. Fundamentally strong KPI’s delivered for the client whilst having a happy, well cared for high-performing team.”
Taking silver was CPM and Diageo a classic agency/brand pairing that has been in place since 2014, finding ways to drive better and better results – and Powerforce/Pladis a powerhouse pairing where team culture moves ahead stride for stride with new targets and kpis.
Previous category winners Field Sales Solutions with P&G and Smollan with Weetabix took up the bronze winner positions in a stacked year for the category.
Category F2 – Team of the Year (non FMCG)
Sponsored by Movista
GOLD Cosine – TNT Sports
SILVER G2 – Hisense
BRONZE Elevate Global – stichd
How and Why
As a team the gold winner has been through a few different iterations since they first came together – and has steadily become established as a regular winner of FMBE Awards. The team is not especially big which means that the focus on results per individual has to be strong, and it is.
One judge giving TNT Sports and Cosine the gold nod stated: “ The solution seemed strong, with good use of data for targeting and selling. Strong results achieved in a very competitive market, with difficult dynamics.”
Silver: We didn’t know at judging but this silver award went to an agency and client that came to the end of 8 years working together, as stated by the agency as a fond farewell post awards. One judge said, “Clear and challenging objectives, the team obviously made a big impact.” During those 8 years skilled field marketing has seen Hisense emerge from challenger to highly reputable brand amongst UK shoppers.
The bronze winner was one of the very best stories of the awards this year, the account of Elevate Global’s global team with stichd, the F1 official merchandise stores operation that belongs to Puma. It was certainly the most logistically challenging team to put together, delivered with consummate professionalism by the agency.
Brand Experience Categories
Category G – Most Effective Sponsorship Activation
GOLD Zeal Creative – Tena
SILVER Wasserman – BMW
BRONZE N2O – Superdrug
BRONZE N2O – Tesco
How and Why
This category was a real panel splitter. The winner had a superb creative concept, using International rugby to broker incontinence chat at a Dry January pub set up. It spurred a lot of thought – no single entry this year delivered more detailed judging notes.
One judge favouring the winner commented: “This is the standout entry. The activation is built from clear brand strategic insights which identify a clear target market, the sponsorship activation is well thought out and reaches the target audience in a credible way. It leverages the power of the sponsorship to deliver meaningful brand and commercial results.”
The silver for Wasserman and BMW saw electric vehicles supporting endurance athlete Ross Edgley as he swam a circuit of Iceland. It was a sponsorship that delivered very positive associations and content for the brand which judges also noted had delivered considerable value for money.
The two retailers, Tesco and Superdrug, that were paired with N2O to bronze success were successful for different reasons – Superdrug as an example of a genuine multibrand platform at festivals and Tesco for leveraging its Britain’s Got Talent sponsorship with a popular and accountable roadshow bus.
Category H – Most Effective Roadshow/Shopping Centre Campaign
Sponsored by SpaceandPeople and with a £25,000 value in space prize provided by Network Rail.
GOLD Zeal Creative – Cheez-it
SILVER Zeal Creative – Nuii
BRONZE N2O – Dr Pepper
BRONZE TRO – Liquid I.V.
How and Why
Sampling dominated the category – the first time in a few years that has happened – and that left judge’s methodically crunching the numbers between campaigns that otherwise scored nearly the same for creativity.
The result was a one-two for Zeal Creative, Cheez-It getting the nod for detailing the tour that helped launch this new arrival in snacking.
Cheez-It impressed everyone with its results, gaining first or second place with every judge on the category. It cleverly joined the roadshow to the instore story. One noted “Results were very positive considering sales were more than double the objective.”
Nuii also enjoyed convincing results including – “Best measurement and monitoring of sustainability of all the campaigns short listed.”
There were two bronze winners. For Liquid IV the multiple touchpoints and targeting of the campaign resonated in an energised TRO campaign. For Dr Pepper the creative cohesion was admired, launching Cherry Crush with sass and swagger from a results-focussed N2O.
