Weber Shandwick Establishes Public Affairs Practice In Southeast Asia

SINGAPORE — Weber Shandwick announced the expansion of its fast growing public affairs practice from China to Southeast Asia in a move which sees senior vice president Brad Jaffe relocate from Beijing to Singapore.

The practice was established by executive vice president John Russell, who moved to Beijing at the end of 2005, after previously being responsible for Weber Shandwick’s public affairs operation in Brussels. Since then, the practice has grown very rapidly, encompassing local and Asia Pacific regional public and regulatory affairs, issues management and high-end strategic consultancy assignments for major Chinese and global clients.

Jaffe, who brings more than a decade of public affairs and issues management experience in both the United States and Asia, will manage some of the firm’s multi-country assignments from Singapore as well as develop a full public affairs practice in the Southeast Asia region and extend it as far as Australia.

“Our public affairs practice has been a huge success story for Weber Shandwick in China over the last three years, sustaining very impressive growth rates indeed,” said Tim Sutton, chairman of Weber Shandwick Asia Pacific.

“Nearly all countries and societies in the Asia Pacific region, whatever their system of government, are witnessing greater social pluralism and consumer empowerment. Traditional style public affairs and issues management is now rapidly merging into online reputation and brand development strategies. For these reasons, we now judge the time is right to expand this practice across our region.”

In a related development, Robert Magyar, senior vice president in Weber Shandwick’s Tokyo office, is moving to Beijing to join the public affairs team led by John Russell. Magyar is a recognised corporate affairs specialist previously responsible for leading some of the firm’s most prestigious multi-market client engagements.

“We remain committed to helping talented people realize new opportunities across our network where and when it makes sense to do so. The more we can share experience and expertise across markets and cultures, the better our network becomes,” said Sutton.

About Weber Shandwick
Weber Shandwick is a leading global public relations agency with offices in 77 markets around the world. The firm’s reputation is built on its deep commitment to client service, creativity, collaboration and harnessing the power of Advocates - engaging stakeholders in new and creative ways to build brands and reputation. Weber Shandwick provides strategy and execution across world-class practices such as consumer marketing, healthcare, technology, public affairs, corporate/financial and crisis management. Its specialized services include digital/social media, advertising, market research, and corporate responsibility. Weber Shandwick received the highest client-satisfaction honors in the 2007 Agency Excellence Survey by PRWeek U.S. and in 2008, was named Large PR Firm of the Year (PR News U.S.), European Consultancy of the Year (The Holmes Report) and Network of the Year (Asia Pacific PR Awards). The firm also won the United Nations Grand Award for Outstanding Achievement in Public Relations for the past three years. Weber Shandwick is part of the Interpublic Group (NYSE: IPG). For more information, visit http://www.webershandwick.com/.