FIR Asia Correspondent Michael Netzley (pictured), public relations instructor at Singapore Management University, interviews Bob Pickard, president and CEO of Burson-Marsteller Asia-Pacific, about the results of a new Burson study that concludes that fewer than half of Asian companies listed on the Wall Street Journal’s Asia 200 Index has a corporate social media presence.

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About our Conversation Partner

Bob Pickard is an international public relations executive with two decades of experience focused on providing communications counsel for senior business leaders. He has been the co-founder and leader of successful award-winning PR consultancies in the United States, Japan, Korea and Canada. An experienced crisis communications practitioner, Pickard has provided senior counsel on a wide range of communications issues to clients including AstraZeneca, British Airways, De Beers, EMC, GlaxoSmithKline, ING, Johnson & Johnson, Kia Motors, Merck, Microsoft, Nissan, Nomura and Pfizer.

Pickard first came to Asia after a successful 15-year career in North American public relations. He joined Edelman as Managing Director for Korea in 2002, where he led the Seoul office to record growth. The office was named Consultancy of the Year at the Asia-Pacific PR Awards in 2004. In 2005, Pickard led Edelman’s successful entry into the Japanese market, establishing the firm’s Tokyo office, which grew to almost 30 people during the new operation’s first two years.

Prior to joining Edelman, Pickard was Executive Vice President of Environics Communications, a leading Canadian PR firm which he co-founded in 1994. In 1996, he opened the firm’s New York-area office and in doing so, established the first Canadian-owned PR agency in the US market. Before then, Pickard was a Vice President at Hill & Knowlton Canada, where he led the firm’s technology practice.

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(Cross-posted from For Immediate Release, Shel’s and my podcast blog.)