Shanghai - Saatchi & Saatchi
China’s Communications Team has been named ‘In-house PR Team of The Year’ at
PRWeek Awards Asia 2014. The PRWeek Awards is an unrivalled benchmark for the
region’s communications industry. Now in their 13th year, the Asia awards
signify a closer alignment with the global PRWeek brand and its awards
programmes in the US and the UK.
Open to any in-house
corporate, government, or non profit communications team, the ‘In-house PR
Team’ award recognises success in addressing issues related to management,
corporate communications, and campaign execution, including crisis situations.
Judges look for bottom-line impact; ability to establish/reinforce
communications’ role in the organisation and the C-suite; impact on the
organisations’ broader reputation; creativity and originality of programmes;
and the strategy and execution of those programmes.
Saatchi & Saatchi
China’s Communications Team beat many strong competitors for the top prize.
With a strategy of “advancing creativity with creativity” plus the additional
goal of building up their reputation outside the industry, the team helped more
people feel “creativity’s power to make the world a better place” through the
most engaging activities in the most effective channels.They initiated several
CSR campaigns on different platforms, such as setting up a performance art show
for Greenpeace, and bringing the Cannes-winning CCTV ‘Aged Care’ campaign onto
a digital platform to encourage and engage people young and old to pay close
attention to social issues. They also have made strong efforts to put new
technology and new ways of thinking to use this year, and making their Social
Media account the most followed among other agencies in China.
Rebecca Liu, Director of
Communications of Saatchi & Saatchi Greater China, said: “As an agency, we
have long understood the importance of ads to brands, as we try to convince
clients to buy our advertising/PR services to enhance their brands every day.
Our agency’s staff, however, was not accustomed to using PR strategies as a
tool on their own behalf. So it is important as the in-house PR team to plant
and cultivate PR sensibilities in all staff members and to enhance their
understanding of the value of PR.” She added: “I think the team have done a
good job on this regard, As a result, the agency’s brand image was improved and
each staff member felt an increased sense of self-worth and pride and,
furthermore, felt the value that properly executed PR work can create
firsthand.”
Photo (l to r): Judy Zhang, PR Manager, Saatchi & Saatchi Greater China; Richard Edelman, President/Chief Executive Officer, Edelman; Rebecca Liu, Director of PR & Communications, Saatchi & Saatchi
Greater China; Kris
Xiao, PR Specialist, Saatchi & Saatchi Greater China