South African public relations agencies have delivered a commanding performance at the 2026 Provoke Media EMEA IN2 SABRE Awards, bringing home a total of 17 accolades including five winners and 12 Certificates of Excellence.
The awards, which recognise outstanding achievement in digital, social media, data, analytics, and content creation across Europe, the Middle East, and Africa, were handed out on 21 May in London. The IN2 SABRE acronym stands for “Insight & Innovation,” honouring campaigns that demonstrate creative, technology-driven approaches to brand reputation and engagement.
Brandspur Brand News notes that Ogilvy South Africa emerged as a leading performer, securing three category wins and two Certificates of Excellence. The agency’s #VaselineVerified campaign for Unilever won in the Social Media & Community Management category, while the Audi TikTok Test Drive for Audi South Africa took top honours for Innovative Use of Video and Streaming Platforms. Ogilvy also won the Campaign Award for Content Marketing with #ForeverGolf for Volkswagen South Africa.
Clockwork secured two category wins: Behind The Label for The Salvation Army in Brand Identity and Design, and The Pura Roadblock for Pura Soda in Purpose and Impact Partnerships. The agency additionally received two Certificates of Excellence for the Homes Need Pets campaign on behalf of Byron Thomas Properties.
Razor PR earned two Certificates of Excellence for its Signals of Strength campaign for Anglo American, recognised in both Earned Media and Data-Driven Insight & Strategy categories.
Retroviral collected three Certificates of Excellence, two for Castle Lager (Ab InBeV) and one for Profmed. Irvine Partners also received two Certificates, including recognition for the Afrobeats: Culture in Motion campaign for Spotify.
KFC Africa was awarded a Certificate of Excellence for its Open Chair initiative, titled Lifting Leaders: How Open Chair and KFC Africa took mentorship to new heights, which connected young women in advertising and marketing with industry leaders.
Other Certificate recipients included Ogilvy South Africa for the KFC Sauce Code campaign and the Vaseline Cera Glow #GlazedandGlowing campaign for Unilever, as well as Retroviral, Faith & Fear, and Profmed for the finDR platform creation.
The full list of winners is available on the Provoke Media website.
