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Apple has been named the best brand and the best design studio of the last 50 years at the D&AD Awards, one of the world's most prestigious prizes for advertising and design.

Sir Jonathan Ive, the company's design guru, who usually eschews publicity, came to collect the awards, which were held at a dinner at Evolution in Battersea Park in London.

Even more unusually, Apple flew in its entire design team from San Francisco in recognition of the importance of the D&AD Awards and all 16 of them - 14 men and two women - accompanied Sir Jonathan on stage to collect the award for best design studio.

It is understood that Apple's design team have never previously attended an award ceremony. Their appearance was all the more notable given that Apple is focused on the global launch of its iPhone5, which hits stores on Friday.

Sir Jonathan Ive declined to say anything publicly but wore a big smile as he chatted to fellow guests at the 50th anniversary celebration of D&AD, which stands for Design and Art Direction.

Among the audience were some of the biggest names in British advertising and design including Sir John Hegarty, Lord (David) Puttnam, Sir Terence Conran and Sir Frank Lowe.

Clive Grinyer, who used to work with Ive at design consultancy Tangerine, paid tribute to Apple's products, saying: "The design is inherent in every part of the brand."

Collett Dickenson Pearce & Partners, which created memorable campaigns for Heineken, Hovis, Benson & Hedges and Hamlet cigars in the 1970s, was named the best advertising agency of the last 50 years.

D&AD chief executive Tim Lindsay said: “The people, companies and brands celebrated tonight are the true visionaries of the past 50 years of commercial creativity. Their work has changed the way we live our lives, the way we communicate and the way we perceive businesses and each other."

"If anyone wondered whether D&AD mattered, the world's most valuable company has flown its entire design team over," said Robert Senior, chief executive of Saatchi & Saatchi, who added it sent a strong signal about the importance of creative industries. "Conservative Government, are you listening?" he added.