Welcome to the latest edition of the Eskenzi PR International Series as we journey around the world speaking with our esteemed colleagues and favourite international partners to give you a sense of what it takes to succeed with PR across various regions. We’ve already covered the United States, France and Germany and now we are headed to the Asia Pacific market to learn more about the nuances of this vibrant and exciting part of the world.
We caught up with Dr Seamus Phan, CTO and Head of Content from the McGallen & Bolden® Group, a dedicated APAC PR agency that Eskenzi has partnered with since 2017, working together to bring to life the PR dreams of several exciting cybersecurity companies.
Firstly, Seamus begins by discussing the current media landscape in APAC, explaining how it has evolved from the time McGallen & Bolden Group first started in the early 1990s:
“From the early days of having very vibrant trade media for various industries such as tech, cybersecurity, enterprise networking, telecoms, healthcare, and others, the more recent media landscape has diminished ever since the several global events such as the 2000 dotcom crash, 2008 global financial crisis, 2019 pandemic, and ongoing regional and global conflicts. Now, the media landscape has consolidated to mainstream media, with a small population of enthusiast vertical and trade media.”
Seamus then details why PR in the APAC region is significantly different from conducting PR in either the US or the UK, going into detail about what makes APAC’s regional reporters tick. It’s clear from Seamus’ advice, that understanding the culture and having local news, relevant spokespeople and customers is key for any sort of PR success in the region as well as building trust with the local reporters:
“Unlike the United States and the UK, Asia Pacific is a vast region of 4.3 billion people, many of which do not use English as a vernacular language. For example, for successful and entrenched PR in places such as China, Indonesia, Japan, South Korea etc, you will need to have localized communications not only in the local languages but also contextual and meaningful translations with specific local references. Likewise in most Asia Pacific locations, there must be relevance to the local community, such as local investments, local infrastructure development and local hiring.
“For some B2B businesses, their assumption that simply having a news release or an executive visit to the Asia Pacific would warrant a roomful of eager journalists is unrealistic. The Asia Pacific region, including the media and customers, demands a nurturing of relationships. Trust must be earned over time to gain acceptance. This is why there is a need for retained relationships, rather than projects.”
According to Seamus, a business should be strategic, long-term, enlightened, committed, and culturally sensitive, and to succeed with APAC PR, here are his three top tips:
1) Retained programs are a must, especially for B2B businesses.
2) Localization is important.
3) Patience for results as relationships and trust are built over time.
Eskenzi PR and McGallen & Bolden® Group have been working on dedicated projects since 2017, forming a brilliant working relationship built on respect, admiration, creativity, fun and a desire to exceed our client’s expectations. The team at McGallen are extremely knowledgeable, professional and well-integrated within the APAC region.
That is why we are always excited to partner with McGallen & Bolden® Group whenever the opportunity presents itself. We also love to hear that the praise is reciprocated:
“We have always found working with the Eskenzi team a great joy,” said Seamus. “The Eskenzi team are go-getters who deliver results and are friendly and collaborative on a grand scale. We have the utmost respect for all our Eskenzi peers and certainly recommend them for PR in their region. The Eskenzi team is especially adept at identifying media trends and opportunities and has the speed to deliver content to fit the needs of the media. We have seen their work first-hand when working with them alongside serving some common clients. Their pulse on the market and the news is impeccable.”
If you’d like to learn more about how Eskenzi can help you succeed with APAC PR or any other region, please do get in touch.
