Burger King has won the coveted Grand Prix prize at the 2025 Marketing Week Awards, as well as the award for Long-Term Brand Building for its work rejuvenating the brand.

After losing ground to established rivals and new players alike, the fast-food chain has been working to restart growth in the UK over the past six years.

Working with agency BBH, Burger King has put its flagship burger, the Whopper, front and centre of its transformation plan, demonstrating its quality and promoting it as the “king of pleasure”. The push resulted in an uptick in premium and ‘deliciousness’ perceptions, leading to an increase in customer base – despite category decline – and a “huge percentage jump” in the number of Whoppers sold annually between 2017 and 2024.

“Burger King’s rejuvenation is a marketing success story,” says Russell Parsons, editor-in-chief of Marketing Week. “A long-term play and marketing masterclass of insight, category understanding and creative excellence that ended with a reinvigorated brand, massive sales increases and vastly improved perception. A worthy Grand Prix winner.”

Specsavers has won the prestigious Brand of the Year award for its commitment to consistency, with its long-running ‘Should’ve gone’ campaign continuing to evolve and hit the mark. The company also consistently puts its brand purpose at the forefront, achieving growth while continuing to invest in its team and business.

As well as winning Brand of the Year, the retailer also took home the prizes for Best Use of Social Media and Best Use of Content.

Meanwhile, Sainsbury’s chief technology, data and marketing officer, Mark Given, has been named Marketer of the Year. He has been central to reshaping the supermarket’s portfolio of brands and boosting both value and quality perceptions.

Sainsbury’s celebrated its highest market share gains since 2016 in the year to 1 March 2025. The supermarket’s value perceptions have increased by 370 basis points over the past four years, with quality perceptions up 200 basis points – credited in part to its Next Level strategy and ‘save and invest to win’ programme.

Burger King’s rejuvenation is a marketing success story.

Russell Parsons, Marketing Week

Bupa Global has won the prize for Marketing Team of the Year after reframing the role of marketing from service function to growth engine over the past three years. The team developed a strategy focused on four key pillars: working faster and smarter, using insights to “deeply” understand customers, compelling messaging and teams fuelled with “energy, expertise and empathy”.

The wide-ranging ”reset”, which also included a focus on training and upskilling, progression planning and rebuilding capability across six global hubs, led to a 104% increase in UK revenue alone and a 20% boost to marketing ROI.

Bupa Global also won the awards for Marketing Excellence and Capability Building, and Best Use of Sponsorship or Partnerships.

‘You have to deliver on the fundamentals’: Inside Bupa Global’s marketing team transformation

Other big winners include Ikea, which took home the prizes for Best Branded Experience or Event and Brand Innovation, and Uber, which was awarded the prizes for Excellence in Travel, Tourism and Hospitality and Best Use of Segmentation, Targeting and Positioning.

Both Ikea and Uber are clients of Mother – named Marketing Week’s 2025 Agency of the Year – which has had a stellar year. Working with other brands, including KFC and M&S, while adding the likes of Adidas and Duolingo to its roster, the agency achieved a 21% increase in revenue growth in 2024.

The Talent Trailblazer Award, in association with the Advertising Association, which celebrates the organisations and individuals opening the industry up to new talent, has been won by the Neverland Flying Academy.

“The Marketing Week Awards is a brilliant opportunity to acknowledge and reward the many achievements that can be boasted by those in the marketing industry,” says Parsons. 

“The macro environment remains challenging, putting a strain on resources and people. More important than ever, then, to offer a collective pat on the back. Congratulations to all our winners!”

The full list of 2025 Marketing Week Awards winners will be available to view on the Winners’ Showcase shortly.