NEW YORK—Unilever and its agency Joy Collective were awarded the Platinum SABRE for the best public relations campaign of 2019 at the virtual North American SABRE Awards ceremony tonight, beating out more than 2,000 other entries for the night’s top honor.


The winning campaign focused on Dove’s support for the Crown Act, a piece of state-level legislation that sought to make it illegal for employers to discriminate on the basis of hairstyles—a political issue that most profoundly impacts the African-American community. Dove co-founded the Crown Coalition, which helped to see the legislation pass in California, New Jersey and New York last year.

The Crown Act beat out four other finalists for the Platinum award:

  • “We Believe” by Gillette with MMK+ (Ketchum), which saw Procter & Gamble’s Gillette take a stand against toxic masculinity;
  • “Pantone Color of the Year 2020: A Multi-Sensory Experience” by Pantone with Huge, which put a new spin on a longstanding annual announcement;
  • “Lolli: The Exhibit No One Wants to Talk About” by The Canadian Centre for Child Protection with No Fixed Address, which used a striking exhibit to draw attention to child predators on the internet;
  • “Ordained Store Associates Help Customers Get Hitched” at Helzberg by Helzberg Diamonds with Carmichael Lynch Relate, which saw the jeweler’s employees getting ordained and marrying couples in store.

The 21st North American SABRE Awards was the first to take place virtually, with the winners announced during a digital event that combined live, pre-recorded and animated elements and was attended by at least 750 people.

It was a big night for Edelman, which took home more Gold and Diamond SABRE trophies than any other agency: seven in total. Edelman beat out Ketchum and Weber Shandwick, both of whom were presented with four SABRE trophies.

Other multiple winners included APCO Worldwide, Burson Cohn & Wolfe, C+C Group, Day One Agency, Finn Partners, FleishmanHillard, Golin, Huge, ICF Next, Kivvit, MWWPR, No Fixed Address, Ogilvy, Padilla, and Zeno Group.

A complete list of winners can be found here.