Awards and recognitions

Delion’s own premium rakia brand – TABIET – has won several outstanding awards. The brand deservedly claimed honorable distinctions at the IWSC International Wine and Spirits Awards 2025, the largest and most influential global competition for beverages. It was also awarded first place in the “Best Private Label” category at the Progressive Awards 2024. Additionally, TABIET received the first prize in the “Spirits” category at the “Favorite Brands” competition, chosen by nearly 12,500 consumers.

TABIET has become Bulgarians’ favorite spirits brand in this year’s “My Love Marks” competition. The premium brand also stood out at the Brand Building Awards 2024, winning the prize for “Best New Product of the Year.” Moreover, TABIET Pear Rakia was honored with a Gold Medal in the “Fruit Rakia” category at the prestigious Rakia & Spirits Fest Sofia 2024.

The Avendi team received two awards at the European Distribution Awards 2024, organized by LV Moët Hennessy: “Best Return on Investment (ROI) Campaign” – for the exceptional collaboration with Chef Sevda Dimitrova and the French champagne brand Veuve Clicquot, as well as the award for “Best Digital Campaign” – for the inspiring digital presence of the Scottish whisky Glenmorangie. These distinctions are yet another recognition for Avendi’s achievements and its high standards in applying effective marketing strategies to promote the premium brands in its portfolio.

In Bulgaria, the renowned champagne brand Veuve Clicquot, which supports the success of women around the world, partnered with Chef Sevda Dimitrova, winner of the second season of MasterChef Bulgaria. As part of the activation, she presented a special signature brunch menu paired with Veuve Clicquot Yellow Label. She was later invited to Zagreb to take part in the regional program for talented female chefs, aimed at encouraging innovation and creativity in gastronomy.

In the “Best Digital Campaign” category, Avendi was recognized for the inspiring digital presence of Glenmorangie whisky. The campaign was awarded for delivering impressive results with a high return on investment in digital channels.

A significant international distinction was awarded to the Avendi team, part of the VM Finance Group. Once again, Avendi has proven its professionalism, efficiency, and world-class strategic thinking. The company ranks among Proximo’s top partners, surpassing competition from dozens of countries. At the core of this success are the brand activations for premium whiskey Bushmills throughout 2024, which earned a Silver Proxies Award at the prestigious Best Practice Awards.

The award for overall brand activation is granted in competition with other Proximo partner markets, with Bulgaria winning among countries from Europe, the Middle East, and Africa (Partners Markets Cluster). This distinction ranks Bulgaria among Proximo’s strongest partners, alongside established global markets such as Australia and Japan, serving as proof of the team’s professionalism and dedication.

The recognition is based on the effectiveness and creativity of the Bushmills campaigns, which delivered strong commercial results and outstanding performance.

The Avendi team has been honored with DIAGEO’s most prestigious recognition – “Partner of the Year 2024.” This marks the third time the company has received this esteemed award, presented at the Annual Partner Conference for Eastern Europe – a region covering more than 30 countries across Central and Eastern Europe and Asia.

The “Partner of the Year” award celebrates exceptional holistic performance, reflecting DIAGEO’s core pillars: building long-term partnerships, delivering consistent performance, driving sustainable financial results, fostering business development, and demonstrating strong partner culture and maturity.

The award is granted through nomination and a decision by DIAGEO’s top management. It is considered the highest honor a DIAGEO partner can achieve – and is also the most closely guarded secret of the event, held this year in sunny Split, Croatia.

“We are deeply proud of this recognition, as it represents not only an achievement but also a commitment to strategic partnership and investment in the future,” said Alexandra Mircheva, CEO of VM Finance Group. “This award comes at the perfect moment – in the year when VM Finance Group celebrates 30 years on the market. It belongs to the people of the company and the teams who have the courage, vision, and drive to deliver results.”

Avendi first won the award in 2006, becoming the very first company in the region to do so. In 2011, it was honored again, making history as the first partner to win twice. And now, in 2024, Avendi has set another milestone – the first company ever to be awarded “Partner of the Year” three times.

 

Avendi and Delion, part of VM Finance Group, have won prestigious distinctions at the 6th edition of the PROGRESSIVE AWARDS, organized by Progressive Magazine Bulgaria.

Avendi took home the award for “Best Distributor”, while Delion claimed the top spot in the “Best New Alcohol Product” category for Beluga Epicure by Lalique.

This achievement reinforces our market leadership and highlights our commitment to being among the very best оn the market. Our success is the result of the tireless work and dedication of our entire team, as well as the strong collaboration with our partners.

This year’s PROGRESSIVE AWARDS featured 78 finalists across 15 categories, with voting from 12,500 managers in the FMCG sector. The awards recognize the best traders, products, initiatives, and sustainability policies, and the ceremony took place on June 6.

The world’s best-selling and most recognized whisky has named Bulgaria as its top-performing market in Europe, the Middle East, and Africa for 2023.

Johnnie Walker Black Label, a luxurious blend of whiskies aged at least 12 years, earned this distinction for Bulgaria at Diageo’s Annual European Conference. The brand’s owner, Diageo, holds 40% of global Scotch whisky production, manages 24 whisky brands, and operates in 132 markets worldwide. Its partner in Bulgaria is Avendi, part of VM Finance, a company with over 20 years of experience and a proven track record in distribution and marketing of leading global brands.

