Sorry for the agency-related news, but this is a project I’ve been working on for some time. We announced today the opening of our office in Shanghai, China, headed by Elizabeth Priester who joins from Weber Shandwick. It’s good to have this office off the ground (the fifth I’ve been personally involved with for my agency – ahem). China seems to be such a hot market right now and I know will be uniquely challenging but there is huge potential both from a domestic and international perspective. We’re already working with one new US-China client in the first few days.
I had the chance to meet Elizabeth last month. She’s exactly what we were looking for to lead that market – has a deep understanding of marketing from a global perspective but also an intimate knowledge of the culture which you only get from studying and living there.
Just wrapped up an interview with Media magazine (the region’s PRWEEK variant) about our plans in the region which include offices in Japan and Korea. Those will be next on the list, but probably not for six months or so. Any advice or counsel people can offer meantime though, I’m all ears. [Ooh – not a nice visual image].