Nominees Category: 2019

Sling & Stone exists to unearth, craft and share the stories of the most ambitious brands shaping the future. We were founded in 2014 as the antithesis of the glacial pace and rigid corporate structures of large agencies. We are purpose built for a special breed of future focused brands, who needed nimble and gutsy partners to help them grow. We are a global team of 50 Slingers in three locations, Sydney, Auckland and Los Angeles, who help change the way we live, work and play through PR, social and content, and communications. For more, visit us at slingstone.com

In 2018, we celebrated 25 years of success in China and we’re in better shape than ever. Darren Burns, whose leadership saw us winning a total of 23 Agency of the Year Awards (including eight in 2018 alone), handed over the reins to long time deputy Lydia Lee, who had herself just been named PR Professional of the Year by PR Awards Asia and Mentor of the Year at Campaign Women Leading Change Awards. Integration, Evolution, Transformation are words that best describe our journey. We made exciting new changes to our structure, with newly formed creative and data & analytics teams. In this tumultuous environment of agency mergers, trade wars and political tension, the adage change is the only constant has never rung more true. It is change that has kept us ahead of the competition, ahead in our client relationships, and ahead in our employee retention strategies.

APCO Worldwide is an advisory and advocacy communications consultancy helping public and private sector organizations act with agility, and build organizational reputations, brands, relationships and solutions to succeed. Since its founding in May 2014, APCO Japan has predicted and adapted to the changes that are occurring in Japan. Beyond our office’s growth trajectory — both revenue and a sevenfold growth of the original headcount, the Japan team is one of the most diverse in APCO’s global network. The fully bilingual and bicultural team combines its local expertise with its far-reach across the world to serve its clients. The team continues to work on long term retainer clients as well as new challenges that call for innovative solutions.