UNIQLO Malaysia names PR agency

UNIQLO Malaysia has appointed Bridges PR to manage PR duties, effective March 2020. Bridges PR will be responsible for products sponsorship and loan, samples loan, editorial stories and all media liaison, working closely with UNIQLO Malaysia's PR team.

A+M understands the duties are for a year. UNIQLO declined to comment on A+M's queries on the appointment.

Besides Bridges PR, UNIQLO is also working with digital agency LOKi in Malaysia, as well as Havas Media in Singapore. LOKi has been managing social and digital duties for the apparel company for two years, while Havas Media was just appointed last October.

In January this year, UNIQLO's parent company, Fast Retailing Group, saw a decline in revenue and profit for the first quarter of its 2020 financial year which ended on 30 November 2019 (Q1 2020). Fast Retailing attributed the weaker performance primarily to reductions in profit from both UNIQLO South Korea and UNIQLO Hong Kong, and a lower-than-expected improvement in profits from UNIQLO Japan.

UNIQLO International, which is a key pillar of its business and growth, posted a 3.6% yoy dip in revenue for Q1 2020 to approximately US$2.562 billion. UNIQLO International consists of markets such as Greater China, South Korea, Japan, Asia and Oceania. However, the financial statement said that if the significant declines in revenue and profit from South Korea and Hong Kong were stripped out, the remaining UNIQLO International markets generated rising first-quarter revenue and profit.

Its Asia and Oceania operation, which includes Southeast Asia, Australia and India, continues to expand favourably, generating significant increases in both revenue and profit in the first quarter as expected, the financial statement said.