Celebration! We have won the “Stevie Awards,” the Oscars of the business world, again this year! — The President’s Office team who survived the NY awards-ceremony chaos takes the stage to deliver a speech! —

“Most Innovative Public Relations Agency of the Year is…SUNNY SIDE UP!”

When the well-built presenter announced this, he—who had been rereading his script over and over until just before the speech—headed to the stage with a tense expression…

It all began this spring. Some wonderful news arrived at the company.
We were informed that SUNNY SIDE UP had won Silver and Bronze in the Stevie Awards Asia-Pacific—an awards program for companies and organizations in the Asia-Pacific region—in the categories of “Most Innovative PR Agency of the Year” and “Innovative Use of Events,”
and the PR group was notified accordingly.

The Stevie Awards are known as the Oscars of the business world.
While they are still not widely familiar in Japan, in their birthplace—the United States—they are regarded as one of the most prestigious business awards.

In the past, world-renowned companies such as The Coca-Cola Company and Fast Retailing Co., Ltd. have received the award, and the ceremony’s glamour is very much like the atmosphere of the Academy Awards.
(I have never attended the actual Academy Awards, so this is purely my impression.)

The commotion at the awards ceremony held in New York—when our company and our CEO, Tsugihara, won Gold and Silver in the “Women in Business” category at the end of last year—is still fresh in our minds.
(See here for what happened then: “Celebration! Stevie Awards Gold Win! — The struggles of the President’s Office team hidden behind the dazzling stage (Part 1)”)

Each year, the Stevie Awards ceremony is held in various cities around the world.
This year’s Stevie Awards Asia-Pacific ceremony was held in Tokyo, and I was to attend as well.

Allow me to introduce myself. I am O from the PR Department, and I will be writing this blog post. I will omit the detailed reasons why an ordinary employee like myself ended up attending, but I will provide a report-style account of the ceremony where powerful businesspeople from across Asia gathered in one place.

The venue was filled with businesspeople from across Asia, including Korea, Singapore, and India. Representatives of roughly 70 companies and organizations—selected from more than 700 applicants (from 22 countries)—had gathered here in Tokyo,
and the lobby, where many languages were spoken, was enveloped in an unusual buzz along with its glamour.

The ceremony was held as a dinner event. When we were shown to our round table, I saw R from our President’s Office sitting next to me.
To be clear, R is the very person who made it through last year’s chaotic New York ceremony mentioned earlier.
Fluent in English, he has been entrusted with today’s speech on behalf of our CEO.

At our table were journalists and related parties who always support us,
and even though it was before the speech, R was enjoying conversation with everyone, wine glass in hand.
Despite having to go on stage later to deliver a speech in English, he seemed completely at ease…

When I stopped him from reaching for his wine and asked, “Aren’t you nervous?”
he replied, “It’s fine—I’ll give the speech while looking at the script on my phone,” and started drinking again.

At that, the journalists at the table criticized him all at once: “It’s not cool to give a speech while reading the script,” and R’s expression changed instantly.
He suddenly became much quieter, and before I knew it, his drink had switched to oolong tea. He seemed a little different from his usual calm, composed self. I realized it. Oh—he’s nervous. (Laughs)

“You look sharp in that suit today—just like a Hong Kong movie star!”
I said, trying to ease the tension.
(Reference: “Celebration! Stevie Awards Gold Win! — The struggles of the President’s Office team hidden behind the dazzling stage (Part 2)”)
R smiled, but he still seemed quite nervous…

Each company’s speech is limited to 30 seconds (!) so concise, on-point comments are required. Once the ceremony began, representatives of the winning companies delivered their speeches—sometimes in fluent English, sometimes passionately in their native languages.
As the speeches progressed one after another, R repeatedly reread and revised the speech script saved in his iPhone notes. The guests sharing our table were proofreading it for him right up to the very end. Our round table was already becoming a team.
(I will refrain from mentioning that I had finished dessert from the dinner course next to him.)

Then, at last, the presenter announced a company name I recognized.
In words even I—still studying English—could catch!
“Most Innovative Public Relations Agency of the Year is…SUNNY SIDE UP!”
Our round-table team sent R off with great enthusiasm.

“Thank you very much. We are truly honored to receive this award.
SUNNY SIDE UP is a major PR agency in Japan, so
if you would like to create buzz in Japan, please do not hesitate to contact us!”

After R said this, the venue was filled with the biggest laughter of the day (and applause!).
Promoting the company and effectively pitching during an acceptance speech—he truly was a PR professional from an “innovative PR agency.”

In closing. The awards we received this time—in the “Most Innovative PR Agency of the Year” category and the “Innovative Use of Events” category—were Silver and Bronze, but they are awards dedicated to “all SUNNY SIDE UP employees,” including Tsugihara.
“Sometimes it’s not all fun (laughs), but next year I want us all to win ‘Gold.’”
As I looked at the Silver and Bronze plaques, that thought crossed my mind, and I left the ceremony venue.

Creating “fun commotion” continues today, too.