Marquee Awards 2026: The Winning Brands and Campaigns Defining Modern Marketing
The gala awards in Dubai honoured 24 winners across 20 categories, spotlighting the ideas and execution setting new benchmarks for marketing excellence.
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Dubai just crowned its most decisive year yet for marketing and martech, as the Marquee Awards 2026 named 24 winning brands whose campaigns and technology builds delivered outcomes too significant to ignore, from double‑digit revenue growth and 90x‑plus ROI to platforms now serving over a million users.
The Marquee Awards 2026, presented by Martechvibe, recognise the campaigns and teams—across industries and martech domains—that don’t just keep up with change, but set new benchmarks for what modern marketing in the Middle East can achieve.
Across 20 categories in two broad clusters—Best Digital Campaigns and Technical Excellence—this year’s finalists represent 24 winners, from banks, retailers and FMCG players to healthcare systems, destinations, technology platforms and advisory firms.
Together, they show how creativity, data and technology can work in concert: building performance engines, elevating customer experience, and turning martech stacks into real commercial advantage rather than background infrastructure.
The winners were selected by a distinguished, independent jury of senior marketing, CX and communications leaders, including Aamir Allibhoy, Chief Marketing Officer at Match, Harsha Thawani, Associate Marketing Director – Digital Marketing Lead at KPMG (Lower Gulf), Hazem El Zayat, Chief Experience Officer MENA at Memac Ogilvy, Ravi Raman, Publisher at Fast Company Middle East, Vibha Thusu, Global Marketing & Communications Program Leader at Schneider Electric, and Suad Merchant, Global Chief Marketing Officer at GEMS Education.
Here’s the full list of winners of the Marquee Awards 2026.
The Best Campaigns: Stories that Moved the Market
The evening opened with the Best Digital Campaigns, a cluster designed to recognise companies that have turned sharp insight, creativity and smart use of technology into real business outcomes.
In Advertising & PR, the winner was Sherpa Communications for its work with Aethra Advisory. Rather than pushing out standard corporate messaging, Sherpa built a narrative around “smart global mobility” as a new advisory category and positioned founder Sonam Haider as a trusted voice in workforce mobility and cross‑border strategy.
Over just three months, that story translated into more than 200 pieces of earned coverage across tier‑1 TV, radio and business press, effectively launching both a company and a category from a standing start—one of the night’s clearest examples of thought leadership as a market‑entry engine.
Sharing the stage in the same category, Ajmal Perfumes was recognised for Strings of Oud, a premium fragrance launch that treated advertising and PR as a single, integrated discipline.
With 14.8 million impressions, 7.3 million video views, AED 1.04 million in sales and extensive editorial coverage in outlets like Forbes Middle East and Entrepreneur, Ajmal showed what happens when a luxury brand pairs storytelling and earned media with disciplined performance across digital, outdoor and retail.
The next category was Banking, where the audience saw a very different interpretation of financial marketing. Citi’s wealth‑management work targeted HNW investors with USD 1 million+ in investable assets through a cinematic, AI‑native narrative built on quiet confidence and long‑term guidance rather than shiny rate cards.
The three‑month digital‑only campaign more than tripled leads—from 224 to 679—and delivered 8.8x ROAS, a standout example of trust‑first storytelling in a niche segment.
Commerce, Education and Everyday Categories
The next segment, Ecommerce, captured how digital commerce is diversifying—from mass fashion platforms to specialised B2B tools.
The first honouree, 6thStreet (now AIVI), nominated by the agency Home of Performance, won for a performance‑driven approach that treated the fashion and lifestyle platform as the primary growth engine across GCC, aligning media optimisation and onsite experience around profitable orders rather than superficial reach.
By structuring campaigns and journeys as one system, the work underscored how e‑commerce marketing is moving from “traffic and conversion” towards lifetime value and brand equity at the same time.
Alongside 6thStreet, GemIQ, nominated by AIIMs Group, showcased what niche B2B e‑commerce can achieve when the funnel is engineered end‑to‑end.
Through parallel Meta architectures—one built for global, e‑commerce‑first jewellers and another tuned to GCC’s relationship‑led buying—the campaign drove 30.2 million impressions, 429 verified sales, 1,422 leads and more than USD 1.58 million in attributed purchase value for the GemLightbox and GemIQ ecosystem.
This was followed by the category of Education, where Ajman University won for its “Be Career Ready” platform.
Rather than relying on campus visuals and generic messaging, the campaign anchored the entire recruitment story in employability—linking programmes to alumni outcomes, employer reputation and concrete career support, across VR tours, search, performance media, social video, PR and school activations.
