For Immediate Release
The Superior Achievement in Branding and Reputation (SABRE) awards recognize PR campaigns of outstanding merit selected by the esteemed global PR industry news provider, the Holmes Group.
The winning campaign, undertaken for Joban Kosan Co., Ltd., operator of Spa Resort Hawaiians, was entitled “Dancing from Disaster: Road to Recovery from Fukushima.”
The campaign was created to promote the famous hotel resort in Fukushima prefecture that was closed following the earthquake and tsunami. Although the dancers themselves were affected by the nuclear disaster just north of the resort, they embarked on a nationwide hula dance tour to raise the spirits of disaster-stricken residents and company employees temporarily out of work, while taking the lead to help support the local economy.
The project was conducted solely in Japan but its universal value struck a sympathetic chord with people worldwide, garnering widespread coverage in the New York Times, the Daily Telegraph and more.
The Asia-Pacific SABRE awards, launched in their present form in 2009, have fast become one of the region’s most highly regarded awards. This year’s competition, the second to be held, attracted some 580 entries – including 14 from Japan – each vying for honors in 34 categories.
These awards actually began in 1989 as the CIPRA Awards (recognizing Creativity in Public Relations) and later changed to SABRE. The EMEA SABRE Awards (Europe-Middle East-Africa) competition, started in 2005, now attracts 1,800 entries in North America and 1,200 entries annually from 25 countries, making it the most important award in the communications industry.
Commenting on the accolade awarded “Dancing from Disaster,” Dentsu PR president and CEO Takehiko Chikami said it was a great honor to receive the award to mark the 50th anniversary of the agency’s founding. “I hope we can take on other projects with significance for society in the future,” he added.
Dentsu PR previously won a SABRE award in 2009 for its “Turn the page: Redefining the paper dictionary” campaign conducted for Iwanami Shoten, Publishers.
Tokyo, November 8, 2011— A media relations campaign created by Dentsu Public Relations Inc. celebrating the determination of Fukushima residents to recover from Japan’s devastating March 11 earthquake has won a ‘2011 Asia-Pacific SABRE Award’ for best campaign in the CSR category.