The Advertising Club (TAC) has announced the introduction of new categories for Creative Abby 2026, further strengthening the awards’ commitment to global relevance and creative excellence. 

The new categories being introduced are - Social Content and Influencer Marketing; and Creative Commerce, Use of Data and B2B.

Further, recognising the role played by clients whose brands have set creativity benchmarks and made their agencies famous, a category devoted to the client whose brands wins the maximum number of points called 'Client of the Year' has also been introduced.

There is further refinement in the computation of Creative Agency of the Year. Until now, this award earlier used to go to the agency with the maximum points in the 8 traditional creative categories viz Print(2), Film(2), OOH, Integrated, Audio, Digital. This has now been changed to award the agency with the maximum points in all 18 creative categories other than Video Craft (for film producers) and Young Maverick Abby.

With Social Content and Influencer marketing vertical  taking care of most mobile originated digital content, TAC has discontinued the Mobile Category. 

Along with this, three existing categories which are the social good verticals have been merged into one Category. Green Abby, Red Abby and Diversity Equality, Inclusivity (DEI) have been merged into one Category called Sustainability and Inclusion.

The last date for submission is 6 April, 2026, and work eligible to participate has to be released between 1 April 2025 and 31 March 2026.

The results will be declared and presented at the Goafest 2026, which is tentatively scheduled to be held between 23-25 April.

Dheeraj Sinha, president, The Advertising Club, and CEO, McCann India, said, “Goafest has always been synonymous with creativity, collaboration, and industry excellence. The Abby Awards Powered by One Club continue to push boundaries, setting new creative benchmarks year after year. Abby Awards being in its 57th year, continue to raise the bar, and this year’s edition will be even more inspiring, bringing together the brightest minds in the industry.”

Ajay Kakar, chairperson, Abby Awards 2026, said, “We have introduced two new categories and merged, rationalised and deleted some categories. For the very first time we have partnered and co-created with creative luminaries of the industry for categories. We are truly grateful to the continued support of One Club and One Show towards conducting our judging process for the last 5 years. Our thanks to the widespread participation of both agencies and client companies year after year."