Localize, localise or kyokugen. Call it customization, call it localization -- just make sure that you tailor your communications (and methods of dissemination) on a country-by-country basis.

Messages that have equity in Singapore, for example, may be irrelevant in Malaysia. Korean and Japanese press may care a great deal about a topic that wouldn't even get you in the door in Hong Kong or Australia. You develop messages that reflect country interest, not your interest.

Take Taiwan as an example. As you would expect, the media largely pursues stories with a strong relevance to Taiwan. This means the PR function must tailor stories that map into the Taiwanese press climate. For example, the rise of the PC infrastructure in Taiwan is a source of great pride in Taiwan, and the topic is covered on a daily basis in the country's newspapers.

In addition, corporate spokespeople must be prepared to bring the Taiwanese perspective in communicating to the press. Furthermore, the majority of reporters speak Mandarin, so the spokesperson should be conversant in Mandarin. The press materials need to be translated into complex Mandarin. But these same press materials can't be used in mainland China, which depends on simple Mandarin, until they have undergone a different translation.

Layered on top of that diversity is the diversity of high-tech press targets. Many trade pubs have only a local-country focus. In Hong Kong and Singapore, some trades have more of a pan-Asian reach, generally meaning that they have distribution where English is spoken in the region. The business press, with the exception of the The Asian Wall Street Journal, tends to be country-specific. Additionally, many countries with large nationally-distributed newspapers don't often have separate technology sections or even beat reporters, so be prepared to modify your story or humanize your technology based on whom you meet with.

You may have one product and you may envision a single, broad Asia Pacific market, but you have to approach the project on a country-by-country basis. Borrowing (and abusing) a fashionable phrase, think globally, but communicate locally.

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