Campaign Wins Top Public Relations Award

PUBLIC RELATIONS INSTIUTE OF NEW ZEALAND
35th PRINZ Awards
Media Release
20 May 2009

Campaign For Behaviour Change Wins Top Public Relations Award

A campaign to re-educate and change attitudes to aspartame for soft drinks giant Coca Cola Oceania has won the Supreme Award at this year’s Public Relations industry awards.

The campaign titled ‘Aspartame – facts and fiction’ by Network PR’s Auckland office aimed at restoring the confidence in aspartame by working collaboratively with nutrition and health opinion leaders.

Public Relations Institute of New Zealand (PRINZ) National President, Fiona Cassidy, said that the campaign is a reflection of what communications is all about.

“It is a reflection of best practice and creativity. It was about attitudinal and behavioural change, being contentious at the same time. It was about outstanding outcomes.”

The 35th PRINZ Awards that were held on May 20 in Holiday Inn, Wellington, attracted an overall 52 entries. Chief Judge, Gordon Chesterman, said that the entries this year have been remarkable for the high standard of work, making it difficult for the judges to select a winner.

The toughest competition was in Special Event/Project category with 10 entries vying for the award. The category eventually had two joint winners; the Aspartame campaign and a campaign created by Northland boutique agency Chameleon Public Relations to promote marine mammal watching in Pacific Island nations.

DraftFCB bagged the award in the Not for Profit Public Relations category for their campaign to promote the Brain Awareness Week. The International Year of the Potato, a campaign targeted at increasing the consumption of potatoes in New Zealand took the award in the Marketing Public Relations Category.

Professional Public Relations (PPR) ended the evening with a tally of four awards, sweeping two in the Limted Budget Category.

The winning entry in the category titled ‘3M Scotch Brite Survey’ was about a survey conducted in 2008 that exposed the private hygiene habits of Kiwis. The other PPR entry in the same category won a Highly Commended for a campaign created to celebrate Black & Decker’s (B&D) 50th anniversary in NZ.

The ‘Tertiary Student Project’ category was included for the first time this year. A group of AUT University students were the inaugural winners with their campaign for the Auckland District Health Board to promote the new HPV immunisation.

The lead judge of the category PRINZ Fellow- Jane Dodd – commented that the campaign was impactful due to its fresh approach in using social media.

The Sally Logan-Milne Young Practitioner of the Year Award was presented to Megan Hopkins-Stone from Ports of Auckland.

ENDS

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