The Co-operative was the big winner at last night’s inaugural Transform Awards, the UK’s only dedicated celebration of rebranding, brand transformation and reputational change.

At a ceremony at The Tabernacle, Notting Hill, the mutual society walked off with the top prize, the Grand Prix for Excellence in Rebranding, in recognition of its £10 million, two-year rebranding project.

In a ceremony hosted by the BBC’s arts editor Will Gompertz, the Co-op won a further three gold awards – for best brand architecture, best evaluation process, and best national rebrand – as well as a silver award in the best campaign to advertise a rebrand category, behind the night’s other big winner, insurance group Aviva.

As well as collecting gold for a £9 million campaign featuring celebrities such as Bruce Willis and Ringo Starr, Aviva won gold awards for best internal communication of a rebrand and best rebrand in the insurance sector, as well as a silver award (Best national rebrand) and a bronze award (Best corporate rebrand to reflect changed mission, values or positioning).

Judged by a panel of branding experts, communications practitioners and academics, the awards programme also saw gongs handed out for best overall visual identity (DirectGov); best copy style or tone of voice (Parasol); best implementation of a rebrand (RSA); greatest likely business impact of a rebrand (Holiday Inn); and best rebrand from the public sector (King’s Health Partners).

The Transform Awards were established by Communicate magazine, the UK’s leading magazine for corporate communications and stakeholder relations.

Communicate’s publisher Andrew Thomas said: “The buzz around last night’s awards goes to show how important it is that we benchmark and recognise the practice of rebranding. With brand so integral to an organisation’s reputation, professionals who often achieve outstanding results deserve to be acknowledged. Our congratulations go out to all of last night’s winners and we look forward to seeing even greater creativity and strategic thinking next year.”

The full list of winners: