Berlin, May 25, 2016 – Hill+Knowlton Strategies have been named EMEA Agency of the Year at the SABRE Awards in Berlin. “This award, in a category with so many strong nominees, is testament to all the hard work and excellence of our teams across the region”, says Lars Erik Grønntun, President and CEO of H+K EMEA.

The SABRE awards are among the most prestigious awards in the communications industry. This year’s award ceremony took place in Berlin on May 25th, and Hill+Knowlton Strategies were nominated for the EMEA Agency of the Year alongside Burson-Marsteller, Edelman, Ogilvy PR and Weber Shandwick.

Strong growth“Since consolidating our Europe, Middle East and Africa regions two years ago, a lot of people have worked hard to take H+K in the region to the next level. By implementing our regional strategy of Connecting, Converging and Learning we’ve managed to take the agency to a new level, winning exciting new business, building stronger creative and content bids and strengthening our regional footprint” says Grønntun.

Service innovation and significant client wins have driven strong financial performance in a majority of H+K’s EMEA markets, including key markets like the UK, France, Germany, Italy, Russia, the Middle East and South Africa. Stronger regional cohesion has been a key priority for H+K’s largest region.

Purpose, creativity and content“Another important development is our proprietary 3P methodology, leveraging purpose-based thinking to build reputation and preference. This is tightly linked with our renewed approach to creativity – where our global creative hub in London is a driving force – and our step up in content creation” Grønntun adds.

Hill+Knowlton Strategies are the communications agency with the widest regional footprint in EMEA, with approximately 1.000 communication professionals across 37fully owned offices. The agency also has 20 affiliates across the region, as well as specialist creative agency Bisqit and content agency Group SJR. Hill+Knowlton also took home awards in the following categories at the EMEA SABRE awards:

Other Gold Sabre Awards:
-  Geographic Category - #SaveBooks—Polish Chamber of Books with Hill+Knowlton Strategies Poland
-  Gold Sabre Industry Areas - Food and Beverage - We Can Do It Here—Nescafe with Hill+Knowlton Strategies Greece

-ENDS-

For Media Enquiries:
Lars Erik Grønntun
President and CEO, H+K EMEA
+47 900 36 550
larserik.gronntun@hkstrategies.com

Jason Frayne
SVP EMEA New Business and Marketing
+44 (0) 7766 246841
jason.frayne@hkstrategies.com

About Hill+Knowlton Strategies
Hill+Knowlton Strategies, Inc. is an international communications consultancy, providing services to local, multinational and global clients. The firm is headquartered in New York, with 87 offices in 49 countries, as well as an extensive associate network. The agency is part of WPP, one of the world's largest communications services groups.