Thursday Mar 05, 2026
Thursday Mar 05, 2026
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In their first ever strategic push at the Effie Awards, Digibrush powered their clientEmerald to be crowned the Most Effective Brand of the Year, the biggest brand honourof the night.
The SLIM Effie Awards 2025 Grand Finale, held on 3rd March at Monarch Imperial,Thalawathugoda, was the most competitive edition in the event’s 17year history in Sri Lanka, drawing over 300 entries - a record for the platform. Against that field, Digibrush claimed 2 of only 5 Gold awards presented on the night, finishing with a total of 19 wins across 2 Golds, 3 Silvers, 4 Bronzes, and 10 Finalists. At the centre of it all was a singlecampaign that has now rewritten what is possible in Sri Lankan marketing.
A Historic Double Crown for Double Pocket
What makes #DoublePocket unprecedented in Sri Lankan brand history is not anysingle award. It is what the campaign achieved across both of SLIM’s flagship awards platforms in the same year - a feat no campaign has accomplished before.
At SLIM Digis 2.5, Sri Lanka’s foremost digital marketing awards and the mostcompetitive edition in the event’s history with over 450 entries, #DoublePocket wasawarded the Grand Prix - the single highest honour of the night, under the category of Best Use of Agile Moment Marketing. The Grand Prix at SLIM Digis represents the best digital campaign in the country. It is not shared. There is one.
Months later, the same campaign entered an entirely different arena. The Effie Awards do not judge creativity. They judge effectiveness, measuring every campaign on therigour of its insight, the discipline of its strategy, the quality of its execution, and the hard business outcomes it delivered. It is a fundamentally different standard. Manycampaigns that dominate creative awards disappear entirely under Effie scrutiny.
#DoublePocket by Digibrush conquered it again by winning Emerald the Most Effective Brand of the Year 2025.
The Same campaign won Same client 2 Major awards - The Grand Prix at SLIMDigis and Brand of the Year at the Effie Awards. A probable first time in Sri Lankan brand history, and it positions #DoublePocket by Digibrush as arguably the most awarded single campaign this country has ever produced.
The Double Pocket Campaign
#DoublePocket did not begin in a boardroom. It began with a moment.When newly elected President Anura Kumara Dissanayake stepped into public life in 2024 and his signature double-pocket shirt became a national talking point, Digibrush recognised what most brands missed - a direct, authentic, and time-sensitive connection between a cultural moment and their client Emerald’s existing shirt
collection. They had hours to act, not days. The campaign went live within 24 hours of the moment entering the national conversation.
The results were immediate and measurable. Emerald’s double pocket orders surged by 747%. The campaign delivered a 147.7X Return on Ad spend. Across Facebook and WhatsApp, conversations about the brand spread organically, drawing in audiences who had not engaged with Emerald in years and reintroducing one of Sri Lanka’s most established menswear names to an entirely new generation of consumers.
It was not a campaign built on a large budget or a long runway. It was built on speed, cultural intelligence, and the kind of creative instinct that cannot be manufactured. The #DoublePocket campaign is now the clearest demonstration of what separates Digibrush from the field the ability to see a moment, size it up, and convert it into measurable business impact before the moment passes.
“We had a few hours to make a call. We knew the moment was real,Emerald had the product, and we knew our audience. Everything we havebuilt at Digibrush starting with the culture, the speed, the data capability,came together in that window. The awards are gratifying, but what mattersis that it worked for the client. That is always what this is about.”
- Hisham Zulfiqar, CoFounder & Managing Director, Digibrush
The Effie Awards Night
The Effie Awards Grand Finale was not a one-campaign story for Digibrush. The agency’s 19 wins spread across a portfolio that covered Zesta, Daintee, Keells, and Softlogic Life, spanning fashion, FMCG, retail, and financial services proved their ability to deliver award-winning effectiveness across entirely different industries on the same night.
Digibrush claimed Gold and Bronze in the Social Media category and was named a Finalist in Performance Marketing, reinforcing its standing as a full-spectrum partner for brands that demand results across every digital channel. Competing in the most entered edition of the Effies in Sri Lankan history, against multinational networks and large integrated agencies, Digibrush claimed 2 of the 5 (40%) Gold awards presented on the night.
“The question we ask on every brief is whether it will actually grow the business. When you keep asking that question and keep answering it across industries, across years, and across different standards of evaluation, the recognition follows. Winning at the Effies means more than most awards because that is precisely what the Effies exist to test.”
- Fazaal Naufer, CoFounder & Executive Director, Digibrush
The Unique Record
Tuesday’s performance adds to a track record that stands alone in Sri Lanka’smarketing landscape. Digibrush is the only agency in SLIM Digis history to have claimed four Grand Prix wins, and has been named the most awarded agency at that platform three consecutive years running, consistently outperforming multinational networks and large local competitors in the country’s most competitive digital marketing forum.
The Effie Awards entry this year was described by the agency as their first focused and strategic push at the effectiveness stage. Nineteen wins, two Golds, and the most coveted brand honour of the night on a debut of that kind is a statement that the industry will not soon forget.
About Digibrush
Digibrush is Sri Lanka’s most awarded independent digital marketing agency, founded by Hisham Zulfikar and Fazaal Naufer. Specialising in performance marketing, digital brand building, creative strategy, and e-commerce, the agency serves leading brands locally and internationally, including HäagenDazs, Nature Valley, and Old El Paso through a partnership with General Mills. For more information, visit digibrush.net
