Tag: communications

Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia – Independent media and communications consultancy network GO Group just got bigger with the latest addition of Australian strategic communications firm Banksia.

This collaboration with Banksia marks a pivotal moment as the GO Group marks its foray into the Asia Pacific and Australasia regions, solidifying its position as one of the largest networks of independent agencies in the world.

The inclusion of Banksia into the group cements the network’s commitment to foster collaboration and cross-pollination of skill sets within the global communications industry, from public relations, crisis communications, and public affairs to total branding, even within the digital sector.

Furthermore, the addition of Banksia heralds a pivotal moment for the GO Group as it sets its sights on expanding even further, particularly into Europe and North America. The network plans to appoint more partner and affiliated agencies in these continents to enhance its global presence and offer comprehensive PR solutions to clients worldwide.

Talking about this development, Peter de Kretser, chairman of the GO Group, said, “This collaboration signifies an exciting synergy between our agencies that will propel the group towards even greater success. I am especially proud to be working together with Steve, not only because we’ve known each other for many years, but the value that he and his team of highly competent associates bring to the GO Group is truly second to none. Their combined extensive experience, particularly in public affairs, adds a strategic component to the GO Group.”

Meanwhile, Steve Michelson, founder and director of Banksia, commented, “We are buoyed by the opportunity to join the GO Group and are humbled by Chairman Peter de Krester’s interest in our specialised services. Until now, our team has focused on driving strategic results for Australian businesses and organisations determined to deliver a positive social impact across key industries. Joining the GO Group connects us to a network of specialist agencies and opens the door to international partnerships for the benefit of the Group’s existing and prospective clients.”

Singapore – APRW, a local integrated communications agency based in Singapore, has announced its appointment as the official public relations agency for Singapore Maritime Week (SMW) 2024.

Through this appointment, APRW will be playing a pivotal role in managing media relations, elevating the profile and prestige of the event, and contributing to the global discourse on maritime excellence.

As the official PR agency for SMW, APRW is committed to promoting international relationships and advancing the maritime sector by leveraging its strategic communication skills.

Talking about the appointment, Cho Pei Lin, managing director of APRW, shared, “This marks our agency’s significant voyage into the maritime industry. Anchored in passion and propelled by expertise, the Singapore Maritime Week 2024 is set to make waves like never before.”

“Together, we will chart a course for a week filled with groundbreaking conferences with key industry leaders, strategic partnerships, meaningful networking sessions, and the celebration of the maritime spirit,” she added.

Organised by the Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore (MPA), this year’s SMW will feature conferences for topics in the areas of sustainability, digitalisation, decarbonisation, and talent development in the maritime industry, solidifying Singapore’s standing as a global hub port and leading international maritime centre.

Singapore – Laura Kantor, who previously worked as foodpanda’s marketing and sustainability director, has launched Climate Club, a new agency focused on sustainability communications.

For Kantor, she wanted to create an agency that helps businesses prioritise sustainability through compelling campaigns that drive bottom line results.

During her previous role at foodpanda, she grew the marketing function from 5 to 32, launched 6 new businesses, rebranded foodpanda from orange to pink and launched the loveable mascot, Pau-Pau.

She is also well known for is well for spearheading foodpanda’s sustainability strategy across the Asia-Pacific region, launching several initiatives which have transformed the F&B industry; saving billions of sets of cutlery & becoming the first delivery company to ban the sale of shark fin.

“Very few businesses take Sustainability seriously. It’s often only talked about on Earth Day, or with a one off PR stunt, and it doesn’t have to be the case. Our goal at Climate Club is to turn Sustainability into a competitive advantage – either by reducing costs or generating revenue, all while creating positive impact, so that business leaders make it a priority,” she said.

Kantor added, “After years of working within the sustainability space, I’m so excited to focus all of my efforts on helping businesses build an impactful and meaningful sustainability strategy.”

Prior to launching Climate Club, she also served as the chief marketing and impact officer for abillion, a mobile application which helps users to find vegan and sustainable products.

