Nominees Category: REGIONAL PR AWARDS

Due to COVID-19 restrictions imposed across Southeast Asia, it was challenging for WarnerMedia’s Cartoon Network to promote We Bare Bears: The Movie in the usual way. However, with studies showing a spike in viewership in children’s entertainment due to the pandemic, there was an opportunity to leverage the stay-at-home mandates and offer fans across the region a movie experience they can enjoy at home through multiple platforms.

The campaign drove awareness and ratings through a mix of digital and social efforts, influencer engagements, ad sales, brand partnerships, and earned media coverage. With a total budget of USD148K, the regional campaign reached 10.4M kids on linear promotions and 38M on social media, lifted the ratings on Cartoon Network and Boomerang with a #1 ranking in its timeslot for multiple owned channels, boosted HBO GO usage, and generated USD4.1M worth of earned PR value, resulting in a 2,670% return on PR investment.

COVID-19 brought the world to a standstill and arguably the travel and hospitality industry was hit hardest. As an industry leader and major employer, Marriott International believed it had a responsibility to restore hope and confidence in its associates, travel industry and the communities they operate in. We would elevate and amplify the smiles of Marriott associates to the community and world at large, spreading a message of hope and positivity that we will travel again. We would reach and engage associates through public external channels – so that their friends and families and wider community could join in the message. Our strategy was to use our own assets – our people, our hotel properties, our social media channels – to broadcast our smiles to the world, with two communications moments: in April and again at the end of the year, with an optimistic look towards 2021.

Across the region, countries have been experiencing a myriad of air quality issues in recent years. From bushfires in Australia, smog in Pakistan, forest fires in Indonesia to haze in Malaysia and Singapore, these air quality issues combined with the pandemic have heightened the awareness of the importance of clean air and its impact on the health of our loved ones. With most people spending more time indoors, ensuring the cleanliness of our home environments has now become a priority. The challenge was that consumers were unaware of the numerous forms of indoor air pollution and the benefits of an air purifier in improving indoor air quality.

Our task was to support the launch of Philips’ latest air purification innovations across the region – the new Philips Air Purifier Series and to accelerate education and awareness of the impact of air quality on overall health.

The launch of TikTok for Business created an opportunity to communicate the impact of the platform’s coming-of-age: from a platform where marketers experimented, to one that deserves a seat at the table alongside other essential digital platforms. We successfully extended the brand’s equity in Southeast Asia through a multi-pronged branding and communications programme that addressed businesses of all sizes, showcasing TikTok’s differentiation as a content platform for brands to engage authentically and impactfully with today’s consumers. Our efforts correlated with tangible business outcomes, among other success measures: TikTok’s revenue increased sixfold in 2020, to over $155 million.

As COVID-19’s effects reverberate across Myanmar’s economic sectors in 2020, authorities sought to ease the suffering of many whose livelihoods were lost or at risk in the still-developing nation. Unfortunately, the country’s seafarers were overlooked.

Despite their crucial work, which helps fuel commerce and economic activity, they were not designated as essential workers, as had been done for their colleagues from other nations and other sectors such as doctors and healthcare workers.

This meant that they remained marooned at sea and on land by the tens of thousands, unable to move freely or be reassigned to earn a living for themselves and their families.

Throughout the campaign, the chorus of voices supporting the seamen, many of whom tearfully pleading to see their fathers or brothers they have not seen for months, rose in unison through a digital, content-led public affairs engagement that sought to make things right.