1996  —  2000

1996

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The Hoffman Agency Singapore becomes the first Hoffman office to open outside of the United States. Under the leadership of Ray Schuster, the office begins operation on Tanjong Pagar Road in October.

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1996

The office welcomes HP Services & Support and HP Storage as the agency’s first client in Asia. The team includes four consultants, but not for long.

1996

The Dancing Baby — a 3D-animation, becomes one of the first viral videos on the internet.

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The number of internet users sits at 77,433,860; or just 2 percent of the world’s population.

 

1997

Maureen Tseng walks in to the Singapore office bright-eyed and bushy-tailed, and she continues to provide us with the best consult 19 years on!

The region takes a hit with the Asian Financial Crisis. It takes a full two years to recover.

1997

The Singapore office runs the first regional roadshow for Cyrix Corporation and wins first regional retainer client in Ascend Communications.

Google

Google makes its debut on the World Wide Web as an alternative search engine to Alta Vista and Yahoo.

1997

Lou plays host at the first Hoffman Asia Pacific Regional Network Summit with our affiliates on Sentosa Island (Singapore) in August 1997.

Princess Diana dies in an unfortunate automobile accident in Paris.

1998

In less than 15 months after the birth of Hoffman Asia Pacific, Lou Hoffman opens The Hoffman Agency Japan in downtown Tokyo.

1998

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Yuxin Peh, our youngest employee in the network, turns five!

1998

1998 Winter Olympics are held in Nagano, Japan.

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1999

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It’s not long before The Hoffman Agency opens the Beijing office on January 25.

1999

In the same year, The Hoffman Agency Hong Kong office opens at Workst@tion, Lyndhurst Terrace, Central. The building is home to a number of technology companies, including our client Quicken.

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Bluetooth announced — forever altering the way we interact and connect with other devices.

1999

Michelle Herman takes the reins as head of the APAC network and oversees the opening of the Hong Kong, Seoul and Shanghai offices.

The “Melissa” e-mail virus infects more than 1 million computers worldwide, causing more than $80 million in damage, clogging up email systems around the world.

2000

Lydia Lau joins The Hoffman Agency in Hong Kong as finance manager overseeing Asia Pacific. Over the next 15 years she goes to help build out the business — today, she is our vice president, Global Operations.

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2000

Hoffman Japan is officially registered as a K.K. company in September.

Hoffman Japan is officially Amazon’s Agency of Record.

Lou opens the London office in January, and The Hoffman Agency Europe takes flight.

The first Asia Pacific Leadership Summit is organised and hosted in San Jose in December.

Michelle Herman launches the Building Bridges Programme, an exchange programme, giving consultants the opportunity to work from another Hoffman office in the network.

2000

The dot-com bubble bursts — sending markets tumbling.

DotCom

The Tate Modern opens in London.

 2001  —  2005

2001

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The Hoffman Agency Korea in Seoul is the fourth office to open in Asia Pacific.

Incheon International Airport opens its doors while China joins the World Trade Organisation.

2001

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Hoffman Asia Pacific beats out larger networks to clinch PRWeek’s Asia Pacific Agency of the Year award. Michelle Herman, Lou Hoffman and Heather Hoffman show off the hardware.

Wikipedia, a Wiki free content encyclopaedia, goes live.

Microsoft releases Windows XP.

2001

Hoffman Japan begins its relationship with Google. Not long after, Hoffman becomes the Agency of Record for its offices in China, Hong Kong, Japan, Korea and Taiwan.

Apple Computer releases the iPod.

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2002

In March, The Hoffman Agency Japan hires Shingo Nomura as general manager.

The Hoffman Agency builds up its corporate practice by becoming the Agency of Record for CNBC Asia Pacific.

2002

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In June 2002, The Hoffman Agency Japan expands further and moves to current office at Burex Kyobashi.

2002

South Korea and Japan become the first joint hosts the 17th FIFA World Cup,

The first social network, Friendster, debuts to worldwide appeal.

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2003

The SARS Outbreak causes Asia to go on high alert. Hong Kong is worst hit but resiliently fights back to recover. Hoffman Hong Kong is on CBS 48 hours on the related topic.

2004

CEO Lou Hoffman’s blog, Ishmael’s Corner, launches. His blog goes on to win multiple awards. (Today there are over 1,000 posts covering a range of subjects.)

Datacraft Asia signs on with The Hoffman Agency Singapore, and remains a client today — but with a new name, Dimension Data. It remains our oldest and most loyal client in the Asia Pacific network.

2004

Facebook makes its arrival on the scene — changing the way people communicate and share forever.

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2005

Google Asia Pacific sets up operations in the Singapore’s central business district. It appoints The Hoffman Agency Singapore as its Agency of Record after Hong Kong, Korea, Taiwan, China and Japan, a relationship that still stands strong today.

2005

Hiromi Matsuda joins our Tokyo office and remains a cherished employee to this date.

2005

Hong Kong Disneyland opened its gates — becoming the fifth Disneyland Theme Park worldwide.

