Strategic Works, Inc. (Stratworks), one of the country’s leading independent marketing communications agencies, has won the first-ever Agency of the Year plum during the 51st Anvil Awards Gabi ng Parangal held at the Makati Shangri-La Hotel.
This achievement makes the agency back-to-back recipients of the much-coveted Agency of the Year Awards from two of the most prestigious award-giving bodies in the country, the Public Relations Society of the Philippines (PRSP) and the International Association of Business Communicators Philippines which gave Stratworks its first Agency of the Year trophy in the Philippine Quill Awards 2014.
This year’s most Anvil-awarded agency, Stratworks took home 3 Gold Anvil and 6 Silver Anvil awards for outstanding public relations initiatives with some of the country’s biggest brands, raising its total haul to nearly 50 Anvils since joining the competition just nine years ago.
The Stratworks team is in high spirits after bagging the Anvil awards’ first-ever Agency of the Year award. (Photo courtesy of Tony Nievera)
With long-time client Jollibee Foods Corporation, Stratworks bagged a Gold Anvil award for its “5th Jollibee Family Values Awards Gabi ng Parangal Para sa Pamilyang Pilipino”, a grand event which showcased Filipino values of compassion, generosity, and love for others that bind families together and move them to be champions for their fellowmen. The program also garnered a Silver Anvil in the PR programs category.
Jollibee and the agency also won a Gold Anvil in the PR tools category for “Jollibee 900th Store” which not only celebrated the fast-food chain’s milestone store opening in Palo, Leyte, but also the exemplary resilience, optimism, and hope of the townspeople after the tragedy of Typhoon Haiyan in November 2013.
For Cebuana Lhuillier, Stratworks also received a Silver Anvil for the “Happiest Pinoy 2014” which sought to honor and enshrine the values of optimism, resiliency, and hope through an award-giving advocacy among Filipinos who cheerfully transcend adversity to aid, inspire, and uplift others.
Three Anvil awards were won for PR initiatives with Unilever Philippines’ Home Care brands: “Domex One Million Clean Toilets Movement”, a toilet sanitation program which empowered 3.4 million Filipinos in low-income communities to learn and adopt proper toilet sanitation habits to prevent life-threatening diseases, the “Surf Sachet Recovery Program” and the “Surf Labahan sa Tacloban Launch”.
The agency’s work with Western Union’s “Largest Coin Mosaic” also earned a Gold Anvil award after successfully setting a new World Record, as certified by the Guinness World Records. About 500,000 coins were used to build the mosaic, whose total value formed part of a Php3.5 million donation to provide multimedia learning modules and equipment to 25 schools nationwide. Western Union’s 25th anniversary celebration also bagged a Silver Anvil award in the PR programs category.
“We are honored to be the first recipient of the Anvil Agency of the Year special award and just as thrilled for our clients whose campaigns have been recognized not only for adding value to their brands, but more importantly, for making an impact in the communities they serve”, said Donna Nievera-Conda, Stratworks Managing Director.
Considered the “Oscars” of the local PR industry, the Anvil Awards is an annual competition held by the PRSP to recognize outstanding PR programs and tools implemented in the previous year.