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NEW YORK — “Fighting with Our Words,” an advocacy campaign conducted on behalf of the Ukrainian PR Army by Plus Communications, took home the Platinum SABRE Award for the best public relations campaign at this year’s North American SABRE Awards ceremony, held at New York’s Cipriani 42nd Street last night.
Plus Communications worked with a network of volunteer PR professionals to help launch a news service with a mission to provide information and voices to US media on the latest developments on the ground across Ukraine, providing a daily digest of fact-checked and translated Ukrainian news from official, credible sources and eyewitness accounts for military, civilian and humanitarian efforts.
The effort helped Ukraine secure seven major aid packages, including both military equipment and supplies and economic and humanitarian packages, as well as strengthening the case for sanctions on Russian officials.
“In the face of a massive social media disinformation campaign from Russia, it was vital for Ukraine to provide timely, accurate and credible information,” says Paul Holmes, who chaired the SABRE judges. “This campaign, conducted pro bono, had a significant impact on broadcast and print media coverage of the war, on public opinion, and ultimately on America’s support for democracy.”
The “Fighting with Our Words” campaign beat out four other finalists for the Platinum award:
2. Listen Up—Lexie Hearing with SGA
3. Corona Plastic Fishing Tournament—Corona with Allison+Partners and We Believers
4. A Dream Delivered: The Lost Letters of Hawkins Wilson—Ancestry with Weber Shandwick
5. Dove Keep the Grey—Unilever with Edelman Canada
Two agencies took home five trophies for their work with clients: midsize independent Finn Partners and West Coast creative boutique Bospar. Global agency Ketchum earned four SABRE Awards on the night, with three apiece for C+C, Citizen Relations, Current Global, Edelman, MSL and Weber Shandwick. Agencies with two trophies each included Allison+Partners, Carmichael Lynch Relate, Fahlgren Mortine, Hill+Knowlton Strategies, MikeWorldWide, Mullen Lowe, and Zeno Group.
A complete list of the night’s winners can be found here.
Earlier in the day, Canadian public relations firm Veritas and its client Labatt Breweries of Canada took home the Platinum SABRE Award at the In2 SABREs, which celebrate insight and innovation, with an emphasis on content creation, digital and social media, disruption, and data and analytics. The "#TapeOutHate" campaign for Budweiser sought to bring greater diversity to Canada's national sport of hockey.
#TapeOutHate beat out four other contenders for Best in Show:
2. Doritos + Stranger Things: “Live From The Upside Down” — Frito-Lay North America with Ketchum, OMD, Observatory and ShakerMaker
4. One Sequential Step at a Time from Tip to Grip — Tampax (Procter & Gamble) with MSL
5. The Hero Wagon — Radio Flyer with Current Global
Winners of the In2 SABREs, previously announced, can be found here.