Singapore – In collaboration with global customer relationship management (CRM) software company Salesforce, global cloud communications firm Vonage has launched Vonage ‘Conversations for Salesforce’, a configurable omnichannel messaging app powered by the Vonage Communications Platform. 

Vonage’s new app provides a flexible and scalable way of sending SMS, MMS, and WhatsApp messages from within Salesforce, making it easy for businesses to develop custom workflows using standard Salesforce tools.

This feature aims to enable businesses to serve customers directly from the Salesforce platform and deliver exceptional customer engagements, whilst blending bot and Vonage Contact Center (VCC) agent interactions.

With Salesforce as a single source of truth for customer data, users can participate in a conversation and access the entire customer history. Response-handling can also be automated with chatbots or routed automatically to the right agent or organisation to enable fast resolution.

Savinay Berry, EVP, product & engineering at Vonage, said, “Vonage ‘Conversations for Salesforce’ unlocks the power of delivering personalised two-way interactions with customers from Salesforce, enabling engagement at scale with SMS, MMS and WhatsApp channels while blending bot and VCC agent interactions.”

“Based on Salesforce’s best practices and latest tools, the app overcomes the constraints of existing solutions and is enabling conversations across the entire organisation,” he added. 

Vonage Conversations for Salesforce is part of the full Vonage AI Acceleration Suite for Salesforce, a portfolio of AI-capable, low-code/no-code programmable components that aim to help speed business transformation and seamlessly integrate with Salesforce applications to enable personalised conversations across omni-channel communications.

Singapore – Microsoft has announced two communications-related appointments for its Asian market. They include Lauren Myers-Cavanagh as new senior director of communications for Microsoft Asia and Simran Singh Sethi as head of communications for Southeast Asia, Hong Kong, and Taiwan.

Myers-Cavanagh will lead Microsoft’s communications in Asia and help further position the company as a trusted technology partner with a strong emphasis on innovative storytelling centered around artificial intelligence (AI). 

She reports to Douglas Dawson, Microsoft’s general manager of global communications.

Myers-Cavanagh joins Microsoft from Twitter, where she served as Asia-Pacific director of communications and previously Asia-Pacific head of policy communications. At Twitter, she built and oversaw more than a dozen regional teams that protected Twitter’s corporate and social license to operate while growing audience and revenue.

Commenting on her appointment, Myers-Cavanagh said, “The opportunity to be part of Microsoft’s global communications leadership team is a privilege, as is shaping the next chapter of the Microsoft story in Asia.”

Meanwhile, Simran–a ten-year Microsoft veteran–previously led communications and integrated storytelling for Microsoft’s commercial and cloud business in Asia. He will continue to be based in Singapore and report to Myers-Cavanagh.

San Jose, California – Aimed at reinventing the creation and delivery of creative content, Adobe has partnered with marketing communications company Omnicom Group Inc. The partnership will be carried out through an enterprise licensing deal of Adobe’s new Content Supply Chain solution.

Through the solution, Omnicom agencies across the globe will now have a unified view of every step of the content process, from planning and production to activation and optimisation. The end-to-end solution will enable Omnicom’s agencies to efficiently produce creative content that delivers the most effective customer experiences for the benefit of its client roster of the world’s top marketers and brands.

The newly launched Adobe Content Supply Chain solution brings together an array of Adobe’s industry-leading creative and experience applications, such as Adobe Creative Cloud, Adobe Workfront and Adobe Experience Manager. Omnicom will connect features of Adobe’s solution with Omni, Omnicom’s end-to-end marketing operating system, providing streamlined workflows, enhanced automation, and increased operational efficiency.

The comprehensive solution by Adobe will also help Omnicom agencies meet growing content demands as clients look to provide a larger quantity and variety of personalized content to customers. Assisting in the rapid development of content will be Adobe Firefly and Adobe Sensei GenAI – the company’s new generative AI capabilities. 

“This partnership brings together the most creatively awarded holding company and the leader in creative and marketing tools,” said Paolo Yuvienco, EVP, chief technology officer at Omnicom Group. 

