Chain Reactions Leads as African SABRE Announces Finalists

Nigeria’s foremost public relations outfit, Chain Reactions Africa, and its clients, have been nominated for 10 African SABRE Awards, more than any other agency.

Although another African agency, South Africa’s Clockwork, has also been shortlisted for eight awards, along with the African operations of multinational agencies, Edelman and Weber Shandwick, Chain Reactions is currently leading the way.

Holding in Johannesburg, South Africa, a list of this year’s honorees—selected by credible in-house judges from a record number of entries—could be found here.

The African SABRE Awards, now in their 10th year, recognises superior achievements in branding reputation and engagement and open to communications professionals in both agencies and in-house teans across the continent.

However, this year’s competition is being held for the first time in partnership with the Public Relations and Communications Association, and the winning campaigns will be presented with their trophies at the PRCA South Africa Conference, which takes place in Johannesburg on March 17 and 18.

In addition to Chain Reactions, Clockwork. Edelman and Weber Shandwick, there were multiple nominations for agencies including We Communications (seven); Integrated Indigo Limited (six); FleishmanHillard and Retroviral (five each); and Blast Burson, Circus, and Jenny Griesel Communications (four each).

On the client side, The Walt Disney Company saw a variety of campaigns shortlisted for 10 awards, while KFC received six nominations and AB InBev and Anglo American appear on the shortlist four times each.

“As always, the quality of storytelling and content creation across Africa stood out for its creativity,”  Paul Holmes, who chaired the SABRE Awards jury, said.

According to him, “We received entries from a record number of companies and agencies, from all across the continent, and it is clear that PR campaigns in Africa are more data-druven than ever, and deliver stronger business results.”