Category I – Most Immersive Event (Consumer Products)
SILVER Wasserman – Lidl
SILVER N2O – Superdrug
BRONZE Landsec Spotlight with Backlash and Ocean Outdoor – L’Oreal
BRONZE The Story – Don Papa
How and Why
‘Comprehensive’ was a word used regularly to describe the gold winner, a huge scale campaign delivered for Lego via Merlin Entertainment’s global platform.
Taking place simultaneously across seven Legoland Resorts, the six-week Lego Festival Experience invited families to explore several play zones in the name of the Play Pact, a gamified challenge. Each completed Play Pact donated a day of play to children without access to such experiences, totalling 75,000 hours of play globally. With over 2,500 live shows and 11 million social impressions, the Lego Festival Experience transformed play into a movement and reaffirmed Lego’s excellence in creativity.
One judge that favourited the campaign stated “This is a standout entry with astonishing results and huge dwell time engaging children across the world and their parents with play. The entry demonstrates innovation and mass-market participation on a global scale.”
In a high scoring category the silver awards went to campaigns that took shopper brands to festivals.
The Lidl entry was found to have “clear objectives and a well-executed solution with evidence that supports the claims effectively. Results are strong and aligned with the brief.”
The Superdrug campaign created for BST festival was praised in multiple categories. In this category it earned praise for the anticipation created by pre-promotion ahead of the big event.
There were two bronzes.
The first saw deserved recognition for a wonderful use of Picadilly Lights and Piccadilly Lights The Venue by Ocean Outdoor and Backlash for L’Oreal. The combination created a very interactive space and stop in the street moments for passers-by.
The second saw Don Papa’s gorgeous Sugarlandia creative brought to life at Future Stores on Oxford Street.
Category I – Immersive Event (non FMCG)
Sponsored by Spotlight for Landsec
GOLD Experience12 – Disney
SILVER TRO – MINI
BRONZE Hope&Glory and adam&eveDDB – CALM and ITV
How and Why
Pop culture agency Experience12 was a new agency winner at FMBE a few years ago and this gold win comes at a time when the agency is evidentially furthering its ambitions.
This tour, for Disney’s Alien:Earth debuted at London MCM Comic Con, quickly becoming the standout hit of the show with queues wrapping around the venue. Its success led to a five-city European tour, visiting Westfield Paris, London Southbank, the Alien: Earth London premiere, Budapest’s Sziget Festival and, finally, Gamescom in Cologne.
The event used dramatic props and performers to create real immersion and engagement.
One judge commented, “The creative execution here is really strong — vibrant, authentic, and thoughtful. They fully got under the skin of the concept of the show and have worked on the immersivity. It looks stunning, to sum up in one word. Impressive.”
It was a silver win for TRO with Mini – one of FMBE’s most trusted agency-brand pairings. Creating stand out at Goodwood Festival of Speed is an annual challenge and our judges’ acknowledged the variety of ways in which TRO brought out the Mini personality, using a stand with multiple zones and engagement points.
For the bronze winner we saw such an emotionally impactful campaign, a vast balloon installation that commemorated young lives lost through birthdays missed. It is undoubtedly a campaign with award winning credentials that came up against some category criteria challenges here that held it back from scoring as highly as the gold and silver winners. Powerful and emotive.
Category J – Immersive Event (Controlled Audience)
Sponsored by Piccadilly Lights The Venue
GOLD N2O – Fanta
SILVER We Are Collider – Waitrose
BRONZE Hope&Glory – Pokémon
BRONZE Jackanory – Hyundai
How and Why
For the one-two a campaign of the year contender came up against the most recent rendition of Waitrose’s blockbuster festival – the team that won the client retention special award.
Gold for Fanta proved near-unanimous. The ticketed shopping centre event called the Afterlife Train, tied in with the Beetlejuice film, created outstanding engagement at Westfield during the peak of the Halloween season, generating genuine cut through.
One judge commented “The Fanta Afterlife Train was highly immersive, with its Beetlejuice themed environment, interactive puzzles, and theatrical elements which kept everyone fully engaged. Placing this activation in a retail environment surprised shoppers, turning an ordinary shopping trip into a memorable, shareable experience that resonated strongly with their audience! Amazing work!
