Hoffman sets sights on expanding reach and footprint in APAC

When Twitter wished to showcase its relationship with Ok-pop throughout the tenth anniversary of the music style’s development on its platform, The Hoffman Agency Asia Pacific developed a complete world marketing campaign alongside the consumer, involving infographics and a live-streamed Ok-pop occasion to draw media curiosity and enhance buzz amongst Ok-pop followers. The scale of the marketing campaign and significance of the outcomes noticed Hoffman taking dwelling the bronze award for Best Insights Driven PR at MARKETING-INTERACTIVE’s PR Awards 2021.
General supervisor of The Hoffman Agency Singapore, Maureen Tseng, shares with MARKETING-INTERACTIVE how the company thrived and grew regardless of pandemic headwinds, and what purchasers can count on from Hoffman in 2021.
This interview is finished as a part of MARKETING-INTERACTIVE’s winners and finalists’ interview collection for PR Awards 2021. To discover out extra concerning the awards, click on right here.
What would you say was the most important accomplishment for the entire PR/communications neighborhood in 2020?
Tseng: Looking again at 2020, one factor is completely clear – when the going will get robust, communicators get going! Communications groups actually stepped as much as the challenges of working in the brand new regular, demonstrating an enormous quantity of tenacity, creativity and resilience. The market shifts of final 12 months positioned the main target of communications firmly on built-in campaigns for manufacturers to compete.
Brands and their communications groups throughout all industries needed to pivot to delivering digital providers and campaigns as social distancing took maintain and B2B advertising particularly was pressured to rework sooner than any 12 months earlier than.
The sheer velocity at which communications professionals pivoted to make sure they had been in a position to compete on the digital enjoying subject when the pandemic erupted was unimaginable. In a matter of weeks, we noticed virtually all the pieces transfer to the digital sphere with built-in communications taking centre stage, with a particular focus on inventive, focused content material deployed throughout a extra various and numerous vary of channels.
It was actually spectacular to see how the communications business began to leverage totally different expertise mediums and platforms, from Zoom to TikTook and Clubhouse, to speak with audiences. The transfer to adopting these new platforms with very partaking content material has been seamless and this seismic shift in the communications panorama – particularly for B2B manufacturers – has created an enormous demand for content material to maintain advertising campaigns working and leads coming in. This is a pattern we imagine will dominate in 2021.
Additionally, the pandemic has pressured everybody to focus on what’s actually essential. It’s heartening to see organisations focus extra on significant inner and exterior communications with company communications again to the fore and a particular focus on inserting model objective and CSR on the high of the agenda.
What would you say was your proudest achievement of the 12 months?
Tseng: In a 12 months that battered companies throughout the board, one thing we’re extremely happy with is the truth that our company not solely weathered the storm – however thrived and even grew.
The sturdy basis we laid in the years main as much as this gave us a stable footing in the face of all the pieces that 2020 threw our manner and led to us successful marquee accounts akin to Twitter, Zoom, Twitch and Align Technology. What is very thrilling for us is that each single considered one of these purchasers has a regional hub or multi-market remits, which performs to our firm’s strengths as an company that specialises in working multi-country campaigns powered by nice tales and content material.
During this time we additionally grew our digital and built-in advertising enterprise and embarked on a number of thrilling initiatives which have expanded the breadth and depth of our portfolio and capabilities, of which our Ok-pop marketing campaign for Twitter is a main instance. We couldn’t be extra proud to be spearheading and implementing an award-winning world marketing campaign for a family model identify akin to Twitter.
What are some communications traits you see carrying on post-pandemic?
Tseng: We count on to see a continued push in direction of built-in communications for manufacturers in each business, regardless of in the event that they’re B2B or B2C. The occasions of the final 12 months will see the enjoying subject for manufacturers proceed in the digital area – even essentially the most conventional B2B manufacturers needed to make the leap to delivering digital providers and campaigns to compete for buyer consideration and construct thought management and we count on this to proceed.
We additionally count on to see a pointy rise in demand for content material because the seismic shift in the communications panorama – particularly for B2B manufacturers – has created an enormous demand to maintain advertising campaigns working and leads coming in. We are already seeing focused, inventive 360-degree campaigns aimed toward micro-audiences.
Another pattern we’re already seeing is manufacturers throughout sectors turning to expertise for a aggressive edge – be it for buyer engagement, personalisation or supply of recent providers – and that is additionally changing into one thing that manufacturers more and more talk and construct into their storytelling.
Lastly, we count on to see a continued focus on purpose-driven communications with large pushes in direction of initiatives and campaigns targeted on variety and inclusion, illustration, equality and sustainability and different CSR.
How will the position of communications professionals evolve as we transfer right into a moderately unsure future?
Tseng: It’s an attention-grabbing time for communications professionals as we work out what all this transformation will imply for us and our career. It’s an extremely difficult time, however one which additionally presents a window of alternatives for changing into extra strategic model companions if we’re in a position to adapt in the appropriate methods.
Firstly the pivot to digital will imply that the communications career will want polymaths who’re adept at utilizing expertise and dwell on new platforms and can determine traits and leverage the tech to seize these traits.
At the identical time, we might want to develop cultural experience that allows us to navigate nuance and pay attention to context when speaking with totally different audiences, given the very delicate nature of working in at the moment’s panorama with customers and manufacturers alike extra conscious of unconscious bias, racial, gender and social points.
But there are a number of causes to stay hopeful and we imagine that the appropriate mindset will place communications professionals with an adaptable, versatile and collaborative mindset in a robust place. We imagine that essentially the most profitable communications professionals might be these open to alter and prepared to strive new issues to remain forward.
What can we count on out of your firm in 2021?
Tseng: We have a number of thrilling initiatives in the works and an enormous focus for us this 12 months is on the event of our built-in advertising capabilities. In line with the traits we’re seeing with the crossover of digital and PR, we might be focusing on the event of our content material advertising group to offer extra specialised consultancy and providers in the remit; enabling us to assist purchasers create thrilling and partaking content material that makes headlines, stops folks from scrolling and helps their enterprise aims.
Apart from bolstering our providers and capabilities, we will even be targeted on expanding our reach and footprint in extra markets all through Asia Pacific to higher assist purchasers exploring a wider vary of geographies in their enlargement plans.