TBWA\Sri Lanka received seven awards across four campaigns at the Dragons of Sri Lanka 2026. Image credit: Newswire.

TBWA\Sri Lanka has been named the No. 1 Industry Leader at the Dragons of Sri Lanka 2026, securing seven awards across four campaigns and providing a significant demonstration of the depth, versatility and practical value of Sri Lankan creative work.

The agency’s achievement comprised one Gold Dragon, two Silver Dragons, two Bronze Dragons and two Black Dragons, with the recognised campaigns spanning artificial intelligence, product launches, experiential marketing, sustainability, media, creative excellence and small-budget innovation.

The result is particularly notable because all seven awards were secured through work developed for only two long-standing clients: Hutchison Telecommunications Lanka and Maliban Biscuit Manufactories. The campaigns therefore illustrate not only the ability of creative teams to produce distinctive ideas, but also the importance of sustained client collaboration, institutional trust and a willingness to pursue unconventional solutions to clearly defined challenges.

Four campaigns, seven awards

The leading performance came from Hutch Roaming – The Roaming Hack, which received a Gold Dragon in Artificial Intelligence and a Black Dragon in Small Budget.

The campaign’s recognition in both categories indicates how technology and resourceful thinking can be used together to address a practical consumer issue. Rather than treating artificial intelligence as a decorative addition, the work demonstrated its potential as a creative enabler, supporting a solution that was both unconventional and mindful of budget limitations.

This combination is increasingly relevant across the communications industry, where brands are expected to deliver useful, memorable experiences while working within carefully managed financial and operational constraints. The campaign’s achievement suggests that effective innovation is not necessarily dependent on scale; it can also emerge from a precise understanding of a problem and the disciplined application of available tools.

The second Hutch campaign, Hutch Pissuwak, also described as ‘This is Crazy’, received a Silver Dragon in Product Launch or Re-launch. The award recognised the campaign’s distinctive creative approach to introducing a Hutch proposition, showing how a product or service launch can be strengthened when the central idea is presented with clarity, originality and a strong connection to the intended audience.

Together, the two Hutch campaigns covered different creative requirements: one used artificial intelligence and small-budget thinking to solve a consumer challenge, while the other applied a distinctive platform to a product launch. Their combined success reinforces the value of adapting the creative method to the problem rather than relying on a single formula.

Maliban campaigns connect creativity with social purpose

TBWA\Sri Lanka also achieved four awards for work created for Maliban Biscuit Manufactories, beginning with HumaniTill, which won a Silver Dragon in Event or Experiential and a Bronze Dragon in Cause, Environment or Sustainability.

HumaniTill was recognised for transforming the act of giving into a tangible experience, thereby creating a meaningful connection between participation and positive social impact. The campaign’s award results indicate that experiential communication can extend beyond entertainment or brand visibility when it is designed to encourage involvement and give a social purpose a more immediate, human dimension.

Its recognition in both the experiential and sustainability-related categories is particularly instructive. It suggests that cause-based work can be made more effective when audiences are not simply asked to observe a message, but are given an opportunity to understand and participate in the underlying idea. Such an approach can help brands contribute to socially valuable conversations while maintaining a clear and relevant relationship with their communities.

The second Maliban campaign, The One Breath Challenge, created for Clean Air Day, received a Bronze Dragon in Media and a Black Dragon in Creative Excellence.

The campaign’s awards place media planning and creative quality alongside one another, indicating that the strength of a public-interest message depends both on the idea itself and on the way that idea is communicated. Clean air is a broad social concern, yet the campaign’s title presents the issue through a simple and accessible human reference point, allowing the subject to be approached through a direct and memorable creative frame.

The recognition of The One Breath Challenge in Creative Excellence also demonstrates that work addressing environmental or public-interest themes can maintain a high level of creative ambition. Purpose-led communication need not be separated from strong conceptual development; when the two are integrated carefully, a campaign can achieve both social relevance and industry distinction.

A broad demonstration of Sri Lankan creative capability

Across the seven awards, TBWA\Sri Lanka’s recognised work covered Artificial Intelligence, Product Launch or Re-launch, Event or Experiential, Cause, Environment or Sustainability, Media, Creative Excellence and Small Budget.

