SAO PAULO—Global pharmaceutical giant Sanofi took home top honors in the 2024 Latin American SABRE Awards competition for its “Adopt your Allergies” campaign, produced with a team of agencies that included Weber Shandwick, MRM, McCann World Group, Akira Cine LTDA, and Craft.

The campaign, which came from Colombia, sought to educate people with allergies that the enzyme that causes cat allergies can be reduced by  90% after cats are neutered, and then sought to encourage the adoption of stray cats by people who previously believed they could not. Using a press conference with cats and social media (“catfluencers”), the effort increased both sales of Sanofi’s Allegra brand and cat adoptions in the market.

The “Adopt Your Allergies” campaign beat out four other strong contenders for the Platinum SABRE for Best in Show. They were:
2. Guarded Bus Stops — Eletromidia with ALMAP / JeffreyGroup
3. The Shameless Pad — Intimus (Kotex), Kimberly-Clark with FCB Brazil
4. Using Avocados to Avert Cargo Theft — Overhaul with Sherlock Communications
5. Welcome to The Group — Nosotras Women Connecting with Shift Porter Novelli/PHD

In total, Weber Shandwick and its clients took home nine Gold or Diamond SABRE awards on the night (including two for its creative shop Cappuccino), ahead of regional network Sherlock Communications with six; Burson and Jeffrey Group—merged this year—with five; and Porter Novelli with three (split between its Shift and InPress brands).

“Once again, the quality of the work we saw across the Latin American region was high, with extraordinary levels of creativity—as good as anything we see in the US or Europe,” said Paul Holmes, who chaired the awards jury. “We are seeing a lot more digital work and multi-platform content creation, a lot more influencer work, and a growing use of data and analytics in planning and evaluation.”

The SABRE event was held in Sao Paulo in partnership with Brazilian trade association ABRACOM and was attended by more the 200 leading public relations professionals from Brazil, Argentina, Chile, Colombia, Mexico, and around the world.

A complete list of winners can be found here.