“Advocacy” is a word that appears frequently in this newsletter and one which you will be hearing a lot more of from Weber Shandwick.
For Advocacy is the cornerstone of the firm’s new thought-leadership platform. While this is most visible through our new “Advocacy Starts Here” tagline and our soapbox imagery, this concept goes much deeper than a catchy slogan or slick advertising campaign.
At Weber Shandwick, we believe Advocacy is at the heart of the forces shaping the communications landscape of today and into the future. In today’s highly-digitized, information-rich world, the key to successful communications is engaging advocates.
Broadcasting a client’s message far and wide is not enough. We must identify and target specific people—journalists, bloggers, activists, politicians, community leaders, whoever they might be—encouraging them to amplify the message with their own voices. By doing so, they will become powerful and influential advocates for our client.
Emphasizing the role of Advocacy elevates and broadens the entire philosophy of what public relations is all about. It immediately becomes apparent, for instance, that media relations—albeit still very important—is just one of many potential advocacy channels. PR practitioners need to embrace the concept that any member of the “public” can become an advocate for a company, a brand or an issue. And technologies such as the Internet and mobile communications have made it much easier, and much quicker, for that advocate to touch and influence a much larger audience.
All in all, this represents a great opportunity for the PR industry to establish itself at the core of communications and marketing strategies. I’m delighted that Weber Shandwick has such a strong leadership position in our industry.
Andrew Pirie
President Asia Pacific
Advocacy Takes Hold Across Asia
Andrew Pirie, president, Asia Pacific, demonstrates how to be an advocate
The soap box
The soap box symbolises Advocacy. The concept originated in the speakers’ corner of London’s Hyde Park, where any member of the public can stand on a soap box and speak his or her mind.
At Weber Shandwick, we understand the critical role that Advocates play in igniting enthusiasm and building momentum. As a result, we are highly focused on creating advocates on behalf of our clients’ products and services, organisations and brands.
Standing on soap boxes, colleagues across Asia Pacific—from Greater China, India and Japan to Southeast Asia and Australia—announced Weber Shandwick’s new thought-leadership platform, “Advocacy.”
In Beijing, Asia Pacific regional president Andrew Pirie stood on a soapbox himself while presenting the advocacy concept to staff.
“The concept of standing on a box means you can stand out from the crowd and reach more people,” he said. “It’s a visual way of talking about an advocate.”
Down under in Sydney, Clare Holland shared, “We are all really excited about this new direction. The soapbox itself should also provide us with a fun and engaging way to help us weave this concept into the work the team does everyday.”
“Not only will it refresh the look and feel of Weber Shandwick, the Advocacy platform and the research behind it will also radically influence the way we work and the way we present concepts to our clients,” Holland continued.
In each country, colleagues were excited to start applying the advocacy concept.
In the Thailand office, Nutchanat Fuengpruetvong commented on the redesigned website, which featured figures from different segments of society advocating atop soap boxes.
“This is telling people that communication can be done in many different ways, not just traditional PR,” she said.
"The Manila team is excited at promoting advocacy to the local market,” said Luigi Avanceña from that team. “We know this will definitely contribute to raising the profile and perception of public relations in the Philippines."
Following the release of Weber Shandwick’s “New Wave of Advocacy” research, which surveyed consumers in nine countries—including four Asian countries—coverage has been tracked continuously in most markets.
As momentum continues to bring the new thought leadership platform to life, it's apparent that in Asia Pacific “Advocacy starts here.”
Announcing 2007 Photo Competition Winners
The agency recently held the Third Annual Asia Pacific Photo Competition for team members in each country to present their best photography.
Three categories captured the spirit of Advocacy—the new thought-leadership platform adopted earlier this year— encouraging photography that visually advocates the subject, including:
Advocating the environment: Pictures of nature and “must see” destinations
Advocating progress: Pictures depicting business and technology
Advocating people: Pictures of people advocating in some way
Together, team members turned out more than 200 photos, which were taken all over the world from the San Francisco’s Golden Gate Bridge to the Roman Coliseum, the Tibetan Highlands and Cambodia’s Angkor Wat.
