Allied Global Marketing (AGM) picked up the Grand Prix at the annual APMC Star Awards which were last night (April 10) in Dublin.
AGM picked up the top award for its work with Heineken Ireland and its “Heineken – Player 0.0” which won three Gold Stars on the night in addition to the Grand Prix.
According to the judges, the campaign “demonstrated innovation, ingenuity and creative excellence.”
It was also a good night for CMS Marketing which picked up seven Gold Stars, including one the highly competitive Creative Gold category for its work with Paddy Power. CMS also took Gold awards for An Post and for The Muff Liquor Company, and were recognised for the third year in a row for their work with Bank of Ireland.
Another huge winner on the night was InSight Marketing which bagged thirteen Stars across a broad range of categories – including Gold Stars for Nestlé, Maxol and Persil & Comfort. The InSight team was also recognised for its creativity with the Lynx Fine Fragrance Collection campaign.
Elsewhere Verve The Live Agency bagged six Stars across different categories for its work with Coca-Cola, Diageo/Smirnoff and Glenveagh Properties, which took the Gold for the newly introduced and very competitive Best Brand Roadshow Category.
Mixtape Marketing also had good night, walking away with four Stars, including Gold for its UCD Student Job Summit while Pluto picked up five 5 Stars for its work with clients like Pieta and Breast Cancer Ireland.
New entrant, TITAN Experience, was awarded its first ever APMC Gold Star for its work on the Fyffes Ireland’s Fittest School campaign while OLIVER picked up three awards for its work for McDonald’s Ireland and Bank of Ireland.
Elsewhere, Real Nation, goosebump and Elevator Promotional Marketing each took several Stars home in what was a record-breaking year for entries across all 21 categories.
At an individual level, the APMC the 2025 Rising Star is Louise Carey from Allied Global Marketing. The award recognises “young achievers, innovators and thinkers,” and this year five nominations were received
Speaking on behalf of the judging panel, Jimmy Murphy, one of the industry’s leading figures said: “It was a pleasure to judge the APMC Star Awards 2025. Another stellar year of world-class creativity, executed with extremely high levels of craft and flair. The ingenuity of the creative community in this country is on display throughout, and we were particularly impressed with the high standard of some newer brands in this market.
“Promotional Marketing remains a key driver for ambitious brands, and – although judging represents a big investment of time – I can speak for the whole panel by saying it was an honour to be involved,” he said.
“We are thrilled to see so many agencies participate and win Star Awards” said Ian McCabe, on behalf of the board of the APMC.
“We once again broke our record for both the numbers and sources of entries, with 16 different agencies participating in the competition. We are proud to honour the campaigns which really deliver results for our clients. It shows the depth of talent and expertise in the Irish market; all the campaigns that were shortlisted and won Stars are worthy winners and we as an Association are thrilled to celebrate and congratulate them,” McCabe adds.
All winners are now eligible to go on to compete against the best of the best in Europe at the European Association of Communications Agencies IMPACT awards which are scheduled to be open for entries in the summer.
The APMC Star Awards are supported and sponsored by IMJ/Adworld, Element London; Mando; Return2Sender; Hayes Solicitors; Horizon Digital Print; Fillit; McCul Clothing; Global and Session Hire.