As a result, the university gained its highest intake in 36 years, including a 26% rise in new enrollment and a 15% gain in international enrollment, making it one of the clearest examples of outcome‑led education marketing.
In F&B, Papa Johns, nominated by Home of Performance, was honoured for its app‑led “Win a Million AED” Golden Ticket campaign, which offered AED 1 million plus AED 100 Golden Tickets for qualifying orders and turned that mechanic into a fully instrumented, multi‑channel engine for installs, orders, AOV and repeat behaviour.
Across Meta, Google, TikTok, Snapchat and first‑party RFM segmentation, the initiative delivered 48.27 million impressions, a 29% revenue uplift, 13% AOV growth, 61% more installs, double the new‑customer volume and improved new‑customer reorder rates, showing what happens when promotion design, app experience and performance media operate as one.
Everyday consumer categories followed in FMCG.
Abbott, nominated by Home of Performance, won for a campaign that brought healthcare‑grade trust and education into the FMCG context, using performance marketing and creative craft to connect everyday products to deeper wellness narratives without losing scientific credibility.
Alongside Abbott, Al Ain Farms was honoured for its Kefir launch, which tackled a crowded functional‑drinks shelf by owning “real kefir taste” for both wellness seekers and kefir connoisseurs through tailored creative on Meta, Yandex, Russian‑language radio and Spotify.
Within three months, the campaign generated more than 16 million impressions, lifted the brand to 4.9 points volume share and delivered over AED 500,000 in sales, underlining how insight‑driven digital can reshape even traditional dairy aisles.
In Healthcare, Aster DM Healthcare won for a paediatric “Superpower” initiative.
By introducing six original superhero characters and weaving them through schools, clinics, radio, social content and community events, Aster turned developmental care and preventive health into aspirational stories for children and reassuring journeys for parents, making complex clinical topics genuinely accessible.
Experiences: Hospitality, Destinations and Retail
The ceremony then moved through three categories that together map how brands in hospitality, real estate and retail are designing experiences rather than isolated campaigns.
In Hospitality and Travel, Five Hotels & Resorts won for its “Pay Three, Stay Four” offer, executed not as a one‑off promotion but as a permanent, data‑led direct‑booking engine.
Run across social, search, email, PR and influencer content between January 2025 and March 2026, the initiative delivered 64,008 room nights and more than AED 76.1 million in revenue, materially growing direct traffic and underpinning double‑digit gains in hotel revenue and EBITDA.
For Real Estate, Msheireb Properties won for “My Vibe”, which repositioned Msheireb Downtown Doha as a multi‑persona lifestyle ecosystem during the peak winter season.
By designing programming and communications around distinct personas—from food lovers and families to creatives and culture seekers—and amplifying them through influencers, paid social and PR, the platform drove 6.7 million visits (+4.8% YoY), longer dwell times, stronger hotel and parking performance and 1.3 billion+ media reach.
Closing the campaigns cluster, Digital Retail was won by Styli (Landmark Group) for its “Big November” Big Head campaign.
Answering a cluttered Black‑Friday season with one ownable idea—BIG—Styli used thumb‑stopping character creative, a six‑foot “Big Box” influencer activation, giveaways and a Landmark Tower neon takeover, backed by AI‑optimised product feeds, gamified CRM and WhatsApp product carousels.
The campaign delivered 30% GMV growth, 37% more paid orders, higher new‑order share and 180% higher reach at 57% lower cost, while catalysing sustained improvements in CAC, CPO and app conversion into Ramadan 2026.
Technical Excellence: Engines Under the Hood
After announcing the best digital campaigns, the ceremony moved to Technical Excellence awards, recognising the engines—the apps, data foundations, stacks and CX orchestration systems—that are quietly powering this new generation of work.
The first category, App Experience, was won by Sahatna of Abu Dhabi Health Data Services (ADHDS), Abu Dhabi’s connected digital health platform integrated into the TAMM government ecosystem.
Bringing appointments, records, prescriptions, teleconsultations, wellness insights, AI‑powered guidance, dependent management and insurance information into one app, Sahatna surpassed 300,000 downloads within five months of launch and today serves more than 1.4 million users—setting a new bar for what public‑sector digital health can feel like.
The next category was Data for Customer Insight, where Apparel Group won for the measurement and intelligence work that underpins its AIVI and wider retail ecosystem.
Using advanced sensor fusion, AI and geospatial mapping to understand how customers move across malls and stores, Apparel has turned raw location and behavioural signals into precise, intent‑led activation and insight, informing merchandising, loyalty and real‑time campaigns across multiple brands.
