One of only five finalists, the other finalists are the UK’s Cirkle London, India’s First Partners, and Omnicom PR Group’s Ketchum and Publicis Groupe’s MSL, both from the US.
According toPRovoke Media the finalist agencies are the result of an exhaustive research process involving more than 500 submissions and (virtual) meetings with the best PR firms across North America, EMEA, Asia-Pacific and LatAm.
Retroviral founder and chief creative officer, Mike Sharman says it has been an incredible year for Retroviral, both on the results front creatively and from a business perspective.
“We were the joint PR Agency of the Year by MikeLives' Star of the Year and then we went on to win African Consultancy of the Year at the EMEA Sabres. It is obviously the cherry on the cake being on the top 5 global PR agencies, also the only African and South African agency on the list.”
Your mother’s fave creative PR agencies, globally ������������ https://t.co/QGIpE3gKX7
— retroviral (@retroviral) October 7, 2023
He says it is a “hugely proud moment” and that they “are looking forward to 8 November in Washington to see if we are crowned the winner; it’s going to be mind-blowing.”
Winners are announced at the 2023 Global Sabre Awards, taking place at the 2023 PRovokeGlobal Summit on 8 November in Washington in the US.
Sharman says it has been an incredible year. “I am super chuffed to be part of the team and the outputs. The work we continue to create continues to push the bar, creating tomorrow what did not exist today."
Sharman is also the only South African to be included in this year's PRoke Media's #Innovator25 EMEA list.
Retroviral is also a finalist in this year’s AdFocus Awards. This year it won two EMEA Innovation Sabre Awards.
One was for its Sixty60 Swindlers campaign for grocery app Checkers Sixty60, using TikTok to newsjack attention around the Netflix phenomenon The Tinder Swindler and launch its own “don’t get swindled” message, earning plaudits for bravery and efficacy.
Second is its BeYou Period initiative for Lil-Lets, a content campaign that celebrates the empowerment women can feel from a better understanding of their bodies.
While Retroviral largely focuses on challenger brands, it has some pretty big names among its long-term clients, such as Gumtree, Liberty, Beko, Grundig, Ryobi, Profmed, Kreepy Krauly, First for Women Insurance, and Dove Cotton.
New clients in 2022 included Lil-Lets UK, Blue Ribbon Bread, BB Bakeries Bread, HTH, YumYum Peanut Butter, Ultra Pet, Checkers Sixty60, Discovery Bank, Beyers, and Sweetie Pie.
Retroviral, while headquartered in Johannesburg, has executed campaigns across the continent, in markets such as Ghana, Namibia, Zambia, and Kenya as well as the occasional creative campaign in the UK.
