Public affairs is coming of age in Asia

Alongside ‘when will we be able to measure what we do’ and ‘can you recommend a superstar middleweight account manager’, the question I heard most often while covering PR in Asia concerned the region’s public affairs industry.

Specifically, people would often wonder when public affairs would become the revenue-driver it already is in countries like the UK and the US. It was a topic that, it seems, we revisited year upon year at Media Asia.

The launch of PublicAffairsAsia and, in particular, its Gold Standard public affairs awards may signal that those questions are now moot. The importance of a dedicated resource is plain to see, so congratulations to Craig Hoy and his team for making this all happen.

Increasing professionalism is also undoubtedly playing a role, as lobbying becomes more transparent. The importance of public affairs to domestic and international companies in countries like China, India and Indonesia means that it can no longer be the preserve of a few well-connected networkers any longer.

From what I understand, the event had pretty good, senior-level attendance. The full awards run-down can be found at the PublicAffairsAsia site. It looks like the big winners were Weber Shandwick, ING Insurance and Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono.

Miles Young tipped to succeed Sorrell at WPP

Yesterday I attended the IAA luncheon which featured Ogilvy & Mather global CEO Miles Young presenting a talk entitled, rather optimistically, ‘Latter day confessions’. There were precious few confessions to set the pulse racing, with Miles himself pointing out that there would be no mention of ‘client entertainment in Patpong’. Instead he presented a well-considered analysis of the importance of reputation and authenticity for companies over the next decade.

Young based the bulk of his thesis on work carried out by IBM CCO/CMO Jon Iwata and the Arthur Page Society. Work that, given this provenance, is well-known in the PR community. Reputation, it appears, is something the advertising industry is starting to take increasingly seriously. By contrast, Young positioned the concept of campaigning as ‘latter day witchcraft’.

Of more interest, and to Miles’ evident discomfort, he was introduced by CNN’s Jonathan Davies as the man who is ‘hotly tipped to be Martin Sorrell’s successor.’ It is not the first time I have heard this, and I doubt it will be the last. Sorrell is 65 in February and, already, there are questions about succession planning at WPP.

UPDATE: An interesting follow-up on BNET, naming a few people in the running to succeed Sorrell.

Google China starts the year with a bang

January is supposed to be a quiet month but, in my experience at least, it rarely is. Already, we’ve seen Kraft make the rather curious move of calling in post-merger counsel for a merger that may not happen. And, from what I understand, London 2012 last week held presentations for its global PR business.

Interesting stories, but nothing quite compares to the Google China imbroglio. PRWeek Global has analysed the PR issues at play here, finding a sensitive and multi-faceted scenario which will affect Google, other foreign tech brands in China, and the country’s own homegrown players.

That, of course, is just one way of looking at Google’s rather remarkable decision to potentially call a halt to its China presence. In truth, there are so many angles at play here, it is hard to imagine another media story from Asia topping this one this year.

Hass hire means musical chairs are back

Mark Hass’ arrival to head Edelman China is an interesting move in more ways than one. Hass, by all accounts, is well-respected within the industry, and his reputation actually appears to have been improved by his sudden departure from MS&L last year.

More importantly, the hire should shake up a China market where top-tier talent has proven hard to infuse. There are some superb agency heads in the country, but few new faces in recent years.

In getting a former global network CEO, Edelman may have pulled off a coup. Detractors, no doubt, will point to Hass’ lack of China experience. This should not be underplayed, but a move of this magnitude can only be good for the Chinese PR industry at large.

The Hass story, I feel, is likely to be the first of several senior moves in Asia-Pacific this year. Markets are unfreezing rapidly, and there is pent-up demand for talent. I’m already hearing of a number of pretty interesting senior shifts that will take place over the next couple of months.

A similar trend should also take place in more mature Western markets, albeit on a reduced scale. Already, we’ve seen the highly-rated Jonathan Jordan quit B-M UK to start his own shop. It’s been almost two years since the traditional talent game of musical chairs creaked to a halt. That, for better or worse, is a lifetime in PR terms.

Middleweight agencies make moves

Looking back over 2009, one theme rings loud and clear: consolidation.

It is a term that can be applied to any number of procurement-led global reviews – from HP, British Airways, HP again, Lufthansa, Microsoft, HP again…You get the picture.

