AP Consultancy Report Card 2013 Insights

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the

HOLMES
REPORT

CONSUL
TANCY
REPORT CARD

ASIA PACIFIC
Paul A. Holmes
CEO
Arun Sudhaman
Partner and Managing Editor
Greg Drury
Partner and President - U.S. Operations
Aarti Shah
Senior Editor
Annabel Davis
Chief Internet Officer
Amanda Busby
UK Administrative Manager
Patrick Drury
Account Executive
Celeste Picco
Chief Administrative Officer
James Beer/Logo Logo
Design
Anthony S. Picco
Layout & Print Production
The Holmes Report, Asia Pacific Consultancy Report Card 2013
(ISBN 978-0-9831883-9-1) is published once a year by The Holmes Group,
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www.holmesreport.com 1

Consultancy Report Card 2013 Asia Pacific

CONTENTS

While there have been
signs of a slowdown in
some of the world’s major
developing economies
over the past 12 months,
growth of the public relations
business in the Asia-Pacific
region continues to outpace
the rest of the world.
But the real excitement is
not continued double-digit increases in fee income,
but the fact that the quality of work in major Asian
markets is now matching – and in the best cases,
surpassing – what we see in the major Englishspeaking markets and parts of western Europe.
Not so very long ago, the vast majority of the
work we saw in Asia was dominated by either
special events or straightforward media relations
and product publicity. But today, the range of work
handled by PR agencies in Asia is considerably
broader: corporate social responsibility, high-end
corporate reputation work, financial communications
around mergers and acquisitions, employee
engagement.
And of course, PR firms in Asia are competing
with a wide range of agencies – advertising and

digital – in the content creation business, while also
taking the lead in social media, helping their clients
engage with customers and other stakeholders and
do what public relations has always done best—
build relationships.
The good news is that even if overall economic
growth in the region does slow, there is still plenty
of room for growth in the PR business—driven by
broader mandates and higher value services.
The firms profiled in this edition of The Holmes
Report’s PR Consultancy Report Card understand
that. They are among the leaders in expanding the
industry’s role, enhancing its stature, and growing
its size and profitability.”The need for good public
relations has never been greater—corporate
reputations are more challenged than ever in the
social media age, and PR is playing an increasingly
central role in brand-building as marketers recognize
the need to truly engage with their consumers—and
the firms in this volume are all well-positioned to
benefit, whatever the broader economic context.

Paul A. Holmes
Paul Holmes, Editor

EDITORIAL.............................................................................................................................................................. 02
TEN WAYS TO DESIGN THE AGENCY OF THE FUTURE..................................................... 04
CONSULTANCIES OF THE YEAR.......................................................................................................... 08
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS (FAQ)...................................................................................... 12
ALPHABETICAL INDEX................................................................................................................................. 13
GEOGRAPHICAL INDEX.............................................................................................................................. 14
SPECIALTY INDEX............................................................................................................................................ 16
MULTINATIONAL, MULTI-SPECIALTY FIRMS................................................................................... 18
SPECIALISTS, BOUTIQUES, SMALL & MID-SIZE FIRMS....................................................... 44

2 www.holmesreport.com

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TEN
WAYS
TO

DESIGN
THE

AGENCY
OF THE

FUTURE
by Paul Holmes

THE FINANCIAL, POLITICAL, TECHNOLOGICAL AND
media worlds have changed dramatically since the
start of the 21st century. The global economic crisis,
stagnation in the developed economies and growth
in emerging markets, the rise of digital and social
communications channels and the fragmentation of
mainstream news outlets—these changes have all
prompted new threats, and opened up new opportunities, for the public relations business.
But to take advantage of these changes, public
relations firms need new business models, new—and
more diverse—talent, and new ways of thinking. To put
it mildly, a public relations agency designed to meet
the major challenges of the 20th century is unlikely to
succeed in the 21st.
Yet many of the world’s largest agencies, and
a surprising number of midsize firms, continue to
operate as if little has changed. Their infrastructure
is a legacy from a different age, they have the same
practice areas (often conflating actual practices
such as corporate communications and product
marketing, with industry sectors such as healthcare
and technology), the same geographic structures, the
same silos that served them (not always well) a decade
or more ago.
And many of them have failed to integrate new
ideas, new technologies and new media, into the way
they do business—often treating changes that ought
to disrupt existing models as if they can simply be
bolted on to the old model.
Every time they do that, they miss an opportunity
to create something genuinely disruptive, and they
double down on their investment in traditional,
vestigial, thinking—increasing their vulnerability to new
firms with new ways of thinking.
Many of the firms in this volume are already acting
on some, perhaps many, of the ideas presented here.
Some have radically restructured their business using
their own ideas of what the future will demand. It’s
doubtful whether anyone has all the answers when it
comes to creating a new model for the public relations
firm, but there are several ideas that all agencies
should be exploring or considering.

1. Big data at the center
Three years ago, I found myself in Davos—at a
conference called Communication on Top—debating
the future role of public relations in a shifting world.


My own optimistic view was challenged by
Marshall Sponder, an expert in web analytics.
His major complaint: that PR people did
not understand how to use big data; his
big prediction: that within a couple of years,
every PR agency that wanted to be taken
seriously would have a chief data officer,
playing a significant role in the leadership of
the organization.
To say that progress on this score has been
mixed would be extremely generous to the
industry as a whole. There has been plenty of
evidence that putting data and analytics at the
center of communications can be incredibly
powerful—the Obama re-election campaign
is the most obvious example—but there has
been incremental progress at best when it
comes to using data to drive marketing and
corporate communications more broadly, and
only a handful of firms have anyone in a role
roughly equivalent to Sponder’s chief data
officer role.

2. Insight to drive
meaningful creativity
One reason data is important is that it lays
the foundation for the kind of insight—into
stakeholder attitudes, values, beliefs and
actions—that ensure relevance.
For too long, many public relations
people—like the baseball scouts in Michael
Lewis’s Moneyball who believed that they
could identify a good baseball player based
on little more than attitude, posture, and
physique—have operated on the assumption
that their years of experience alone meant
that they knew a good PR campaign when
they saw it.
But all too often, the ideas they generated
were creative just for the sake of it. They
resonated with reporters, but not with the
wider audiences they were intended to reach.
They provided entertainment value but didn’t
do anything to influence behavior. They were
“great” PR ideas with no business benefit.
Great data alone will not ensure great PR
programming. But better data will lead to
better insights. And better insights will lead to
more creative public relations ideas—ideas
that solve real business problems.

3. Understanding the
human brain
Edward L Bernays would insist loudly to
anyone who would listen that public relations
was “applied social science.” That was true in
the industry’s early days, when Bernays and

others were pioneering a new discipline, and it
remains true today.
What has changed is that we have new
ways of understanding how the human mind
words, how people decide what to believe,
how they process information, how they make
choices.

the second. There is probably still a very
good living to be earned that way—effective
communication remains important; but firms
that can help their clients earn the right kind of
reputation—by helping to shape policy rather
than explain it—will deliver and derive far
greater value in the future.

A PR PERSON WHO LOOKS AT A CLIENT
FROM A TRUE JOURNALISTIC PERSPECTIVE
SHOULD BE ABLE TO UNEARTH BOTH
POSITIVE NEWS (AUTHENTIC STORIES
THAT REINFORCE THE MESSAGES
A COMPANY WANTS TO COMMUNICATE
ABOUT ITSELF) AND NOT-SO-POSITIVE
NEWS (HELPING CLIENTS IDENTIFY
AREAS OF REPUTATION RISK).

Most PR people could benefit from going
back and reading Bernays’ classic The
Engineering of Consent. But they should also
be reading more recent volumes such as The
Tipping Point by Malcolm Gladwell, Nudge by
Richard Thaler and Cass Sunstein, Made to
Stick by Chip Heath, or Contagious by Jonah
Burger. Or listening to neuroscientists like
David Eagleman, who presented at our first
Global Public Relations Summit in 2012 and
provided numerous insights—some of them
quite shocking—into the ways emotional
responses can overrule the rational mind, and
the unconscious supersede the conscious.
Understanding the latest thinking in this
area is essential for anyone hoping to change
attitudes and behaviors.

4. Managing reputation
is about more than just
communicating reputation
There are two necessary preconditions if
a company is to have a good reputation (by
which we mean a reputation that strengthens
the relationship between a company and its
key stakeholders, reducing risk and providing
greater opportunity). First, it must earn that
reputation; then it must communicate what it
has done to earn it.
The first of those things is by far the most
important; traditionally, public relations firms
have spent far more time and energy on

This requires an understanding of corporate
culture, and corporate values, and how
to communicate them so that executives
communicate them through their words
and—infinitely more important—their deeds;
employees believe in them and live them; and
external stakeholders understand them and
believe that they are authentic.

