#Prisms2017 winners: Engage Joe Public
I chatted to some of the gold winners following the 2017 awards ceremony...
Engage Joe Public won gold at this year’s Prisa Prism Awards for the ‘Environment’ category. MD Keri-Ann Stanton tells us what winning the award means for the agency and what they plan to do going forward to keep winning these types of prestigious awards.
Congratulations on scooping gold at the 2017 Prisa Prism Awards! Tell us more about this year's win for the company.
We won a gold for Clover for our campaign called #CloverDroughtRelief in the environmental category. During the drought in 2015 South Africa
became an importer rather than an exporter of maize and faced a 4.5m ton maize shortfall, impacting farmers who had to take extreme measures and in some cases, cull their herds. Clover wanted to support their farmers during this tough financial time, but at the same time the dairy industry was facing a massive price increase as well.
We needed to communicate the increase, and the reasons why, to try and soften the blow to consumers. This was a truly authentic campaign and we didn’t want to 'PR' it as such, and so decided to stay away from mainstream media and rather used photojournalism and Instagram to tell the story in a genuine, emotional manner. We brought the message across with unbranded, real content.
What are the entry and judging criteria for the 'Environment' category?
The judging criteria as put forward by Prisa is - a public relations campaign on an environmental issue with substantial results on society. #CloverDroughtRelief showed results which not only created awareness of the issue but positively impacted the business, its suppliers and the brand trust. Communication not only prevented brand switching, but got shoppers to buy more Clover fresh milk, sales increased by more than 8% thus impacting the fund. The innovative packaging change from the creative team reached a million consumers, linking them directly to our #CloverDroughtRelief picture story. An independent RepTrack survey post the campaign reported that Clover was the most reputable South African brand, beating Coca-Cola and Woolworths, for the first time.
This isn't the first time you've received recognition at these particular awards. Please tell us about your company's previous Prism Award wins.
In 2016 we won a silver Prism Award for Visa in the 'Financial Services and Investor Relations' category for our creative approach to Card Safety Week, while in 2015 we took home a silver for the Mc Cain #VeggieParty for the best use of an Event to build/change Reputation. It seems fitting that in our third year of business we have now added Small Agency of the Year, a gold, three bronzes and a special mention to our Prism accolades.
What's your winning recipe?
It’s staying true to our purpose of #GrowingBrandBelief. We realised that a press release about a drought relief campaign was not going to win hearts and minds. We had to go beyond just creating awareness, there was brand reputation job to do. Through impactful, emotive, visual storytelling we were able to build brand love for Clover, SA’s largest milk producer.
