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Global PR Agencies: Opportunities or Challenges?An Interview with The Hoffman Agency By Yunzhong Zhang After China's WTO accession, the global PR agency in a high-tech-centered field will encounter spectacular opportunities, said Michelle Herman, managing director of The Hoffman Agency Asia Pacific, in a recent interview. Good luck especially will be on the side of companies from the Silicon Valley and established marketing networks in the Asia Pacific region, such as Hoffman, she added. In late 2001 in Hong Kong, The Hoffman Agency, a notable Silicon Valley-based high-tech PR firm, created headlines in the industry when it received the Asian Network of the Year award in a ceremony hosted by PR Week. Herman attributed the award to two factors: First, Hoffman was the only Silicon Valley-based public relations (PR) agency and established network in Asia. Second, the uniqueness of its marketing network lies in its holistic operation, which brings with it a mentality and mechanism of cooperation, and shares resources in staff and information, thus providing the best service to clients. She emphasized that with China's WTO accession, foreign companies will enter the Chinese market, while domestic companies will compete with their international counterparts. Both types of companies feel the need to set up their brands and promote their products as soon as possible, thus creating a tremendous market for the PR industry. As the fourth-largest Silicon Valley-based PR agency, Hoffman aims to focus on the high-tech industry, and helps international companies enter the domestic market by successfully establishing their brand images. Herman said that when foreign companies invest in China, they need localized knowledge and consultation, as well as the best support and service from a local PR agency. Those foreign companies look forward to finding such high-quality PR agencies, familiar with the latest technology that also have the commercial vision common in many westerners. Hoffman can rightfully play a significant role in bridging the cultural communication gap between east and west, and also offer a similar service for domestic companies. Zhong Li, marketing manager of Hoffman Asia Pacific, has optimistically predicted that in the near future, many Silicon Valley-based enterprises will enter the Chinese market. Two criteria must be considered when companies choose an agency: First, can the PR agency and its clients achieve a common understanding of the comprehension and enforcement of PR concepts; and can they communicate on the same ground? Second, can they come to an agreement on enterprise planning, senior consultancy and target market? Clients prefer to work with creative PR agencies that are in harmony with the culture around them. In brief, an important deciding factor is whether clients and PR agencies can communicate freely and easily work together. Theresa Shen, chief representative of the Beijing office, became one of China's PR pioneers in 1995. Speaking on the role global PR agencies play in the Chinese market, Shen said that when she was a PR novice, not many people had knowledge of the profession and few local companies existed in the market. Only the well-known global PR agencies dominated. The situation has changed immensely. Many types of PR agencies now flourish in the market - local as well as global. Shen is therefore under even greater pressure to prove herself. Shen divided the current PR agencies into three groups: traditional comprehensive global PR agencies, which follow the Euro-U.S. operation module; indigenous startups, which have recently flourished due to their advantages in terms of domestic location; and event planning or management PR agencies, which possess advantages such as professional know-how, and are able to easily fill vacancies in the market in a step-by-step manner. Hoffman is positioned between two kinds of agencies; it has a global background as well as the advantage of a domestic location, which makes hiring local staff easy. Unlike the above traditional global and Chinese mainland PR firms, Hoffman calls for an affectionate culture, Shen stated. Hoffman recruits employees on the basis of professionalism, a commitment to the PR profession, diligence and an interest in cultural understanding and continuous learning. The company provides employees with technical training opportunities. In the Chinese market,
The Hoffman Agency offers services in public relations to well-known
enterprises, such as i2, CommWorks - a subsidiary company of 3Com
- and some well-known high-tech clients such as Xilinx, UnitedSystem
and Riverstone.
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