5. Becoming real brand
journalists
The public relations industry has always
recruited former journalists. But historically,
it has demanded that they stop acting
like journalists. Their perceived value was
their ability to craft stories that their former
colleagues would find interesting or appealing.
But that approach ignored their true value.
Real brand journalism is not just about
telling good stories, it’s about identifying and
researching and developing those stories.
By hiring people who think and act like
journalists, and encouraging clients to allow
these “brand journalists” full access, PR firms
can provide tremendous value. A PR person
who looks at a client from a true journalistic
perspective should be able to unearth
both positive news (authentic stories that
reinforce the messages a company wants
to communicate about itself) and not-sopositive news (helping clients identify areas of
reputation risk).

Editorial Feature
6. Being truly channel
neutral
The ideal of channel neutrality has been
on the communications industry agenda
for decades. It has (at least theoretically)
been at the heart of several approaches to
integration—“orchestration,” “the whole egg,”
and more. But it has proven incredibly difficult
to realize, perhaps because the wrong people
have been driving the process.
True channel neutrality is difficult for
advertising agencies, because the financial
rewards of persuading a client to invest in
one channel—paid advertising—provide an
almost irresistible attraction. Given the choice
between telling the client he or she needs a
billion dollar ad campaign or a $100,000 PR
initiative, most ad firms have found ways to
convince themselves—and their clients—that
the ad campaign is the best solution.
(The new generation of digital firms has
a slightly different challenge: by focusing
on and recruiting for a single channel of
communication, they lack the expertise to be
channel agnostic.)
But PR is not a channel, or a medium, or a
vehicle; it’s a process. There is no reason why
PR people should not be just as comfortable
suggesting a flashmob as they are
recommending a press conference; a mobile
app rather than a media release; or even an
ad campaign rather than a publicity program.
No reason, that is, except that they lack the
talent in-house. If a PR firm is staffed entirely
with media relations experts, it is going to find
channel neutrality just as challenging as any
ad agency or digital specialist.

7. Eliminating internal
barriers
As public relations firms evolved, they
traditionally broke their businesses down in
a number of different ways: by the intended
audience (practice areas such as consumer
and corporate, public affairs and investor
relations); by industry section (healthcare,
technology, financial services); and—in the
case of the largest firms—by geography.
This made agencies more manageable—
and created opportunities for senior staff—but
it also erected barriers between the various
business units, often creating obstacles to
assembling the best people from multiple
practices, sectors and geographies. Those
barriers have become more problematic as
communications challenges have become
more complex. And ironically, there are more

of those barriers at the largest agencies,
which are often called upon the handle the
most complex, global issues.
Agencies need to ask themselves whether
these vestigial structures still make sense.
Is the “corporate” audience really so distinct
from the “consumer” audience? If so, is a
CSR campaign corporate (because a major
objective in enhanced reputation) or consumer
(because done right, CSR can help drive
sales)? Wouldn’t your public affairs efforts be
better served if they included an employee
communications component, motivating
ordinary employees to get involved?
And does having a “digital” practice make
any more sense than having a “print” practice
or a “radio” practice? Or does it perhaps
another barrier, one that actually makes it
more difficult to come up with channel-neutral
solutions?

that the agency loses a great client counselor
and gains a mediocre (at best) manager.
Many firms have been experimenting with
alternate career paths that keep their best
PR people close to their clients, turning
them into “client relationship managers”
running complex global accounts, but
there is still a perception that the top jobs
in most agencies—the ones that earn the
most money and the most respect—involve
managing a practice or an office.
That will need to change, as experts in data
analysis, those with a flair for insights and
creativity, those comfortable in the C-suite,
and those whose expertise involves internal
investigative journalism or content creation,
demand public relations careers that are as
fulfilling and as rewarding as those who are
excited by the prospect of managing a P&L—
or their own firm.

8. Recruiting differently

10. Make it matter

There are people working in public relations
firms today who are more than capable
of doing many, perhaps all, of the things
described so far in this article.
There are (contrary to popular perception)
PR people who understand and even love
hard data; who have studied neuroscience
and applied its findings to their work; who
counsel their clients’ CEO on his actions as
well as his words; who are just as comfortable
recommending an ad campaign as a PR
program, if it’s the right solution to a client’s
problem.
But there are not enough of them, and
there won’t be enough of them until PR firms
change the way they recruit and target a
broader, more diverse range of people, taking
a risk on hiring candidates not only from
journalism and politics and finance, but from
marketing and research and academia and
a range of other disciplines that may seem
completely unrelated to PR as we currently
know it.

The final challenge, another one the
industry has been wrestling with for
decades, involves making sure that all of
this activity—improved use of data, better
insights, application of the latest science,
radical restructuring, recruitment and career
mapping—pays off in business terms.
Fortunately, there is recent research that
provides a map for PR measurement. Fred
Reicheld’s “net promoter score” approach
has focused primarily on demonstrating that
when consumers are more likely to advocate
for a brand—by recommending it to their
friends and peers—there is a real payoff in
terms of future performance. (Similarly, when
consumers are actively critical of a brand,
there is a measurable negative impact on
performance.)
There is no reason why this methodology
cannot be applied to other stakeholder
groups, and public relations people should
start every new campaign by asking, will this
increase the number of advocates and reduce
the number of detractors for the company,
organization, product or service. And they
should measure every campaign by figuring
out who the ratio of advocates to detractors
changed—and making sure management
understands how that ratio is relevant to
sales, profits and share price.

9. Creating new career
paths
Once those people have been recruited,
agencies will need to offer them career paths
that don’t necessarily look like the traditional
trajectory of a successful PR executive.
For one thing, that traditional trajectory has
never served agencies as well as they might
think. It has all too often resulted in promoting
a great PR person until he or she is gradually
shifted away from client work and into the
management of a “P&L”—often with the result


CONSULTANCIES
OF THE YEAR


ASIA-PACIFIC
CONSULTANCY OF THE
YEAR:
MSLGROUP
A third consecutive year of 30 percent or
better organic growth in Asia means that
MSLGroup has established itself as a force to
be reckoned with in the region. While much of
the focus has been on a series of acquisitions
(seven in three years; experiential agency
Luminous and production and design specialist
King Harvests were added to the fold in 2012),
much of the underlying growth has come from
the increasingly close working relationship
between what were once disparate and
dispersed operations.
There were new multimarket assignments
from the likes of P&G, Coca-Cola, IKEA, Sony,
Singapore Tourism Board, Haier, TAITRA,
WalMart and United Technologies. MSL also
picked up new business in local markets,
including Facebook (India), McDonald’s (Taiwan),
Disney (Taiwan), Microsoft (Japan), Dow Corning
(Japan), Beam Global Spirits (Singapore), and
Jack & Jones (China). Other major clients
include Hyundai, Samsung, Huawei, the
Business Software Alliance, World Gold Council,
Astra Zeneca, and Dell.
MSL now has 1,675 people in Asia, across
38 offices in nine markets, under the leadership
of Glenn Osaki—who has led the firm since its
early days in Asia—supported by a team that
includes China veterans Johan Bjorksten and
Par Uhlin (whose firm, Eastwei, was one of
the better acquisitions of recent years); Indian
leadership team Sunil Gautam and Jaideep
Shergill, and VP of insights and innovation
Gaurav Mishra.—PH

creative insight process that has helped it create
standout work for its clients. A good example
was the ‘Grazed for Greatness’ campaign for
new men’s fashion brand MJ Bale, a smart idea
that boosted awareness and ultimately spurred
a significant sales increase. The TBWA-owned
firm won 14 pitches during the year - now
boasting a client base that includes Nissan,
Infinity, Energizer, PlayStation, IAG and Reckitt
Benckiser - and is eyeing further expansion into
Asia after launching in Singapore.—AS
FINALISTS:
Impact Communications Australia, Liquid
Ideas, Ogilvy Public Relations Worldwide,
PPR

CHINA CONSULTANCY
OF THE YEAR:
FLEISHMANHILLARD
THERE’S no doubt that China is now the
major engine for growth for FleishmanHillard
in the Asia-Pacific region, with revenues from
the mainland up by 45 percent, and the Hong
Kong office growing by close to 20 percent.
Regional president Li Hong took the helm of
the firm’s China operations a decade ago,
at which time the firm has just $1 million of
business in the market. Focusing on helping
overseas multinationals understand the Chinese
market—with a more recent expertise helping
Chinese businesses expand internationally, the
firm has three offices (Beijing, Shanghai and
Guangzhou) and two brands (Blue Current
opened there in 2011 and is now a $1 million in
its own right, serving clients including Chinese
giants Gome, Huawei, and Li-Ning and global
giants P&G, Philips, Mercedes Benz, Tiffany
and Swatch.

