MOMENTUM
A tumultuous two-year period that saw financial turbulence and a drastic overhaul of its regional leadership eventually bore fruit for Edelman in 2010 - with revenues growing by an impressive 16 per cent. Given the various changes in personnel, the pace of progress quickened as the year progressed - with fourth quarter revenues up 25 percent on the same period one year earlier. It offered a satisfactory swansong for regional CEO Alan VanderMolen who moved to Chicago to oversee Edelman’s practices and insights businesses. In his stead, EMEA CEO David Brain arrived to take up Asia-Pacific leadership. He will find a network that has been one of the strongest regional performers during VanderMolen’s tenure. In 2010, there was new business from AMD, Asahi Breweries, Austrade, Diageo, Levi’s, RIM and Tetra Pak - with the firm’s Australian, digital and technology businesses performing strongly.
REGIONAL REACH
Edelman has 16 offices in eight Asia-Pacific markets, providing coverage of all the major markets while handling emerging countries through affiliates. In China, there are more than 160 people divided between the Edelman (corporate, healthcare, tech) and Pegasus (consumer and some tech) brands, with offices in Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou, supplemented by substantial operations in both Hong Kong and Taipei. After several attempts to forge a stable leadership team in the crucial China market, Edelman hired former MS&L CEO Mark Hass; the early signs are encouraging but the integration of Pegasus remains a challenge. The firm has solid operations in Tokyo and Seoul and in Australia (Sydney and Melbourne offices), where it galvanised its presence by poaching Michelle Hutton from Hill & Knowlton. In Southeast Asia, the firm has a market-leading presence in Indonesia (via Indo-Pacific, acquired four years ago) and smaller operations in Malaysia. One of its biggest success stories of recent years is Singapore, which has been growing steadily and has particular strength in public sector work and healthcare. India is headed by Edelman veteran Robert Holdheim who has been challenged with expanding the Delhi office to match the strength of the firm’s Mumbai base.
GLOBAL REACH
Edelman has impressive strength in the three major US markets: in New York, its headquarters, where it has strength in pretty much every practice area; in Washington, DC, where its core public relations and public affairs business is among the market leaders; and in Chicago, where traditional strength in consumer has grown into a full-service offer that is one of the two leaders in the Second City. The firm’s west coast operations—offices in Los Angeles, Sacramento, San Francisco, and Silicon Valley—add up to one of the strongest statewide offerings. Some of the firm’s smaller offices have also been turning in impressive performances: the Portland, Ore., office, started in 2002, now has more than 50 staff. The firm also has a formidable operation north of the border—offices in Montreal, Toronto and Vancouver—and to the south, where it has a branded presence in Mexico, Argentina and Brazil supplemented by a network of affiliates. In Europe, the flagship UK operation continues to account for about half of the firm’s regional revenues, and continues to rank among the market leaders.
EXPERTISE
Edelman has four core practice areas in the Asia-Pacific region, including a corporate practice that accounts for about a third of the firm’s revenues and is among the top two or three in the region, with particular strength in CSR work and broader trust-related issues; healthcare and technology, both formidable; and consumer, which is under strength in Asia compared to Edelman’s impressive capabilities in the US and Europe. Much of the growth over the past 12 months came from technology and digital—both practices that are among the strongest in the region. The firm has also taken credible steps to improve its public affairs offering, particularly in China, and has one of the region’s better crisis communications practices.
