And the brand with the most NZ Marketing awards nominations goes to…

The long-awaited list of finalists for the 2025 YouTube NZ Marketing Awards is out and Kiwibank has come in strong with the most nominations across the board.

Published on June 23, the list includes 77 brands across the Marketing Excellence, Campaign and Individual categories.

Of those, some finalists made the list more than once, receiving several nods from the judges for their mahi over the past year.

Leading the charge

Kiwibank leads the charge with 11 nominations. The bank is a finalist in the Marketing Excellence Awards category twice for its campaign ‘This is Fuel for Your Rocket – Kiwibank Fast Capital’. ‘Is It Really Real? This Is Flipping the Script on Fraud and Scams’ and ‘This Is Saving for All Life’s Plot Twists – Saving with Kiwibank’ each get a nod.

Kiwibank’s agency partners include Special Group, FCB/Six, TRA, OMD, InsightsHQ, Talbot Mills and System1.

Those same three campaigns are also finalists in the Marketing Campaign category. ‘On the Ladder with Kiwibank – This is a Different Way to Buy a Home’ has three nominations.

The Kiwibank team is in the running for the prestigious Brand of the Year award, which last year went to ANZ.

Next in line

Following closely behind Kiwibank is 2degrees, with 10 finalist nominations. It has six in Marketing Excellence for Data Pinata Party, Fighting for Fair Strategy, Get to Business 2025 and Reshaping Broadband.

2degrees’ Reshaping Rugby and Olympics Team Talk are also finalists in the Marketing Campaign category. Marketing manager Dave Pearce is a Marketer of the Year nominee, and the telco is a finalist for Brand of the Year.

Spark has nine nominations while Restaurant Brands – KFC, DB Breweries and Toyota all have eight.

Spark Game Arena – the first-ever national festival for gamers in Aotearoa – has three of Spark’s total nods. KFC is recognised for its pop up fish and chip shop that raised money for Surf Lifesaving New Zealand and its Zing Air campaign for the 2025 Super Rugby competition, among others.

DB Breweries stands out – it’s listed in almost every category. The Export Ultra Cold Call Back Service, featuring Vanilla Ice, features three times in the Marketing Campaign section. It’s in the Marketing Excellence section, too, joined by DB’s Free the Bird campaign.

DB’s Lucy Hansard and Fraser Shrimpton Marketer of the Future and Marketer of the Year nominees respectively. And the whole team is up for Marketing Team of the Year.

Toyota is also in the running for Marketing Team of the Year and Brand of the Year. Associate vice president Susanne Hardy is on the list for Marketer of the Year. The automotive company has Marketing Campaign nods twice for its Hilux Hybrid campaign and once for RAV4 – The Original Recreation Vehicle.

Who will take home the trophies?

Round two of judging happens in the coming weeks. We’ll find out who won on Awards Night: Wednesday, September 3.

This sparkling event at Auckland’s Spark Arena always sells out, so don’t miss out. You can book tickets here.