FINALISTS:
BlueFocus, Edelman, Ogilvy Public
Relations, Weber Shandwick

FINALISTS:
BlueFocus, MSLGroup, Ogilvy Public
Relations, Weber Shandwick

AUSTRALASIA
CONSULTANCY OF THE
YEAR:

INDIA CONSULTANCY OF
THE YEAR:

ELEVEN PR
ELEVEN has established itself as one of the
brightest of Australia’s new constellation of
consumer PR agencies, coming off a highly
successful year that saw it grow revenues and
win plenty of recognition. Founded in New
Zealand in 2006, Eleven opened an Australian
operation in 2011, benefiting from an impressive


PERFECT RELATIONS
IN India’s highly-competitive PR market, it
takes a certain level of performance to remain
relevant for more than 20 years. That Perfect
Relations has done so speaks volumes about
a pioneering sensibility that continues to drive
growth at one of India’s biggest PR players.
Still proudly independent, Perfect leaders
Dilip Cherian and Bobby Kewalramani have

Consultancies of the Year

created a vibrant agency culture that with
relatively low senior turnover and a laudable
commitment to training and development.
The past 12 months, meanwhile, saw Perfect
win some of India’s biggest PR pitches, for
Infosys, Google, Airtel and Nokia. And the
agency’s campaign work remains a enduring
strength, highlighted by standout work for
Coca-Cola and Acer. Now numbering more
than 500 employees, Perfect’s success is
evidence that good homegrown Indian PR
firms need not sell to MNCs to realise their
ambitions.—AS
FINALISTS:
Adfactors, Avian Media, Integral,
MSLGroup

JAPAN CONSULTANCY
OF THE YEAR:
BILCOM
FOUNDED in 2003, digital marketing
specialist Bilcom is a Japanese firm with
a distinctly modern approach, offering a
cohesive blend of marketing and PR services
that range from planning to execution. The
firm’s communications unit was launched
in 2006 by company director Koji Nizaka,
catching the eye when it won a Gold Lion
at the inaugural Cannes PR Lions in 2009.
Despite tough economic conditions, the
firm’s innovative mindset has ensured resilient
earnings, boosted by new business from
Tommy Hilfiger and Lacoste, along with a
smart YouTube campaign that has helped
to personalise Konica Minolta’s corporate
image.—AS

Leading
the Change

FINALISTS:
Dentsu Public Relations, FleishmanHillard,
PRAP, Weber Shandwick

KOREA CONSULTANCY
OF THE YEAR:
MEDICOM
ONE of the most digitally-savvy PR firms
in one of the most digitally-savvy PR
markets in the region, Korea’s Medicom’s
capabilities in the digital and social space
were the key factor in sealing a 2012 deal
to represent global public relations giant
Burson-Marsteller in the Korean market. It
now provides integrated digital and traditional
services to more than half of its clients,
including big names such as LG Electronics,

MSLGROUP Awarded

Asia Pacific
Consultancy of the Year
facebook.com/MSLGROUPAsia

twitter.com/MSLGROUPAsia



Shiseido, Nike, and Kiehl’s, served by about
140 account staff, and last year saw the
introduction of big data and social intelligence
services for clients such as Accenture and
BMW. That helped the firm to healthy doubledigit growth in 2012, with new business
from IBM, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs &
Trade, LG, Nongshim, the Australian Trade
Commission, and the US Embassy.—PH
FINALISTS:
Communication Korea, Edelman, KPR,
Prain

SOUTH-EAST ASIA
CONSULTANCY OF THE
YEAR:
OGILVY PUBLIC RELATIONS WORLDWIDE
OGILVY’S massive, market-leading
operations in China and Australia get the
lion’s share of the attention, but it has long
had a significant presence in South-East
Asia, and in 2012 its operations there led the
way in terms of growth, with the Indonesian
and Malaysian operations up by about 25
percent each and its Philippines office up
by better than 36 percent. The Singapore
office, meanwhile, was named PR Agency
of the Year by Marketing Magazine for the
third consecutive year, while the Vietnamese
office (Ogilvy was a pioneer when the market
began to open itself up for business a few
years ago) also made a solid contribution.
New business came from the Indonesian
Port Corporation, Zurich Insurance, World
Kitchen, Panasonic, Singapore Tourism
Board, APB Guinness and more.
FINALISTS:
Edelman, Fortune PR, Galaxy
Communications, Vero PR

NEW CONSULTANCY OF
THE YEAR:
ARTEMIS
ARTEMIS Associates, founded in March
2011 by FTI veteran Diana Footitt, has quickly
carved a niche for itself as an entrepreneurial
boutique firm capable of delivering worldclass, international, independent strategic
communications advice and flawless
execution to an impressive list of clients: Berry
Brothers & Rudd, CVC/Matahari Department
Stores, Esprit, Estee Lauder, Fong’s Industries,
Graff Diamonds, Hong Kong Airlines, IRC


Limited, Louis XIII Holdings, Poly Property
Group, the Mongolian government, and
Samsonite. The firm made an immediate
impact on the M&A front with its work on
the Prada and Graff Diamonds transactions,
with other highlights including work with
the Government of Mongolia on the media
relations surrounding its inaugural US$1.5b
medium term note offering and advice to CVC
on media relations for an offering involving
Matahari, the Indonesian retailer.—PH
FINALISTS:
PRecious, SharpeLankester, Zeno

CONSUMER
CONSULTANCY OF THE
YEAR:
WAGGENER EDSTROM
IT was no great surprise that Waggener
Edstrom picked up three trophies at the 2012
SABRE Awards dinner in Hong Kong: it was
a good haul for a midsize firm, but WaggEd
has been doing good work in Asia since its
acquisition of local technology specialist Shout
in 2005. What was, perhaps, surprising is that
the three winning campaigns were for an antismoking health education program on behalf
of the Health Promotion Board of Singapore;
a product media relations effort for the Ramen
Emporium, with Japanese noodle restaurant
IPPUDO in Hong Kong; and a promotional
campaign for online travel company Zuji. In
other words, there wasn’t a single technology
assignment—long WaggEd’s bread-and-butter,
among its winning work. That’s a testament
to the success the Asia-Pacific operation has
had in diversifying beyond the tech sector so
that there is now a case to be made that after
a year of better than 60 percent growth, the
consumer practice is now its Astrongest in the
region.—PH

considerably in 2012, introducing a change
communication practice, expanding its
investor relations offer with the addition of
former stockbroker Harold Shapiro, and
opening a new office in Brisbane after
picking up business from local clients such
as Chandler Macleod, St.George Bank, Vita
Group and BDO. High-profile work included
change communication assignments: first,
the transformation of the OPSM brand,
which won multiple awards; and second, the
successful integration of leading accounting
firms BDO and PKF during a period of
intense competition and consolidation of
professional service firms in Australia. Both
showcased Sefiani’s ability to operate in the
C-suite, counseling clients at the highest level
and deliver real business results.—PH
FINALISTS:
FleishmanHillard, Pelham Bell Pottinger,
Senate SHJ, Weber Shandwick

DIGITAL CONSULTANCY
OF THE YEAR:
WEBER SHANDWICK
A few years ago, you would have been hardpressed to even include Weber Shandwick in
this category, but the firm has transformed its
digital operation to good effect. That is in large
part down to the development of an impressive
digital studio led by Jon Wade, which has
shown a commendable commitment to
cutting-edge content creation on behalf
of both clients and the firm itself. This has
translated into significant digital growth for a
range of existing clients, along with helping it
net new clients such as the California Walnut
Commission in China. Weber Shandwick may
have been a little late to the digital party in
Asia, but they are making up for lost time in a
hurry.—AS

FINALISTS:
AKA Asia, Mango, Ogilvy Public Relations,
Trimaran

FINALISTS:
Bilcom, Edelman, MSLGroup, Ogilvy
Public Relations Worldwide

CORPORATE AND
PUBLIC AFFAIRS
CONSULTANCY OF THE
YEARS:

FINANCIAL
CONSULTANCY OF THE
YEAR:

SEFIANI
LONG established as one of Australia’s
leading corporate communications boutique,
Sefiani broadened the scope of its operations

ADFACTORS
FOUNDER and chief executive Madan
Bahal’s investments during difficult economic
conditions are paying off, helping Adfactors—
still India’s largest corporate and financial

Consultancies of the Year

communications specialist—grow by around
20 percent in 2012. The firm continues
to derive a large part of its revenues from
the financial realm, thanks to extensive
experience in mergers and acquisitions, IPOs
and restructurings. Major clients include some
of India’s largest companies and overseas
multinationals, most notably in the financial
services sector: State Bank of India, ICICI
Group, Larsen & Toubro, Jet Airways, Maruti
Suzuki, Barclays Banking Group, Unit Trust
of India, Aviva Life Insurance, Nissan Motor
Company, Adani Group, JSW Group and
GMR Group. Additions in 2012 included
Vodafone, Citibank, Bank of America Merrill
Lynch, Essar Group, Mahindra Group, and
more.—AS/PH
FINALISTS:
Artemis, Brunswick, Ogilvy Public
Relations, Strategic Public Relations
Group

