Friends of Glass wins a Stevie® in the 2015 International Business Awards

Our message is simple, we want to urge consumers to ‘look beyond the label’ when grocery shopping – not just in regards to the contents of their food and drink, but also the packaging, which can significantly influence the quality and taste of what’s inside.”

Annick Boyen, CEO, Weber Shandwick Benelux said: “The Gold Stevie marks real success for Friends of Glass and as an agency we wholly appreciate the partnership with FEVE. Our collaboration ranges from strategic planning through to ambitious local market implementation across multiple channels, all geared at allowing a trade association to engage with European consumers. Our combined efforts focus on promoting the benefits of glass packaging in an approachable and informative way.”

Stevie Award winners were determined by the average scores of more than 200 executives worldwide who participated in the judging process from May through early August.

The International Business Awards is the world’s premier business awards programme. All individuals and organisations worldwide – public and private, for-profit and non-profit, large and small – are eligible to submit nominations. The 2015 IBAs received entries from more than 60 nations and territories.

Nicknamed the Stevies for the Greek word for “crowned,” the awards will be presented to winners at a gala awards banquet at the Ritz-Carlton Hotel in Toronto, Canada on 23 October.

-ENDS

For more information, please contact:

Christian Prior, Weber Shandwick Brussels, +322899013, cprior@webershandwick.com OR nlawton@webershandwick.com Michael Delle Selve, Senior Communications Manager, FEVE, m.delleselve@feve.org ,+32 (0)2 5360080

About Friends of Glass:

Friends of Glass is an influential European consumer forum that supports and promotes the right of consumers everywhere to choose food and drink products in glass packaging. It unites all those who believe glass is the clear choice for taste preservation, personal health and the environment. Friends of Glass was initiated in 2009 by the European Container Glass Federation (FEVE) in response to a pan-European survey, commissioned by FEVE in September 2008, in conjunction with the research agency, InSites; which found that 74% of European consumers prefer glass packaging for their food and drinks. Today, this figure has increased to 87%.

Friends of Glass 2014 Health campaign:

As public concern continues to grow about the possibility that chemicals may leach into foods and drinks from their containers, Friends of Glass wanted to engage consumers, especially young mums, about the health, taste and environmental benefits of glass packaging. The content-rich Friends of Glass campaign ranged from robust scientific papers, to beautiful lifestyle photography on Facebook and Pinterest, to cooking workshops for bloggers in key European locations. In the first year of the three-year campaign, we reached 18 million European consumers via social media; generating 13.2 million Facebook impressions and 4.8 million Twitter engagements. Facebook fans grew by 25% and Twitter followers grew by 11%. We reached one billion consumers through 305 pieces of positive media coverage. The campaign grew an online community of nearly 65,000 glass packaging fans. We are now working on year two of the campaign, focusing on the concept of ‘taste’.

About FEVE:

FEVE, the European Container Glass Federation, is the association of European manufacturers of glass packaging containers and machine-made glass tableware. The federation represents the glass container industry at an international and European level, serving as a forum for examining common questions. FEVE maintains a dialogue with the European institutions and agencies on environmental, trade and other important issues relevant to the industry. The federation promotes glass packaging and glass recycling, complementing the activities of the glass industry at a national level.

About Weber Shandwick:

Weber Shandwick is a leading global communications and engagement firm in 75 cities across 34 countries and operations extending to 123 cities in 81 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 honoured 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 25 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 www.webershandwick.com.