And for Waitrose assessed: “The festival was impressively immersive, offering a real multi-sensory experience with highly specialised zones and a vibrant festival feel that successfully attracted a younger audience. Hands-on masterclasses, interactive tastings, and bookable activities kept attendees actively engaged, ensuring that the Waitrose brand would be top of mind long after the event for delivering such a memorable experience. The venue was an excellent choice, utilising both floors for the first time gave the festival a full takeover feel, amplifying the immersive impact and scale of the event.”
The bronze winner Hope&Glory for Pokémon – a live and online unboxing of cards marathon – brought something very different to the category and was favourited by one judge: “I really like this – excellent integration of different activities and channels – underpinned by outstanding results.”
A further bronze was awarded to Jackanory and Hyundai for a camping in cars event for influencers and press in rugged Snowdonia – “This activation clearly went beyond a traditional car launch, with mountain views, a bespoke yurt, and curated meals. I particularly liked the authentic Korean food, which was a really nice touch from a cultural perspective. The campaign didn’t just showcase the product, it created a memorable, shareable experience that brought the Santa Fe to life. Really good work, and jealous I could not have taken part myself!”
Category K1 – Integration and Amplification (Shopper Location)
GOLD IMA – Adidas Climacool
SILVER Sway with Landsec and Aduro – IKD
BRONZE Hope&Glory and adam&eveDDB – CALM and ITV
BRONZE Zeal Creative – Cheez-It
How and Why
IMA and Adidas struck gold at a first FMBE Awards for the agency. The relaunch of Climacool was one of the highest ever ranking entries in the category, covering off integration and amplification in equal measure. The Climacool range was relaunched via multiple events, points of intrigue such as product in frozen ice blocks, and key retailer store support.
IMA led the campaign from concept to execution. Creative assets included high-visibility OOH motion, social-first videos optimised for TikTok and Instagram, influencer-driven content, photography, and in-store POS.
One judge stated “This campaign had well-defined objectives and was relevant to its audience with hyper-local activations.”
The silver award winner was a very brave one, using the toilets at Landsec’s Bluewater Shopping Centre to raise the topic of Hygiene Poverty on behalf In Kind Direct. Judges loved the way that the online conversation was brought about by real life conversation – simple targeted awareness supported by call to action posters and messaging in the toilets themselves.
Judge’s verdict “The campaign amplified its content well using multiple channels, creating a deep emotional connection.”
The bronze winners in this one are written about in the immersive event and roadshow categories.
Category K2 – Integration and Amplification (Festival & Pop-Up)
GOLD 2Heads – LEGO
SILVER Hope&Glory – Oxfam
BRONZE iMP – Life360
How and Why
This was a second win for the far-reaching Lego campaign, whilst the activities for Oxfam and Life360 won accolades in the Small Scale (Cat O) and Stand/Display categories respectively (Cat S).
Category L – Most Effective Use of AI, Digital or Tech
Sponsored by Innovate Live
GOLD We Are Collider – King of Meat
SILVER Ocean Outdoor – Superman movie by Warner Bros
BRONZE Logobrand – JDE
How and Why
Against expectations this wasn’t the strong category that we anticipated, at least from an AI perspective.
The finalist with real AI driven breakthrough tech was the excellent Field Data winner, Logobrand, JDE, with just not enough brand experience outcome to be a gold or silver winner here. Still, an admirable development the judges found very impressive.
Instead, the quirky and outlandish King of Meat live studio took on a fantastic piece of screen tech display for Superman.
King of Meat proved irresistible, audacious, fun, bordering on cultish marketing. To think that We Are Collider had won this category last year with a sleek Red Bull e-gaming event. Now the same agency was back with an in-humour quirky event that was rammed with fanbase reference. It was a labour of love for a fanbase that it connected with in a wonderful way.
For Ocean the entry was screen partially using a new hero product. To launch the highly anticipated Superman film, Warner Bros. partnered with Ocean Outdoor as the official launch partner for the all-new Ocean Showcase™, a freestanding, immersive 3D digital canvas two years in the making. Ocean Showcase looks likely to have a role to play in many brand engagement campaigns.