He added, “The two of us share a goal of providing integrated solutions to brands, and our collaboration brings it to life. Through this offering, our agencies from different disciplines and geographies will remain connected throughout the entirety of the content supply chain, helping to transform our clients’ businesses in a faster, more effective way.”

Anil Chakravarthy, president, digital experience business at Adobe, also commented on the partnership, “Omnicom is a valued Adobe partner and customer and we’re excited to work together to transform the process of producing and delivering content across their business — and for our shared customers.”

Chakravarthy also added that by combining Omnicom’s creative expertise and audience-driven capabilities with Adobe’s content supply chain solution and generative AI capabilities, they will be able to empower creative teams to work more efficiently and effectively.

Recently, Adobe has also unveiled new innovations across its family of video applications, including AI-powered text-based video editing capabilities in Premiere Pro.

Sydney, Australia – Australian communications consultancy Honner has announced new appointments for its senior team, reinforcing the agency’s position as one of Australia’s leading specialist corporate and financial communications firms.

Equity partner Susie Bell has been appointed managing partner, focusing on leading Honner’s people and culture. In the new role, Bell works closely with founder and CEO Philippa Honner to drive a range of management responsibilities in addition to leading the agency’s relationships with key clients.

Meanwhile, Alison Kahler has joined the Honner team as its new senior consultant – content, in response to ongoing demand for ‘high-quality, strategically driven’ content programs in the financial services sector. 

In the new role, Kahler brings with her more than 25 years of experience as a financial journalist and communications adviser for major publications and institutions. At Honner, she will be working across the firm’s financial services, corporate, and technology clients offering content strategy development and delivery as well as strategic communications counsel. 

Another addition to the team is Rashmi Punjabi, who has been appointed to the newly created role of head of business development. She will work closely with the CEO and senior leadership team to drive new business efforts across traditional finance and new economy sectors, as well as lead marketing initiatives for the agency.

Honner has also formalised its senior leadership team, in recognition of the collective contribution the agency’s senior consultants make in managing a growing consultancy. 

Along with Honner, Bell, Kahler, and Punjabi, the new team includes Judith Bence, chief operating officer; Craig Morris, head of marketing solutions; Samantha Rockliff, senior consultant; Fiona Parker, chief strategy officer; and Natasha Moldrich, account director.

Speaking about the appointments, Honner said that they reflected the firm’s ambitions to continue broadening its offering across the Australian and APAC region.

“Each year we behave more like a traditional consultant – working with a wide range of stakeholders to deliver highly tailored, strategically driven programs that make a commercial impact,” she said.

Honner also added, “We’re investing in our team, digital tools and infrastructure to support the next phase of growth – as clients continue to value specialist agencies that bring deep market insights and creative ideas to the table, operating as a dynamic and flexible extension of their in-house team.”

Bell also commented that continuous learning and global curiosity were strong contributors to the firm’s culture. “The Honner team is our greatest strength, and we are extremely proud of our diverse range of talent. We’re committed to delivering relevant and future focused training and team experiences that add value and create a real impact.”

Singapore – One of the leading professional services firms, JLL (Jones Lang LaSalle), has announced the appointment of its new head of communications. Laura Vallis will be responsible for leading the globally integrated strategy, implementation, and delivery of the firm’s communications to employees, partners and external audiences. 

With the role to be effective this April, Vallis will be based in New York and reporting to CMO Siddharth Taparia. 

Vallis brings with her a broad global perspective across diverse industries and areas of expertise. She was most recently the first chief communications officer at Manulife, where she established an integrated global communications function for the company. Previously, she was managing director and global head of corporate communications for Barclays’ Corporate & Investment Bank. 

Furthermore, goes under her belt is serving as chief of staff to the president of Dow Jones and an extensive experience in the CPG industry, having spent much of her early career in corporate affairs leadership roles with AB InBev. 

Taparia said that as JLL tells the story of its renewed brand promise, which is to the message of ‘See a Brighter Way’, Vallis’ two-decade of communications experience will be integral in guiding how the firm shapes its narrative. 