TECHNOLOGY
CONSULTANCY OF THE
YEAR:
BITE COMMUNICATIONS
THE firm formerly known as Upstream may
have dramatically reshaped its offering
since being acquired by Bite, yet much of
its success must be down to the reassuring
management stability provided by David
Ketchum and Paul Mottram. The duo are
now supported by a solid Asia-Pacific
management team, all of whom have played
a role in ushering an innovative rollout of new
services at the agency. The 2012 acquisition
of search firm Red Bricks Media followed two
earlier digital buys, turning Bite into a firm that
is as comfortable handling digital marketing
as it is running media relations activity. Bite
grew its Asia-Pacific revenue by almost 15
percent in 2012 to US$8m, providing ample

evidence that its strategy is bearing fruit, and
all accomplished without a noticeable pipeline
of global business for the US or Europe. For
technology clients, Bite’s integrated marketing
capabilities give it a clear edge, and the firm’s
expansion into the broader B2B and consumer
market suggests that neither Ketchum nor
Mottram are about to slow down anytime
soon.—AS
FINALISTS:
Hoffman Agency, Lewis PR, Rice
Communications, Six Degrees

HALF PAGE HORIZONTAL w/bleed: 8.5 x 5.5 inches

FREQUENTLY
ASKED QUESTIONS


HOW WERE FIRMS SELECTED
FOR INCLUSION IN THE
CONSUL
TANCY REPORT CARD?
THERE are several criteria for inclusion.One
is size. We made every effort to include the
largest pan-regional agencies as well as the
leaders in individual markets.
Awards were another indicator of quality,
and we included many firms that had won
awards in their local markets or in international
competition, such as the International Public
Relations Association’s Golden World Awards.
Finally, we gave special consideration to
members of the various international networks
of independent public relations consultancies,
on the grounds that these firms are particularly
focused on the kinds of international clients to
whom this Report Card is distributed.
Of course, we were dependent on the
participation of the firms themselves. We
contacted more than 150 firms to invite them
to submit the detailed information we needed
in order to create a thorough and accurate
profile. Many of them failed to respond and
several declined to participate.
DO YOU EVER WRITE NEGATIVE
REVIEWS OF THE FIRMS YOU
INCLUDE?
NOT usually. Firms are included because we
believe they are good enough to recommend
to our client-side readers. If we don’t think
a firm is good enough to be included, we
exclude it, rather than wasting our valuable
space and our readers’ valuable time with a
negative review.

HOW DID YOU SELECT YOUR
CONSULTANCIES OF THE YEAR?
WE met with more than 80 of the firms
included in this Report Card personally,
sitting through credentials presentations and
discussions about philosophy, culture, values,
and strategy. In addition to those meetings we
spoke with more than 100 clients and industry
experts. In almost every case, we asked the
individuals which firms they most respected.
We also took into consideration growth and
industry recognition such as awards, which
provide us with a unique insight into the way
participating consultancies think.
Both historic positioning in a market—
consistent leadership over time—and more
recent accomplishments and performance
were taken into consideration.
HOW CAN MY FIRM PARTICIPATE
IN NEXT YEAR’S CONSULTANCY
REPORT CARD?
SIMPLY contact our editor, Paul Holmes at
pholmes@holmesreport.com. Be prepared to
answer questions about your firm ranging from
the general (what makes your firm different
from its competitors) to the specific (recent
new business successes, awards and recognition earned) and to include client references or
testimonials.
We will start pulling together information for
the 2014 Report Card beginning in October of
this year.
IS THERE ANY COST FOR
INCLUSION?
ABSOLUTELY not. Because the Report Card
reaches an extensive client-side readership—both in the U.S. and globally—several
participating firms have chosen to advertise,
but firms are included on merit, not because
they have bought ads, and we would never
exclude a firm that didn’t advertise.


Alphabetical Index
A

M

R

APCO Worldwide ....................................... 22
Adfactors PR .............................................. 44
AKA Asia .................................................... 44
Artmeis Associates ..................................... 46
Asahi Agency ............................................. 46
Ate Integrated Communications ................. 47
Avian Media ................................................ 47

MSLGroup .................................................. 36
Mango ........................................................ 64
Maverick ..................................................... 65
Medicom .................................................... 65
Mileage Communications ........................... 66

Rice Communications ................................. 72
Rowland .................................................... 73
Ruder Finn .................................................. 40
Ryan Financial Communications ................. 73

B

n2n communications .................................. 66

Bilcom ........................................................ 48
Bite ............................................................. 48
BlueFocus Integrated Marketing Consulting . 9
4
Brunswick .................................................. 50
Burson-Marsteller ....................................... 20

124 Communications ................................. 67
Ogilvy PR Worldwide .................................. 38

C

N
O
P

DEC Communications ................................ 54
Dentsu Public Relations .............................. 54

PPR ............................................................ 67
PR One ...................................................... 67
PR Pundit ................................................... 68
PRAP ......................................................... 68
PRHub ....................................................... 69
Palin Communications ................................ 69
Pelham Bell Pottinger ................................. 70
Perfect Relations ........................................ 70
Porda Havas ............................................... 71
Porter Novelli .............................................. 38
The PRactice .............................................. 71
Prain .......................................................... 72
PRecious Communications ......................... 72

E

Q

EMG ........................................................... 55
Edelman ..................................................... 24
Eleven PR ................................................... 56
Eon ............................................................ 56

Qyvision ...................................................... 72

Cannings Corporate Communications ........ 50
Cognito Communications Counsellors ....... 51
Cohn & Wolfe ............................................. 51
Communications Korea .............................. 51
Comniscient Group ..................................... 52
Cosmo ....................................................... 52
Creative Crest ............................................. 53

D

S
Sefiani ........................................................ 74
SenateSHJ Group ...................................... 74
SharpeLankester ........................................ 75
Six Degrees ................................................ 75
Strategic Public Relations Group ................ 76

T
Text 100 ..................................................... 76
Trimaran PR Asia......................................... 77

V
Vector Group .............................................. 77
Vero Public Relations .................................. 78

W
Waggener Edstrom ..................................... 78
Weber Shandwick ...................................... 42
Wonderful Sky Financial Group ................... 79
Wrights PR ................................................. 79

Z
Zeno Group ................................................ 79
Zing ............................................................ 80

F
FTI Consulting ............................................ 57
Fleishman-Hillard ........................................ 26
Fortune PR ................................................. 57
Frank PR .................................................... 58

G
Galaxy Communications ............................. 58
GolinHarris .................................................. 28
Grayling ...................................................... 59
Grebstad Hicks Communications ............... 59

H
Hamilton Advisors ....................................... 59
Havas PR Agatep ....................................... 60
Hill + Knowlton Strategies............................ 30
The Hoffman Agency .................................. 60
Huntington Communications ...................... 61

I
INR ............................................................. 61
Impact Communications Australia .............. 61
In.Fom ........................................................ 62
Integral PR .................................................. 62

K
KPR & Associates ....................................... 63
Ketchum ..................................................... 34
Kreab Gavin Anderson ................................ 63
Kyodo Public Relations ............................... 64

L
Liquid Ideas ................................................ 64


GEOGRAPHICAL INDEX
AUSTRALIA
Bite ............................................................. 48
Edelman ..................................................... 24
Eleven PR ................................................... 55
FTI Consulting ............................................ 57
Frank PR .................................................... 58
Hill & Knowlton Strategies............................ 30
Liquid Ideas ................................................ 64
Mango ........................................................ 64
PPR ............................................................ 67
Porter Novelli .............................................. 38
Rowland .................................................... 73
Sefiani ........................................................ 74
SenateSHJ Group ...................................... 74
Text 100 ..................................................... 76
Weber Shandwick ...................................... 42
Wrights PR ................................................. 79
Zing ............................................................ 80

CAMBODIA

CHINA
APCO Worldwide ....................................... 18
Bite ............................................................. 48
4
Brunswick .................................................. 49
Cohn & Wolfe ............................................. 51
EMG ........................................................... 55
Edelman ..................................................... 24
FTI Consulting ............................................ 57
GolinHarris .................................................. 28
Grayling ...................................................... 59
Ketchum ..................................................... 32
MSLGroup .................................................. 34
PRAP ......................................................... 68
Porda Havas ............................................... 71
Porter Novelli .............................................. 38
Ruder Finn .................................................. 40
Text 100 ..................................................... 76
Trimaran PR Asia......................................... 77
Weber Shandwick ...................................... 42

HONG KONG
APCO Worldwide ....................................... 18
Bite ............................................................. 48


Brunswick .................................................. 49
Cohn & Wolfe ............................................. 51
Edelman ..................................................... 24
FTI Consulting ............................................ 57
GolinHarris .................................................. 28
Grayling ...................................................... 59
Ketchum ..................................................... 32
MSLGroup .................................................. 34
Porda Havas ............................................... 71
Ruder Finn .................................................. 40
Text 100 ..................................................... 76
Trimaran PR Asia......................................... 77
Weber Shandwick ...................................... 42

