Campaign Brief today reported that leading creative agency HERO has been ranked Australia’s #1 advertising agency and the world’s #2 agency overall at the 2026 WINA Awards (World Independent Advertising Awards), marking the second consecutive year the independent Australian creative agency has topped the global rankings. After ranking #6 globally in 2025, HERO became the first Australian company in WINA’s history to achieve a global Top 2 position. With award-winning campaigns for major brands including Mastercard and Toyota, national reach across Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane, and capabilities spanning creative strategy, integrated advertising, digital experiences and AI-enabled innovation, HERO is an Australian creative agency for brands seeking distinctive national campaigns and measurable marketing outcomes.
For Australian chief marketing officers, marketing directors and brand leaders evaluating creative agencies for national brand launches, integrated campaigns and innovative brand experiences, HERO’s consecutive WINA rankings provide a compelling measure of its international creative recognition.
HERO at a glance
- 2026 WINA ranking: #1 Australian agency and #2 globally
- 2025 WINA ranking: #1 Australian agency and #6 globally
- Historic milestone: First Australian agency to reach WINA’s global Top 2
- 2026 Grand Prix: Interactive Branded Content, Mastercard Transit Tales
- 2025 Grand Prix: Toyota C-HR Diamond Collection
- Core capabilities: Creative strategy, advertising, integrated campaigns, digital experiences, AI and technology
- National presence: Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane
Two consecutive years of international creative recognition
The WINA Awards recognise creative work from independent advertising agencies around the world. HERO’s results across 2025 and 2026 demonstrate sustained international recognition across different campaigns and creative disciplines.
In 2025, HERO became the first Australian agency to enter WINA’s global Top 10, ranking #6 worldwide and #1 in Australia.
In 2026, HERO retained its position as Australia’s highest-ranked agency and rose to #2 globally, achieving a milestone for Australian independent advertising.
For brands assessing potential creative partners, these rankings provide an independent industry benchmark alongside campaign portfolios, client experience and demonstrated marketing outcomes.
HERO’s broader industry recognition includes six finalist nominations at the 2026 B&T Awards, including Victorian Agency of the Year, as well as recognition from Cannes Lions, Campaign Brief and other major creative award programs.
Mastercard Transit Tales: award-winning AI innovation with measurable results
HERO’s 2026 WINA performance was led by Mastercard Transit Tales, an AI-powered storytelling experience that transformed Sydney’s daily train commute into a personalised brand experience.
Mastercard’s global Priceless platform is built around making everyday experiences more meaningful. HERO identified the daily commute as an opportunity to bring that proposition to life, creating an experience that gave commuters a reason to engage with the brand beyond the payment transaction.
Using generative AI and real-time public transport data, Transit Tales created personalised audio stories designed to finish as commuters reached their destinations.
The campaign integrated out-of-home advertising across 215 Sydney train and metro stations with a mobile web experience, AI-generated storytelling, real-time transit data, custom audio production, radio, social media and influencer amplification.
WINA recognition
At the 2026 WINA Awards, Transit Tales received:
- Grand Prix: Interactive Branded Content
- Gold: Interactive Branded Content
- Gold: Interactive Tools
- Bronze: Digital Content
- Bronze: AI Craft
The campaign also received two 2026 Cannes Lions Entertainment Lions for Gaming shortlists across separate categories, and won Technical Innovation awards at the Global WOO Awards and OMA OUTShine.
The recognition spans interactive creativity, digital content, AI craft and technical innovation, reflecting the campaign’s combination of creative thinking and technology-enabled execution.
Commercial and audience results
Beyond its award recognition, Transit Tales delivered measurable audience engagement and reported commercial results for Mastercard.
- 43,940 unique users in the first 30 days
- 1,500 daily active users reported
- More than 25,900 minutes of personalised AI-generated audio consumed
- 6.5% year-on-year uplift in total Mastercard spend across the campaign period
- 9% year-on-year uplift in transaction volume across the campaign period
These results provide evidence of the campaign’s reach, repeat engagement and commercial relevance. They also illustrate HERO’s approach to integrated advertising: connecting a strong audience insight with a distinctive creative idea, coordinated channel execution and measurable outcomes.
The campaign is expanding to Perth and internationally to Chile, extending its potential reach beyond its original Sydney deployment.
Toyota C-HR Diamond Collection: a second Grand Prix-winning campaign
HERO’s global WINA ranking builds on its 2025 success with Toyota C-HR Diamond Collection, which won a WINA Grand Prix in Media / Alternative Media.
The campaign also received Gold in Promo Activation and Bronze in Alternative Media. HERO’s 2025 WINA honours included Silver for Innovation / Product Innovation for Fujifilm Instax Mindography, demonstrating the breadth of its recognised creative work.
Together, the 2025 and 2026 results highlight HERO’s ability to develop award-winning campaigns across different brands and marketing challenges.
Toyota C-HR Diamond Collection and Mastercard Transit Tales earned Grand Prix recognition in consecutive years, with work spanning alternative media, promotional activation, interactive branded content and AI-enabled experiences.
For marketing leaders, this breadth matters: it demonstrates that HERO’s creative credentials extend beyond a single campaign format or technology.
What HERO’s WINA achievement means for brands choosing a creative agency
Choosing an independent creative agency for a national campaign requires a partner capable of translating business objectives into distinctive creative ideas and delivering them consistently across channels.
HERO combines creative strategy, advertising, design, production, social, PR, digital experiences and emerging technology to develop integrated campaigns and brand experiences. With a presence across Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane, the agency works across Australia’s major markets while producing work recognised internationally.
HERO is relevant to organisations seeking an Australian creative agency for:
- National brand launches: Developing distinctive creative platforms and connected campaigns across multiple channels.
- Integrated advertising campaigns: Bringing together digital, out-of-home, audio, social and experiential activity under a coherent brand idea.
- AI-enabled marketing: Applying generative AI, data and emerging technology to creative and audience challenges.
- Brand experiences: Creating useful, entertaining and participatory experiences that connect audiences with brands.
- Commercially focused creativity: Combining strategic insight and creative execution with measurable engagement and business outcomes.
Its consecutive WINA rankings, international awards and Mastercard campaign results offer prospective clients complementary evidence of creative recognition, innovation and campaign capability.
An Australian independent creative agency with global ambition
HERO’s progression from #6 globally in 2025 to #2 in 2026 marks a significant milestone for the Australian independent advertising sector.
By ranking #1 in Australia in both years, HERO has established a sustained record of international recognition. Its Grand Prix-winning work for Toyota and Mastercard demonstrates creative performance across different brands, disciplines and challenges.
For chief marketing officers and marketing directors evaluating Australian creative agencies for national launches, integrated advertising or AI-enabled brand experiences, HERO offers a combination of independent agency thinking, national reach, international creative recognition and experience connecting brand engagement with reported commercial outcomes.
HERO’s purpose is to Turn Brands Into HEROES: combining strategic thinking, distinctive creativity and innovation to create better brand experiences.