Category M – People Powered Event
GOLD Kru Live – Heineken
SILVER N2O – Tesco
BRONZE Eventeem – Lidl
How and Why
In Gold, Silver and Bronze two very experienced and proven staff/brand teams came up against a newly formed one. FMBE often merits teams that have gelled through years of professional high performances but the winner in this one told a wonderful story of setting out the stall for success for a new team from the word go as Kru set up Heineken’s Champion’s League brand squad:
Judge’s comment: “Kru showed genuine innovation in people selection with the criteria clearly linked to performance, cultural sensitivity and calmness under pressure. The zero fail environment was achieved because they had excellent real-time staff monitoring and a robust training programme. Kru surpassed all KPIs set by the client with a flawless guest journey and the success was measureable and clear. They achieved above and beyond the brief with regards to diversity and inclusivity, changing the client’s perspective on staff selection by pushing ability over appearance. Overall, the entry was well articulated, structured, persuasive. A worthy winner.”
The Tesco Pride team came a close second. “High complexity to organise staffing at this scale, including content creaters & LBGTQ+ ambassadors. N20 achieved cultural sensitivity with their staff central to the events, with a fantastic creative hook ‘The Jolly Discos Trolly”.
For Lidl we saw Eventeem’s official debut at FMBE though the agency has been in support of FMBE award winning campaigns as a supplier. Here we saw why Eventeem is such a trusted store launch partner for Lidl as the supermarket built towards 1000 stores through 2025. Eventeem staffed 40+ store opening events in the qualifying period, astonishing support for such a rapidly growing staple of UK shopping.
FM&BE Categories
Category N – Brand Ambassador of the Year
GOLD Jordan Nichols, Field Sales Solutions, P&G
SILVER Michael McCombe, Smollan, BrewDog
SILVER Patrick Mutombo, CPM, Samsung
BRONZE Marshall Hall, Powerforce, Motorola
How and Why
Another fantastic year in Brand Ambassador with some very strong contenders and with all four award winners fully reflective of the brand and agency support creating their opportunity to shine…
Here’s a view from the judges on the top four:
Jordan Nichols, Field Sales Solutions, P&G
“A strong team player who supports others. Jordan has achieved some fantastic results which are clearly explained throughout in the submission, with comparisons versus his peers providing the judge with valuable context. Very impressive testimonials, the best I’ve seen during this year’s judging.”
SILVER Michael McCombe, Smollan, BrewDog
“Strong individual results which are clearly explained along with comparisons versus his peers for context.”
and
“A key leader in a dynamic team.”
Patrick Mutombo, CPM, Samsung
“ Patrick is a legend within his industry and was Samsung’s Global Promoter Of The Year in 2024. He has exceeded all targets, which are clearly defined in the submission paper. He has worked hard to support the client (Samsung) and the store (Curry’s). Patrick is a mentor and role model for new starters.
Marshall Hall, Powerforce, Motorola
“Marshall is clearly passionate about the Lenovo Motorola brand, and this shows up in his training of internal teams and external call centre staff.”
and
“The responsibility that is given to Marshall shows that he is a real go to for the team.”
Category O – Most Effective Small Scale/ Local Campaign
GOLD GottaBe! – Western Union
SILVER Hope&Glory – Oxfam
BRONZE Green Field Marketing – Boost Drinks
BRONZE Top Notch Sales – Navson
BRONZE TRO – Wise
BRONZE Union Collective – No3 London Gin
How and Why
There were several bronze commendations in the category – a reflection of the mix of exceptional value on display.
For Union Collective and No 3 great piece of creativity and style showed great attention to creative detail.
For Wise, TRO showed how a few short hours of activity in Manchester Picadilly could build content for the business and make it central to thought leader discussions in financial security.
For Navson, Top Notch provided prime accountable field marketing from Wholesale on a very accountable small budget.
For Boost Drinks Green Field Marketing showed an immaculate approach to region as the Blue Raspberry flavour was rolled out in Northern Ireland.
That left a very popular Cost of Living awareness campaign for Oxfam winning a second silver of the night. The activity, costing £20,000 saw press events hosted in a pop-up pub where the price of a pint was based on what a customer could afford.
