CORPORATE REPUTATION COUNSEL

As head of Corporate Affairs for Walmart Asia between 2010 and 2014, Anthony led a Corporate Affairs strategy that positioned Walmart as a key leader in everyday low price, sustainability and women’s economic empowerment. Leveraging a mix of outstanding executive communications, internal engagement, targeted media relations (supported by an external agency infrastructure identified and brought in by Anthony), and leadership on the ECR Asia Pacific industry association, the profile of the company was elevated. In 2013-2014 out of Hong Kong alone, Walmart recorded an impressive 19 million USD worth of positive editorial, the climax of a corporate reputation strategy that was consistent, creative and impactful.

APEC CEO Summit Advisory

The annual Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) CEO summit is a unique forum to engage with leaders in business and Government to influence policy. Supporting the Walmart Asia CEO, Anthony led the APEC CEO summit Counsel and stakeholder program. The program was instrumental in establishing Walmart as the most positively covered organization at APEC and a highly respected participant amongst the coalition meetings with Government leaders at the CEO summit. The Walmart Asia CEO was finally appointed as the Chairperson of the National Committee for APEC (NCAPEC). Prior to Walmart, as ASEAN External Relations and Asia Executive Communications leader for P&G, Anthony supported the Asia CEO of P&G at the APEC CEO summit with similar results.

Crisis Management Strategy

When a tsunami struck Japan in March 2011, several Walmart (Seiyu) stores were in the affected area of Sendai. Working out of Hong Kong, Anthony played a key role in the disaster recovery program. He handled most international media inquiries, led the initial set up of meaningful CSR recovery projects with NGOs in tandem with his team on the ground in Japan, and helped raise funds internally for Japan colleagues, becoming a key interface between the Japan team and Walmart International. Walmart was recognized by government officials, customers and the international and local news media for their positive action in Sendai.

Influencer Marketing Strategy

In 2004, caught in a maze of competitive brands all shouting the same messaging and using similar visuals, Pantene was lacking an emotional connection with consumers in North America. As external Relations leader for North America Haircare at the time, Anthony led the team that developed the “Beauty Icon” strategy for Pantene and subsequently the Pantene Beautiful Lengths cause marketing campaign which encouraged consumers to grow their hair, cut it and donate it to create wigs for women who suffered from cancer. The campaign touched consumers across America, reiterated the equity of the brand and helped propel Pantene to leadership share in North America. By 2014 over half a million women have benefited from the wig donations.

As leader of P&G’s global Influencer Marketing (IM) Center of Excellence, Anthony crafted the “Future of Influencer Marketing” work for P&G in 2005/06 and supported the creation of the global IM frameworks of a number of P&G’s billion dollar brands.

Employer Branding

When PepsiCo approached Anthony and the House of Rose Professional in November 2014 to support its internal image building as an employer of choice and a great employer of women, he worked with the PepsiCo leadership to devise an innovate means by which to achieve this objective – a unique book that featured the top 31 women professionals in PepsiCo’s AMEA region. In under 90 days, HORP completed 31 independent interviews of the women leaders identified in PepsiCo, and developed a unique inspirational account – “The Sky’s the limit”. This work is being leveraged as an asset with key stakeholders and was leveraged proudly on International Women’s Day, March 8, 2015. It serves as yet another inspiration to current employees of PepsiCo, a Company renowned for its commitment to women in leadership.

Customized Media Relations

Much of House of Rose’s Professional’s expertise in customized media relations has its origin in the ROSE PYRAMID which Anthony created in 1999 which identified the many facets of a brand that could be leveraged in news media.Over his corporate career, big idea campaigns were propelled by creative and customized media relations. House of Rose Professional’s media relations is also supported by a rich news media network developed by Anthony across the world over 25 years; unshakeable trust that he builds with members of those news media and the time he invests in helping them meet the needs of their readers. His iconic anti-counterfeit campaign in India in the late, created to reduce counterfeit impact on key brands of his then employer and across industry led to reduction of counterfeit proliferation from over 20% to under 2%.

Employee Engagement

Enabling and engaging employees to be ambassadors for their employer or the employer’s brands has long been a unique ability that House of Rose Professional will be looking to leverage. Over the years he has found creative ways to engage employees in building the brands of their employers and have FUN while doing it. Case in point being the Whisper Ultra sanitary napkin launch in India in 2000. Anthony led the communications team that created the first ever brand launch on a college campus (the Xavier Institute of Communications) where he was a lecturer; and the Whisper Ultra employee convoy of over 50 vehicles packed with employees that went out and sold to the trade in Mumbai as part of an integrated communication campaign. Result? Over 60,000 packs placed in mom and pop stores in a day and unprecedented positive media exposure on the campaign and brand.