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PR agency Communications Collective starts up in Vietnam

A new strategic public relations agency has opened in Vietnam.

Called the Communications Collective, or C2 for short, the firm has been started by Joel Weiden, who previously ran Weber Shandwick’s Bangkok office as GM, and Michael Phan, formerly with  Vietnamese PR firm Galaxy Communications.

C2 has a European bank and an US tech firm as founding clients.

The new company will offer services including financial PR, reputation and issues management, internal comms, media relations, content development and research and analysis.

Weiden, who assumed the role of MD, said: “When I was in Bangkok, I would regularly receive inquiries from clients about doing something in Vietnam. We had great partners in the market, but clients sometimes questioned their experience and whether they would really understand what it is they wanted to achieve in terms of business strategy. C2 aims to bridge that gap.”

In Weiden’s career, he has worked at New York agencies Gavin Anderson & Company and Robinson Lerer & Montgomery and BSMG Worldwide, a predecessor of Weber Shandwick. He has also had a stint at research firm Nielsen,in New York and Singapore.

Phan was a senior planner at Galaxy, and has also worked at TVB and Interactive Focus.

Phan, who will be the company’s client services director, added: “Vietnam’s economy continues to expand, albeit more slowly in the past year. Foreign and local companies are investing in their operations to take advantage of the positive market dynamics. In fact, the country reached its full-year target for foreign direct investment in 2013 in September.”

“These companies have higher expectations about the range and level of services their communications consultants can provide,” he said. “There are many good public relations firms in Vietnam, but only C2 has the global experience in strategic communications on the ground here in Vietnam.”

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