ABBY Awards Day 1: Big wins for WPP Media, EssenceMediacom, Coca-Cola & Jagran

Tribes Communications wins Grand Prix for its campaign The Barefoot Journey for Kansai Nerolac Paints

by e4m Staff
Published: May 20, 2026 10:01 PM | 3 min read

The ABBY Media Awards 2026 at Goafest featured agencies, advertisers, and publishers competing in various categories, with WPP Media, The Coca-Cola Company, EssenceMediacom, and Jagran Prakashan Ltd. as the top winners.
WPP Media dominated the Network Agency of the Year category with 242 points and 37 awards, including 19 Gold, while Omnicom Media and Tribes Communications followed in the rankings.
In the Media Agency of the Year category, EssenceMediacom led with 88 points and 14 metals, while Wavemaker India and Mindshare India secured second and third places, respectively.
The Coca-Cola Company was named Client of the Year, and Jagran Prakashan Ltd. emerged as Publisher of the Year, reflecting a competitive landscape among advertisers and publishers at the awards.

The first day of the ABBY Media Awards 2026 at Goafest saw agencies, advertisers and publishers compete across key specialist categories, with WPP Media, The Coca-Cola Company, EssenceMediacom and Jagran Prakashan Ltd. emerging as the biggest winners of the night.

WPP Media emerged as the dominant player in the Network Agency of the Year category, topping the rankings with 242 points and a tally of 37 metals. The network secured 19 Gold, 9 Silver and 9 Bronze awards. Omnicom Media followed in second place with 108 points and 20 metals, comprising 2 Grand Prix, 10 Gold and 8 Silver awards. Tribes Communications Pvt. Ltd. also delivered a strong showing in the category with 66 points and 11 metals--1 Grand Prix, 1 Gold, 5 Silver and 4 Bronze awards.

In the Media Agency of the Year rankings, EssenceMediacom led the table with 88 points and the highest medal tally among all agencies. The agency secured 5 Gold, 6 Silver and 3 Bronze awards, taking its overall tally to 14 metals. Wavemaker India came in second with 76 points and 11 metals, driven by the highest number of Gold wins in the category at 7, alongside 2 Silver and 2 Bronze awards. Mindshare India followed closely with 66 points and 10 metals-- 6 Gold, 1 Silver and 3 Bronze awards.

Tribes Communications emerged as one of the standout names across categories, particularly after winning a Grand Prix for its campaign The Barefoot Journey for Kansai Nerolac Paints Ltd. in the Micro Marketing category. The campaign added to the agency’s strong overall tally and helped position Tribes among the top performing media agencies and networks at the awards this year.

Among advertisers, The Coca-Cola Company topped the Client of the Year rankings with 46 points and 8 total metals. The brand won 1 Gold, 5 Silver and 2 Bronze awards, reflecting consistent performance across multiple media categories. Kansai Nerolac Paints Ltd. secured the second position with 36 points and 5 metals-- 1 Grand Prix and 4 Silver awards, making it one of the most recognised advertisers on day one. Birla Opus Paints followed with 30 points and 4 metals, winning 3 Gold and 1 Silver award, signalling the increasing competitiveness within the paints and home décor category.

In Publisher of the Year, Jagran Prakashan Ltd. emerged as the clear leader with 46 points and 8 metals comprising 3 Gold, 2 Silver, 2 Bronze and 1 Merit award. The Hindu Group secured the second position with 22 points and 4 metals, including 1 Gold, 2 Silver and 1 Merit award. ABP Pvt. Ltd. and Hindustan Media Ventures Limited jointly stood at 14 points each, although with different medal distributions. While ABP won 1 Gold and 1 Silver medal, Hindustan Media Ventures recorded 1 Silver, 1 Bronze and 2 Merit awards, highlighting the competitive spread among regional and legacy publishing players.

The results from day one reflected the growing intensity of competition across media, publishing and advertiser categories, with networks and agencies increasingly competing on both scale and specialist innovation to secure top honours at the ABBYs.