Massaging the message

Esmond Quek

Like many who want tickets to the Beijing Olympics, Esmond Quek, general manager of public relations firm Hill and Knowlton China, dreams of taking his entire family to watch the Games.

But even if he does have tickets to the grand event, he will likely be working, shouldering one of the event's biggest missions. The firm he manages is the exclusive communications consultant to the Beijing Olympics Organizing Committee.

Quek says Hill and Knowlton's (H&K) winning bid to help promote the Games was based on a long-term approach and will aid in the further development of China's public relations (PR) industry. It will be an enormous opportunity to show H&K's creative ideas with a global perspective, he says.

Awards

As the first international PR agency to enter China, H&K has since 1984 helped numerous foreign companies navigate in the Chinese market. It has also worked with domestic giants like China National Petroleum Corp to break into the global marketplace and become more effective internationally.

After he was appointed to his current position in 2004, Quek, with more than two decades of experience at a series top PR agencies, turned H&K from a 45-person presence in Beijing and Shanghai into a network with more than 150 professionals at three offices including Guangzhou.

In the three years since Singapore-born Quek took the helm, H&K China has registered a 200 percent growth in revenue and about a three-fold increase in profit.

The agency also garnered a series of awards. It was named as China's best in 2005 by Communication Monthly, as well as one of the five most influential by Media Today Publishing Group. The International Business Association selected it as the best communication organization in 2005 and H&K was named consultancy of the year in 2006 at the Asia-Pacific PR Awards.

Those achievements may have helped Quek himself win a coveted title - as the "Best Executive in Asia" at the Stevie Awards, touted as the business world's Oscars.

"Esmond Quek is able to bring not just communication experience but also extensive perspective to China's PR market." says Vivian Lines, president of H&K Asia-Pacific region.

"It is wonderful because I am the first China-based executive and the first PR executive to win the Stevie Award," says Quek.

He notes the global award also signifies the importance of the PR industry in China.

"Although PR in China is still in early development and the industry is in its infancy, more and more people have recognized that PR will contribute to the total value of a brand or product, and in turn, translate that value into real business impacts," he says.

Eyeing the promising market, a group of foreign PR agencies, including Burson-Marsteller and Oglivy, have established a foothold in the country at the same time local PR firms are maturing. Together they total about 2,000, according to statistics from the China International Public Relations Association.

Changes

Three years ago, when Quek opened the doors of the H&K Beijing office, he made extensive changes, expanding the staff, helping international clients more extensively with localization, attracting greater numbers of local clients, as well as strengthening personal communication with his staff, employees say.

According to Quek, the biggest challenge to the growth of the PR industry in China is talent.

He was widely hailed in the industry for pioneering a PR associate program not long after he assumed the general manager position. The program aims to attract the best young talent from top universities in China, hiring them as fulltime employees after hands-on training.

H&K has now attracted talent from a diverse range of industries and backgrounds to boost its "best team". It recently established a corporate brand management group to burnish H&K's image in the local market.

After winning his prestigious award, Quek is quick to say his next goals are to "improve my golf and basketball skills".

The statement illustrates one of the strategic imperatives he uses to drive his team - the purpose of it all is to "have fun", Quek says.

As a father of three children and a skilled golfer, he sets an example for H&K's China staff, encouraging them to enjoy not only work but also life, and achieve a balance between the two.

"Nothing can take me far from my home for long, and I can be more powerful from having fun in my life," Quek adds, whose office is decorated by dozens of family pictures.

(China Daily 01/21/2008 page6)