Integrated Melbourne agency Icon has taken top honours at the 2021 Public Relations Institute of Australia (PRIA) Golden Target Awards, bringing home Gold as the Large Agency of the Year.

Icon Agency co-founder and Managing Director, Joanne Painter, was also awarded bronze for PR Leader of The Year, while the firm’s international award-winning ‘Still Six Lives’ campaign for the Red Nose Foundation won Gold in the Government Sponsored category.

Icon’s innovative reworking of the classic ‘Reduce Your Risk’ campaign for ACT Health and the Foundation for Alcohol Research and Education (FARE) won Silver in the Regional Communications Campaign category.

The Golden Target Awards cap a successful year for Icon which was also named Australasian Consultancy of the Year in the prestigious PRovoke Sabre Asia Pacific Awards earlier this year. The firm has notched over 30 award nominations and 15 wins in 2021, along with a slew of new clients and accounts. 

Joanne Painter said the team was overjoyed by the success.

“It’s difficult to put into words how proud we are to be recognised with four awards at the Golden Target Awards 2021. Winning the 2021 Large Agency of the Year is particularly sweet given the backdrop of the toughest and most challenging 20 months in living memory.”

Joanne Painter praised the entire agency staff, which has rapidly expanded over the last two years to almost 80.

“Icon has doubled in size while continuing our national expansion this year. Earning such high industry recognition and praise is testament to the incredible effort, passion and dedication each and every one of our people brings to work day in, day out. As co-founders, my partner Chris Dodds and I could not be more proud of the agency we’ve built with our incredible team.”

The win continues a strong year for Icon, which has been nominated for seven Agency of the Year awards, doubled revenue and continued to expand its portfolio of purpose-driven work.

“Our success this year is a testament to not only the continued hard work of our teams, who conceptualise and execute high quality campaigns, but also to our clients who support our vision and trust us to deliver.”

“Purposeful campaigns are a core tenet of our philosophy. We’re proud that our work is not only winning awards, but also making a real difference in the world. We think our success is a testament to the possibilities afforded to purpose-driven organisations. The sky's the limit.”

Joanne Painter hinted that Icon has no plans of slowing down.

“This win is an incredible way to end the year, and we’re just as excited for what’s in store for 2022 as we continue to expand our content, analytics and digital services.”