In Email Marketing, Mashreq won for NEO BUZZ, a bilingual editorial EDM series.
Each edition is anchored in a specific life moment—Ramadan wealth planning, emergency funds, family money conversations, retirement reviews—and then translates that context into plain‑language guidance, followed by NEO FEATURES and NEO OFFERS that connect readers to relevant digital tools and propositions without breaking the editorial flow.
The programme has given Mashreq NEO a sustained content habit with customers, bridging financial education and product exploration in a repeatable, scalable way.
Journey Orchestration for CX followed, with Alshaya Group winning for its H&M 360 initiative.
By replacing weekly batch‑and‑blast campaigns with behaviour‑led journeys across email, push, WhatsApp and onsite/app personalisation, powered by Bloomreach, the team achieved a 96% conversion uplift versus control and 92x ROI, while building a reusable omnichannel template that can scale across Alshaya’s portfolio of 70 brands.
In Loyalty Technology/Programmes, Lulu Hypermarket (Lulu Retail) won for its Happiness loyalty technology, which fused cashier‑referral enrolment with churn‑prediction, wallet‑based Eidi campaigns and structured reactivation journeys.
The initiative delivered sixfold growth in enrolment and around 20x ROI on targeted reactivation, turning loyalty from a passive points system into an active acquisition‑and‑retention engine across six GCC markets.
For Mobile App Marketing, Mashreq won again for its Cards Scratch & Win gamification campaign.
By turning routine card transactions into instant scratch‑and‑win moments inside the mobile app, supported by a dedicated in‑app gaming centre, real‑time eligibility checks and cross‑channel communications, the campaign drove over 309,000 games, engagement above 22% and 11% higher spend among gamers versus non‑gamers, repositioning the app as a destination for interaction and rewards.
In Performance Marketing, the awards were won by two brands. Meydan Free Zone re‑architected its paid media around CRM‑verified Opportunity and Closed‑Sale signals, not superficial leads, lifting blended sales conversion from 13% to 23%, cutting cost‑per‑sale by 63%, reducing spend by 71% and driving AED 156.3 million in revenue over 14 months with ROAS peaking at 13.49x.
By turning routine card transactions into instant scratch‑and‑win moments inside the mobile app, supported by a dedicated in‑app gaming centre, real‑time eligibility checks and cross‑channel communications, the campaign drove over 309,000 games, engagement above 22% and 11% higher spend among gamers versus non‑gamers, repositioning the app as a destination for interaction and rewards.
Alongside Meydan, Gebal Group, nominated by AIIMS Group, demonstrated what B2B infrastructure players can achieve on social: lean Meta campaigns across UAE, Qatar and Saudi Arabia combining awareness, traffic and instant‑form lead generation delivered 847 qualified leads at approximately AED 19 CPL, 3.9 million impressions and 1.87% CTR, well ahead of B2B benchmarks.
In Personalisation, Sharjah Cooperative Society won for a framework that unified data into 360° customer views and built more than 80 segments and 60 automated journeys covering onboarding, activation, recommendations, repeat purchase and reactivation.
The programme delivered 87% higher email opens, 68% higher CTR, 52% higher conversion and 24% revenue uplift, with significant gains in repeat purchase and CLV, underlining that personalisation has become a core operating discipline rather than a single feature.
Real‑Time Marketing/Triggered Execution, was won by Apparel Group for its Locate AIVI solution.
By converting proximity—near mall, in mall, near store—into contextual push notifications and tailored offers through an AI‑powered geo‑location engine, the system lifted conversion rates from 5% to 25%, increased sales uplift from 11% to 54%, cut communication costs by 100% versus WhatsApp and improved cross‑brand acquisition and churned‑customer reactivation.
Finally, in SEO, Meydan Free Zone won again for its organic and AI‑readiness work, which treated search and generative discovery as a single revenue engine.
By rebuilding site architecture, scaling long‑tail activity pages and structuring entities so that AI systems can understand and surface Meydan’s propositions, the programme increased organic sessions and impressions by around 166–169%, raised Domain Authority from 23 to 47 and drove 3,812 licenses and AED 82.5 million in revenue from organic channels—roughly 60% of overall licenses and revenue.
Looking Ahead
As attendees filtered out into the Dubai night, the conversation felt less about who “won” and more about what the winning work represents: campaigns built on deep insight and discipline, martech stacks treated as growth infrastructure, and brands across sectors seeing marketing not as communication, but as an operating system for growth.
For the full list of winners, click here.
