MOMENTUM
After a decade of hugely impressive growth, Weber Shandwick recovered well from its first major blip in 2009 when - like most of its multinational peers - it struggled in the teeth of the global recession. Revenues rebounded by around nine percent, taking the firm back to its 2008 levels of fee income, around $40 million. Encouragingly, the pace of growth accelerated as the year progressed, led by three key account wins: Microsoft, HP and P&G. That extended Weber Shandwick’s portfolio of multimarket clients to 71, marking four percent growth on the previous year. There was also significant new business from McDonald’s in China, Goldman Sachs and the US Meat Federation in Korea, Vodafone in Australia and Boeing in India.
REGIONAL REACH
After launching in Korea in 2009, Weber Shandwick now offers regional coverage that is as comprehensive - and in many cases, more so - as any of its key network rivals. It runs 17 owned offices in the region, with the China operation generally recognised as the strongest - numbering 240 people working across Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Hong Kong and Taipei on clients such as P&G, Microsoft, Symantec, GM, and ExxonMobil. In Australia, following good growth over the past couple of years, the firm’s 30-person operation was named Australian Consultancy of the year by the Holmes Report last year, and continues its work with Nestle, Johnson & Johnson, and Pfizer while winning one of the year’s biggest reviews: Vodafone. In Japan, the firm is one of the few multinationals to have genuinely cracked the market, with around 50 people working on such clients as NTT Docomo, Microsoft MasterCard and Texas Tourism. Korea’s first 12 months saw steady progress, with the office now numbering around 50 people. The Southeast Asia operations comprise 125 people in Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, Indonesia and the Philippines. Of these, both Singapore and Malaysia are acknowledged market leaders, even if the consultancy did bid goodbye to its lucrative APP account, with Singapore acting as a hub for many regional clients, including Microsoft and MasterCard. Perhaps the biggest success story of 2010 was India, where the firm’s Corporate Voice operation (Weber Shandwick owns a 40 percent share) continued an impressive turnaround, driven largely by growth in Delhi.
GLOBAL REACH
Weber Shandwick is now one ofthe world’s largest public relations brand and along with Fleishman-Hillard one of the two largest firms in North America. With 19 offices in the United States, Weber Shandwick can match any of its competitors when it comes to its regional footprint, and the firm’s largest offices—New York, Chicago, and Washington, D.C., are all among the strongest in their respective markets. In addition, Weber Shandwick now has 77 offices in 58 markets throughout the EMEA region, giving it a footprint that’s comparable to any of its major competitors, with about 1,000 employees. PR Week estimates that about 300 of those people are in the UK, where Weber Shandwick is a top five player, but the story of the past few years has been the development of a much healthier balance between Britain and Europe.
EXPERTISE
Weber Shandwick has five broad practice areas in the Asia-Pacific region: corporate and public affairs; financial services and communications; consumer marketing (the largest and fastest-growing segment of the business); healthcare; and technology. The firm’s Powell Tate public affairs operation has seen particular growth since it opened in China in 2005. Weber Shandwick’s issues management capabilities have also been in high demand in 2010, working on sensitive assignments for, among others, APP, Mastercard and American Airlines. And the firm continues to expand its specialist offerings in the region, including expertise in integrated marketing, corporate responsibility, digital communications, social innovation, sports marketing, clean tech, and—under the Slam brand—youth marketing.
TALENT
Weber Shandwick has an impressive, relatively stable line-up of of country managers that includes agency veterans such as David Liu and Darren Burns in China; Baxter Jolly in Singapore; Ian Rumsby and E.J. Granleese in Australia; Stanley Liu in Taiwan; and Albert Shu in Hong Kong, and Akihiko Kubo in Tokyo after working with sister agency McCann in London, all of them led by regional chairman Tim Sutton and vice-chairman Jolly. There were several significant additions during the year: Barkha Patel returned to head Thailand; Jon Wade was hired as Asia-Pacific head of digital; Atul Ahluwalia became India president; and Adrienne Bateup-Carlson arrived to oversee integrated marketing in China.