Here are this year's Asia Pacific Photo Competition winners:
Overall
Winner: Lisa Popplewell, Sydney
Advocating the environment
Winner: Hwee Yen Chew, Kuala Lumpur
Winner: Mark Pinner, Beijing
Winner: Angel Wang, Beijing
Winner: Carmie Dulguime, Manila
Winner: Richie Metha, Mumbai
Winner: Josephine Ho, Singapore
Advocating progress
Winner: Yu Dan, Shanghai
Winner: Neha Taleja, Mumbai
Advocating people
Winner: Bhawna Singh, New Delhi
Winner: Angel Wang, Beijing
Congratulations to Lisa Popplewell and the winners in each category.
You can see more eye-catching photography by clicking here. (or on the image on the right.)
Thanks to everyone for their participation!
Searching for Asia’s Top PR Student
Student passes the life-size Advocacy
poster at Peking University
China managing director David Liu gives
students an insider’s perspective
On the look out for Asia’s next PR star, the agency has again partnered with Media magazine to sponsor the PR Student of the Year Award.
Getting the message out to students in the world’s most populous region requires the efforts of Weber Shandwick team members in all 17 Asia Pacific offices.
Team members in Singapore—home to last year’s runner up, Tabatha Mei Yan Maitland—started early, contacting some of Southeast Asia’s most esteemed institutions at the beginning of the year.
Thailand Managing Director Ken Hong planned to announce the competition with visits to several top Thai universities, accompanied by alumni now employed by the agency.
In Australia, a number of colleagues contacted former professors. Leela Gantman managed to arrange a session about the award with PR students at the University of Technology, Sydney—with 2006 winner Melanie Perkins sharing her first-hand experience as a Weber Shandwick intern.
Aiming to encourage applicants from the talent-hungry PR marketplace in China, team members placed a life-sized, Advocacy-branded poster at the prestigious Peking University. In addition, new business director Eva Whitlow gave a presentation about Weber Shandwick to PR Student Association members.
David Liu, managing director of Weber Shandwick in China, incorporated the PR Student of the Year Award into “Campus Talks”, a series of speaking engagements at campuses across China where he introduces the firm and the PR industry to university students each year.
Katrina Foxe, marketing services manager, Asia Pacific, is excited about the interest generated so far. "As last year was the first year for this award in Asia Pacific, we focused mainly on laying down the foundations and introducing it to the region. This year, as more students are becoming aware of what's on offer, we have focused heavily on promoting the award. It is really paying off, considering the number of fresh enquiries I'm receiving every day from the internet site."
Launched in 2006, the Asia Pacific PR Student of the Year Award gives students the chance to win one of two paid internships at a Weber Shandwick office nearest to the student. There is also US$6,000 in prize money to be won by the winner and runner up. Additionally, finalists are invited to attend the Asia Pacific PR Awards ceremony in Hong Kong.
For more information about the PR Student of the Year Award, please click here.
China Holds First Advocacy Innovation Awards
China rolled out an award programme to encourage innovative thinking and creative campaigns
Promising team members the chance to “show-off your innovation, freshness and creativity ... ”—the China office initiated the Advocacy Innovation Awards, a quarterly internal competition to recognise creative campaigns.
Eva Whitlow, new business director in Beijing, conceived the award programme as a catalyst for further creativity.
“There are so many people putting in long hours to provide unique campaigns for clients. A lot of the time it’s factors outside our control—time, cost, venue—that force us to find creative solutions,” explained Whitlow. “We don’t want their innovation to go unnoticed, and at the same time this award will promote more innovative PR strategies in the future.”
Managing director in China, David Liu, announced the first-quarter winners on April 13 in a conference call between Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou colleagues.