Perhaps of more interest, we have seen concrete consolidation in the agency world, via three major examples: MS&L merging with Publicis Consultants, Ketchum merging with Pleon, and Huntsworth’s decision to whittle down its 26 agency brands to four.

Already those decisions are starting to bear fruit. Grayling has bulked up to $150m after buying another agency in the US, making it the second biggest independent player after Edelman. MS&L Group won its first global mandate of note this year. And Ketchum Pleon has also been awarded significant new international business.

All of these agencies want to move out of the mid-size bracket, and compete with the handful of big boys that are worth $400-$500m in annual revenues, and are often viewed by clients as the natural destination for global PR mandates. In that sense, these moves are long overdue – more competition at the top can only be of benefit to the industry in general.

Inevitably, these developments also turn the spotlight on some of the other remaining mid-size contenders. Porter-Novelli, GolinHarris, Waggener-Edstrom and Cohn & Wolfe, to name four. In 2010, can we expect to see a little more expansionary zeal from this quartet?

PRWeek Global is live

It has finally been dragged kicking and screaming into the world. So far the response has been good, thanks no doubt to a solid raft of launch content – including a Focus On Dubai’s PR market and an interview with LG Electronics’ comms chief Ken Hong.

Feedback and suggestions are most welcome. You can sign up for the free PRWeek Global email here, or access the webpage here. Or follow the Twitter feed @prwglobal.

Asia Communicators UK – 19 November launch

The indefatigable Mark Sabah from Delib is very sensibly launching a networking group here in London for communications types interested in Asia. We will be running our first event on Thursday 19 November, and it looks like we’ll be getting a decent, senior turnout of agency and in-house PR, PA and media people that have either worked in Asia or simply have an interest in region.

Details are below, please do drop by if you would like to. You can get more details by emailing Mark at mark.sabah@delib.co.uk

Asia Communicators UK, 19 November, 6.30pm

Tapsters, 3 Brewers Green, London, SW1H 0RH (map)

Restaurants thank Shel Israel for the plug

We interviewed social media specialist Shel Israel at a Lewis PR event and, like a seasoned media veteran, he opted for controversy in this video.

Specifically, he said that PR people need to stop using social media as a pitching mechanism, and embrace the conversational and listening aspects. He namechecked the likes of Richard Edelman and Steve Rubel as people that get it right.

Those that don’t, he said, will soon be working in the ‘restaurant service industry’. Who knows, they might make more money over there. Obviously, this is going to get a bit of attention. But I think most good PR people understand Shel’s point only too well by now. And those that don’t are supported by a media landscape that is still largely skewed towards offline, one-way content.

BTW, what is with all of the social media events at the moment? I counted four major events that are taking place in a 2-week window in November. I find it hard to believe the industry can sustain this many…!

Charming countries revisited

My most popular post this year, at least in terms of generating comments, was one on whether countries can launch charm offensives. This surprised me, because I thought that the concept of overhauling a poor reputation through better comms was reasonably well established.

Instead, the idea that a national government can put its reputation in the hands of a PR agency sparked some interesting responses. None perhaps more succinct that Tom Crampton’s remark that, unless the country itself has a reputation worth communicating, any image campaign would amount to ‘lipstick on a pig’.

Building on the debate, I’ve put together a feature for PRWeek UK that looks at this issue in a little more depth. Reputation of a nation puts six ‘countries’ under the spotlight – UK, US, China, India, South Africa and Dubai. Each suffers various problems in terms of how reputation issues are hampering the pursuit of specific goals. For example, China’s well-documented product quality crises continues to dog perceptions of its critically important manufacturing sector.

Nokia’s North American PR review

An RFI reaches me, detailing Nokia’s review of its North American public relations account.

I don’t know a great deal about who Nokia currently works with in the US but PRWeek US has reported previously that Ketchum handles some of this business. That may still be the case.

In any case, it certainly sounds like a fairly significant piece of business. Nokia is also currently reviewing its UK business, but there is no indication that the two processes are linked.

GolinHarris, meanwhile, handles Nokia’s international PR account – but that is not part of this review from what I understand.

Instead this looks like a classic procurement exercise. Nokia is keen on repositioning itself as a software/services player, rather than a mobile handset manufacturer, but there is little mention of this in the RFI. There is, however, some other interesting stuff.