Monday 15 April 2019 dawned with the whole Flow team – especially the public relations team – in a brilliantly bubbly mood. When we walked, we bounced a little higher. We smiled at strangers. Heck, even Joburg’s notorious traffic didn’t dull (not even a fraction of a decibel) the marimba music of our gleeful hearts.
Why? The night before the team had won four PRISM Awards for public relations consulting excellence.
Flow’s haul was a Gold award (in the Healthcare category for the #NewBlood campaign with the South African National Blood Service) and three Silver awards, one each in the Public Sector category (for the #AlwaysRemember Campaign with the Road Accident Fund); in the Communications Research category (for key message development with She Conquers, on behalf of the United Nations Population Fund and the Department of Health); and in the Social Media category, where social media was the primary method of communication, with no social media spend (for work with the Nelson Mandela Foundation on the 16th Nelson Mandela Annual Lecture). In addition, we got a special mention in the NGO category for our work with Casual Day 2018.
It’s fantastic that each award was for work with a different client, says Tara Turkington, Flow’s CEO, the team’s biggest champion and the loudest cheerer on the night. “It shows the depth and range of talent we hold at Flow. And it’s testimony, too, to clever thinking, clever doing, investing the hours, and absolute dedication to excellence.”
Head of public relations at Flow Caroline Smith says it’s an awesome result for a team that’s committed to collaboration and to never allowing anything to get in the way of communications brilliance.
“Our clients are our partners. When we deliver great campaigns, it’s good for them and their businesses. This is good for us. The real winning happens when we reach audiences, when we touch hearts and minds, and when our work makes a difference for the better.
“That’s where we triumph. Industry awards are fabulous; they’re proof of peer recognition. But nothing beats delivering a world-class campaign that meets business objectives. That’s where the high really is.”
The 2019 PRISM Awards event was a suave, celebratory affair that drew the cream of the South African industry to the gorgeous pool deck at The Capital on the Park in Sandton on Sunday evening, 14 April.
Tara congratulates all the winners and the Public Relations Institute of South Africa. “It’s fantastic to see just how robust, strategic, successful and driven the South African industry is,” she says. “Public relations in South Africa has much to be proud of. Onward. And upward.”