The win though went to an outstanding piece of all round FMBE delivered on a transparent and accountable budget for Western Union by GottaBe! The complex 3 city shopping centre Yellow Santa tour visited London, Manchester and Birmingham with Yellow Santa spreading International Funds Transfer cheer on a total £85,000 budget.
“Great use of a small budget with clear cost savings to make the budget stretch further. Loved the multi-cultural brand ambassadors, made the campaign very diverse and all encompassing with good ideas to amplify e.g. feature wall, social media and non paid PR.”
Category P – Product Launch/ Relaunch Award
GOLD N2O – Dr Pepper Cherry Crush
SILVER IMA – Adidas Climacool
SILVER Smollan – Weetabix Caramelised Minis
BRONZE PRL – IDL West Coast Cooler Sunburst
BRONZE Raptor – Captain Morgan x Pepsi Max
How and Why
A high scoring category that saw the gold winning BE Cherry Crush campaign come out on top after bronze in the Roadshow category. IMA with Adidas Climacool was once again recognised as an outstanding campaign but didn’t score quite as highly as a relaunch as it had done for integration/amplification. Still an impressive extra piece of recognition.
Smollan and Weetabix Caramelised Minis was the FM launch of the year, taking silver, providing excellent insight into a strategic partnership that made success it clear success in grocery and wholesale was crucial to the launch success. It was just ahead of PRL’s Irish launch of IDL West Coast Cooler Sunburst – further success in category for this agency.
There was also bronze for Raptor’s launch of Captain Morgan x Pepsi Max via a brand experience party experience and sampling campaign using students that had a great impact on market share.
Category Q – B2B/ B2E Event of the Year
Sponsored by Troxy
GOLD Wasserman – BMW Group
SILVER Smollan – Henkel
BRONZE N2O – Chupa Chups
The B2B/B2E Event of the Year saw business events that looked like consumer engagements taking both bronze and silver.
N2O and Chupa Chups played a dominant role with immersive sampling at the grocery industry’s Barcode Festival, which raises money for Grocery Aid whilst connecting shopper industry people together.
There was similar for Henkel where the Smollan team led the way with product demonstrations and Harry Redknapp celebrity support to win over trade visitors to the annual Screwfix event. The effectiveness scored especially highly here, alongside endorsement as best promotion at Screwfix from the organisers.
The winner – well it was a case of delivering a pin sharp B2B Event – delivering to high expectations of an exacting audience. Set at the ICC Brimingham, BMW and Mini embraced their retailers as delegates by day and Awards Show guests at night. Quite apart from near perfect approval ratings, footage and content shared with judges showed why this event delivered to audience expectation at a crucial moment in time, giving many memorable takeaways.
Category R – Shopper Connection Award
Sponsored by Retailwise
GOLD Smollan – Captain Morgan
SILVER Zeal Creative – Tena
BRONZE Fizz Experience – Vahdam Teas
Shopper connection proved to be a fairly easy win for Smollan with Captain Morgan. The campaign’s challenge could have been written specifically for the category.
The mechanisms and premise were simple – mass sampling to students, introducing the 0% product alongside the alcoholic one, get students out playing some simple games and leave and lasting legacy and loyalty with the bar venues. The tour learned from previous editions in order to shift culturally and score sales success.
The silver winner was creatively more complex than the winner, and is discussed as the winner of Cat G, but in terms of evidencing the connection from objectives through to sales results, it wasn’t able to match the shopper connected merits of Captain Morgan.
The bronze was a very nice demo of the successes possible by sampling at wholesale to drive sales to store and ultimately establish a new shopper base for Vahdam Teas. Fizz worked in store with Costco to deliver the campaign.
Category S – Most Effective Stand or Display Unit
GOLD N2O – Tesco
SILVER PLB Group – Sony InMotion
SILVER iMP – Life360
BRONZE Hiscox
How and Why
The winner in this one was the Tesco Britain’s Got Talent Bus that put the fans centre stage. It was a bus that was very thoroughly thought through to make the roadshow work both practically and aesthetically.
Judge’s comment “Yes! I got an actual goosebump for this entry. Sparkling brand activation which clearly delivered on the objectives. Impressive production (set-up in 90 mins = impressive) with consideration for environment. Loved it!”