This breadth is one of the most important aspects of the result. The campaigns were not variations of one executional style, nor were they concentrated in a single technical category. Instead, they addressed different business, consumer and societal challenges through different forms of creative thinking.

The achievement also places attention on the wider capabilities of Sri Lanka’s advertising and communications sector. Local creative teams are increasingly required to understand technology, consumer behaviour, environmental responsibility, brand strategy and measurable business needs, while continuing to produce work that is culturally relevant and emotionally accessible.

For Sri Lankan businesses, agencies and professionals working locally or internationally, such recognition offers a constructive reminder that locally developed ideas can compete through ingenuity, relevance and disciplined execution. It also highlights the untapped potential that can emerge when clients provide creative partners with the confidence to explore solutions beyond familiar formats.

The achievement will be of interest to the global Sri Lankan community, including professionals in Australia, the United Kingdom, Canada, New Zealand and the United States who continue to follow Sri Lankan innovation and business success. eLanka’s ongoing coverage of Sri Lankan achievements, professional developments and community initiatives reflects this broader interest in positive stories that connect local excellence with Sri Lankans worldwide. Readers can explore further community and professional stories through the eLanka online portal.

Leadership emphasises problem-solving and collaboration

Nathasoruban Sivapatham, Chief Creative Officer, TBWA\Sri Lanka, said that the most rewarding aspect of the result was the breadth of the work, noting that the agency had been recognised for campaigns addressing very different challenges, including the use of artificial intelligence to rethink a roaming proposition and the transformation of giving into a lived experience.

He stated that creativity involved finding the idea that best solved the problem, rather than beginning with a particular medium or format. This perspective places problem-solving at the centre of the creative process, while allowing the final communication method to be selected according to the needs of the audience and the campaign.

Renuka Marshall, Managing Director, TBWA\Sri Lanka, said that being named No. 1 Industry Leader reflected the agency’s philosophy of Disruption® in Action. She explained that this approach involved bringing a different way of thinking to each challenge, not pursuing difference for its own sake, but seeking better answers for clients and their audiences.

The agency’s approach is therefore presented as purposeful rather than merely unconventional. The distinction is important in a competitive industry where novelty alone can be short-lived, whereas ideas grounded in a genuine client or community need are more likely to create lasting value.

Ahmed T. Hassan, Chief Operating Officer, TBWA\Sri Lanka, attributed the achievement to teams that challenged obvious approaches, worked collaboratively and pushed ideas further. He also emphasised the trust placed in the agency by its clients, describing that partnership as an important foundation for the recognised work.

Client collaboration remains instrumental to the development of effective campaigns. While awards often draw attention to the agency, the results described by Newswire were built through cooperation between creative teams and the organisations whose products, services and social objectives were being represented.

TBWA\Sri Lanka’s seven-award achievement reflects creative breadth across technology, business, media and social impact. Image credit: Newswire.

A meaningful milestone for the agency

Being named the No. 1 Industry Leader at the Dragons of Sri Lanka 2026 marks a substantial milestone for TBWA\Sri Lanka and its people. The seven awards reflect a body of work that brought together artificial intelligence, small-budget innovation, product communication, experiential engagement, environmental awareness and creative excellence.

More significantly, the result presents a positive example of how Sri Lankan creative professionals can address commercial and social challenges through ideas that are practical, distinctive and purposefully developed. The campaigns for Hutchison Telecommunications Lanka and Maliban Biscuit Manufactories show that strong outcomes can be built through long-term relationships, clear objectives and a shared willingness to question established approaches.

For Sri Lanka’s creative industries, the achievement offers encouragement at a time when agencies and clients are navigating rapid technological change and growing expectations around social responsibility. It demonstrates that innovation is most valuable when it remains connected to people, solves a genuine problem and is supported by effective collaboration.

The recognition also reinforces the importance of celebrating Sri Lankan talent across the fields of business, technology, marketing and the arts. Through its coverage of positive Sri Lankan achievements, eLanka continues to provide a platform for stories that inform, connect and encourage the global Sri Lankan community.

Source: https://www.newswire.lk/business/tbwasri-lanka-named-no-1-industry-leader-at-dragons-of-sri-lanka-2026-with-seven-awards/
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