The first-place prize went to Christine Yin, Levin Yuan and Jasper Liu for a large-scale programme assembled in just 10 days, the GM-Shanghai Automotive Industry Corporation’s contribution of 88 automobiles to the Shanghai 2010 Expo Bureau.
Under a time crunch, the team arranged dozens of vehicles to form the word “expo,” which was then covered with a 1,600-square-meter drape. The resulting media coverage was even bigger, with headline-news stories reaching an estimated audience of 20 million.
The second-quarter Advocacy Innovation Awards are now underway.
Hong Kong Team Trains Students in Crisis Management
AIESEC is one of the world’s leading student exchange programmes
A group of AIESEC student representatives from the Hong Kong Baptist University (HKBU) recently came to the Hong Kong office to learn about crisis management from managing director Jill Mortensen. A group of four colleagues—including Helen Lo, account supervisor, consumer practice; Lilian Tai, account supervisor, technology practice; Phyllis Cheng, senior consultant, healthcare practice; and Wendy Kam, senior consultant, corporate and financial practice—added their experience to the training.
AIESEC, the largest student organisation in the world, aims to provide a platform for young people to develop their potential. The organisation has sought prominent figures from various industries to provide their future leaders with opportunities for learning and personal growth. Weber Shandwick Hong Kong, as a learning partner of AIESEC’s local chapter at HKBU, shared public relations expertise with the group of motivated students who attended the workshop on that day.
The objective of the workshop was to share with students the skills needed to take control of issues before they turn into crises. In the workshop, apart from crisis management theories and case studies sharing, the students had a chance to handle a real crisis in a small group discussion.
“The training was indeed a rewarding experience,” said Tiffany Tsang, an AIESEC student representative. “Now we know we need to first identify the cause of the issue before working on the actual solution. Good internal communication is of utmost importance.”
“It’s always enjoyable to work with students because we can learn from them just as they can learn from us,” said Mortensen. “This group was really impressive because they participated with a lot of energy and curiosity and challenged us with great questions. These students are obviously aware of the importance of managing issues in the world around them, so we hope our workshop contributed a small part to help them as they start their careers.”
Conferences Call on Agency’s Crisis Management Expertise
Darren Burns, managing director, Weber Shandwick Shanghai and Guangzhou
Darren Burns, managing director for Weber Shandwick in Shanghai and Guangzhou, shared his experience with different types of mistakes made by major international corporations in China with a panel of experts from China, India, Japan and Malaysia at the 2007 IABC International Conference in New Orleans on 26 June.
He will go on to share further thoughts at the Crisis Management Salon in Shanghai as a moderator alongside panelists including a representative from one of Weber Shandwick’s key clients, Sophia Luan, director, public relations and public affairs for General Motors China Group.
“As the region becomes an increasingly larger part of multinational corporations’ business operations, greater focus is being placed at the global level on how to safeguard reputation—this panel seeks to offer suggestions on how to do this in a rapidly changing environment,” said Burns.
As serious mistakes ranging from cultural misunderstandings, legal ignorance, poor government relations and social and political insensitivity result in detrimental short- and long-term repercussions, the session seeks to provide insights on pertinent issues for foreign companies to reach their stakeholders in Asian countries.
The 2007 IABC International Conference is the largest of its kind in the region to be attended by more than 1,000 participants.
Activating Screengrab in Beijing and Shanghai
With the continued development of Screengrab—the agency’s interactive, social and emerging media practice—Antony Cheng, senior consultant and new media expert at Weber Shandwick Beijing, recently performed a series of trainings on engaging social media.
The in-house trainings in Beijing and Shanghai focused on social media as an increasingly important part of the media matrix and looked at ways for PR professionals to harness this burgeoning sector in their PR strategies and campaigns. The training was especially essential in the Chinese market, where the number of Net users is second only to that of the United States’.