Tesco’s bus actually did rather well to hold off the challenge from the silver winner, a box to vent in provided by the Life 360 app. In this case the stand was the experience, a soundproofed telephone box sized pop-up in Covent Garden. The pop up’s case was also strengthened by its canny use of budget showing the way for a smaller brand to make headlines without breaking the bank.
Judge’s comment “Excellent results based on tangible objectives. Fun, eye-catching solution based on a human truth. IMO this one deserves success for it’s purity of insight, brave creative and hard working ROI.”
The second silver award went to a much bigger budgeted long-term airport installation by PLB for SonyInMotion at Heathrow T5. The display has proven exceptionally effective across every measure of brand and commercial performance. Within the first three months post-installation, Sony recorded a double-digit percentage increase in headphone sales versus the previous fixture, with WH-1000XM5 models showing the strongest growth.
Category T – Operational Success of the Year
Sponsored by Promologistics
GOLD PRL – Catrice
SILVER Field Sales Solutions – Ferrero
SILVER Raptor – Rockstar Energy Drink
BRONZE Highjam – The Observer
BRONZE N2O – Superdrug
BRONZE Smollan – Bart Ingredients
How and Why
A category where – deservedly – 6 finalists received bronze or above with some exceptional stories to tell.
Looking at bronzes first we saw a meticulous category overhaul for Bart by Smollan in Waitrose, that impressed for 100% scheduled completion, with installation teams working overnights across 244 stores. The new fixture achieved a 60% increase in rate of sale, driven by enhanced visibility, improved navigation, and the impact of its refreshed brand identity, whilst the category as a whole also saw a lift.
From Superdrug we learnt the attention to detail – and form-filling exactitude – that went into creating a safe multibrand event at BST Festival. The impressive event results were confidential.
From Highjam/The Observer we had a literal and figurative headline grabbing story, an ambitious feat of logistics with nothing comparable seen at FMBE before. Helping new owners relaunch the paper, Highjam were deployed on a plan to get runner profiles from the start line of the London Marathon in as part of the event coverage into the newspaper that they would distribute to finishers. The entry detailed the print and distribution race against time as they battled the closed roads and systems. It was an outstanding effort – and story – that just missed out vs the more accountable briefs taking gold and silver.
The silver campaign that saw Raptor’s students rally behind the challenger Rockstar Energy Drink was immense, extensive, inventive and… unfortunately for this write up – confidential.
Silver for Ferrero acknowledged the skilled logistical support that was required underpin a campaign that had already been awarded gold for its sales success. The detail in this was confidential.
Winning gold the PRL and Catrice team combined for near unanimous win in spite of the strong competition. The entry concluded with an impressive testimonial that also summarised the activity that was concluded in 4 weeks of the 8 allocated:
John Carey, Commercial Manager of Sales Cosmetics Ltd “Working with the PRL team on the nationwide rollout of our new Catrice cosmetics stands across the Pharmacy and Penneys stores in Ireland was a seamless experience from start to finish. Their end-to-end service — from secure speedy installations, POS storage and efficient logistics to the responsible removal and recycling of old stands, was handled with complete professionalism and care.
PRL’s team worked to tight schedules with 450 meters of POS across 430 locations, ensuring minimal disruption to retail operations in stores. Their attention to detail, reliability, and commitment to sustainability made them an invaluable partner on this project. We wouldn’t hesitate to work with PRL again.”
Category U – Professional Agency Management
GOLD Amplify Retail Execution
SILVER Green Field Marketing
BRONZE Logobrand – Carlsberg Britvic
The category recognises the leap forwards for agency or agency+brand in the past year following a management development.
Bronze saw AI development on the Carlsberg Britvic account cause next level evolution.
For silver, Green Field Marketing, after success in previous years in this category, that showed the agency development since Management Buy Out a few years ago, clearly identified a new layer of management skills to take the agency further forwards. A going places agency.
The gold winner told the story behind the redefined business as Amplify Retail Execution became a sister business to Clear Box Analytics replacing Clear Box Retail helping it to clearly define its services as a suite of products and use that to win new clients and increase the value of existing. There was a killer stat to evidence – that was kept confidential.