“Her proven forward-looking thinking will support us in differentiating the JLL story in the market, from our technology ambition and sustainability efforts to our industry expertise,” commented Taparia.

Meanwhile, Vallis herself shared that the time is an exciting one to be joining JLL when commercial real estate can have far-reaching impact on some of the most pertinent issues of the present period. 

“I can’t wait to tell the story of JLL’s purpose of shaping the future of real estate for a better world supported by its more than 100,000 employees globally in 80 countries,” she concluded.

Hong Kong – Taking overtime at the workplace is sometimes inevitable, most especially now that the work-from-home set up has blurred the lines between work and rest – this practice can be a challenge for most. PRHK, an industry organisation for public relations and communications professionals in Hong Kong, has come up with a solution to this problem by launching a toolkit called ‘Working Smarter for the Future’ which aims to help industry leaders and working teams to practice better workflow processes and combat overtime. 

Initiated by the next-gen sub-committee of PRHK, the 27-page toolkit gives ample recommendations on planning tools, policy updates, and working tips that industry leaders can use to facilitate a healthy working environment amongst team members, whilst making the work-life balance possible. Meanwhile, resource planning and additional support are also presented for individuals and working teams.

The committee that initiated the toolkit includes Karolis Adomaitis of Fleishman Hillard, Carol Yeung of Golin, Penn Leung and Jesa Amparo of Creative Consulting Group and Sara Cheung of Edelman. 

The said toolkit is also an answer to PRHK’s latest research data which revealed that the top three causes of overtime are tight deadlines and last-minute requests, lack of manpower, and various meetings. The same survey also showed that 75% of respondents from the industry perceive overtime as normal with another 70% having experienced physical or mental health issues, considering overtime as a factor.

Carol Yeung, co-chair of the PRHK’s next gen sub-committee said, “The launch of our ‘Working Smarter for the Future’ toolkit is another step in moving towards making work-life balance a reality for Hong Kong PR and communications professionals. We especially want the profession to overcome its inertia on the issue of unreasonable overtime.” 

Meanwhile, Carbo Yu, chairperson of PRHK added, “PRHK’s mission is to represent, champion, promote and grow the PR and communications profession in Hong Kong. This project has achieved just that, gaining significant positive response from professionals across the industry. PRHK will continue to be an enabler for working smarter as we help people navigate Hong Kong’s dynamic communications landscape.”

With the toolkit launch, PRHK said it commits to delivering more resources such as conducting workshops to help in drawing boundaries, managing hybrid work, and time management. 

Singapore – On-demand food company Deliveroo has entered a partnership with independent PR and social agency W Communications to manage its corporate and consumer communications.

The partnership is targeted at building a positive brand reputation for the delivery service through hyperlocal stories and emphasising Deliveroo’s passion for connecting Singaporeans to the best restaurants and merchants in various areas.

“Over the past couple of years, we’ve seen Deliveroo become an essential part of consumers’ lives, as well as open up new revenue streams and earning opportunities for restaurants and delivery riders,” said Jolin Ng, general manager at W Singapore.

She also added that W will be bringing its expertise in ‘corpsumer’ communications and instinct for news to elevate the Deliveroo brand and share impactful stories with local audiences.

Warren Johnson, founder of W Communications also added, “Having launched Deliveroo to the world out of London in 2014, we are excited for this reunion and to be expanding our partnership to Asia, a key market for both entities. We aim to continue delivering business-changing results for them as how we’ve done previously.”

Meanwhile, Jason Parke, general manager at Deliveroo Singapore mentioned that W’s bid stood out because of their creativity, excellent media relations, and passion for food.

“We’re confident that their experience will complement our growth ambitions and look forward to a successful partnership,” he added.

W Singapore is a partner of notable brands such as Häagen-Dazs, Hilton Hotels & Resorts, Impossible Foods, and Marks & Spencer, amongst others.

Deliveroo has also previously formed the Digital Platforms Industry Association (DPIA) with food delivery platforms Grab and foodpanda to fortify the guidelines and policies to support their partners and merchants in Singapore.