TLDR
Howatson+Company took Australian Agency of the Year at The Work 2026 with 25 Acceptances, edging ATime&Place by one in the tightest top-six in the award's 23-year history. Kate Naylor joined as Melbourne GM and Sally Borda as Managing Partner on CommBank, both announced the same week.
KEY TAKEAWAYS
The result and the margin
One Acceptance separated first from second. Howatson+Company finished The Work 2026 with 25 Acceptances, ATime&Place with 24, VML with 23, Today The Brave with 22, Sunday Gravy with 21, and BMEOF with 20, six agencies across five points, a compression the award's 23-year history has not produced before.[1] Winners were announced on 18 September 2026.[2]
The scoring method matters here. The Work accepts only campaigns already recognised at other major awards, so each Acceptance represents work that has cleared a preliminary bar elsewhere. An agency on 25 versus a rival on 24 has won more of those pre-vetted arguments, not simply entered more.
The work that got them there
The gallery credits Howatson+Company on the Allianz campaign 'Care you can count on', one of the entries that contributed to the agency's tally.[3] Now in its 23rd year, The Work is Campaign Brief's flagship showcase for Asia-Pacific creative, and the entry bar keeps the volume down and the standard up.[2]
Five agencies within striking distance of the winner suggests the independent tier is producing work at a consistently high level, rather than a single shop running away from the field.
Two hires, one week
Howatson+Company announced on 15 September 2026 the appointments of Kate Naylor as General Manager Melbourne and Sally Borda as Managing Partner leading the CommBank account, both reporting to Group Managing Director Renée Hyde.[4]
Naylor brings 18 years of global account management experience. At Rethink New York she helped grow the office and was part of the team that secured Independent Agency of the Year at Cannes Lions in both 2024 and 2026.[4] Borda arrives with 13 years in the industry, eight of them at Ogilvy Australia where she led financial services accounts for ING, TAL and American Express.[4]
Renée Hyde said the appointments reflected the agency's commitment to investing in exceptional leadership and delivering ambitious, effective work for clients, adding that Naylor and Borda already feel like H+Co people.[4]
Sally Borda said the Commonwealth Bank represents the economic engine of Australia and that H+Co is one of the sharpest forces in the industry. Borda said the partnership reflects the kind of ambition you would expect from Australia's biggest bank and its leading independent agency.[4]
Why it matters now
M&C Saatchi's Australian and New Zealand operations closed earlier in September 2026 following a failed management buyout, leaving a significant gap in the local market.[5] That timing places the H+Co result and the two Melbourne appointments in a market that is actively redistributing creative relationships and senior talent.
The Naylor and Borda appointments show H+Co converting award recognition into structural capacity in Melbourne before that redistribution settles.
SOURCES & CITATIONS
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
What is The Work and how are agencies ranked in it?
What were the top six agencies in The Work 2026?
What roles did Kate Naylor and Sally Borda take at Howatson+Company?
Why is M&C Saatchi's closure relevant to this story?
Xaviery Malinao writes for Prompt the Market on how brands and agencies are adapting to answer engines, drawing on Bushnote's work with clients across search, AI search and content.