This recognition from Diageo further confirms that Avendi is acknowledged by major global corporations as a key strategic partner.

In the local market, Avendi represents Diageo brands, as well as those of LVMH, Proximo, Monin, Nestlé Waters, Borges, Kraft Heinz, Artsana, and others.

 

In 2021, the Glenfiddich brand created The Grande Composition - a series of collaborations with artists in 19 countries around the world, including Bulgaria, South Africa, Nigeria, Poland, Great Britain, Germany, Spain, Israel and the UAE. They must transform and dress Glenfiddich's exquisite packaging into an iconic work of art for each country. In doing so, Glenfiddich creates a global collection of masterpieces that interweave the brand's rich history with local culture, brought to life through the style of each individual artist.

Delion, which represents the emblematic brand in Bulgaria, trusted a team of professionals from the A Team for the creative proposal for the Bulgarian market. Their mission is to present the Bulgarian tradition through a modern artistic reading of Glagolitic.

This year, during the European distributor meeting of Moet Hennessy, Central and Eastern Europe region, a total of 8 awards were presented in 8 different categories.

30 countries and 1,700 projects participated in the competition, with two finalists in each category reaching the final.

Bulgaria, represented by Avendi, took part in the Best E-Retail Push category with the Launch Chandon Garden Spritz & Seewines project, for which they partnered with A Team. In the final we were opposed by Estonia, but the prize was won by Avendi. Thus, the Avendi team once again proved that it is part of the new trends worldwide.

Delion was recognized for their team's work by the prestigious annual Progressive Awards. J.J. Whitley Gin won an award in the Best New Product Alcohol category.

The winners were awarded after a 3-month vote conducted among managers of companies from the fast-moving industry. Voters had to choose one of each finalist in the 13 categories. A total of 12,500 emails with a unique voting link were sent each week between June 28-September 30.

The most authoritative contest for effectiveness in advertising - Effie Bulgaria, awarded A Team for their innovative approach in implementing the "World Class Bulgaria 2017" campaign. The agency won a bronze award at the official awards ceremony in Sofia.

A Team participated for the first time in the competition and won a prize. "We entered the most contested category, Merchandise, and after passing the initial sieve, we competed with very large companies with serious and heavy marketing budgets. In fact, we were the most boutique and small in scale. We are very happy that our efforts have been noticed " commented Hristina Vancheva, managing director of A Team.

The campaign for which the agency was awarded was realized for Avendi. "Diageo Reserve World Class Bulgaria 2017" is the Bulgarian edition of the most prestigious world competition for bartending skills. Bulgaria participated in it for the third year. In its campaign to promote the event, A Team took a different approach by creating a reality show for the finalists, broadcasted only on digital channels.

The Effie Bulgaria Awards are organized by the Bulgarian Association of Communication Agencies (BACA) and this year they have their tenth anniversary. The jury consists of representatives of advertisers, advertising agencies, media, research agencies, independent experts. The selection and number of jury members guarantees both high professionalism and expertise in various fields necessary to evaluate the applications, as well as objectivity and impartiality of the evaluations.

Last week, a Diageo partner conference was held in Bratislava, where the Avendi team received awards in 2 categories (being nominated in 3 more) out of a total of 7 (Premium core, Reserve, On-trade, RTC, Capability, Innovations, M&E):

- Excellence in Innovations (Achievements in Innovations) – for the excellent results Avendi achieved with Johnnie Walker Red Rye Finnish in all channels – On-trade, Off-trade, KA, digital, BTL.

- Best progress in Measurement and Evaluation (Best progress in measurement and evaluation of sales and marketing activities) - the company received this award for the second time in a row, which is a source of pride, as it is in an area that is recognized by them and Diageo as key, namely – Efficiency.

For the third year in a row, the TRUE LEADERS initiative of ICAP Bulgaria awards 75 Bulgarian companies that simultaneously meet criteria for profit, increase in staff, credit stability and a leading position in the sector of activity. One of the awarded companies this year is Avendi.

ICAP Bulgaria, part of the ICAP Group - the largest Group for business information services in Southeast Europe, for the third year in a row honors the leading companies in Bulgaria with the "TRUE LEADERS" awards. The event took place on December 8, 2015, in the Rainbow Plaza hall, Sofia, with the participation of more than 200 representatives of senior management of leading Bulgarian and international companies, as well as representatives of chambers of commerce and state institutions.

The "TRUE LEADERS" institution awarded for the third time in Bulgaria all companies that meet several measurable and objective criteria at the same time, without the intervention of the subjective opinion of a jury or the results of a public survey. Awarded companies meet the following criteria:

·       Among the 300 most profitable companies by EBITDA for 2014
·       Increased the number of their staff (2014 vs. 2013)
·       With a high credit score (ICAP Credit Score B2-A1)
·       A leader in their sector

On October 13, at an official ceremony in the Albertina Museum, located in the Archduke Albert's Palace in the center of Vienna, Avendi was awarded the "Distributor of the Year" prize for the third time by their long-time partner and the largest producer of BIO baby food in the world – HiPP.

The award has been presented for four years, with the winner being announced among 30 distribution companies from Central, Eastern Europe and Asia, based on overall performance in three key categories - "Most reliable Customer", "Best Performance in Key Categories" and "Best Sales Increase 2014”.

In addition to the grand prize, Avendi also won first place in the "Best Performance in Key Categories" category.