SINTRA, PORTUGAL—Edelman took home top honors at the first global SABRE Awards dinner, held in the Portuguese resort town of Sintra last night. The independent firm—recently named by The Holmes Report as the world’s largest public relations agency—received both the Global Agency of the Year Award and a share of the Platinum SABRE Award for the Best Public Relations Campaign in the World last year.

The latter award was shared with Weber Shandwick Worldwide and the client team at Pepsi, and presented for the Pepsi Refresh project, which used social media to engage Pepsi customers with the company’s corporate philanthropy efforts.

That campaign beat out four other finalists from far-flung corners of the world: Weber Shandwick’s work on the comeback of General Motors in the US; a women’s rights and breast cancer education campaign from Saudi Arabia, managed by Adalid Public Relations; a Kenyan cause-related marketing campaign from Apex Porter Novelli on behalf of Unilever’s Lifebuoy brand; and a public affairs campaign focused on youth unemployment for the Swedish Confederation of Industry, conducted by JKL/MSLGroup.

Meanwhile, there were Outstanding Consultancy awards for Prime of Sweden (Consumer); Brunswick (Corporate and Financial); Glover Park Group of the US (Public Affairs); WCG (Healthcare); Bite Communications (Technology); and Ogilvy Digital Influence (Digital).

The Global SABRE Awards, meanwhile, were presented to:

BUSINESS-TO-BUSINESS MARKETING

Leadership and Expertise During the Financial Crisis
Deloitte Banking with Hill & Knowlton, United States


CONSUMER MARKETING (EXISTING PRODUCT)

Surprisingly Lifebuoy
Unilever with Apex Communications Porter Novelli, Kenya


CONSUMER MARKETING (NEW PRODUCT)

The Stoop Life Movement
Absolut Vodka with Ketchum, United States


INTEGRATED MARKETING

Parallel Lines
Philips with OneVoice, United Kingdom


CORPORATE IMAGE

An American Comeback Story: Resurgent Brands and Great Products Tell the Story of the New GM
General Motors with Weber Shandwick, United States


EMPLOYEE COMMUNICATIONS

Crazy About Computers
Techteam Global Romania with The Practice, Romania


EXECUTIVE LEADERSHIP

Shell Energy Dialogue 2010
Shell Deutschland with MSLGroup, Germany


FINANCIAL COMMUNICATIONS

Kazakh Banking: It’s Not Funny Money! How Ogilvy PR Helped Sell a New Form of Bank Restructuring BTA Bank Kazakhstan with Ogilvy Public, United Kingdom


CAUSE-RELATED MARKETING

Vac from the Sea
Electrolux with Prime, Sweden


COMMUNITY RELATIONS

Pen in Hand: Educating, Not Employing Children
Garanti Pension and Life Company with ARB Iletisim – Absolute Relationship Building, Turkey

CORPORATE RESPONSIBILITY

Le Chiacchiere Stanno a Zero
Association of Beer & Malt Industries with Istituto Nazionale per la Comunicazione, Italy


PUBLIC EDUCATION

“I’m a Donor”: Building the Social Institution of Blood Donation in Russia
Ministry of Health and Social Development of Russia with SPN Ogilvy, Russia


CRISIS MANAGEMENT

Bomb Threat Response: American Airlines Tweets with Passengers Aboard Flight AA24
American Airlines with Weber Shandwick, United States
 

ISSUES MANAGEMENT

A Lifetime Commitment to Safety
Goodyear China with Ogilvy Public Relations Shanghai, China


PUBLIC AFFAIRS

Thank You, We're Leaving
Czech Doctor's Trade Union with Ewing Public Relations, Czech Republic


CORPORATE MEDIA RELATIONS

Harnessing Our People Power
McDonald's, United Kingdom


PRODUCT MEDIA RELATIONS (CONSUMER)

Kinect for Xbox 360 Launch
Microsoft with Edelman, United States


PRODUCT MEDIA RELATIONS (TRADE)

Getting Ahead of Head Lice
Thornton & Ross with Pegasus PR, United Kingdom


DIGITAL CAMPAIGN

An Increasingly Social Pfizer
Pfizer with United States


BLOGGER OUTREACH

Flip Your Profile
Cisco Consumer Products with Text 100, Singapore
 

SOCIAL MEDIA CAMPAIGN

Pepsi Refresh Project
PepsiCo with Edelman and Weber Shandwick, United States


PUBLICITY STUNT

A Woman's Stand
HRH Princess Reema Bint Bandar Al-Saud with Adalid Public Relations, Saudi Arabia


SPECIAL EVENT

The Vibrant Gujarat 2011 Summit
Government of Gujarat with APCO Worldwide, United States


SPONSORSHIP

P&G Sponsors the Vancouver 2010 U.S. Olympic & Paralympic Teams
Procter & Gamble with Taylor Global, United States


TRADE SHOW CAMPAIGN

Putting Ford Innovation Into the Consumer Electronics Spotlight
Ford Motor Company with WPP, United States


MARKETING TO MEN

Monday Opportunity to Talk: Mannot.co.uk
Pfizer with The Red Consultancy, United Kingdom


MARKETING TO WOMEN

Poise: Leveraging Laughs and Leaks
Poise, Kimberly-Clark Corporation with Marina Maher Communications, United States


MARKETING TO YOUTH

The Job Roast
The Confederation of Swedish Enterprise with JKL/MSL Stockholm, Sweden