Joanne Basford has been appointed as the managing director of Tonic Asia. She is based in Hong Kong, and will lead the Hong Kong operation as the regional office. Pfizer will be one of the many major clients.
Scott A Clark, global CEO and one of the founders of Tonic Life Communications, said the agency has plans to expand to Singapore and Shanghai.
Tonic currently has its heaterquarters in London and Philadelphia. It has offices in New York, San Francisco and France. The operation handles international clients like Johnson & Johnson, Roche, GSK, Pfizer, Nestle, Heinz and Reckitt Benckiser.
Huntsworth is the holding group for Huntsworth Health, Grayling, Citigate and The Red Consultancy. Lord Chadlington, the creator of Shandwick (now Weber Shandwick after being bought by IPG), has taken on the CEO role of Huntsworth since 2000.
In an interview with Campaignasia.com, Clark and Chadlington explains the challenges within the communications industry for healthcare clients, especially those relating to non-communicable disease (NCD). He also spoke about the problems of finding senior managers willing to relocate to international markets.