Australasian Consultancy of the Year in 2021 SABRE Asia Pacific awards 

Integrated Melbourne agency Icon has taken top honours in the 2021 SABRE Awards, winning the coveted Australasian Consultancy of the Year for 2021 along with a host of category and craft awards. 

Icon led a large field of Australian agencies with a total of three major and seven minor awards, including gold in the Cause Related Marketing category for ‘Still Six Lives’, a powerful national behaviour change campaign on behalf of Red Nose and the Stillbirth Foundation. 

‘Still Six Lives’ was also one of five campaigns nominated for ‘Best In Show’, celebrating the best-of-the-best work across the Asia Pacific region. 

Icon’s much-awarded ISO-drinking awareness campaign for the Alcohol and Drug Foundation (ADF), ‘You Haven’t Been Drinking Alone’ took out the Healthcare Award for Government Agencies. 

Icon also won an In2SABRE award for Cause Related Marketing (Still Six Lives) and six Certificates of Excellence for campaigns on behalf of the ADF and Carers Victoria. 

The 2021 Asia-Pacific PR Consultancies of the Year are the result of an exhaustive research process involving more than 125 submissions and meetings with the best PR firms across the region. 

Icon Agency co-founder and Managing Director, Joanne Painter, said the Consultancy of the Year award was 20 years in the making. 

“When my husband Chris Dodds and I founded Icon our vision was to build Australia’s leading purpose-driven digital communications agency. Achieving that recognition from our peers across our region is a personal career highlight – and something the whole team is immensely proud of.”

“I am also delighted to see our clients and creative work achieve international recognition. Impactful work starts with great clients, and we are fortunate to have such trusting and collaborative partners like the ADF, Carers Victoria, Stillbirth Foundation and Red Nose,” Ms Painter said. 

The 2021 SABRE awards cap an intense 18 months of growth for the firm, which has seen revenue and staff numbers double, along with a string of prestigious account wins including the Department of Home Affairs, ADP and Schneider Electric.

Reflecting Icon’s increasingly regional focus, the firm recently launched its biggest international project to date, the Australian Pavilion at Expo 2020 Dubai. Together with its Dubai based partner Acorn Strategy, Icon will lead Australian Pavilion global communications and marketing on behalf of the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade when the six-month world Expo officially opens in October.