Amber Abbott at Spikes: Brands are utilising the power of PR to start meaningful conversations and effect tangible change in today’s world
Amber Abbott (pictured), Managing Director of one green bean, part of the HAVAS PR Network, recently represented Australia on the 2025 Spikes PR Jury. Here, Abbott shares the principles that were applied to assess some of the APAC region’s best work and an inspiring outlook for the industry.
It was not lost on me or my fellow jurors the important role we played in assessing the region’s best work – not only were we selecting the best-in-class examples of our craft, but we were also viewing work that many teams had no doubt spent countless hours creating, all from different agencies, brands, and diverse cultural backgrounds. Therefore, assessing each piece of work objectively and without bias was of paramount importance.
Before we even began to analyse the work, all jurors took part in compulsory training co-created with The Unmistakables, an award-winning EDI (Equality, Diversity & Inclusion) consultancy, to help avoid any prejudice or partiality in the judging process.
The training also focused on:
• Creating a safe and inclusive judging space;
• Identifying bias in ourselves, in others and in a process;
• How to spot work that perpetuates stereotypes; and
• Raising challenges and navigating difficult conversations.
By the time we had arrived in Vietnam, we had already agreed our shortlist. However, the real challenge came, when every piece of work stacked up within their respective categories – smart strategy, flawless execution, impactful results…the question then became, how do you compare a campaign submitted for best use of Research, Data & Analytics against a Media Relations campaign, or Best Use of Events & Stunts against a Local Brand?
The PR Jury, chaired by Margaret Key Chief Executive Officer APAC at MSLGROUP, decided quickly that we needed a higher-level set of principles, to ensure the work we awarded Bronze, Silver, Gold and Grand Prix were absolute best-in-class examples of the power and craft of Public Relations.
We asked each other:
· Is it – authentic to the brand’s purpose, or is it attaching itself to a cause, personality or problem that feels disconnected or ingenuine. Was the community affected involved? And what was the scale and longevity of the impact?
· Does it – have an innovative insight-driven creative idea or solution at its heart, or does it just successfully utilise 101 tactics that we’ve seen recycled many times before?
· Will it – live on beyond a single moment in time, or is it a one-off story, product or initiative that doesn’t have a role in the brands broader mission.
· Could it – be held up as a case study of the very best from our industry, representing the true craft of PR and earning its own media by creating meaningful conversations, or was it just an ad dressed in disguise.
At one green bean we pride ourselves on being a creative earned media agency designed for today’s world, not adapted from the old, and this criteria is very similar to what we apply to our strategic and creative thinking. We don’t just want a good idea but the right idea.
The PR shortlist has now been revealed, and although all is under wraps until the winners are announced in April, what I will say is that I left Vietnam inspired, and with a renewed appreciation for the power of our craft. The shortlist includes creative excellence on a big and small scale – however what really stood out to me was how many brands are utilising the power of PR to not only catapult some of the world’s most important, sometimes forgotten, and often overshadowed issues to the top of the agenda; but to also harness creative storytelling, the latest in innovative technology, and a genuine understanding of the unique cultural fabric of society, to affect change in tangible ways that improve people’s day-to-day lives.