2023 Innovation SABRE Awards Winners

The Innovation SABRE Awards winners will be presented during the PRovoke North America Summit at the Whitby Hotel in NYC on May 2nd.

View all Innovation SABRE Award finalists here

Agency Awards

Disruptive Agency of the Year

• Spool, the first people first agency — Spool Marketing and Communication

Data-Driven Agency of the Year

• How Insightful Analytics Empower Empathy Intelligence — Ketchum

Purpose-Driven PR Agency of the Year

• From Purpose Driven Mindset to Championing Courageous Moves: Zeno Impact Continues to Grow — Zeno Group

Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Initiative

• Hotwire - Igniting Possibilities — Hotwire

Agency Thought Leadership

• Examining Weaponized Disinformation Against Corporate America — Marathon Strategies

• Not Just A PR Agency — Bospar

Individual Awards

Creative Professional of the Year

• Josh Budd — Citizen Relations

Data Professional of the Year

• How A Business Major ‘Dropout’ Became An Expert In Data Analysis — OkCupid

DE&I Professional of the Year

• Judith Harrison — Weber Shandwick

Iconoclast of the Year

• Curtis Sparrer: Taking a Stand and Speaking Up — Bospar

Innovator of the Year: Agency

• Catherine Merritt, Creator of a New Kind of Agency — Spool Marketing and Communications

Innovator of the Year: Brand

• A Team 'Inspired': Innovating with Inspire Brands — Inspire Brands with MSL

Experiential Marketing

Live Events

• Can't Touch This — Neon with Bospar

Online/Virtual Events

• Doritos + Stranger Things: “Live From The Upside Down” — Frito-Lay North America with Ketchum

Digital Promo & Activation

• Don't Get McShammed — Jack in the Box with Small Girls PR

Sponsorships

• Championing Equity for Collegiate Women Athletes — H&R Block with Carmichael Lynch Relate

Earned Media

Digital/Print Media: General, Consumer and Lifestyle Media

• Pumpkin Spice Trash Bags — Hefty with ICF Next

Digital/Print Media: Business/Trade Media

• The Home Depot’s Associate First Approach to Spring Hiring — The Home Depot with MSL

Broadcast Media

• Gingerbread Dive Bars — Miller High Life with ICF Next

Product Reviews

• Arby’s Had Beef with the Burger Industry, so They Fixed It. — Arby's (Inspire Brands) with MSL

Earned Media with Influencers + Communities

• The Reality Flag — Human Rights Campaign with BCW, WPP, VMLY&R, Hogarth, Wavemaker

Persuasive Content

• Ugly Truths Holiday Sweaters — Canadian Mental Health Association with Citizen Relations

Content Creation for Media Sites (Earned)

• Arby’s Ignites the Fish Wars with Rapper Pusha T’s Fish Diss — Arby's (Inspire Brands) with MSL

Sponsored & Paid Media

Content Creation for Media Sites (Paid)

• Reaching Multi-Lingual Moms Through Digital Marketing — FeverAll with RLA Collective, a Ruder Finn Company

Paid Influencer Programs + Endorsements

• Pink For All: Helping Pink Stand for Inclusivity — Victoria Secret Pink with Hunter

Product Placement (Entertainment Vehicle)

• All Together Now: Guinness St. Patrick’s Day 2022 — Guinness – Diageo NA with Taylor PR, MKTG, QCM

SEO/Content Distribution Program

• Keeping the Ball Rolling Amidst Uncertainty: Reimagining Storytelling & SEO for Synopsys’ Corporate Blog — Synopsys with The Hoffman Agency

Digital Marketing/Advertising

• On The Fence — Illinois Department of Health with TimeZoneOne with partners Schafer Condon Carter, Tessa Films and Civis Analytics

Social Media & Community Management

Overall Use of Social Media & Platforms

• National Roast Day — Wendy's with Ketchum

Social Video

• Madden Ratings Hotline — EA Sports with 160over90

Social Photos

• Reigniting the legacy of Tres Generaciones through social photography — Tres Generaciones with Day One Agency

Influencer Marketing

• One Sequential Step at a Time from Tip to Grip — Tampax (Procter & Gamble) with MSL

Crowdsourcing & Co-creating

• Combatting Online Toxicity: Jigsaw’s Harassment Manager Launch — Google Jigsaw with M Booth

Platform-Specific Campaigns

Best Use of Instagram

• Dove InstaGrants — Mars Wrigley with Weber Shandwick

Best Use of LinkedIn

• Microsoft Viva: Bedtime Stories for Bosses — Microsoft Canada with Veritas / M&P

Best Use of TikTok

• Arby’s Heats Up TikTok and TV Screens with the Diablo Dare — Arby's (Inspire Brands) with MSL

Best Use of Twitter

• The Heinicke Deal — A-B InBev, Bud Light with 3pm Agency / Weber Shandwick

Owned Media

Website

• Depression Looks Like Me Takes Aim at Mental Health Representation — The Janssen Pharmaceutical Companies of Johnson & Johnson with FleishmanHillard

Mobile Apps

• Keeping it REAL with Bravo’s “Million Dollar Listing'' alum Fredrik Eklund — Real Messenger with Bospar and The Society Group