TALENT
Beginning in 2009, Edelman embarked upon a major restructuring of its regional leadership team. In addition to Mark Hass in China and Michelle Hutton in Australia, there was new market leadership in Japan, where highly-rated industry veteran Ross Rowbury joined from PRAP as CEO, and in Malaysia, where Raymond Siva arrived as MD. In Japan. Rowbury’s arrival followed the departure of previous Japan MD Margaret Key to Burson-Marsteller. In Southeast Asia, former Malaysia MD Karen Hoh moved into a dual role as client services director and senior counselor in the healthcare practice. Other important appointments included Alexandra Kelly as GM of Edelman Sydney and Matthew Gain as head of digital in Australia; Peter Tou as GM in Taiway; Sanjay Nair’s promotion to Asia-Pacific technology practice leader; Jeffrey Yu’s arrival as GM of Pegasus; former Wall Street Journal Asia editor Michael Yiannakis as strategic media counsel; ex-journalist Ray Rudowski as regional director of training and crisis; and David Wagner as director of crisis training in Japan. In India, meanwhile, Holdheim embarked on an aggressive hiring spree, adding Vargese Cherian as director of technology, Vivaan Gideon as Bangalore GM; Rakesh Thukral as public affairs and advocacy director; and Mahnaz Curmally in the consumer and health practice.
CULTURE
Edelman revamped its leadership and development program, combining involvement in global Edelman University courses that cover such topics as digital and leadership, as well as Asia-Pacific region-specific workshops in the areas of client relationships, team building and management, and leadership skills. The firm also made community commitment a strategic priority, with all 16 offices investing in a common initiative - water access and stewardship - for the next three years. In partnership with Planet Water Foundation, Edelman has funded five water projects. The region also spearheaded a global drive to benchmark the firm’s carbon and water footprint globally, as a precursor to begin reducing consumption.
INTELLECTUAL LEADERSHIP
Edelman’s 11-year-old Trust Barometer research is probably the most sustained and robust piece of intellectual property in the public relations business, and over the past five years it has been expanded to include more Asian markets and marketed more aggressively to media in the region, providing the firm with a platform to discuss a wide range of related issues, from the rise of social media to the importance of social responsibility. The firm’s goodpurpose (CSR and cause branding) research now runs in China, India and Japan, and Edelman has also rolled out its Health Engagement Barometer in the region. Region-specific projects include the Digital Brand Index and Public Affairs Dialogues (exploring the impact of government relations, CSR and social media on public affairs decisions in China). In 2010, the firm also launched 8095 - investigating the attitudes of the millennial generation.
CAMPAIGNS
Edelman worked on a diverse range of compelling campaigns in 2010. In Korea, it supported the Summit Presidential Committee’s activities in conjunction with the G20 Seoul Summit, and also oversaw social media activities for the event. In Singapore, the firm handled the launch of Marina Bay Sands, the culmination of five years of work. Like many China agencies, Edelman also handled its share of Shanghai Expo work, in particular assisting Johnson & Johnson’s ‘small acts, big impact’ initiative that asked Chinese people to vote for the project in which they wanted to company to invest. The agency’s digital work for BMW China also continues to stand out, with the carmaker’s branded social media portal becoming a successful media property. In India, Edelman launched LinkedIn’s presence in the market and, in Australia, it oversaw the Manage Pain consumer education program on behalf of Reckitt-Benckiser, addressing codeine misuse in the country. Finally, an interesting regional social media drive for Research in Motion saw Blackberry grow its online fan base to more than one million in eight months.
BRAND
Edelman is the most clearly differentiated brand among all the major, full-service public relations firms, a status that can be attributed to its independent status—it can say what it thinks, regardless of whether it tows a parent company’s corporate line—and the strong personality of its leadership in all three regions, including Brain in Asia. In 2010 the firm continued to demonstrate its award-winning prowess, with Indo-Pacific Edelman named The Holmes Report Southeast Asia Consultancy of the Year, and Edelman Singapore named Asia-Pacific Consultancy of the Year by Campaign Asia-Pacific.
THE FUTURE
Brain inherits a network that appears to have successfully overcome most of the challenges of the past two years. Growth targets are aggressive. Edelman currently stands at around $40 million, but senior executives believe it can reach Asia-Pacific fee income of $100 million by 2015. One way of doing that is to become more local, as evidenced by the new layer of market leadership and Brain’s commitment to this priority. In China, the successful integration of Pegasus is likely to remain a priority and, in India, much depends on whether Holdheim’s aggressive investment will be rewarded by sustained new business. All things considered, the signs are promising for Edelman in Asia-Pacific.