#AOTYAwards MY 2021 spills: H+K Asia's secret sauce to succeeding in the new age

Hill+Knowlton Strategies Asia has a storied history in Asia Pacific, with offices in Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, and South Korea, among other countries. It has also seen leadership movements over the past year.

Last March, the agency brought on board Jason Cheang to drive the agency's Asia Innovation and Creativity Hub. A few months later, Justin Then was promoted to lead Malaysia and Singapore as CEO. He replaced H+K Singapore MD and Asia chief client officer, Matthew Briant. Then initially led Lumos H+K Malyasia as MD since merging his agency, Lumos PR with H+K Malaysia in 2019.

The agency's prowess in PR, content creation, and strategy impressed our judging panel at A+M's Agency of the Year Awards 2021 in Malaysia, landing H+K a finalist spot for Public Relations Agency of the Year. In an interview, HS Chung (pictured), president, Hill+Knowlton Strategies Asia shares what is needed for agencies to succeed in today's day and age and the secret sauce to forming a strong client-agency relationship.

This interview is done as part of A+M’s winners' and finalists’ interview series for AOTY Awards 2021. To find out more about the awards, click here.

Tell us about your agency and what makes it special?

Chung: H+K is a full-service global communications agency with over a 50-year heritage in Asia Pacific. H+K is home to more than 500 employees in 16 offices across nine countries in Asia Pacific along with a wide-reaching affiliate network covering every other market in the region. Each market brings a unique cultural perspective to our work that helps us craft powerful stories for our clients which resonate far beyond our market boundaries.

Our markets are structured around sectors to deliver deep industry knowledge combined with specialist areas of ideas + strategy, content creation and publishing. Behind all of our insight-led ideas and communication strategies is a deep understanding of data and analytics, creativity and master storytelling. We, as an agency, empower our people to make strategic decisions and encourage them to experiment, fail and learn from this process. We believe this to be a great way to breed a culture of innovation and creativity.

We’re known in the industry for our strong technological capabilities. Our technology sector has grown consecutively by double digits over the past decade. And now, more so with the pandemic, we see this sector growing significantly in the years to come.

The last two years have been challenging but we are very thankful for the opportunities they brought. Our tech clients have not only expanded their remit but we have also added a slew of some leading brands including Epson, Twitter, Schneider Electric, Grab, LG Energy Solution and LG Display among others. To further strengthen our technology communications capabilities, Mark Lensyzyn has taken on the role of Asia Technology Practice lead to elevate the growth of this sector across the region.

What do you think is needed for agencies to succeed in today’s day and age?

Chung: I think agencies need to shift from having a traditional outlook and focus more on offering integrated solutions. The rise of the digital economy has long since begun and COVID-19 has only accelerated this pace of change. Back in 2020, we had established our Innovation and Creativity studio for the region that was hubbed out of Singapore. Over the past two years, we have seen greater demand from our clients for integrated campaigns stemming from data and analytics and behavioural science.

Agencies now need to be able to deliver end-to-end solutions and campaigns straddling traditional PR, print, media planning, display, social and creative while presenting a seamless and consistent brand experience.

How do you attract the right talent for your teams?

Chung: Employee experience is a top priority for us at H+K. To attract and retain talent, we have put in place policies and programmes that allow for flexible working arrangements, further improving our benefits and well-being programmes, and providing access to tools, platforms and technology that support remote working, learning and development with a focus on inclusion and diversity.

To seek the right talent for available roles within the organisation, we first look within our network and invest heavily in cross-skilling.

For example, if a technology team member is passionate and now wants to gain experience in data analytics with the further expansion of our Innovation and Creativity Studio, we encourage that transfer. We’re striving to achieve a win-win outcome, whereby not only do we grow as an organisation but our people grow with us too and achieve their career aspirations.

What do you think makes for great client-agency relationships today?

Chung: As with every relationship, for me, it’s mutual respect, transparency and trust. I also feel we need to move beyond just being PR consultants and step up and take on the role of being able to advise brands on all aspects of their marketing strategies – beyond just PR and help guide them through the increasingly complex modern ecosystem to add value as a strategic partner.

What capabilities will you build on as we head into 2022?

Chung: We are investing further in our Innovation and Creativity Centre for our clients to have dedicated integrated talent in every market across Asia. We are also looking at further growing our public affairs and technology sectors with the promotions of Anna O’Sullivan, managing partner, strategic communications and public affairs to lead all strategic communications and public affairs opportunities and Mark Lensyzyn, Asia Technology Practice lead to strengthen technology communications capabilities across Asia.