INDIA
APCO Worldwide ....................................... 18
Adfactors PR .............................................. 44
Avian Media ................................................ 47
Bite ............................................................. 48
Creative Crest ............................................. 53
Edelman ..................................................... 24
Integral PR .................................................. 62
MSLGroup .................................................. 34
PR Pundit ................................................... 68
PRHub ....................................................... 69
Porter Novelli .............................................. 38
The PRactice .............................................. 71
Six Degrees ................................................ 75
Text 100 ..................................................... 76
Weber Shandwick ...................................... 42
Zeno Group ................................................ 79

INDONESIA
APCO Worldwide ....................................... 18
Cohn & Wolfe ............................................. 51
Edelman ..................................................... 24
Fortune PR ................................................. 57
Maverick ..................................................... 65
Porter Novelli .............................................. 38
Qyvision ...................................................... 72
Weber Shandwick ...................................... 42
Zeno Group ................................................ 79

JAPAN
Asahi Agency ............................................. 46
Bilcom ........................................................ 48
Cosmo ....................................................... 52
Edelman ..................................................... 24
GolinHarris .................................................. 28
MSLGroup .................................................. 34
PRAP ......................................................... 68
Porter Novelli .............................................. 38
Text 100 ..................................................... 76
Vector Group .............................................. 77
Weber Shandwick ...................................... 42
Zeno Group ................................................ 79

KOREA
Edelman ..................................................... 24
INR ............................................................. 61
KPR & Associates ....................................... 63
MSLGroup .................................................. 34
Medicom .................................................... 65
PR One ...................................................... 67
Porter Novelli .............................................. 38
Prain .......................................................... 72

MACAU
Trimaran PR Asia......................................... 77

MALAYSIA
APCO Worldwide ....................................... 18
Cohn & Wolfe ............................................. 51
Edelman ..................................................... 24
In.Fom ........................................................ 62
MSLGroup .................................................. 34
Text 100 ..................................................... 76
Weber Shandwick ...................................... 42

MYANMAR

NEW ZEALAND
Eleven PR ................................................... 56
Mango ........................................................ 64
PPR ............................................................ 67
Porter Novelli .............................................. 38
SenateSHJ Group ...................................... 74

Geographical Index
PHILIPPINES
Creative Crest ............................................. 53
Eon ............................................................ 56
Havas PR Agatep ....................................... 60
Weber Shandwick ...................................... 42

SINGAPORE
APCO Worldwide ....................................... 18
Adfactors PR .............................................. 44
AKA Asia .................................................... 44
Bite ............................................................. 48
Cohn & Wolfe ............................................. 51
EMG ........................................................... 55
Edelman ..................................................... 24
Eleven PR ................................................... 56
FTI Consulting ............................................ 57
Fortune PR ................................................. 57
GolinHarris .................................................. 28
Grayling ...................................................... 59
In.Fom ........................................................ 62
MSLGroup .................................................. 34

Porter Novelli .............................................. 38
Ruder Finn .................................................. 40
Text 100 ..................................................... 76
Weber Shandwick ...................................... 42
Zeno Group ................................................ 79

SRI LANKA

TAIPEI
Bite ............................................................. 48

TAIWAN
Edelman ..................................................... 24
GolinHarris .................................................. 28
Ketchum ..................................................... 32
Porter Novelli .............................................. 38
Weber Shandwick ...................................... 42

THAILAND
APCO Worldwide ....................................... 18
Grayling ...................................................... 59
124 Communications ................................. 67
Weber Shandwick ...................................... 42

VIETNAM
APCO Worldwide ....................................... 18
Zeno Group ................................................ 79

SPECIALTY INDEX
BOUTIQUE
In.Fom ........................................................ 62

BUSINESS-TO-BUSINESS.
APCO Worldwide .......................................18
EMG ........................................................... 55

CONSUMER MARKETING.
AKA Asia .................................................... 44
Cohn & Wolfe ............................................. 51
Eleven PR ................................................... 56
Edelman .....................................................24
Frank PR .................................................... 58
GolinHarris ..................................................28
Liquid Ideas ................................................ 64
MSLGroup...................................................34
Ogilvy Public Relations Worldwide...............36
PR Pundit ................................................... 68
The PRactice .............................................. 71
Porter Novelli ..............................................38
Weber Shandwick ......................................42
Qyvision ...................................................... 72
Trimaran PR Asia......................................... 77
Zeno Group ................................................ 79
Zing ............................................................ 80

CORPORATE
COMMUNICATIONS
APCO Worldwide .......................................18
AKA Asia .................................................... 44
Burson-Marsteller .......................................20
Eon ............................................................ 56
FTI Consulting ............................................ 57
Fleishman-Hillard ........................................26
GolinHarris ..................................................28
Havas PR Agatep ....................................... 60
Hill + Knowlton Strategies............................30
MSLGroup ..................................................34
Ogilvy Public Relations Worldwide ..............36
Porter Novelli ..............................................38
Qyvision ...................................................... 72
Rowland .................................................... 73

Sefiani ........................................................ 74
SenateSHJ Group ...................................... 74
Six Degrees ................................................ 75
Trimaran PR Asia......................................... 77
Zing ............................................................ 80

CRISIS MANAGEMENT
APCO Worldwide .......................................18
Ketchum......................................................32
SenateSHJ Group ...................................... 74

CSR
Qyvision ...................................................... 72

DIGITAL
Bilcom ........................................................ 48
Eon ............................................................ 56
Mango ........................................................ 64
Medicom .................................................... 65

EMPLOYEE
COMMUNICATIONS
AKA Asia .................................................... 44
GolinHarris ..................................................28

ENTERTAINMENT
The PRactice .............................................. 71

EXPERIENTIAL
Eleven PR ................................................... 56
Mango ........................................................ 64

FINANCIAL SERVICES
Brunswick .................................................. 50
FTI Consulting ............................................ 57
Porda Havas ............................................... 71
Sefiani ........................................................ 74

FULL SERVICE
Adfactors PR .............................................. 44
Avian Media ................................................ 47
Bite ............................................................. 48
4
Cosmo ....................................................... 52
Fortune PR ................................................. 57
Grayling ...................................................... 59
INR ............................................................. 61
Integral PR .................................................. 62
KPR & Associates ....................................... 63
124 Communications ................................. 67
PPR ............................................................ 67
PR One ...................................................... 67
PRAP ......................................................... 68
Prain .......................................................... 72
Wrights PR ................................................. 79

HEALTHCARE
Cosmo ....................................................... 52

INTEGRATED MARKETING
Fortune PR ................................................. 57
Mango ........................................................ 64
Medicom .................................................... 65

INVESTOR RELATIONS

LIFESTYLE
Bilcom ........................................................ 48

LUXURY
Trimaran PR Asia......................................... 77

MARKETING
Asahi Agency ............................................. 46
Mango ........................................................ 64
Medicom .................................................... 65
Vector Group .............................................. 77

FOOD

MEDIA RELATIONS


APCO Worldwide .......................................18
EMG ........................................................... 55

Specialty Index

MULTISPECIALIST

NON PROFIT

TECHNOLOGY

APCO Worldwide .......................................18
Adfactors PR .............................................. 44
Creative Crest ............................................. 53
Edelman .....................................................24
GolinHarris ..................................................28
Havas PR Agatep ....................................... 60
Ketchum......................................................32
MSLGroup ..................................................34
Porter Novelli ..............................................38
Ruder Finn ..................................................40
Weber Shandwick ......................................42
Zeno Group ................................................ 79


Edelman .....................................................24
MSLGroup ..................................................34
PRHub ....................................................... 69
The PRactice .............................................. 71
Porter Novelli ..............................................38
Six Degrees ................................................ 75
Text 100 ..................................................... 76
Weber Shandwick ......................................42

PUBLIC AFFAIRS AND
ISSUES MANAGEMENT
APCO Worldwide .......................................18
Eon ............................................................ 56
GolinHarris ..................................................28
Ketchum......................................................32
Maverick ..................................................... 65
Porter Novelli ..............................................38
Sefiani ........................................................ 74
Weber Shandwick ......................................42

SOCIAL MEDIA

TRAVEL AND TOURISM.....
GolinHarris ..................................................28


NEW MEDIA
Maverick ..................................................... 65

SPORTS MARKETING

DESIGN

ART

SPORTS

PROPERTY

People
And
Worlds

Connecting

Together

TRIMARAN PR ASIA

HONG KONG

Ι

BEIJING

Ι

SHANGHAI

Ι

www.trimaran.com.hk

MACAU

HOTEL

WINE

FINANCIAL

MICE


APCO WORLDWIDE

CHINA H HONG KONG H INDIA H INDONESIA H MALAYSIA H SINGAPORE H THAILAND H VIETNAM

its acquisition by APCO a year ago) under Raj
Kamble.

