By Cecilia Zhong, Senior Account Executive “Cecilia’s company is sending her to work in Asia for four months,” said my husband to his boss. “You are not gonna quit and join her company, are you?” asked his boss, half-jokingly. They were talking about the sweet gig I got: a 15-week work trip across Hong …more
By Frank Zhang, DGM Hoffman China Sitting on the train from Shanghai to Wenzhou, I had time to contemplate a simple question: What were students from Wenzhou-Kean University, a Chinese-American jointly established higher education institution, expecting to hear from an international communications consultancy? I arrived at the venue 30 minutes early. It turns out …more
Sitting in the U.S., it’s easy to get caught up in the China rhetoric emanating from the White House and the latest if-you-do-that-we’ll-do-this missives. President Trump would have us believe that the global economy is a zero sum game, that every dollar gained by China leads to a loss of a buck in the U.S. …more
By Mandy Heiser, Account Executive Let’s take a look at the top Google results for the recommended search “china and us”: What about “us and china”? Let’s pull out a few phrases: “high-stakes trade”, “far apart”, “fail to reach agreement” “fighting for global power” … The story these search results …more
The Holmes Report recently shorted-listed our Asia Pacific team as Tech Agency of the Year in the region. As an agency that competes against companies 50+ times larger, this type of industry recognition is important. It reminds the outside world that bigger isn’t better (said the guy who tips 5 foot 4 on a good …more
The Agency opened its doors in Asia on October 20, 1996. It has been an amazing, fun, torturous, weird, satisfying, frustrating and enlightening adventure. I made my first trip to Asia in 1994 as part of a press tour for Hyundai Electronics (now known as Hynix). After researching PR resources in that part of the …more
By Jason Cao, Hoffman China General Manager Running out of office space is a good problem to have since it reflects a growing enterprise. Such was the case with our China team where 2017 saw our staff grow from 19 to 33 employees as our “Big Tech” positioning gained traction. In the case of our …more
When we entered the China market in 1999, I shared with our staff that our long-term success in Asia depended on China. I no longer believe this. Instead, it’s clear to me that our long-term success on the international front depends on China. When we experienced turmoil in our China operation a few years ago, …more
Today finds me in Singapore with my wife Heather and my parents celebrating the Agency’s 20-year anniversary of expanding to Asia. A quick back story — I wanted to open an office in Asia in 1994, but couldn’t muster the guts to hit the go-for-it button. I kept thinking if establishing a tech-focused PR consultancy …more
