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The Shanghai team won a merit award for their campaign for ZESPRI Kiwifruit, "Promoting an International Premium Product in China," in the Marketing Communication category, while Taipei also won a merit award in the External Communication category for their work with Yahoo! Kimo Personals for "National Singles Day." "Shanghai and Taipei teams, this is a tremendous achievement. Congratulations to you all," said Andrew Pirie, regional managing director, Asia Pacific. "Winning such a prestigious award against the best global competition is a superb effort." The Gold Quill awards program recognizes excellence in business communication. There are thousands of entries submitted from communication professionals around the world, and only the most outstanding communicators and their campaigns are honored. Read about Shanghai's winning campaign for ZESPRI Kiwifruit in the "Spotlight On" section of this edition of Breakthrough.
The team at GH devised a program based on the counsel of Insidedge, the employee communications specialist arm of GolinHarris. At the top of the communications program was a senior managers' communications workshop, which aimed to provide a platform for senior communicators at DHL to discuss integration communications issues and challenges. The workshop's other objective was to hone communications skills by building ability and confidence as communicators in order to drive the success of the merger. The Singapore team, comprising Chitra Rajaram, Lina Poa and Ahjay Rai, invited Keith Burton, president of Insidedge, to plan and facilitate the session, which was held in Bangkok, Thailand on 22 March. The communications workshop was attended by 40 of DHL's senior leaders, including country heads, country integration managers, HR directors and marketing directors from across DHL offices of the logistics division in Asia Pacific. The workshop program covered topics including: managers as communicators; the power of effective employee communications; communicating during a merger; and critical success factors for communications efforts. A significant part of the day was spent on role-playing activities where smaller break-out groups were given scenarios on issues relating to integration communications. There were also group sessions where participants voiced communications issues, concerns and needs in their respective countries. At the end of the one-day communication workshop, Burton commented, "Based on our day of training in Bangkok, I came away impressed that DHL's country managers and leaders in Asia Pacific are well prepared and committed to their role of communicating how the merger of two great companies—DHL and Exel—will benefit associates and customers throughout the world. "Better communication is all about helping everyone in the new DHL understand and appreciate how they can make the company even more successful in the future. Improved communications will lead to greater understanding, transparency in every action, and a higher level of trust as the integration process moves forward," he concluded. The workshop was well received, with 80 percent of participants responding on feedback forms that the workshop was an effective use of their time.
In March, Interpublic Group (IPG) companies in Hong Kong, including GolinHarris, Octagon, Jack Morton and Weber Shandwick, were pleased to welcome Michael Kuznitz to the companies' new Taikoo Place offices for a special full-day training session on leadership and management.
The winners, who are nominated by their managing directors based on business rationale and individual merit, have the opportunity to travel to another GolinHarris office in Asia Pacific for at least two weeks. "The program benefits both employees and clients," said Shobha Devi, human resources director, Asia Pacific. "It helps to increase skills and the knowledge base of our service offering." The next exchange recipient is Nicolaus Wilk from GolinHarris in Taipei. Nicolaus will visit the Shanghai office in May.
Staff in Hong Kong celebrated the arrival of the New Year with the annual spring lunch, held this year at restaurant Choi Wan Hin in Taikoo Place, the office's new address. Following a sumptuous meal of Chinese delicacies, the "Money God"—whom attendees noticed bore an uncanny resemblance to one of the consultants—arrived to distribute traditional red envelopes, as well as wishes of good luck for a prosperous Year of the Dog. |
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