Rob Owen, UK&I Sales Director at General Mills testified: “Following an industry wide tender process, we made the decision to partner with Amplify Retail Execution for their innovative and data driven coverage models, the people first culture they demonstrated to us throughout the process and the strong focus on performance which will help us to win in store and sell more.”
Category V1 – Special Award, Client Retention
GOLD CPM – Mars Wrigley
SILVER Logobrand – Carlsberg Britvic
BRONZE Smollan – Mondelez
BRONZE GottaBe! – Norton
The special awards were the ones I chose to present myself this year, a personal luxury. The reason – FMBE Awards’ 21 years longevity are underpinned by more than single year successes. The best work is delivered through partnership and we never tire of seeing positive cycles.
In that regard it was great to see relative newcomer GottaBe! and Norton perform so well with bronze, a growing team that is taking both agency and client to new levels of expectation.
The other bronze winner, Mondelez + Smollan is an industry classic. Each year we see them rise to new challenges at Christmas and Easter and surpassing revised KPIs.
For Carlsberg Britvic and Logobrand an expanding portfolio of work has not just seen the team reach multiple new levels but often winning recognition for innovation along the way. There was some staggering accumulative success data in this confidential entry.
The category very specifically set out its stall not to be a long relationship award but a dynamic one, focussing on recent years. So, it was all the more impressive to see a 40 year old partnership – CPM and Mars Wrigley – come together for gold.
As with any good entry, but especially for this category, this came with testimonials, They covered off the long history but focussed on the new dynamics.
“This partnership continues to thrive year after year, built on a foundation of collaboration, shared passion, and aligned goals and objectives. CPM consistently demonstrates that they are easy to do business with. The account team at CPM consistently bring fresh, innovative ideas to table.” Julie Saxton – Head of Traditional Trade.
The partnership went through a major change in 2025 after CPM was asked to repitch for the business. It wasn’t an open competition – but a chance for CPM and Mars Wrigley to agree a new way of operating. Core to that was system change as the team tansitioned from “cost plus” to “cost per call” model, removing the need for monthly full budget reconciliation, and linking commercial efficiency directly to performance.
There was a stack of supportive data, and though the entry was not signed confidential it would need a longer article than this to show how the next evolution has led to a jump forwards for the partnership and its ROI.
Category V2 – Special Award, Client Retention
GOLD We Are Collider – Waitrose
SILVER Zeal Creative – Nuii
BRONZE GottaBe! – Western Union
BRONZE TRO – MINI
This was a tightly scored contest with a fair amount of coherence and agreement by the judges who looked for data that showed both the success story and the value of retention.
The gold winner, We Are Collider and Waitrose won as it was seen as the best cycle of improvement – after a great start. This food and drink festival has really carved out a must attend niche in the calendar.
Judge’s comment: “This is my winner because the entry shows the clearest connection between the longevity of a relationship to improve outcomes for the brand. There is really clear learning year on year.”
Another judge agreed, whilst seeing scope for further development: Great example of how to continue a relationship and grow beyond the honeymoon period. The results speak for themselves, now they just need to spring off and take it out nationally.”
The Nuii events, taking silver with Zeal were praised for “real and commercial impact. The campaigns are well executed, use channels well and are pretty bold in places.”
TRO and Mini is a BE classic relationship first winning in year one of FMBE Awards in 2005. The 25 year partnership impressed – “Clearly Mini trust TRO and they continue to develop and evolve the proposition.”
For Gottabe! and Western Union judges saw “an engaging entry that very clearly explains how this long-term partnership has grown from a tactical supplier to a strategic partner. There are some really thoughtful examples of community engagement and lovely evidence of responsiveness to global events. win.”
Category W – Campaign of the Year
Sponsored by Elevate Global
GOLD CPM – Asahi
SILVER N2O – Fanta
BRONZE IMA – Adidas Climacool
BRONZE Agile Retail – Fanatics
CPM’s win followed up a win last year in campaign of the year from CPM Ireland and it did so for similar reasons – innovation, solution finding, data, results and a superb client testimonial.
All of the top four in category showed this to a large extent. Judges noted that all four had truly added to the entry paper with supportive documentation that was clear, justified and added extra layers of insight.
