Wright named MD of Havas PR operations APAC
James Wright, managing director of Australia’s Red Agency, a member of the global PR collective Havas PR, has been tapped to significantly increase his role at Havas as the managing director of the PR operations in the Asia Pacific region.
Wright will continue in his role as head of Red Agency, and will add responsibility for overseeing the PR functions in the APAC countries, a new role created as Havas looks to further develop its PR presence in the region.
He joined Havas and Red Agency in April 2011, and his impact was immediate, he doubled the size of the Australian operation in less than two years. During his tenure, the agency has won business from such major brands as Accor, Origin Energy, Yahoo!7 and WWF. In 2012 Red Agency picked up 12 national and international awards, making it one of the most-awarded PR agencies in Australia during the period, including becoming one of the first Australian PR agencies to win a Cannes Lion, with two at the 2012 awards. In 2013, Wright will serve as a judge for the Clio Awards and at Cannes.
“The APAC region has a great appetite for technology, and this sits at the heart of many of our ideas. My vision for the region is to develop campaigns that are deliberately social; they don’t have to necessarily live in social media, but they are campaigns that people want to share, talk about and interact with,” said Wright. “As we are a new kid on the block, we don’t have the same old ideas – we have new ones and think differently about how we achieve them. And our award-winning campaigns speak for themselves.”
“We are excited for James to bring his winning leadership style and ambition to oversee our expansion in the APAC region,” said Marian Salzman, CEO, Havas PR North America, and chairperson, Havas PR global steering committee. “He understands that in all our practices around the globe, Havas wants to break from conventional marketing thinking, break new ground and be unconventional – and James does all that on a daily basis.”