Saatchi & Saatchi China Named In-House PR Team of the Year at PRWeek

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.”