SINGAPORE — Weber Shandwick was been named as large Asia-Pacific Regional Consultancy of the Year at the Asia-Pacific SABRE Awards in Singapore last night. The agency fought off competition from fellow finalists BCW, Edelman, FleishmanHillard and Ogilvy, last year’s winner.

Weber Shandwick won the honour for the second time in three years after growing 8% in 2018, led by strong performances in China, Hong Kong, India and Japan, along with impressive expansion of its creative and innovation capabilities — all of which was reflected in a string of award-winning campaigns for clients.

WE took home the same honour among midsize firms in the region, ahead of other category finalists Allison+Partners, Ketchum, Ruder Finn and SPRG. The midsize independent delivered continued growth in China, India, Singapore and Australia. 

In all, 64 firms, from multinationals to local specialists, were nominated across the 13 Consultancy of the Year categories. Full analysis of all finalists can be found here and the winners are listed below:

Asia-Pacific Regional Consultancy of the Year (Large): Weber Shandwick

Asia-Pacific Regional Consultancy of the Year (Midsize): WE Communications

Geographic

Australasian Consultancy of the Year: OPR

Greater China Consultancy of the Year:  Ruder Finn

India Consultancy of the Year:  AvianWE

North Asia Consultancy of the Year:  Synergy H+K Strategies

Southeast Asia Consultancy of the Year:  Archetype

Specialist

Consumer Consultancy of the Year:  AKA Asia 

Corporate/Financial Consultancy of the Year:  Cannings Purple

Digital Consultancy of the Year:  Edelman

Healthcare Consultancy of the Year:  SPAG

Technology Consultancy of the Year:  The Hoffman Agency 

New Consultancy of the Year:  Era Myanmar

The selection of winners is the result of an exhaustive research process involving more than 125 submissions and meetings with leading public relations firms across the Asia-Pacific region.