Hill & Knowlton in Singapore appoints new heads

Loh Hui Yin and Adiran Heng are appointed as Head of Crisis Communications and Head of Digital respectively.

According to Hill & Knowlton, Hui Yin will strengthen the agency's crisis offering which now includes round-the-clock crisis response and issues management, crisis planning and simulation, and training. She will also retain her role as Senior Director and help develop Hill & Knowlton’s suite of services for the corporate, finance, and property sectors. Hui Yin was previously Head of Corporate Communications at Singapore Power and GuocoLand and a former senior correspondent with The Business Times and The Straits Times.

As Head of Digital, Adrian will drive the agency’s strategy in growing its digital portfolio. He will lead the team in creating digital programmes that focus on creative engagement and brand evolution, as well as integrating digital strategies with traditional approaches to deliver holistic communications programmes for Hill & Knowlton’s clients. Adrian is concurrently a director of the technology team, overseeing the accounts for various regional clients. Prior to Hill & Knowlton, Adrian started a public relations practice and served as Chief Operating Officer for its Southeast Asia operations.

“Crisis communications is a tricky business and can make or break a company’s reputation. More and more companies have now acknowledged the need for crisis preparedness and the value of engaging a consultant to help in the mammoth task of responding in an emergency situation. Many came around after they witnessed how recent crises sent some companies’ brand equity, market share and stock prices spiralling downwards and now regard crisis communications not as a luxury but a necessary investment.” said Baey Yam Keng, Managing Director of Hill & Knowlton. “Similarly, marketers and C-suite executives are now more convinced of the reach and influence of the digital space than ever before. They are also pushing for ideas beyond Facebook pages, Twitter threads and YouTube videos to trigger more buzz and bring in more buck for the fees they pay. Both Hui Yin and Adrian are experienced hands. They are therefore very well poised to respond to the rapid expansion and build our capabilities in these two areas.”

Baey added: “In addition to addressing clients’ needs, Hui Yin and Adrian are also looking to train our team so that everyone from the ground up is well versed in crisis and digital communications, both of which will soon become as fundamental as media pitching and writing skills.”

“The digital communications space has rapidly evolved these past two years. Organisations should not and cannot see it as standalone component of their branding, communications and marketing activities. Today, to be truly successful in engaging with their stakeholders and target audiences, they have to ensure that their digital strategy is holistically integrated into their complete communications plan, this even includes crisis communications. Also, the era of one way communications where companies push messages to their audiences is over, and digital is well positioned to start and maintain the two-way conversation that the Internet generation demands.” said Heng.