CULTURE
Sutton has brought focus to bear on the issue of employee retention, in a region where many executives have as many agencies on their resume as years in the business. The firm has also continued to expand its Advocacy Inside professional development initiative, which has seen more than 120 learning sessions since its inception in 2008. 2010 was also the second year for the Next Generation Hothouse programme, which brought participants together to discuss the theme of ‘authenticity’. An Asia-Pacific Exchange Programme sends selected employees to other markets for two-week stints. And Sutton appears committed to promoting cultural diversity among the Weber Shandwick’s senior leadership, in a region where expatriate agency heads remain widespread.
INTELLECTUAL LEADERSHIP
The firm has stepped up its thought leadership initiatives in recent years to good effect, with 2010 bringing a new interactive guide to the People’s Republic of China, and partnerships with Insead’s MBA programme (on recruitment and information sharing), the Forbes Global CEO Conference, and the Economist Conference’s Asia CEO Agenda and China Summit. Weber Shandwick again published its Rising CCO report, supported by a new book called ‘Corporate Reputation’, which was released in English, Chinese and Japanese. The firm was also one of the drivers of the Shanghai PR Declaration, which aims to bind China PR firms to a set of ethical principles and practices.
CAMPAIGNS
There were plenty of eye-catching campaigns from Weber Shandwick offices in 2010, reflecting the network’s increasing strength in depth. After leading Shanghai’s successful bid for the 2010 Expo, the firm handled eight contracts with Expo organizers over a seven-year period, including crafting the marketing master plan. In addition, Weber Shandwick handled Shanghai Expo efforts for GM, New Zealand, Israel, Metro AG, the city of Madrid, Marvell, footwear brand Ecco, Texas Tourism and Great Wall Wine. In India, Weber Shandwick oversaw a Cannes Silver Lion-winning programme on behalf of Gillette - the ‘Women Against Lazy Stubble’ campaign that launched a new Mach3 Razor. For Standard Chartered Malaysia, the firm created a credible CSR effort called ‘GreenFingers’, and for P&G India it rolled out a public affairs push to help the company expand its market for sanitary napkins across rural India. The agency also oversaw the launch Singapore’s Resorts World Sentosa, the relaunch of Mumbai’s Oberoi, and helped to promote Texas Tourism in China. One of the most impressive developments of the past few years has been Weber Shandwick’s ability to hub major multimarket clients from almost any office: a 24-market program for MasterCard is led from Singapore (as are the agency’s efforts to Temasek amd Microsoft); Pfizer and GSK are hubbed in Hong Kong.
BRAND
Sutton has become a much more visible presence in the region, speaking to Insead MBA students in Singapore, while global chairman Jack Leslie was featured at the Forbes Global CEO Conference in Kuala Lumpur. The firm has also upped its media profile considerably, appearing regularly in mainstream and trade media. And there were plenty of awards, including being named Hong Kong Agency of the Year by Marketing magazine and Singapore Consultancy of the Year at the PRISM Awards. Finally, mention should be made of the firm’s community commitment, which includes support for Earth Hour, the Rainforest Alliance, and numerous other NGOs. The result is that Weber Shandwick now has one of the more polished brands in the region.
THE FUTURE
2011 marks Weber Shandwick’s 10th anniversary of the landmark merger between Shandwick, Weber and BSMG, and it is worth taking note of the enormous progress the agency has made in Asia-Pacific during that period. 2010 was another strong year, but the difficulties of 2009 mean that Weber Shandwick will be looking for a similar performance in 2011, particularly if it wants to cement its position as the second biggest network in the region. Successfully expanding the firm’s digital capabilities across the region is a priority, as is growing the consumer marketing practice - in recognition of the explosion of buying power represented by the Asian middle class. There’s also a concerted effort underway to pick up more local clients, in anticipation that ambitious Chinese, Indian and other Asian companies will be expanding globally, and that the region will one day export as much PR business as its imports. Weber Shandwick should be able to deliver on these plans: It has strong, stable leadership and, in Sutton, a veteran executive who is highly respected by his competitors. Still, some issues must be addressed - not least its ownership position in India.