Hong Kong hosts WTO in December under numerous protests.

 2006  —  2010

2006

Satoko Tanaka — an integral part of our Japan team — joins the office in this year and celebrates a decade with the team in 2016.

2006

The Hoffman Agency Singapore is appointed lead agency for CommunicAsia and Broadcast Asia, one of Asia’s largest IT shows in the region.

The Hoffman Agency Asia Pacific celebrates 10 years in Asia Pacific.

2006

The iconic 140-character limit social networking site, Twitter, launches.

Japanese franchise, Pokémon, celebrates its 10th Anniversary.

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2007

The Hoffman Agency’s 6th Asia Pacific leadership meeting is hosted in December in Beijing.

2007

Apple introduces the first iPhone to the market. It becomes an overnight success.

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2007

Singapore Airlines becomes the first airline to fly the new Airbus passenger jet A380 (jumbo jet) on scheduled service between Singapore and Sydney.

2008

The Hong Kong and Taiwan offices combine to bag Technology Campaign of the Year and Certificate of Excellence in the PRWeek Awards.

2008

Spotify launches in Sweden.

2008 Summer Olympics are held in Beijing.

2008

Barack Obama is elected as President of the United States.

2009

By 2009, Shingo Nomura, together with The Hoffman Agency Japan team, increases the firm’s yearly fees by more than 230 percent from 2002.

2009

“Avatar” becomes the highest-grossing film of the decade.

2009

China launches microblogging site, Sina Weibo.

2010

The Hoffman Agency Shanghai is officially registered on July 30 as a branch of The Hoffman Agency Beijing.

2010

Instagram launches and has amassed over 400 million active users today.

Hong Kong completes building its tallest building — International Commerce Center, which stands at 484m (108 stories).

2010

Singapore’s first Integrated Resorts — the Marina Bay Sands and Resort World Sentosa — open.

 2011  —  2016

2011

The network’s best minds come together to joins forces to win the PayPal Regional Account. The account covers work done in nine major markets across Asia.

2011

The Shanghai office moves to its current location at CITIC Plaza at Nanjing West Road in October.

2011

The Space Shuttle Discovery makes its last docking at the International Space Station on February 26, before its impending retirement.

2012

The Hoffman Agency Hong Kong moves to its current location in Regent Centre while The Hoffman Agency Singapore moves to its new digs at Odeon Towers.

2012

The Hoffman Agency foretells the needs of clients for more digital work and starts to build a team to support the demand.

2012

PSY’s “Gangnam Style” becomes the most viewed video on YouTube globally. It presently has over 2.5 billion views.

2013

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The Hoffman Agency China scores the networks 100th client.

2013

Sony releases the PlayStation 4 gaming system while Microsoft releases the Xbox One.

2013

Apple releases two new iPhones, the 5C and 5S. The new iOS 7 is also released, marking a new software visual language for the tech giant.

2014

The Hoffman Agency Hong Kong bags three trophies at the 2014 PR Awards.

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Cassandra Cheong joins the agency as the firm’s managing director for Asia Pacific. Sitting in Shanghai, she oversees the networks regional operations.

2014

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The Hoffman Agency Singapore works with the World Wide Fund For Nature (WWF) and Earth Hour to launch the global campaign — “Use Your Power” — to much fanfare. The cast of The Amazing Spiderman 2 joins the team at the launch.

2014

The World Wide Web turns 25 — no longer a teenager.

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2015

2015 turns out to be a bumper crop year for award nominations with The Hoffman Agency Singapore team being nominated over 15 times in four different ceremonies for all the good work done.

2015

The Beijing team moves to the China World Office building and becomes the first office to adopt the new branding in Asia.

Number of internet users sits at 3.17 billion; or 44.5 percent of the world’s population.

2015

Singapore celebrates SG50 — the country’s 50th year of independence from the British.

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2016

The Hoffman Agency Japan has four times the number of consultants that it had at its opening in 1998.

Two of our behind-the-scenes heroines from the operations team (who do not like to be highlighted) celebrate their 13 and 17 years of service at The Hoffman Agency.

Mumbrella Asia awards The Hoffman Agency Singapore team the Best Southeast Asia Agency of the Year Award.

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2016

There are over 120 employees across the agency in Asia Pacific and affiliate network that spans across most of the region.

The Hoffman Agency celebrates its 20th Anniversary in Asia Pacific.

2016

The 2016 Summer Olympics, officially known as the Games of the XXXI Olympiad, and commonly known as Rio 2016, is a major international multi-sport event in the tradition of the Olympic Games taking place in Rio de Janeiro in August.

Tsai Ing-wen elected as Taiwan’s first female president.

2017

On Tuesday 23 May, The Hoffman Agency announces that Caroline Hsu has taken on the role of Asia Pacific managing director.

2017


Cici Utari and Rasheed Abu Bakar combine forces to open the Agency’s seventh Asia Pacific office in Jakarta, Indonesia on Tuesday 7 November.

2017

We’re in the best shape of our lives at 30!

Future

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