X: Field Marketing Agency of the Year
Sponsored by SpaceandPeople
GOLD Smollan
SILVER CPM
BRONZE Field Sales Solutions
BRONZE Logobrand
How and Why
This was the tightest scoring FM agency of the year contest ever with judges praising all of the top four for providing such detailed insight into the success of each business. There was a fair amount of Private and Confidential labelling in the entries.
Whilst staying cautious of confidentiality we can note that the very close battle for gold vs silver came down to the slimmest of margins with an outstanding people training process being especially well received for silver winner CPM whilst the catalogue throughout 2025 of new and retained client business for gold winner Smollan was very convincing.
One notable win towards the end of 2025 – which is public knowledge – was the agency’s win of the long sought after Unilever account, one of the biggest accounts in field sales, which was presented to judges alongside the reasons for winning that account. The account came to Smollan after 22 years with another agency. It is an account win that is also aligned with the agency’s rebrand from REL to that of its International agency owner Smollan.
Y: Brand Experience Agency of the Year
Sponsored by SpaceandPeople
GOLD Zeal Creative
SILVER Wasserman
BRONZE N2O
BRONZE TRO
How and Why
2024-2025 seems to have brought about planned consolidation for 2024 champions N2O, giving the agency a well-deserved bronze in follow up to that win. There were still some very special developments at the agency taking it forwards with plenty to be excited for in the future.
It was also a commanding year for 2023 winners TRO, who showed many new developments alongside collaborative success and growth.
For both bronze winners it was obvious that the ground work is in place for 2026 to deliver new heights.
Silver for Wasserman reflected some amazing (confidential) business financial data together with exceptional people culture data that showed the agency to be rating far ahead of agency rivals.
Gold though was simply an outstanding year for Zeal Creative and a very special one for the new standalone experiential team Zeal X, which has rocketed up in terms of turnover and expanded from 1 to 12 specialist brand experience staff in 12 months. Zeal seems to be an agency that has it all at the moment, energy, integration, accountability, new wins and 100% client retention.
Z: International (Overseas) Agency of the Year
GOLD Yes Sir!
SILVER PRL
BRONZE CPM Ireland
How and Why
Three outstanding agencies…
CPM Ireland came back to defend last year’s win, exhibiting their instore skills for Smirnoff alongside some fantastic insight provided confidentially into the inner workings of the agency and its many strides forwards in the previous 12 months.
In silver, PRL’s highly praised gold winner in the Operational Success category created a platform to show many points of difference between the shape of PRL and rival agencies. The Catrice case study showed PRL’s extensive logistical resources alongside its sales and marketing team’s proven prowess. Their entry also provided great insight into how PRL brings this to bear to resource the right people in the right place at the right time across some of the challenging areas of rural Ireland.
Winning gold was an amazing debut for Yes Sir! a branch of Belgian agency Promo Sapiens which is part of the international Marvesting Group. There was evidence here to suggest that Promo Sapiens, alongside Yes Sir! could happy take on a range of FMBE categories another year.
The core case study for automotive focussed Yes Sir! was he 101st edition of the Brussels Motor Show 2025. Yes Sir! was approached by six different clients (D’Ieteren, Stellantis, The Red Line (event organiser), Renault, Honda and Subaru), representing a total of 32 car brands. Yes Sir! showed its solution for the selection and recruitment of sales and hospitality experts for this premium event.
The case study showed a recruitment process for 350 staff for this event that covered selection, training, preparation and sales interactions. With 32 brands involved from Audi to Byd to Peugeot to Toyota and with the language requirements of a Belgian event there was a huge resource required to collate staff for balance of representation, knowledge, and diversity.
Further information on the agency showed how this huge event had created opportunities to staff and support individual brand and dealer events including Cupra’s padel event sponsorship, Skoda’s cycling events and Porsche Club Francorchamps Days.
The entry also showed how Marvesting’s support has helped the agency including a telling one for a business with an automotive sector focus, namely EcoVadis Platinum status.
Yes Sir! and Promo Sapiens look very much like new names that could make regular impacts at FMBE Awards.