Gurdeep Puri, Founding Partner of The Effectiveness Partnership and The House of Creative Impact, and former IPA Effectiveness Awards’ author, winner and judge, has been appointed as the inaugural Chair of Mentors for the 2026 IPA Effectiveness Awards.
In the role, Puri will coordinate and assist all mentors – comprising experienced consultants, former judges and prize-winning authors – in providing guidance to those submitting an IPA Effectiveness Awards paper.
Since its inception in 2012, the IPA Effectiveness Awards’ Mentor Scheme has helped contribute to more than 50 prize-winning papers. Last year’s winning mentored papers included Tesco Mobile by BBH, BBC by Havas Media and ANZ New Zealand by TWBA\Auckland. In previous years, mentored papers have included Cosette’s Best Not-for-profit and award-winning SickKids’ case study, Havas London’s Best Small Budget and award-winning paper for Ella’s Kitchen, and AFFINITY’s Best International and award-winning Central Coast case study.
All agencies that register for the Awards before Friday, 9 January, will be eligible for mentoring, and each mentored agency will receive five hours of one-to-one support. This mentoring time can be used doing anything from putting together a plan for the agency team to reviewing the structure of the paper and identifying any potential evidence gaps.
IPA Effectiveness Awards 2026 Mentors:
- Chris Baker, Partner, Bacon Strategy & Research
- Ali Bucknall, Consultant Strategist
- Fran Cassidy, Founder, Cassidy Media Partnership
- Will Goodhand, Freelance Strategy & Insight Consultant
- Gurdeep Puri, Founding Partner, The Effectiveness Partnership and Chair of the IPA Effectiveness Awards Mentor Scheme
- Tony Regan, Partner, Work Research
- Mark Stockdale, Partner, The Effectiveness Partnership
- Rachel Walker, Chief Strategy Officer
Commenting on the appointment:
Gurdeep Puri, Chair of the IPA Effectiveness Awards’ Mentor Scheme and Co-Founder – The Effectiveness Partnership, The House of Creative Impact:
“The IPA Effectiveness Awards Mentor scheme is a great offering from the IPA. It allows entrants access to leading experts in the effectiveness field, who have real world, tangible experience of helping agencies and marketers develop effectiveness award submissions for many years. I am honoured to be the Chair of this scheme. The IPA Effectiveness Awards are something that have always been close to me; they were my very first introduction to Adland, and what an excellent way to understand our business.”
I had the blessing of working with the late Dr Simon Broadbent, the godfather of effectiveness, who invented the IPA Awards in 1980, so that we could better demonstrate the value of the work. Work that works. Creativity and Impact work hand-in-glove for the benefit of marketing and business.
Laurence Green, Director of Effectiveness, IPA:
“With his experience as an author, winner and judge of the IPA Effectiveness Awards, no one is better placed to take this programme forward than Gurdeep, so I am delighted that he has agreed to Chair the mentoring programme moving forward.”
Charlie Ebdy, CSO, Omnicom Media Group UK and Convenor of Judges of the IPA Effectiveness Awards 2026:
“Whether you’re a first-timer or a Grand Prix winner, writing an IPA Effectiveness Awards paper is a task you cannot take lightly. And as the Awards continue to break down barriers and welcome work from all corners of the marketing communications industry, we want to make the process as accessible as possible for new agencies and authors – which is why the mentoring scheme has never been as important.”
All agencies that register before Friday, 9 January, are eligible for the mentorship programme and a 15% discount on the overall entry fee.
Gurdeep Puri, Founding Partner, The Effectiveness Partnership
Gurdeep’s 25+ years of experience bring together the technical and strategic aspects of Marketing. Before co-founding The Effectiveness Partnership in 2008, he worked as Head of Effectiveness at Leo Burnett across the agency’s accounts. Since co-founding TEP, he has enabled TEP’s clients win over 200 Effectiveness awards globally (including Grand Prix at Cannes, the Euro Effies, and Double Golds at the IPAs). He has personally won six IPA Effectiveness Awards and 13 European Effectiveness Awards, including three Golds.
Gurdeep has helped upskill Strategy, Account Management and Creative Teams globally across agency networks, globally as well as help client-side Marketers. Over the last few years, he has been involved in helping Marketers directly, via TEP’s Strategic Consultancy offering.
He is a former member of the IPA Value of Advertising Group and IPA ROMI committee. He has run workshops on behalf of the IPA, Cannes Lions, the APG and the EACA on Effectiveness Strategy and Econometrics. Gurdeep was part of the pioneering IPA Data Bank analytics group and directed the IPA Industry Effectiveness research project.
He has judged Effectiveness awards globally, including the IPA and Global and European Effies. Gurdeep speaks on the topics of communications effectiveness and has represented the UK and European communications industry at conferences globally and in its dialogue with the financial markets. He was made an Honorary Fellow of the Institute of Practitioners in Advertising in 2013 and a Cannes Creative Effectiveness Master in 2015. He graduated with a BSc (Hons) in Statistics and has an MSc in Financial Econometrics.