By Greg Hazley
As global agencies increasingly look to Asia for revenue growth, Burson-Marsteller and Tonic Life Communications are the latest PR firms to open outposts in the region.
Tonic Life's
Rae Chew |
B-M, part of WPP, re-entered the Malaysian PR market this month after a 12-year hiatus with an outpost in the capital, Kuala Lumpur.
Tonic Life, a health-focused firm acquired by the London-based PR conglomerate Huntsworth in 2009, said this week it opened an office in Singapore, the firm's second Asian operation. It is also in Hong Kong and works for clients like Pfizer, Heinz and Reckitt Benckiser.
Neil Matheson, CEO of Huntsworth Health, said the company is expanding by establishing offices where its international clients need support. He said Huntsworth is using Tonic Life as the “springboard” for what is planned to be a “multi-channel service” in the Asia-Pacific region.
B-M said it now has six consultants under the direction of former Fleishman-Hillard staffer Joycelyn Lee, in addition to the firm's Malaysian affiliate, Essence Communications.
Bob Pickard, president and CEO for B-M's Asia-Pacific operations, noted the country was one of the first in Asia where the firm opened an office in the early 1970s. That previous operation ran from 1973 through 1998.
Pickard called the move into Malaysia an “important progression in a key growth market,” part of a strategy to expand B-M throughout the region.
Lee, a former journalist for publications like The Sun and The New Straits Times, was an acting GM and VP for F-H in the country.
The re-opening in Malaysia follows B-M's re-entry into Jakarta 2006 after pulling the plug there in 1996.
Rae Chew, who's worked for Edelman, Ruder Finn and GolinHarris, was named managing director for Tonic Life's Singapore operation.
In June, PR Newswire inked a deal worth up to $1.4M to acquire Hong Kong-based Corporate 360 as CEO Ninan Chacko noted “significant opportunities” for growth in China and the wider Asia Pacific region.
Omnicom in August hired Lufthansa's Asia-Pacific corporate communications director for a new communications post at the ad/PR conglomerate to raise its profile in the A-P, Africa and Middle East regions.
Interpublic's third quarter revenue in the Asia-Pacific region was up nearly 10% to $154M, placing it just behind its continental European operations.
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