INTERNATIONAL REACH

Brad Staples

MOMENTUM
About $11.3 million of APCO’s $120
million worldwide fee income derives from its
Asia-Pacific operations, with the strongest
growth last year coming in South-East Asia.
Key clients in the region include Corning,
Diageo, Dow Corning, Huawei, Johnson
& Johnson, MasterCard, pharmaceutical
trade body PhRMA, and Walt Disney, while
new business successes in 2012 included
international assignments from Indian wind
power company Suzlon, and Chinese printing
company Toppan, which retained APCO to
help it expand its business into the US.

REGIONAL REACH
About 100 of APCO’s 150 or so people
in Asia are based in the firm’s four Greater
China offices: Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou
and Hong Kong. There are another 30 in
South-East Asia, most of them in Singapore
but a scattering in Bangkok, Hanoi, Ho Chi
Minh City, Jakarta, and a much-reduced Kuala
Lumpur office. The Indian operations—the
firm is now in New Delhi and Mumbai—are
growing at a very healthy rate, strengthened
in 2012 with the opening of a new Strawberry
Frog office in India (the creative firm’s first
office outside the US and first expansion since

that turn into “movements”) to India, its first
international market.

TALENT

Last year in North America was about
change rather than growth. APCO formed
new alliances (with former secretary of state
Condoleezza Rice’s emerging marketing
consulting business RiceHadley Group),
launched new practices (focused on health
and wellness and high-stakes events and
transactions such as litigation and mergers
and acquisitions), opened new offices
(primarily in the Middle East) and bought
new capabilities (through the acquisition of
creative hot-shop Strawberry Frog). APCO
is still somewhat smaller across the EMEA
region than most of its multinational peers,
deriving only about a quarter of its global
revenues from its European operations. Its
largest EMEA office in London, with a team of
more than 50, and has evolved beyond public
affairs to include a broad range of corporate
reputation work while maintaining the firm’s
C-suite focus. The Brussels office, meanwhile,
remains focused on EU policy work. But the
most impressive growth has come in the
Middle East, where APCO acquired local
consultancy Ji-Win two years ago.

Brad Staples, who built APCO’s European
operations over more than a decade,
was named president, international, and
chair of global development last year and
now has responsibility for the Asia-Pacific
region, where his leadership team includes
Singapore-based Garry Walsh, managing
director of South-East Asia; former Wall
Street Journal reporter and “One Billion
Customers” author James McGregor,
chairman of Greater China; and managing
director of the Indian operations Sukanti
Ghosh. New additions included Ashley
Knapp, formerly of Grayling, as director in
the Singapore office; Frances Sun, from
Hill+Knowlton, as managing director in
Shanghai; and Raj Kamble, who is leading
the Strawberry Frog operation in India.

EXPERTISE
APCO has been building out capabilities
beyond its core public affairs expertise
(still central to the firm’s offer in Beijing) for
several years, and all six global practices—
healthcare, financial communications, food
and consumer products, energy and clean
technology, insight, and the Studio Online
digital division—are represented in the
Asia-Pacific operations, although the focus
is still very much on high-end corporate
reputation, crisis and issues management,
and corporate responsibility work. The firm
also expanded its Strawberry Frog operation
(a US ad agency, specializing in campaigns

CULTURE
Last year saw the introduction of The
APCO Experience, a new employee
proposition designed to provide all
employees with individually tailored learning
and career development opportunities
through challenging and varied work
and enhanced recognition, engagement
and training. One significant statistic: an
impressive 5 percent of APCO’s people were
seconded to other offices in 2012, including
transfers to Ulaanbaatar, Beijing, Shanghia,
New Delhi and Mumbai. The firm also
continues to expand its community service
initiatives, as a member of the UN Global
Compact and a partner of the Clinton Global
Initiative, and pro bono agency for Yunus
Social Business, founded by Nobel Prize
winner Mohammad Yunnus.

National multi-office multi-specialty firms

INTELLECTUAL
LEADERSHIP
The firm’s Champion Brands survey has
helped to define a role for APCO—and
others—in the corporate reputation arena,
uncovering rising expectations and increased
scrutiny when it comes to corporate conduct,
as well as widespread agreement that
companies have the ability to help form a

economic development campaign, a SABRE
award winner in years past, expanded in
2012, attracting more than $500 million in
inbound investment contracts during the
most recent summit. And the firm’s support
for Rio Tinto’s giant Oyu Tolgoi copper mine
in Mongolia—including issues management
and community outreach, as well as
significant digital work—also continued in
2012.

THERE ARE ENOUGH CLIENTS WHO
RECOGNIZE THE VALUE OF INVESTING
IN THE KIND OF SERVICES THAT APCO
OFFERS—FROM TRADITIONAL PUBLIC
AFFAIRS AND CRISIS AND ISSUES
WORK TO NEWER CONCEPTS SUCH
AS PUBLIC DIPLOMACY AND CHAMPION
BRAND-BUILDING—FOR THE FIRM TO
CONTINUE ITS GROWTH IN THE REGION.

better society, and that the best companies
are advocates for their customers and
other stakeholders. The survey sample
included citizens in China, Hong Kong,
India, Japan and Australia. The firm has also
developed a new approach to crisis and
risk management, with a predictive model
designed to anticipate potential issues and
protect reputation, and a new evaluation tool,
which measures “return on reputation” in
terms of consumer behaviour, financial value
and more.

PROGRAMS
Some of APCO’s most interesting global
assignments have their origins in Asia.
The firm’s’s work on the Vibrant Gujarat

THE FUTURE
Sheer size has never been a priority for
APCO, which continues to differentiate itself
from other multinationals by its focus on
the high-end strategic consulting segment
of the business. There is probably still less
demand for that kind of work in Asia, where
some markets continue to view PR as a
commodity. But there are enough clients who
recognize the value of investing in the kind of
services that APCO offers—from traditional
public affairs and crisis and issues work to
newer concepts such as public diplomacy
and champion brand-building—for the firm to
continue its growth in the region.

BRAND
APCO continues to do what it has always
done—producing strong thought leadership
papers and commentary on business and
political issues, partnering on high-profile
regional events, but has also raised its
social media profile considerably, from new
HealthScope blog to extended length video
on YouTube to longer-form articles on digital
documents site Scribd. Another major
visibility-raising initiative in 2012 saw the firm
providing media support and other services
to Yunus Social Business, a global change
agent founded by micro finance pioneer and
Congressional Gold Medal winner Mohammad
Yunus.



BURSON-MARSTELLER
HONG KONG H AUSTRALIA H CHINA H INDIA H INDONESIA H KOREA H SINGAPORE

Pat Ford

MOMENTUM
After a strong 2011, progress in the AsiaPacific region stalled somewhat in 2012,
As Burson-Marsteller underwent another
leadership change. There was plenty of
new business nevertheless, a mix of local
companies and western multinationals:
Ashoka University, Cranberry Marketing
Committee, Haier, Hilton Worldwide,
HSBC, IndoFood, L’Oreal India, Skype,
VIPshop.com, Visa, Yuexei Property, and
Chinese technology companies Tencent and
WeShop. The firm also enjoyed significant
growth with key accounts such as Coca-Cola,
Ford, Johnson & Johnson, Microsoft and
Qualcomm, and saw a number of Asia-based
clients—Huawei, Sony, Haier and Tencent
among them—going global.

REGIONAL REACH
After watching many of its rivals catch up
and overtake its fabled Asia-Pacific footprint
in recent years, Burson-Marsteller—which
celebrates its 40th anniversary in Asia this
year—has begun to cautiously expand its
presence once again. In 2010 it launched in
Malaysia, and in 2011 it added a new office
in Shenzhen. Significantly, it also inked a joint
venture with Vietnam firm Chu Thi, giving it


effective first-mover access to the booming
market among international networks. The
firm’s largest Asia-Pacific operations remain
in the two fast-growing BRIC economies:
India and China. In the former, the acquisition
of Genesis, which now operates as Genesis
Burson-Marsteller, established B-M
overnight as a market leader in both size and
sophistication; the firm offers comprehensive
reach (seven offices) and impressive corporate
expertise. In the latter, the firm has offices
in Beijing, Chengdu, Guangzhou, Shenzhen
and Shanghai, with the Greater China
presence rounded out by a strong Hong Kong
operation that serves as the hub for much of
Burson’s regional public affairs business but
has broadened its base in recent years. The
firm also has improving operations in Japan,
Singapore, and Australia, and supplemented
its Korean operation through a partnership with
local digital specialist Medicom.

