THE SHOUT GROUP/FCB SHOUT and Grab Indonesia clinch Grand Prix at NEXT Awards Asia-Pacific 2025

Philippines – THE SHOUT GROUP/FCB SHOUT, Grab Indonesia, and Adobe were announced as the Grand Prix winners at the recently concluded NEXT Awards Asia-Pacific 2025, taking home top honours in the Agency, Brand, and MarTech of the Year categories, respectively.

The NEXT Awards Asia-Pacific 2025 is a multi-country recognition programme that highlights the most effective marketing executions across Southeast Asia and the wider APAC region. Its distinctiveness lies in its country-to-regional progression model, where winners from national programmes automatically advance to the Asia-Pacific level.

From Malaysia, THE SHOUT GROUP/FCB SHOUT claimed the Agency of the Year Grand Prix, securing a total of 14 trophies. The agency dominated with nine golds for categories including Most Innovative Agency of the Year, Most Innovative Advertising Campaign, Most Innovative B2B Marketing Campaign, Most Innovative Consumer Insights Marketing Campaign, Most Innovative Digital Marketing Campaign, Most Innovative OOH/DOOH Marketing Campaign, Most Innovative Public Relations Campaign, Most Innovative Retail Marketing Campaign, and Most Innovative Seasonal Campaign, alongside one silver and four bronzes.

Runners-up for the Agency title were Indonesia’s M&C Saatchi Performance, Volare Advertising Network, and i-dac Indonesia.

In a short but energetic speech, Shaun Tay, co-owner and chief executive officer of The Shout Group/FCB SHOUT, said, “What we do is pretty simple: we create great work, and it clearly resonates in a good way with you. You’re awesome—thank you for this honor.”

Grab Indonesia also delivered a standout performance, emerging as Brand of the Year with nine trophies in tow. Following closely as runners-up were MR.DIY Malaysia, RHB Bank, and Starbucks.

Grab secured five gold trophies for Most Innovative Influencer Marketing Campaign, Most Innovative Launch/Re-launch Campaign, Most Innovative Loyalty Marketing Campaign, Most Innovative Omni-channel Marketing Campaign, and Most Innovative Social Media Campaign, along with three silvers and one bronze.

Speaking on behalf of Grab Indonesia, Jose Miguel De Leon, marketing senior specialist at Grab Philippines, said, “Innovation and technology have always been the backbone of how we push the boundaries of our work… At the heart of that are our core values—how we serve our communities, our hunger to keep improving, our commitment to doing what’s right, and our humility to keep learning. These values guide everything we do and inspire us to continually raise the bar.”

Adobe rounded out the Grand Prix winners with MarTech of the Year, taking home three trophies: a gold for Most Innovative Use of AdTech in a Campaign, a silver for Most Innovative Data-driven Marketing Campaign, and a bronze for Most Innovative Consumer Insights Marketing Campaign. Meta and Pega were the runners-up in this category.

Among the most contested categories, GROW with Singlife claimed gold for Most Innovative Event Marketing Campaign, while Grab Indonesia with its agency M&C Saatchi Performance took home the gold for Most Innovative Influencer Marketing Campaign.

In leadership and individual categories, Meutia Adryana, founder and CEO of STEB Group, won the Most Innovative Agency Leader of the Year gold award. In marketing, Michael “Mike” Sena, first vice president and group head of integrated marketing and communications at PJ Lhuillier Inc., claimed gold for Most Innovative Marketing Leader of the Year. 

Meanwhile, Pratt Hetrakul, currently chief strategy officer at MOVEFAST PUBLIC COMPANY LIMITED, received the gold for Most Innovative MarTech Leader of the Year, recognising his contributions during his tenure as a marketing science partner at Meta.

For team categories, THE SHOUT GROUP/FCB SHOUT won gold for Most Innovative Agency Team of the Year. MR.DIY Malaysia clinched the gold for Most Innovative Marketing Team of the Year, and Teads Singapore took the top prize for Most Innovative MarTech Team of the Year.

The awards also highlighted standout agency winners across key creative, digital, media, and communications disciplines. Lead Assassin from the Philippines was recognised as Most Innovative B2B Marketing Agency of the Year, while MBCS Malaysia earned gold as Most Innovative Creative Agency of the Year. OMD Taiwan led in digital, and JOLT Digital Singapore dominated in media. Elesi Studios won gold for production, PRecious Communications for public relations, and Eyden Indonesia for search agency.

A total of 79 unique organisations from across Asia-Pacific attended the gala night. Winners came from markets including Singapore, Malaysia, the Philippines, Indonesia, Thailand, Vietnam, Taiwan, Australia, Myanmar, and Hong Kong, reflecting the programme’s wide regional representation.

Indonesia stood out with an impressive haul of 41 trophies—14 golds, 17 silvers, and 10 bronzes. Malaysia came next with 31 awards, followed closely by the Philippines with 29.

See the full list of winners HERE.

The judging process was overseen by a distinguished panel of senior marketing leaders, bringing years of industry expertise to ensure the credibility and integrity of the results. For the Marketing Campaigns tracks, the Heads of Jury are Farha Naz Zaman, chief marketing officer at Grameenphone Ltd.; Chin Mei Lee, chief marketing officer at McDonald’s Malaysia; Arpan Biswas, chief marketing officer at AJIO.com; Sheila Paul, chief marketing officer at Home Credit; and Bobby Suadi, VP marketing at Prudential Indonesia.

Overseeing the Agencies, Individuals, and Teams categories is Philip Chau, regional director, marketing performance & operations, Asia, at Sun Life.

See the full list of the jury HERE.

In his closing speech, Joven Barcenas, founder and CEO at MARKETECH APAC, said, “To our judges for the Philippine leg and the APAC awards, thank you so much for believing in NEXT Awards’ mission. Without your support, we won’t be able to gather here tonight and celebrate the most innovative marketing campaigns, agencies, leaders and teams in the region.”

“To all the finalists and winners, I encourage you to continue your great work and get ready for the NEXT Awards 2026, as we are making the celebration bigger,” he added. 

Brands, agencies, and martech companies interested in joining next year’s NEXT Awards may reach out via [email protected].