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BCW provided Washington representation to Chinese telecom Huawei, which is banned from doing business with federal agencies and contractors due to its alleged espionage on behalf of China's government.
In conjunction with the Asia-Pacific group, BCW's DC office was tasked with strategic communications support and responding to governmental and media inquiries, according to the firm's Justice Dept. filing.
The $160K campaign called for the PR firm to "defend and promote Huawei's reputation in the US."
It featured a "10-point strategic plan" and PSB-conducted research to assess perceptions and test initial messaging among audiences most relevant to issues facing the company.
The WPP unit also supplied reputation strategy counsel "around actions taken by Huawei in the US, including but not limited to: legal actions, partnerships, outreach, influencer relations and partner relations," says BCW's "scope of work" memo of Feb. 28.
BCW released this statement to O'Dwyer's: "This FARA filing was made in the interest of adhering to compliance with regard to a short, limited project that was executed and completed. BCW is not contracting for any ongoing or future work for Huawei in the United States."
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