After two plus years with The Hoffman Agency, as a bright-eyed and bushy-tailed AE, I found myself sitting across from Lou at a classic American diner early in the morning. Eating waffles and talking PR. Lou’s surprise proposal? To take part in Hoffman’s Building Bridges program. Leave for Hong Kong [...]
The Agency’s global operation caught the attention of Inc. Magazine in 2007. Focusing on Asia, the journalist examined the different approaches used by the Agency in opening up international offices. The following is the original article as it appeared in Inc ("enhanced" with a few links). Six Ways to Open an [...]
Above Photo: Hoffman and Emerald Comms in Malacca for an off-site meeting in 2007. Top L-R: Jana Ponnudurai, Neethiya Sadagopal, Lee Ling, Mayda Jutahkiti, Janice Wang Bottom L-R: Rene Leow, Tay Kuan Yan (ex GM of HA), Jisun Kim, Maureen Tseng Our link with The Hoffman Agency started in 2004. It [...]
The first few months of my work in Singapore in 1996 were complicated because I had to leave the country every 60 days to have my passport re-stamped as a visitor. In addition to a few out-of-country business trips, and one trip home, that meant a couple of one-night sojourns on [...]
Photo Caption: My relationship with Zhong evolved into a friendship. This photo shows her with my kids (Diego and Pilar) in their younger days during a day trip to San Francisco. I had the good fortune of calling The Hoffman Agency my employer for more than 16 years, beginning my journey [...]
Ray Schuster started our Asia Pacific operation in Singapore. It wasn’t easy. We didn’t have an international expansion department. No, I take that back. Ray was our international expansion department. He navigated the government regulations. He found our office space and oversaw the buildout as well as played interior designer down to [...]
Global PR is more than just the dots on a map. The most important factor in the success or failure of an international PR campaign comes down to mentality. Two basic questions go a long way toward revealing the presence of a global mentality: Do the account team members collaborate in [...]
