The Hoffman Agency launches new offering across APAC for B2B tech clients

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The Hoffman Agency has launched an integrated marketing communications (IMC) offering from Asia Pacific in response to pressing demand from B2B technology companies for a more holistic approach to communications. The agency said the move formalises services that have become an increasing part of the agency’s work in recent years, with the addition of dedicated content and newsroom capabilities.

With IMC, the agency’s ultimate aim is to produce work that enables clients in the B2B technology space to tackle business problems. It seeks to provide brand strategy and content consulting, planning and creation incorporating dedicated digital, brand communications, editorial and design capabilities while drawing on the resources of the agency as a whole. As part of the offering, the agency presents a newsroom service that helps brands take a more strategic approach to media relations, by addressing it within the wider context of IMC and producing content that works alongside journalists’ editorial priorities.

Alessandra Tinio, David Blecken and Nicolas Chan lead the IMC operation and report to Hsu. Tinio is now director, brand communications, while Blecken and Chan have been named as content director and head of digital, APAC, respectively. Part of their role is to support the development of Hoffman’s APAC team talent and instill an IMC mindset throughout the agency. The agency also shared the market leaders who further exemplify The Hoffman Agency’s IMC skills diversity, including Stephanie Yang in Taiwan, who joined from Trend Micro’s subsidiary company -- Soocii, a cybersecurity startup; Kelly Kwon in Korea, a former journalist who has also worked in data science; and Kevin On, who led global marketing and communications for DJI, a maker of drones and other technology.

According to Hoffman, the IMC offering is "uniquely positioned" to address the issues faced by B2B technology brands, such as having limited communications resources and personnel, and limited expertise in creating and distributing original content. It added that creating a regular stream of media-brand quality content that is consistent with an overarching narrative and PR outreach would connect directly with B2B tech brands' customers’ audiences and ensure that their activities have tangible business outcomes. Hoffman plans to do this by combining its Silicon Valley technology heritage and specialisation, with expertise from its diverse staff makeup in digital consumer marketing, journalistic content creation, design, in-house communications and startup environments.

Caroline Hsu (pictured), MD for Asia Pacific, said it believes in combining storytelling with tech, digital and marcomms expertise to create truly flavourful tech and B2B campaigns and content that people actually want to engage with and consume. “The nature of communications has changed, and clients recognise that they must combine strategic content with PR activities in order to be effective. We see a clear need for this expertise in the region and we believe that as an agency, we should also be fully accountable for the outcome of our work,” Hsu added.

The Hoffman Agency hit a record high global revenue in 2020 at US$15.12M, up 1% in 2019 despite the pandemic, with more than half the revenue coming from its Asia-Pacific operations.

Last year in May, Twitter appointed The Hoffman Agency to manage PR duties for Singapore and the Asia Pacific Hub. It was tasked with expanding Twitter’s regional footprint and brand presence in Singapore, and served as the Asia hub for Twitter’s communications efforts in markets across the Asia Pacific region, with a specific focus in both corporate and consumer relations. Earlier in March 2020, The Hoffman Agency also appointed Thomas Franky GM of its Indonesia office to propel the agency's presence within the Indonesia market.

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