GLOBAL REACH
Burson-Marsteller reestablished itself as
one of the premier public relations firms in
North America under the leadership of regional
CEO Pat Ford, who in 2011 moved on to new
responsibilities, leaving stewardship of the US
operations to Dave DenHerder. He inherits an
operation with formidable strength in the key
markets of New York (a much more balanced
portfolio of business than two or three years
ago) and Washington, DC; a US footprint
that includes established offices in Boston,
California (three offices), Miami, Pittsburgh
and Texas (another three offices); and two
new offices in Memphis and Minneapolis.
Compared to most of its multinational peers,
Burson-Marsteller is either—depending on
your perspective—under-represented in the UK
(the London office accounts for just 10 percent
of EMEA revenues, compared to almost half
at some US-based firms) or unusually wellbalanced. BM is a market leader in several
key markets: in Brussels, where it has fees of
around €11 million and real depth of expertise

in energy and healthcare; in France, where
the addition of i&e gives it a team of 140
and strong C-suite relationships; in Finland,
where Pohjoisranta was the market leader;
and in Africa and the Middle East, where the
Arcay and Asda’a acquisitions are now well
integrated into the overall operation.

EXPERTISE
Burson-Marsteller is anxious to “re-energize
best practices” and “unleash next practices.” In
Asia, that means building on the firm’s historic
strengths in corporate and public affairs,
crisis management, top-tier media relations,
and the technology sector, while expanding
its brand marketing practice, and adding
content creation, digital and social media,
and data analytics capabilities. The firm has
also expanded its US-China specialty group,
which helps the growing number of Chinese
companies expanding into global markets. All
of which is not say that BM will be backing
away from its traditional strengths in corporate,
crisis and issues, and public affairs.

TALENT
The appointment in mid-2012 of Donald
Baer as worldwide chair and chief executive
triggered a series of senior management
moves, with the departure of Bob Pickard
from his Asia-Pacific leadership role and the
transition of highly-regarded BM veteran Pat
Ford as interim CEO for the region (in addition
to his role as chief client officer). There is a
strong executive team in place, with Christine
Jones (Australia), Margaret Key (Korea),
Prema Sagar (India) and Matthew Stafford
(who took over Greater China following the
departure of Chris Deri). New talent includes
Robert Kapp, who previously headed his
own firm and played a prominent role on the
US-China Business Council, as a strategic
advisor on the US-China specialty group and
Jane Zhang who joined from Pfizer as director
of government relations, while Angelina Ong


was promoted to lead the firm’s Shanghai
office.

CULTURE
During his first eight months in the CEO
role, Baer has visited many of the firm’s
offices around the world, and the consensus
appears to be that he is more accessible than
his predecessor. Ford too brings a wealth
of experience, having been credited with
a cultural recovery in the North American
operations. The firm has also committed
to a new global training initiative with the

to research and analytics has only deepened,
with the development of several new tools
including a social media listening service called
BursonPulse and a text mining operation
called BursonPivot. The firm’s partnership
with Penn Schoen Berland also continues
to produce an impressive volume of original
research: its Global Social Media Checkup
examines how leading companies are using
social media; its Twiplomacy study looks at the
use of Twitter by world leaders. The firm has
also been producing white papers on topics
from communicating via Weibo to tracking
regulatory issues in India.

BURSON-MARSTELLER IS ANXIOUS TO
“RE-ENERGIZE BEST PRACTICES” AND
“UNLEASH NEXT PRACTICES. IN ASIA, THAT
”
MEANS BUILDING ON THE FIRM’S HISTORIC
STRENGTHS IN CORPORATE AND PUBLIC
AFFAIRS, CRISIS MANAGEMENT, TOP-TIER
MEDIA RELATIONS, AND THE TECHNOLOGY
SECTOR, WHILE EXPANDING ITS BRAND
MARKETING PRACTICE, AND ADDING
CONTENT CREATION, DIGITAL AND SOCIAL
MEDIA, & DATA ANALYTICS CAPABILITIES.

appointment of Gillian Edick as worldwide
chair of training and development, introducing
new programs focused on strategic counsel.

INTELLECTUAL
LEADERSHIP
Despite the departure of Mark Penn, whose
research background was clearly a factor in
the firm’s adoption of its “evidence-based”
positioning, Burson-Marsteller’s commitment

PROGRAMS
WPP’s work for Ford around the globe has
been consistently strong, racking up awards
in every region, and BM’s launch of the new
Ecosport at the Delhi Auto Show was a
standout, picking up a SABRE Awards—one
of five last year (along with work for adidas,
Big Daddy Entertainment, Doublemint,
Sennheiser and Virgin Money). Other
highlights included generating media coverage

for First Solar in Australia; making the case
for the International Copper Association as
a voice for sustainable development in China;
connecting Pepsi with a new generation in
India through sponsorship of T20 football; and
providing public affairs and advocacy support
to Monsanto in Indonesia.

BRAND
As Burson-Marsteller celebrated its
60th anniversary in 2012, it stepped up its
community service initiative—donating $1.6
million in in-kind service worldwide—and
celebrating in individual markets with events for
clients and friends. Expect more of the same in
2013 as the firm celebrates its 40th anniversary
in Asia, and Genesis celebrates its 20th year in
the Indian market. The appointment of Judith
Ostronic—formerly with Genesis—as regional
director for new business and marketing
should help raise the firm’s profile, as should
Ford’s heightened visibility.

THE FUTURE
Since Bill Rylance stepped down from his
10-year tenure as chief executive of Burson’s
Asia-Pacific operations five years ago, the firm
has had three regional CEOs. So the most
important priority is for the latest of them, Pat
Ford, to bring a little stability to the role. Not
that BM has been foundering, exactly. But it
doesn’t seem to have the momentum of some
of its peers. One challenge will be continuing
to expand beyond the bedrock corporate and
public affairs business to stronger consumer
and particularly digital capabilities—as the firm
did with its new Korean partnership.

TAKE ON THE
WORLD

Read how we built a
global challenger brand

lewispr.com/takeworld
Digital communications
from 25 offices globally


EDELMAN

HONG KONG H AUSTRALIA H CHINA H INDIA H INDONESIA H JAPAN H KOREA H
MALAYSIA H SINGAPORE H TAIWAN

David Brain

There was double-digit growth in Australia,
where Michelle Hutton runs a 90-person
operation but growth was more modest in
Indonesia, where Stephen Lock took the helm
of the market leading 120-person Edelman
office. The firm has bounced back in Korea,
where it has a team of close to 70, up by 30
percent last year under SB Jang, remains
strong in Singapore (a team of 80) and enjoyed
good growth in Malaysia. Things have been
a little tougher in Japan, where the firm has
a team of more than 30 and real strength in
corporate and financial, and there are smaller
operations in Vietnam (30 people) Taiwan (20
people)

MOMENTUM

INTERNATIONAL REACH

Another year of very healthy (22 percent,
despite the fact that some Edelman business
was transferred to sister company Zeno as
part of its expansion into Asia) growth saw
Edelman consolidate its position among the
market leaders in the region, ending 2012
with fee income in excess of $77 million (up
from less than $50 million two years ago) and
more than 1,100 employees across the region.
New business wins included Bloomberg,
Kimbely-Clark and Manulife Financial on
a regional level, plus local assignments from
Dettol, Diageo, Ikea, KFC, Mars, Zynga,
the European Union, and UN Women.

Edelman’s topline growth in North America
was 9.8 percent last year, slower than in recent
years but still well ahead of the average for its
peer group, and the firm ended the year with
fee income in the US of $383 million (factor in
Canada, and the North American number is
comfortably above $400 million). The New York
headquarters and the Chicago office where the
firm was born continue to be market leaders,
but there was more impressive growth in 2011
from secondary markets: the Texas operation
led the way (in part due to the acquisition of
Houston-based Vollmer); but San Francisco,
Silicon Valley, and Washington, DC, all made
strong contributions. The unrelenting upward
trajectory of Edelman’s EMEA operation
continued despite a difficult economy: the firm’s
operations in the region grew by 15 percent
during its last financial year (ending June 2012)
and were on track for a healthy double-digit
increase in the calendar year. The firm now
has 1,150 people in 19 wholly-owned offices
covering 19 markets, is a top three player in the
UK, and has been growing impressively in the
Middle East.

REGIONAL REACH
The biggest success story of the past couple
of years is India, where Robert Holdheim has
presided over growth of around 200 percent
over the past couple of years, driven largely by
the addition of the giant Tata account: Edelman
now has fees of more than $10 million and a
team of 275 in the market. China has continued
its impressive performance and remains the
largest part of Edelman’s now-consolidated
Asia operations, with 220 people generating
fees of around $19 million on the mainland,
supplemented by a team of 70 in Hong Kong.

EXPERTISE
Edelman’s traditional strength—particularly
in the US—has been in consumer and
healthcare, but the largest practice in the
Asia-Pacific region is corporate and financial,
which accounts for 40 percent of the firm’s
revenues across the region, and about half in
markets such as Australia, Hong Kong and
Indonesia, and includes expertise in corporate
reputation, crisis and issues management,
and corporate responsibility. The consumer
practice is about a quarter of overall fees and is
particularly strong in China. The tech practice
is close to 20 percent, and includes some of
the firm’s marquee clients such as RIM and HP.
Healthcare accounts for less than 10 percent
of revenues in the region. The digital practice,
which contributes about 7 percent of revenues,
is the fastest-growing part of the operation,
and looks even more impressive when one
accounts for the digital and social media work
that is integrated into the consumer practice.

