Mahmood Hussain, executive director, Orient Public Relations, Pakistan
Granleese Becomes Managing Director for Australia
Emma-Jane Granleese was recently promoted to managing director of Weber Shandwick in Australia.
Granleese became general manager of the Sydney office last July when former office head Ian Rumsby was named executive vice president for client strategy.
New Executive Director for Pakistan Affiliate
Mahmood Hussain has joined Weber Shandwick’s affiliate office in Pakistan, Orient Public Relations (Pvt) Ltd, as executive director reporting to the CEO. Besides his responsibility to develop and grow the organization, he will contribute to long-term strategic planning in human resource management.
Prior to joining the firm, Hussain was general manager of M/s. Aga Khan Health Service, Pakistan, a non-government organisation.
He has gained experience at various international organisations in the fields of general management, human resource management, marketing, sales and training. Hussain has also travelled extensively throughout Pakistan and the region and has experience managing operations in other countries.
Asia Pacific Exchange Program
Stephanie Yu Sees PR from a Sydney Perspective
Stephanie prepares to catch a wave during her Sydney excursion
As part of Weber Shandwick’s Asia Pacific Exchange program, Stephanie Yu, an account director in the Shanghai office’s healthcare practice, spent two weeks “down under,” seeing public relations from a Sydney perspective.
Having studied two years in the United Kingdom, Yu enjoys being in a multicultural environment. For this journey, she reported being motivated by the chance to sharpen her own talent in the healthcare field through learning from her Australian colleagues’ strengths.
“I had heard that new business development at the Sydney office grew fast in 2005 and 2006, therefore I wanted to learn their new business strategies and approaches to add value to my current work and office.”
In addition to sharing with the team in Australia lessons from her experiences in the China market, Yu sought to learn from and leverage the strengths of Sydney’s healthcare practice.
“During my stay in Sydney, I was involved in providing strategy and proposal drafting assistance for Schering, Johnson & Johnson and the MD foundation,” said Yu. “I also spent time talking with the healthcare and consumer team to identify new business opportunities in China.”
Returning to Shanghai, Yu presented fresh insights from Australia that she felt would enhance her own team. “The Sydney office has an entrepreneurial spirit, where junior staff can also help general new business or organic growth while delivering good client services,” she said.
Yu also noted that Australian clients tended to treat the firm more as a consultancy, a characteristic she attributed to the country’s further developed public relations market. “This is something we need to continue educating clients in China about while proving that we are valuable and strategic.”
“Too short,” was the only complaint from Yu following the two work-intensive weeks.
“Hopefully from now on there will be new business opportunities generated between the two offices,” she said.
Scott Sykes on screengrab™ in Asia Pacific
Scott Sykes, vice president and director of the Asia Pacific technology practice
The “screengrab™” initiative is Weber Shandwick’s combination of social and digital media, which is now rolling out across Asia Pacific. Scott Sykes, vice president and director of the Asia Pacific technology practice, tells In Touch more about the initiative.
Q: What exactly is screengrab™?
This exciting new initiative combines social and digital media, opening new doors for our clients. With these techniques, we can help our clients to share opinions and insights with others through digital media including blogs, message boards, podcasts and wikis. Through our digital services, we can help clients to convey messages that can be delivered to computers, handsets, televisions and game consoles, creating more opportunities and ‘screens’ that Weber Shandwick can target to help achieve its clients' communications objectives.
Q: Why is screengrab™ so important for Weber Shandwick in Asia Pacific?
The initiative is important because it will mean our clients are not only aware of and are participating in the social and digital realm, but they will also be hitting the mass market on a variety of screens with their key messages.
Q: What screengrab™ services are available today?
We can offer a whole host of ready-for-market services including social media monitoring, blog creation and maintenance, podcast creation, YouTube video creation, social media strategy development, viral e-mail marketing, webcasts, instant messenger marketing, internet press kits, search engine marketing and more. In fact, we are already implementing projects with a number of clients.
Q: What is the benefit to a client to engage in social and digital media compared to doing traditional media only?
Weber Shandwick’s screengrab™ marries the most sophisticated communications techniques with today’s most modern consumer consumption trends. It enables clients to more effectively target new and existing consumers. The reason this can be so effective is these new forms of communication recognize the new ways that people are increasingly consuming information. However, engaging in social and digital media may not necessarily be right for everyone and Weber Shandwick will help clients determine whether this type of media is right for them.
Q: What benefits can the initiative bring to Weber Shandwick’s Asia Pacific clients? The combination of social and digital media ensures that screengrab™ brings a greater number of communication opportunities for our clients, enabling them to reach their mass target audience quicker.
Hong Kong Celebrates Asia Pacific Network Win at the Races
Our Hong Kong team celebrate the Network of the Year win at the exclusive Hong Kong Jockey Club
When Weber Shandwick won the coveted title of Asia Pacific Network of the Year at the Asia Pacific PR Awards for the first time in the awards’ six-year history, the Hong Kong team decided to celebrate with an exclusive party at the Hong Kong Jockey Club.
Coinciding with a visit by Weber Shandwick CEO Harris Diamond and President Andy Polansky, the team made the most of the night by inviting journalists and clients to meet senior management.
Many major Hong Kong clients attended the party including the Economist Intelligence Unit, GE Money, Hitachi GST, INVESCO, New Zealand Trade and Enterprise, Pictet, Taubman, Wynn Macau, CA, GSK and Pfizer. In addition, media from Reuters, the South China Morning Post and Star News Asia attended, as well as the chairman of the American Chamber of Commerce in Hong Kong.
The team arranged for champagne and a dinner buffet, plus a traditional Chinese knot-tying demonstration and a “dragon beard” candy booth to add a unique Hong Kong flavour to the evening.
Sydney Makes Sport of Team-Building Exercise
Aspiring Olympians demonstrate their bowling skills
Late one Autumn Friday, the Sydney team shut down their computers and ventured outdoors for an afternoon of fun.
With the Beijing Olympics not far away, the team felt it was appropriate to test their skills and see if they have what it takes to qualify for the Australian Lawn Bowls team. The standards were set high with the multi-talented managing director, Emma-Jane Granleese, heading the team.
After consecutive games and some high quality bowling shots, James Wright and Carolyn Hurley left the green victorious, with Hurley walking away as the Most Valuable Player and Wright being awarded the Most Improved Player.
All in all, the afternoon was an enormous amount of fun, and the entire Weber Shandwick team demonstrated potential for Olympic qualification...according to themselves.
Philippines’ MD Makes Strides in Community Involvement
First-place winner Mike Toledo displays the Ford Focus Cup
Mike Toledo, managing director and CEO of Weber Shandwick in Manila, recently competed in the Ford Focus Cup. Taking home first place in the race, Toledo donated the prize to the LIFE (Leukaemia Indigent Fund Endowment) Foundation for Children.
In addition, Toledo, a member of Chaine des Rotisseurs, has been appointed charge de presse national of the National Bailliage for the international gastronomic society. Founded in 1950, Chaine des Rotisseurs promotes fine dining and preserving the camaraderie and pleasures of the table.
