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Spark, NZ Herpes Foundation, Vogel’s triumph at the YouTube NZ Marketing Awards 2025
Creativity and impact drove the big winners at the YouTube NZ Marketing Awards 2025.
The 34th annual NZ Marketing Awards, hosted by NZ Marketing magazine and the NZ Marketing Association, were held at Auckland’s Spark Arena on September 3. The glittering night honours best work and brightest marketing talent across Aotearoa. It’s the premier awards programme in the calendar.
Moving hearts and wallets
International judge Thomas Barta said the top brands stood out this year by transforming the way people act, buy and choose. Vogel’s took out Brand of the Year. As Barta put it, “their brave creative work didn’t just move customer hearts, it moved wallets” – leading to profitable growth.
Spark New Zealand took home the most trophies on the night – winning four in total for Spark Game Arena Live, held in September 2024. Spark won:
- Supreme Marketing Excellence Award
- Excellence in Sponsorship Strategy
- Excellence in Travel/Leisure & Entertainment Marketing Strategy and
- Excellence in Utilities/Communications Marketing Strategy.
The New Zealand Herpes Foundation also made a strong impression, taking home three awards for its ‘Make New Zealand the Best Place in the World to Have Herpes’ campaign. The campaign won Excellence in Healthcare/Beauty Marketing Strategy, Best Not-for-Profit Marketing Campaign and Best Use of Video Marketing Campaign.
Team of the year went to Zuru’s 60-strong in-house marketing team.
Marketing legends
In the individual categories, Matthew Pickering, ANZ Bank New Zealand’s general manager marketing, is now Marketer of the Year. Simran Wadhawan, brand manager at Goodman Fielder, won the Marketer of the Future, while Craig Baldie, managing director of Lion NZ, is the latest inductee to the Marketing Hall of Fame.
Keith Norris was surprised with the very first Lifetime Achievement Award. He is a legend in marketing circles who, after 50+ years of service to the organisation, is still the compliance consultant at the NZ Marketing Association.
For the second year, YouTube was the premier sponsor of the Awards.
Australian act CYRIL closed evening with a DJ set, bringing the beats to the afterparty. CYRIL burst onto the scene in late 2023 with Stumblin’ In and his remix of Grammy-nominated band Disturbed’s Sound of Silence. In less than two years, his fandom has grown to include 190k subs and 169+ million views on YouTube.
In all, 35 awards were presented. Click here for the complete list of winners.
