Yes, another shameless plug, but one that deserves it. Last night H&K Australia, my amazing employer, was named "APAC Consultancy of the Year" for the entire Asia-Pacific region - home of 27 countries. Below is a news release highlighting all of the fun (hot off the presses - don't even have a place to link to it yet). Since I helped write what is now a "winning" award entry I can share that the foundation of our success was in the combination of using smart, creativity ideas grounded in solid, strategic thinking.
APAC is one of the fastest growing and moving regions these days, and most people were expecting the other "Asian" countries to be battling out for the award - H&K Australia was a surprise finalist for most people, so our win must have been a big shocker too. Writing the award was actually pretty easy - there was a lot of great campaigns to highlight and internal efforts to showcase as well - the first draft of the entry was about 12 pages, the final was the required 2.
Now the big challenge - winning again next year. :-)
HILL &
KNOWLTON AUSTRALIA
NAMED CONSULTANCY OF THE YEAR AT THE 2007 ASIA
PACIFIC PR AWARDS
Company’s
50th Golden Anniversary Year Shines Brighter With Win
Sydney,
15 November 2007. Hill
& Knowlton
Australia (H&K) today
announced its selection as “APAC Consultancy of the Year” at the annual Asia
Pacific PR Awards, announced last night in Hong Kong.
H&K competed against public relations consultancies from across the Asia-Pacific
region. The category was described as “the most hotly-contested category ever”
by event organisers. H&K received high marks for the agency’s astounding combination
of major client wins and expansion of existing client activity, fueled by an
inspirational professional environment.
President
and Chief Operating Officer of Hill & Knowlton Asia-Pacific, Vivian Lines
said, "This award affirms what anyone following our industry has known all
year: Hill & Knowlton Australia is innovating in new and unique ways that
have reset the bar for creativity and strategic thinking, delivering bottom-line
business success for clients everyday. I couldn’t be more proud of the team and
their efforts.”
In
the last 12 months H&K Australia more than doubled its revenue and profit.
To cope with this growth, H&K more than doubled its staff to nearly 80 consultants
while maintaining a staff turnover rate below the industry average. The firm's
business growth has been generated from major new international and domestic
clients as well as growth from existing accounts – strong evidence of ongoing client
satisfaction.
“Our ambition is to continually redefine the
practice of public relations to keep clients ahead in the 21st century,
reaffirming our role as overall brand strategist and developer of a brand’s key
messages and overall story,” stated Michelle Hutton, Managing Director of Hill
& Knowlton Australia. “The team at
H&K is producing results and change like no other in the marketplace. We
have set our goals for next year even higher. It’s a great time to be at
H&K.”
Driving the team’s
extraordinary success has been a simple theme, “people make places.” H&K has attracted a mix of talent from Australia
and overseas, bringing unrivaled insights and experience to create campaigns
with impact. Over the past 12 months the team has supercharged its creative and
strategic product, introduced four new specialty offerings, extended digital
expertise into virtually every client activity and achieved success with some
of the industry’s most challenging issues. At the same time, H&K has
created a culture of inspiration, education and motivation, helping team
members to perform at their best while having fun in the process.
H&K
Australia received additional merit for the company’s implementation of an
office-wide mentoring program, launching an H&K wiki for knowledge
management, expanding the company’s internship program, providing staff with paid
volunteer days to work with non-profit organisations, creating a scholarship
program with Charles Sturt University and increasing staff training programs to
ensure each team member is current with the ever-changing world of the PR
industry.