Global Connections

Media Monitors Singapore was proud to sponsor Marketing Magazine’s Agency of the Year Awards on Wednesday at the Shangri-La Hotel in Singapore. Just one night before the leaders of the world arrived for this weekend’s Shangri-La dialogue on regional security, we hobnobbed with the leaders of Singapore’s top PR, creative, and media agencies for a night of celebration.
 

Interestingly enough, the same three PR agencies – Hill & Knowlton, Ogilvy, and Edelman, took the top slots for both awards given for public relations that night (and Fulford PR was voted Local Hero for the third year in a row).
 

What does it take to win? Ogilvy, which won the gold award for overall PR agency, was lauded for their creativity in tough economic times. One of their interesting approaches to PR was their Intel Blogathon last year, where 10 local bloggers stood at the window display of Tangs and blogged ‘round the clock to launch Intel’s new Core 2 Solo chip. The site saw over 40,000 page views in 5 days, and won a Certificate of Excellence for Technology Campaign of the Year at the Asia Pacific PR Awards 2009.
 

Though there wasn’t much variance in the agencies on top, they did note some changes in the marketplace over the past year.
 

According to Managing Director Andrew Thomas, they’ve seen growth particularly in the number and size of government contracts over the past two years. Bob Grove of Edelman, the gold winner for media relations, said the agency also grew a significant 17% last year, proving that PR firms can thrive despite hard times.
 

The line-up:

Public Relations Agency of the Year – Overall PR Strategy
Bronze – Hill & Knowlton
Silver – Edelman Public Relations
Gold – Ogilvy Public Relations

Local Hero – Fulford Public Relations

Public Relations Agency of the Year – Media Relations Strategy
Bronze – Hill & Knowlton
Silver – Ogilvy Public Relations
Gold – Edelman Public Relations

Local Hero – Fulford Public Relations