NAF, Meta Win Golden World Awards 2023 as IPRA Recognizes Nigeria’s IMPR, AT3 as Best PR Agencies
The Nigeria Airforce (NAF) and Meta have emerged winners of the ‘2023 Golden World Awards’ (GWA), instituted by the International Public Relations Association (IPRA) for outstanding PR campaigns.
Two PR agencies from Nigeria, the Image Merchants Promotion (IMPR) Limited (IMPR) and AT3 Resources have also been recognized by IPRA for championing the campaigns of NAF and Meta, the owner of Facebook.
The Nigeria Air Force bagged the award under ‘Crisis Management Category’ in partnership with IMPR for providing enablement for independent media reports and third-party news narratives on counter-insurgency operations.
The reports and alternative narratives on the success of counterterrorism, widely used in the media, boosted citizens’ confidence and the morale of the troops.
AT3 Resources, the strategic communications partner of Meta in West Africa, won the award under the ‘Technology Category’, with the multi-pronged communication campaign, “#NoFalseNewsZone” in Nigeria and Ghana respectively.
The campaign was aimed at helping people think critically about the messages they see online before forwarding them to others. It was an innovative, interesting, and engaging campaign to help people understand the consequences of false news and contribute to curbing its spread.
Image Merchants Promotions Limited,
the publisher of PRNigeria and Economic Confidential has, over the years, bagged African SABRE Awards organized by PRovoke Media, in partnership with African Public Relations Association (APRA) as well as IPRA’s GWA. In 2020 it was declared as the Most Creative PR Agency, globally.
Similarly, AT3, over the span of five years, has embarked on numerous impactful brand and corporate campaigns and has collaborated with many industry stakeholders to achieve great results.
In 2022, the agency collaborated with Brand Africa to celebrate African brands in Nigeria. It won the prestigious Sabre Certificate of Excellence in 2022, the Marketing Edge Award for the Outstanding Young PR Agency of the Year in the same year, and the BrandCom Award for ‘Young Public Relations Agency of the Year’ in 2021.
Speaking on the award, the Managing Director of IMPR, Mr. Yushau Shuaib expressed delight that PR firms in Nigeria are now recognized in the global scene beyond the regional recognition.
“I am delighted that more Nigerian PR firms have grown beyond being local champions in regional PR Power List, by competing outside their cocoon with the very best in the PR world for deserving global recognitions.
“We should continue to strive in ensuring that PR campaigns demonstrate the highest levels of professionalism, creativity, integrity, impact and effectiveness.”
Meanwhile, IPRA’s Secretary General, Philip Sheppard announced a total of 70 winners for 2023 with a number of entries tackling emerging issues such as cryptocurrency, influencer management and virtual reality.
According to him, the GWA jury of experts met in person for the first time since the pandemic at an inspiring session in London’s Institute of Directors in assessing the entries. The jury comprised judges from Austria, Bulgaria, Egypt, Finland, Germany, Ghana, Saudi Arabia, The Philippines, the USA and the United Kingdom.
“This year we had entries covering multiple subjects and there was a notable demonstration of creativity from all around the world,” explains Philip Sheppard.
“We learnt of stories such as prejudice in Peru, solitary bees in Croatia and tackling fake news in Ukraine.”
The prestigious Grand Prix was also chosen but the judges have been sworn to secrecy. Along with the Global Contribution Award for PR with an objective of meeting one of the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals, the Grand Prix will be announced at the GWA Gala on 20 October in Barcelona.
IPRA, the International Public Relations Association, was established in 1955, and is the leading global network for PR professionals in their personal capacity. IPRA aims to advance trusted communication and the ethical practice of public relations. IPRA is the organiser of public relations’ annual global competition, the Golden World Awards for Excellence (GWA). IPRA’s services enable PR professionals.
