Weber Shandwick Named 2015 North America Agency of the Year by The Holmes Report

-- Honored as Large Agency of the Year for Second Year in a Row --

-- Wins Seven Gold SABRE Awards in Partnership with Clients --

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May 06, 2015, 07:19 ET

NEW YORK, May 6, 2015 /PRNewswire/ -- Weber Shandwick, one of the world's leading global public relations firms, has been named 2015 North America Agency of the Year and Large Agency of the Year for the second year in a row by The Holmes Report. In awarding Weber Shandwick these distinctions, The Holmes Report highlighted the firm's outperformance of its multinational peers, "impressive" quality of work, and robust research, analytics and content creation capabilities, noting that "Weber Shandwick is as close as any of its peers to being the complete 21st century public relations firm." In addition to these honors, Weber Shandwick also earned seven Gold SABRE Awards for innovative work in partnership with its clients.

North America PR Agencies of the Year are selected by The Holmes Report editorial team through a research process involving more than 150 submissions and 50 meetings with the top firms across the U.S. and Canada. In evaluating Weber Shandwick's performance, the publication noted, "It's hard to identify a weakness, with consumer marketing, corporate reputation, public affairs, and healthcare all among the industry leaders; and a culture of genuine collaboration across both disciplines and geographies." The Holmes Report also highlighted Weber Shandwick's leadership team, growth, client retention, new business wins and commitment to thought leadership.

"We share this recognition with our incredible client partners who inspire us to deliver best-in-class work together and bring big, bold, strategic ideas to the forefront of everything we do," said Weber Shandwick CEO Andy Polansky. "This award speaks volumes about the caliber of our North America leadership team led by Sara Gavin, and our more than 1,500 employees in the region, who bring our culture of collaboration and client-centricity to life every day."

In addition to being named Agency of the Year, Weber Shandwick and its clients won Gold SABRE Awards in several categories at the SABRE Awards ceremony in New York. This includes wins in the Business-To-Business category for its content publishing work with Ricoh; the Beers, Wines and Spirits category for the campaign to make Opening Day a National Holiday with Budweiser; and the Associations category for its work with Florida Hospital Association. Weber Shandwick and sister agency Golin also earned a win in Consumer Health for the Breathe Right "Win By a Nose" at the Belmont Stakes campaign, and Weber Shandwick's Powell Tate unit won in the Charities and Not-For-Profits category for its work with the Lung Cancer Alliance.

The Holmes Report Agency of the Year award comes on the heels of several recent industry honors earned by Weber Shandwick, including being the only PR firm named to the Advertising Age Agency A-List in 2014 and 2015, as well as being named PRWeek's 2015 U.S. and Global Agency of the Year, The Holmes Report's 2014 Global Agency of the Year, and earning Gold, Silver and Bronze PR Lions at the 2014 Cannes Lions Festival of Creativity.

About Weber Shandwick
Weber Shandwick is a leading global public relations firm with offices in 82 countries. The firm's diverse team of strategists, analysts, producers, designers, developers and campaign activators has won the most prestigious awards in the world for innovative, creative approaches and impactful work, including being honored as an Ad Age A-List Agency in 2014 and 2015, PRWeek's 2015 Global Agency of the Year and The Holmes Report's 2014 Global Agency of the Year. Weber Shandwick and its Prime unit have won a combined 23 Cannes Lions since 2009. Weber Shandwick was also named a Best Place to Work by Ad Age in 2014 and PRWeek in 2013 and 2014. The firm deploys deep expertise across sectors and specialty areas, including consumer marketing, corporate reputation, healthcare, technology, public affairs, financial services, corporate social responsibility, financial communications and crisis management, using proprietary social, digital and analytics methodologies. Weber Shandwick is part of the Interpublic Group (NYSE: IPG). For more information, visit http://www.webershandwick.com.