TALENT
David Brain is bringing the same sure
touch to Asia that he demonstrated in EMEA,
getting the best out of existing talent and
supplementing it where necessary with new
blood. Key appointments included Steven
Cao, promoted to president of the firm’s
Pegasus unit to oversee all China operations;
Cornelia Kunze, who followed Brain from
EMEA (where she led the consumer practice
from Hamburg) as vice chairman, based
in Mumbia; Ashutosh Munshi, a 10-year
Edelman veteran, as co-lead for the consumer
practice, also based in Mumbia; Chadd
McLisky, former founder and CEO of the
Edelman Indopacific group in Indonesia, as
chair of the corporate practice, based in
Jakarta; and Amanda Goh, returning from
Edelman New York, as managing director of
the Singapore office. The firm also brought in
new talent: Tom Mattia, a veteran of senior
in-house and agency positions, as chairman

National multi-office multi-specialty firms

of the China operations; Gavin Coombes,
from digital agency Profero, as president of
digital; Cindy Tian, formerly with BursonMarsteller, as head of public affairs in China;
and Gavin Anderson veteran Deborah
Hayden as regional director of capital markets
communication.

CULTURE
A significant investment in professional
development since Brain took the helm has
seen Edelman offer a mix of global initiatives
(training in its public engagement model,
its digital “belt” system, and its leadership
Compass program); regional efforts (the media
“cloverleaf” that offers grounding in paid,
earned, owned and shared media); and local
courses under the Edel U umbrella.

INTELLECTUAL
LEADERSHIP
In addition to the continuation of Edelman’s
trademark Trust Barometer (which now
includes nine Asia-Pacific markets), the firm
has been producing plenty of global and
local thought leadership. Its 8095 study, for
example, focuses on millennials (born between
1980 and 1995) and their connections with
brands; a separate Asian initiatives involved
spending four weeks with members of the 70s
generation in China, meeting their families and
friends and listening to their opinions on a wide
range of issues. Identifying another hot button
issue, the firm also introduced its Privacy Risk
Index, surveying risk managers and security
professionals in 29 markets.

PROGRAMS
Some of Edelman’s best work saw it
adding a local twist to its global efforts: so
for Unilever’s Axe brand, for example, the
firm selected young ambassadors for a
social media campaign in Japan, designed to
overcome the body spray’s “foreign” image.

A REVIEW OF EDELMAN’S
OPERATIONS IN THE MAJOR MARKETS
ACROSS ASIA-PACIFIC REVEALS
NO OBVIOUS GEOGRAPHIC WEAKNESS:
IT HAS PERHAPS THE BEST BALANCED
PORTFOLIO IN THE REGION.

Other highlights range from a corporate brand
positioning effort for Volvo in China, reinforcing
the company’s environmental performance,
to an effort showcasing thought leadership
for the Business Software Alliance in
India to community engagement for Tetra
Pak in Korea. In the events arena, Edelman
coordinated HP’s first ever global influencer
summit, an event in Shanghai for 600 media
and other opinion leaders, while a high-profile
local campaign saw Edelman bring together
500 journalists for the grand opening of the
Sands Cotai Central, generating 1,500
pieces of coverage for the new resort.

THE FUTURE
A review of Edelman’s operations in the
major markets across Asia-Pacific reveals
no obvious geographic weakness: it has
perhaps the best balanced portfolio in the
region. If there’s a criticism to be made, it’s
that Edelman doesn’t seem to have as many
of high-profile, mission-critical assignments in
Asia—particularly in the corporate, crisis, and
public affairs realm—as it now has in the US or
Europe. If it can continue to build on its strong
existing operations and move up the value
chain, its recent success in the region should
be sustainable for the foreseeable future.

BRAND
Edelman is clearly differentiated by its
status as the only independent among the
top 10; it has a clear point of view, articulated
fearlessly by Richard Edelman and David Brain
and others; and it promotes itself via a wide
range of research, all designed to underscore
its key strengths. The long-running and oftquoted Trust Barometer is the most prominent
marketing platform, creating the foundation for
media interviews, conferences and seminars.
All of that makes a contribution to impressive
share of voice and to one of the strongest
brands in the business.



FLEISHMAN-HILLARD

HONG KONG H AUSTRALIA H CHINA H INDIA H JAPAN H KOREA H MALAYSIA H PHILIPPINES H SINGAPORE

Lynne Anne Davis

MOMENTUM
The long-term growth story is impressive:
Fleishman-Hillard’s Asia-Pacific operations
have doubled in size over the past five years
(without any acquisitions), elevating the firm
from a challenger to a top-tier player in the
region. Last year saw another 18 percent
expansion, with offices in mainland China,
Indonesia and the Philippines leading the
way—all up by better than 40 percent. The firm
added almost 200 new retainer clients—Japan
Airlines, HP, China Wanda Group, Nestle,
and Diageo were among the most notable—
and another 60 doubled their spending with
the firm, while 50 expanded their relationship
with FH to include additional offices. The top
10 clients—a list that includes Philips, P&G,
Visa, Li-Ning, Daimler, and GE and has an
average tenure of more than six years—grew
by 26 percent.

REGIONAL REACH
Fleishman-Hillard now has 19 offices in
the region, matching the footprint of any of
its longer-established competitors. There’s
no doubt that China is now the major engine
for growth, with revenues from the mainland
up by 45 percent, and even the Hong Kong
office growing by close to 20 percent. China


is a powerhouse for many firms, but few of
Fleishman’s competitors can make the same
claim for Japan, which continues to make
an impressive contribution to both regional
revenues—up 10 percent in 2012—and
intellectual leadership (it’s home to the Vox
public affairs operation and the Blue Current
digital and social media specialist offer). The
firm’s Korea office is impressive, home to many
major corporate and public sector accounts,
and the relatively young Indian operation
continues to attract both top talent and new
business. There was additional growth last
year in Indonesia and the Philippines (both up
by 40 percent or more); Australia and Malaysia
(double digit growth); and Singapore.

INTERNATIONAL REACH
Fleishman-Hillard’s North American business
continues to be the home of 75 percent of its
seven-figure clients, the birthplace of much of
its most innovative thinking, and the engine
of much of its growth ($100 million in new
business last year). With 1,800 people spread
across 48 offices in the region, FH has by
far the broadest geographic footprint, with
powerhouse operations in Washington, DC,
(400 people spread across four brands); New
York (200 people); the Midwest (500 in the St
Louis headquarters and Chicago, Kansas City,
Minneapolis, Detroit and Cleveland offices);
as well as California, Texas, and Florida.
Fleishman-Hillard has 16 offices in the EMEA
region—not as many as the largest of its
peers, but enough to give it comprehensive
coverage of the major markets. The firm has
considerable depth in key markets such as the
UK, Brussels, and Germany; strength in Dublin,
Paris, Rome and Moscow; and growing
operations in Poland, the Czech Republic, and
the Middle East.

EXPERTISE
Fleishman-Hillard has long been known for
its strong corporate practice, and that part of

the business—including a burgeoning public
affairs capability—showed the strongest
growth in 2012, up by 40 percent as the
firm continued to target corporate consulting
assignments and to work with clients such
as GE, Visa, the Export-Import Bank of
Korea, and the Prime Minister’s Office of
Japan. The past couple of years have seen
significant diversification, with the expansion
of several brands well established in the US
marketplace to Asia. The core FH business
is now supplemented by FH Global Capital
Markets Services, focused on investor
relations, grabbing a place among the top five
transaction advisors in the region by value of
deals worked according to mergermarket;
public affairs specialist Vox Global, based in
Japan; and digital and social media specialist
BlueCurrent, which added an office in China to
its well-established Tokyo HQ.

TALENT
With 12 years at the helm of Fleishman’s
Asia-Pacific operations, Lynne-Anne Davis
is now the longest-tenured region CEO of any
of the majors, and she has a leadership team
with similar experience: Shin Tanaka in Japan
celebrated 15 years with FH last year; China
president Li Hong, Korean managing director
Yvonne Park, Manila general manager
Cosette Romero and Bejing GM Lydie
Liu all have 10 years under their respective
belts. While the firm continue to promote
extensively from within, new additions included
Miranda Cai as general manager in Shanghai;
Brian West as head of the Asia reputation
management and global crisis practices;
Indranil Ghosh as GM in Mumbai; Rahul
Mehta as GM in New Delhi; Don Anderson
as senior VP, digital integration; and Sally
Woo as the firm’s first regional head of talent
development. There were promotions too, for
Chomaine Chai (now GM in Kuala Lumpur);
Miranda Cai (GM in Shanghai); and James
Smith-Plenderleith (head of the regional
healthcare practice).

AP Consultancy Report Card 2013 Insights

AP Consultancy Report Card 2013 Insights

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AP Consultancy Report Card 2013 Insights