Chen, who has been working in the new media field for three years, commented, “I was very pleased by the level of interaction from my colleagues and the enthusiasm they had for learning about this increasingly important area. It is crucial for all PR professionals to embrace social media if they want to deliver the best results for their clients in the future”.
Relying on its deep expertise in public relations, Screengrab helps companies build relationships with audiences on the Web through innovative online campaigns and Web sites. It also combines online grassroots techniques and Web technologies to amplify messages to audiences and to create consumer evangelists for brands. In addition, the team develops award-winning sites that help companies forge relationships with audiences to achieve their most important business goals.
You can read more insight from Chen about popular social networking site MySpace’ entrance into the Chinese market in this edition of Expert’s Response by clicking here.
Sydney’s progressing tech team is headed by Lisa Popplewell
With the ongoing expansion of the Australian team, the technology practice in particular is going from strength to strength—with an exciting new global client win and a new local team of tech gurus who are committed to growing the practice even further.
The team’s most recent win, an ongoing global retainer account with VeriSign, kick-started in July and will focus on raising awareness of the company in Australia. This recent addition to the technology client roster has put the team in good-step, prompting them to look to recruit additional staff.
The practice is headed by senior account director Lisa Popplewell, who brings almost 10 years of technology communications experience to the team and comes to the Sydney team after four years with IPG-sister agency GolinHarris in the UK. Working closely with Lisa is account supervisor Sally Welsh, who drives the BT and recently-won VeriSign accounts.
Hong Kong Holds Media Training
The Hong Kong team invested time in media
Media relations—the art of communicating with journalists—is an essential skill for PR practitioners. Weber Shandwick Hong Kong is proactively sharpening its professional skills to maximise the return on investment from media interactions while decreasing risk, using a training programme developed to teach executives how to deal effectively with the media.
With the goal of enhancing the Hong Kong office’s competitive edge, former journalist and senior media trainer Albert Shu, senior vice president—working with seasoned PR experts Liz Underhill and Pamela So—is rolling out a series of half-day Media Relations Skills Workshops for 30 client servicing staff, from account coordinators to managers. The team brings to the table cross-industry knowledge of corporate and financial services, consumer marketing, technology and healthcare communications.
The workshop leaders have extensive media training experience, and have coached more than 100 top client executives in 37 workshops over the last year and a half, with many clients enthusiastically requesting additional training for other executives upon completion.
Initial feedback from participants has been very positive, reporting enhanced media relations know-how, and more structured preparation and communications techniques.
“Not only did we see our staff visibly improve their skills over the course of the training, but we’ve already seen increased confidence and polish from our junior staff when interacting with journalists,” said Jill Mortensen. “Preparation is key for effective PR, and we want to prepare our team with the skills for success.”
Weber Shandwick Named Industry “Blue Chip”
The US edition of PRWeek magazine recognised Weber Shandwick as the “Blue Chip” of the communications industry.
In the 2007 Agency Excellence Survey, Weber Shandwick received top honors in 15 of 25 attributes of client satisfaction, more than any other agency and ranked second in another five attributes. In addition, 81 percent of our current and past clients responded that they would be extremely/very likely to recommend Weber Shandwick.
Weber Shandwick’s number-one rankings include:
Generating accurate work (the agency’s highest-scoring attribute)
Understanding clients’ business
Consistently delivering company's message to all target audiences
Responding to client needs and requests in a timely manner
Developing creative programmes that help meet company objectives
Having a deep understanding of what motivates target stakeholder audiences
Demonstrating a measurable return on investment
Being an important business partner
Having high-quality staff
Helping clients understand and develop programmes within the new media environment
Importantly, the four highest-scoring attributes are also the highest priorities for clients.
PRWeek retained an independent research firm to conduct the Agency Excellence Survey, which survied more than 800 senior communications professionals, including 50 current clients and 50 past clients involved in agency selection and management.
Thailand’s New Home
Weber Shandwick in Thailand now has a new building, McCann Worldgroup Centre, located in the central business district of Bangkok. The team can now be located at:
