The new PREScom awards celebrate the best of PR, experiential and social media
The country’s PR, brand experience, events and social media industry professionals gathered at Bar Twenty-One at Sky City in Auckland last night (Wed, 28 November) to recognise and celebrate the best campaigns from the last year at the inaugural PREScom Awards. The awards were organised by the Commercial Communications Council.
The evening saw the industry getting behind the inaugural awards ceremony with finalists travelling to Auckland from all around the country to celebrate with their peers.
MC Pax Assadi carried everyone merrily through the ceremony, giving out 16 silvers and six gold awards whilst the crowd sipped bubbles and nibbled on canapés. Three of the Golds awarded on the night after two rounds of judging were for Copper Brand Experiences who won along with their client, Samsung Electronics New Zealand for two different campaigns; including a Gold in the categories of Best Experiential or Event and Best Sponsorship or Media Partnership for Galaxy’s Summer 2017/2018 and a third for the launch of the Galaxy Note 9 in the Most Innovative Campaign category.
MKTG won two Golds for The Movember Foundation and the Right to Grow in the Best Use of Media Relations category and again in the “tough to win” Strategic Thinking category. Fuse also enjoyed success and picked up a worthy Gold for their work with client Countdown for their Campaign reducing “Plastic Bags”.
Mango Communications picked up five Silvers across the evening and were up on stage often with work for Booking.com, Qantas New Zealand and jointly with Fuse for McDonald’s and the Celebrating 50 years of Big Mac campaign.
Spark PR & Activate picked up four Silvers for work with Spark/Skinny and also the well-received XPO Exhibitions – Body Worlds Vital the NZ Tour. Sherson Willis won a Silver in Best Public Affairs for their work with LIC around “Share simplification” and Hustle and Bustle were worthy winners with a Silver for Pernod Ricard, “The Chivas Club” in the pillar category of Best Experiential or Event.
Bridgette Smith from Lassoo Media & PR was one of the executive judges and said: “It’s great to see the quality and variety of entries in this inaugural year. Well done to all the entrants and we look forward to seeing more of their excellent work at the 2019 awards.”
Commercial Communications Council CEO Paul Head said: “Last night was a time for PR, experiential and social professionals, and their clients, to shine. In an increasingly cluttered media environment these disciplines have the potential to cut through with campaigns that attract and endear the consumer directly. All three disciplines have grown significantly and are now an integral part of the overall marketing mix.
“The scale and scope of the entries that won show just how important these disciplines are to the reach and efficacy of brands and it’s great to see everyone come together and recognise their achievements.”