WPP launches Asia government practice

WPP’s government and public services practice has opened its doors in Asia by setting up a new hub in Singapore.

The practice, which helps governments communicate effectively with their constituents, is active in 112 countries, working with 70 administrations. It has five existing global hubs in addition to the new Singapore operations.

Executive director Cecilia Wong will lead the Asia practice. She has more than 20 years’ industry experience, having worked both within agencies and in-house in marketing, advertising and communications roles.

She told Campaign Asia-Pacific that Singapore was “the natural choice” for WPP’s new Asia government services hub, given the agency’s long history partnering with the Singapore government.

“With the Smart Nation platform, Singapore will have the infrastructure for a connected society like nowhere else in the world,” she said. “So Singapore is a very exciting place to work on citizen communication, and the government is a partner in innovation for us.”

Singapore’s ‘Smart Nation’ initiative seeks to drive the country’s digital economy to raise productivity and improve people’s daily lives, which ties in with WPP’s ‘me.gov’ report on the future of public advocacy.

It advises governments on the next generation of digital engagement with constituents, which WPP says will be based on personal experiences.

In Singapore, the agency will focus on behaviour change programmes, digital government transformation, destination marketing, public sector recruitment, citizen engagement and capability building.

Wong added: “We have access to best practice across the world as we work with so many governments and are able to borrow from these learnings to come up with stronger strategies and delivery for everyone.”

WPP also plans to launch its government practice in India and Washington, DC later this year.