SHANGHAI—Edelman and Ogilvy Public Relations were the big winners in the 2013 Asia-Pacific SABRE Awards competition, as the industry’s leaders gathered in Shanghai to celebrate the best PR campaigns in the region.

Edelman and its clients took home the most Gold trophies SABRE trophies—presented for Superior Achievement in Branding, Reputation & Engagement—with seven wins, ahead of Ogilvy (six) and Weber Shandwick (four). Other multiple winners included Burson-Marsteller and Shanghai-based boutique Vitamine (three each) and Singaporean firm AKA Asia, corporate specialist Brunswick Group, and technology agencies Text 100 and Waggener Edstrom with two each.

But Ogilvy also took home the Platinum SABRE Award for the best PR program of 2013 for its work on the “Pambassadors” campaign, on behalf of the city of Chengdu. The campaign harnessed social media to create a story that reached 900 media outlets across 30 countries and drove a 30 percent increase in international visitors.

And Ogilvy added both a Silver SABRE award (presented for content creation) and a South-East Asia Consultancy of the Year trophy, for a total of nine awards on the evening.

That campaign beat out four other strong contenders for Platinum honors, edging out local boutique Vitamine’s efforts to help Johnson’s Baby Powder recover from a crisis by campaigning on behalf of “work and pump” moms; Weber Shandwick Corporate Voices work for P&G’s Gillette brand, mobilizing Indian women to demand that their men shave in the evening before getting intimate; Brunswick’s efforts to help Sinopec after its plastic pellets started washing up on the Hong Kong coast after a cargo vessel sank; and Burson-Marsteller and Mango Media’s support for Telenor in its successful bid for one of two government licenses in Myanmar.

“A record number of entries in this year’s SABRE competition yielded an incredible variety of great campaigns, from CSR in China to public affairs in Myanmar to crisis management in Hong Kong,” says Paul Holmes, editor of The Holmes Report and chairman of the SABRE jury. “But Ogilvy’s work for Chengdu showed what a simple idea, well executed across traditional and social media, can do to drive real results: a substantial increase in tourism from markets around the world.”

A complete list of winners follows:

GOLD SABRE AWARDS

INDUSTRY SECTOR

Automotive
The All New Ford Fusion Launch in Korea
Ford Motor Company with Burson-Marsteller Korea

Food and Beverage
#PlanWBoost at Social Media Week
Diageo Asia Pacific with AKA ASIA

Fashion and Beauty
The Mary Kay Beauty Contest
Mary Kay with Ogilvy & Mather

Consumer Products
LG White Goods Microfilm
LG with Waggener Edstrom Hong Kong

Travel and Leisure
Jetstar‘s Feng Shui of Flying
Jetstar with AKA Asia

Entertainment
A Rock ‘n’ Roll Tender Offer
Gibson Guitar with Edelman Japan

Retailers
Horsemeat Crisis? Balls. Riding on Honesty and Humour for a Winning Message
IKEA Singapore with Huntington Communications

Restaurants and Food Services
Continuing Rise of a Legend
Tsui Wah Holdings Limited with Strategic Public Relations Group

Financial and Professional Services
Prudential TVC Star Search
Prudential Indonesia with Edelman Indonesia

Industrial/ Manufacturing
Comprehensive Multi-Faceted Stakeholder Engagement, Both Internally and Externally
SapuraKencana Petroleum Berhad with FTI Consulting

Consumer
Evernote – Spreading the Word by Nurturing Creativity
Evernote Corporation with Kreab Gavin Anderson

Business-to-Business
IBM Australia Truth Behind the Trends
IBM Australia with Text100 Australia

Telecommunications
SK Telecom T World Launch
SK Telecom with Weber Shandwick

Consumer Health
Pump it Forward (7 Square Meters of Love)
Johnson & Johnson China Ltd with VITAMINE

Pharmaceutical
Iki Iki Jinja
Nippon Boehringer Ingelheim with COSMO Public Relations Corp.

Healthcare Providers/ Medical Technology
Australian Launch of iBGSTAR
Sanofi Aventis with Edelman Public Relations

Associations
Talk Into Action: Executive Women Australia
Executive Women Australia with SenateSHJ

Public Sector/ Government
Swiss Pavilion at Expo 2012 Yeosu Korea
Presence Switzerland with Edelman Korea

Not-For-Profit
Spark The Rise
Mahindra Rise with Blogworks

PRACTICE AREA

Marketing to Consumers (Existing Product)
A Little Savings Goes a Long Way
Beijing Hyundai with MSLGROUP, Genedigi

Marketing to Consumers (New Product)
All-New Ford Focus Launch in Thailand
Ford Motor Company with WPP X Team

Integrated Marketing
Fundawear – A Durexperiment
Durex Australia with Frank PR Australia and Havas Worldwide Sydney

Business-to-Business Marketing
Volvo CE’S National Excavator Operator Contest
Volvo Construction Equipment with Edelman

Crisis/ Issues Management
Sinopec’s HK Plastic Pellets Crisis Management
Sinopec with Brunswick Group

Public Affairs/ Government Relations
Shame On Us
WWF (Thailand) with Ogilvy Public Relations Worldwide

Corporate Image
FP Markets
FP Markets with H+K Strategies

Financial Communications
A Rock ‘n’ Roll Tender Offer
Gibson Guitar with Edelman Japan

Employee Communications
Unleashing the Power of One
UEM Sunrise with Ogilvy Public Relations Singapore

Corporate Social Responsibility
Sinopec’s HK Plastic Pellets Crisis Management
Sinopec with Brunswick Group

Community Relations
Promoting Cultural Awareness Through Sport
Crescent Wealth with Sefiani Communications Group

Cause-Related Marketing
Pump It Forward (7 Square Meters of Love)
Johnson & Johnson China Ltd with VITAMINE

Public Education
Selling Health to Singaporeans
Singapore Health Promotion Board with Waggener Edstrom Singapore

Corporate Media Relations
Legoland Launch Malaysia: From Zero to Hero
Legoland Malaysia with Bell Pottinger

Product Media Relations
Making Australian Parents Say ”OMG“ About Office 365
Microsoft with Howorth and Social@Ogilvy

Digital Campaign
The Passport by Heineken
Asia Pacific Breweries Singapore with iris Singapore

Social Media Campaign
LeFun Run
Lenovo with BlueFocus

Marketing to Men
Shave or Crave
P&G India with Corporate Voice Weber Shandwick

Marketing to Woman
Wipeout
Unilever – DiG with Social@Ogilvy

Marketing to Youth
Over 1 Million Served: Big Data Fuels China‘s Appetite for McBreakfast
McDonald‘s China with Weber Shandwick

GEOGRAPHIC CATEGORIES

Australia/ New Zealand
Enter from the Wings: A Mission to Grow Self Esteem for Individuals with Down Syndrome
e.motion 21 with 50 Kaliber

Greater China
Pump it Forward (7 Square Meters of Love)
Johnson & Johnson China Ltd with VITAMINE

Indian Sub-Continent
Shave or Crave
P&G India with Corporate Voice Weber Shandwick

Japan
The AXE Wingmen – Building the Confidence of Young Men in Japan
Unilever Japan with Edelman Japan

Korea
The All New Ford Fusion Launch in Korea
Ford Motor Company with Burson-Marsteller Korea

South-East Asia
Telenor: Delivering Success Through a Differentiated Bid Offering
Telenor Group with Burson-Marsteller and Mango Media

Multi-Country (at least two countries)
Hilton Huanying, Welcoming Chinese Travelers the World Over
Hilton Hotels and Resorts with Ketchum

Regional (more than five countires)
Elevating Lenovo‘s Corporate Image
Lenovo Asia Pacific with Text100 Global Communications

Global (led out of Asia-Pacific with work in other regions)
Chengdu Pambassador
Chengdu City with Ogilvy & Mather Asia/Pacific