Digital Publishing

• Stories From Hilton: A Revamped Home for Storytelling — Hilton

CSR, ESG and DEI Reporting

• EV Supply Chain — General Motors

Annual Report

• Ford Integrated Report — Ford Motor Company

Documentary Film and Video

• Not the Science Type — 3M with Ketchum, Generous Films, and Passion Point Collective

Tools and Tactics

AI/Virtual Reality/Augmented Reality/Immersive Technology

• Chipotle Mexican Grill - Roblox Boorito — Chipotle Mexican Grill with Day One Agency

Audio: Podcasts + Music

• Kind Cities — Lenovo with Zeno Group

Gamification/User-Generated Contests

• #belairdirectDriveChallenge — belairdirect with Clark Influence and Omnicom Group

Identity Branding

• Flamin' Hottie Snackable Screens — Frito-Lay North America: Doritos and Cheetos with Ketchum Goodby, Silverstein & Partners, D3, OMD and ShakerMaker

Illustrations + Photography

• Gingerbread Dive Bars — Miller High Life with ICF Next

Meme

• Chipotle Mexican Grill x Corn Kid — Chipotle Mexican Grill with Day One Agency and Cameo for Business

Real-time Engagement (Crisis and Issues)

• Pride Proud — San Francisco Pride with Bospar

Real-time Engagement (Newsjacking)

• Papa Johns One-Day Contracts — Papa Johns with Current Global

PR in the Metaverse

Virtual Worlds

• Launching The First Dog Park In The Metaverse — Get Joy with Sēd and Metaverse Technologies

Metaverse Events and Experiences

• Samsung Superstar Galaxy on Roblox — Samsung with UEG

Gaming in the Metaverse

• Animal Crossing Omnipod Bay — Insulet with Porter Novelli

NFTs

• Dwyane Wade x Budweiser Zero NFT — Budweiser with Allison+Partners

Partnerships

Media Partnership

• When Cancer Grows Old — Sanofi with GCI Health

Influencer Partnership

• Beers & Queer History — Miller Lite with ICF Next

Celebrity Partnership

• Baking 9 to 5: Duncan Hines x Dolly Parton — Duncan Hines with Conagra Brands and M Booth

NGO and Charity Partnerships

• The Hero Wagon — Radio Flyer with Current Global

Brand Partnership

• Doritos + Stranger Things: “Live From The Upside Down” — Frito-Lay North America with Ketchum

Data and Analytics

Social Listening

• Have You Ever Put Butter on Pop-Tarts? — Kellogg's Company with Weber Shandwick

Data in Campaign Planning and Development

• Demolishing Data SilosIntegrated Analytics & Brand Perception Dashboard — Zoom with Zeno Group

Behavioral Science

• One Sequential Step at a Time from Tip to Grip — Tampax (Procter & Gamble) with MSL

Insight

• SAXX Celebrates the Snip — SAXX with Zeno Group, Quality Meats

Original/Commissioned Research for PR

• Tropicana Toothpaste — Tropicana with MullenLowe PR, Cramer-Krasselt, OMD

Measurement and Post-Campaign Analysis

• Building a Measurement Engine — Michelin with Ketchum

The Tech Stack Awards

Social Media and Social Listening Tools

• Measuring Jake from State Farm’s Debut on TikTok — State Farm with Ketchum

Campaign Measurement Tools

• omniearnedID™ Brand Lift Methodology Quantifies the Power of PR for Wendy’s — The Wendy's Company with Ketchum

PR Software and Services

• PRophet: AI-Driven Tech That Makes PR Pros More Performative — PRophet with KWT Global

Campaign Awards

Platform Creation

• Here for What Matters — Dollar General with BCW, HZ

Content Marketing Campaign

• Doritos + Stranger Things: “Live From The Upside Down” — Frito-Lay North America with Ketchum

Storytelling

• Cracker Jill — Frito-Lay with Ketchum

Data-Driven Campaign

• Sleighing the Holidays with Surimi Seafood — Genuine Alaska Pollock Producers (GAPP) with Ketchum

Boldest Campaign

• #TapeOutHate — Budweiser - Labatt Breweries of Canada with Veritas

Most Disruptive Campaign

• #TapeOutHate — Budweiser - Labatt Breweries of Canada with Veritas

Combating Disinformation

• The Super Legit Book of Really Real Egg Facts — Egg Farmers of Canada with Citizen Relations

Corporate Values in Action

• Puffs Power Pals Soar to New Heights — Puffs (Procter & Gamble) with MSL

Start-Up Marketing Campaign

• Can't Touch This — Neon with Bospar

Emerging Sector Campaign

• #SaveBrockOllie — Weedmaps with MikeWorldWide

Pro-Bono Campaign

• The Reality Flag — Human Rights Campaign with BCW, WPP, VMLY&R, Hogarth, Wavemaker

Micro-Budget Campaign

• Pride Proud — San Francisco Pride with Bospar

This Year’s Issue: Ukraine

• The Brand Agency x Spend with Ukraine — Spend with Ukraine with The Brand Agency

Write your own category

• Nurturing Pioneers to Solve Health Inequities — Johnson and Johnson with Ketchum, J3, Medium Rare, The Shark Group and Real Chemistry