Hanwha Group and Innocean Receive 'Company of the Year' Award for Mekong River Cleanup Campaign

Won 4 Main Awards at the '2020 Saber Awards'
Integrating Technology into Creativity

[Asia Economy Reporter Minyoung Cha] Hanwha Group and Innocean Worldwide have become the first in Korea to win the ‘Asia Pacific Company of the Year’ award at the ‘SABRE Awards,’ where global PR specialists compete.

Innocean announced on the 27th that it won a total of four main awards at the ‘2020 SABRE Awards,’ including the ‘Asia Pacific Company of the Year’ for Hanwha Group’s sustainability campaign ‘Clean Up Mekong.’ The SABRE Awards is the largest global branding and consulting industry awards ceremony hosted by the communications industry media ‘Holmes Report.’

In addition to the Company of the Year award, the Clean Up Mekong campaign also won three main awards in the brand building category, social issue communications category, and corporate social responsibility category. The Asia Pacific regional main award winners are automatically entered into the global SABRE Awards. Among these, works that make it to the final top 50 will be announced at the global summit held in October.

Innocean and Hanwha Group produced two eco-friendly vessels called ‘Solar Boats’ that operate on clean solar energy to collect floating waste in the Mekong River area. The Solar Boats, donated to Vinh Long City, Vietnam, in June last year, collect 200 to 220 tons of waste annually by traveling the Mekong River for 6 to 7 hours daily without emitting pollutants.

Earlier, in July, they won five main awards at ‘The Work Awards,’ four Merit Awards at the One Show International Advertising Festival in June, and a Gold Award at the New York Festivals in May. They received praise for their original ideas and fresh attempts in directly producing eco-friendly vessels that combine cutting-edge technology and creativity. The related YouTube video has accumulated 13.5 million views since it was posted in August last year.

Kim Jeong-ah, Head of Production Center 1 at Innocean, said, “We are very pleased to prove that Hanwha Group’s sincerity in striving to help society was well conveyed to consumers through this award,” and added, “We will continue to work hard to deliver inspiring messages to people around the world through our communication activities.”