PRESS RELEASE: PR World Alliance Hosts General Assembly Meeting for the First Time in Tokyo
June 24, 2024 – Global public relations network PR World Alliance has concluded its annual meeting in Tokyo, the first ever held in Asia, and has announced its new board line-up for 2025-2026 effective immediately.
- Anders Wallqvist, chairman – Wallqvist is chairman of Nowa Empower (Gothenburg, Sweden) and CEO and partner of Thinc Collective;
- Robert Heldt, secretary – Heldt is CEO of Custom Media (Tokyo);
- Davor Huić, board member – Huić is director of Briefing Communications (Zagreb, Croatia); and
- Geri Denterlein, treasurer – Denterlein is founder and CEO of Denterlein (Boston). It is her first election to the PRWA board.
The three-day meeting was held in Odaiba, a resort-like manmade island in Tokyo Bay. It was hosted by Tokyo’s Custom Media headed up by CEO Robert Heldt. Members of the organization participated in a vibrant educational program including PR Gatekeepers in Asia, a multinational panel of agencies from Korea, India and Japan discussing how PR is practiced in their markets and contrasting it to industry practices in other parts of the world.
During the annual PRWA Award of Excellence competition, agencies which had submitted their cutting-edge case histories, presented the top three campaigns to the membership. The winner of the 2025 prize is Studio Talk, Mumbai, for a creative campaign it created to empower lower-paid information workers (mostly women) in the Alli Serona collective near the southern city of Bengaluru. The campaign achieved tangible results in improving their access to mass transportation. Studio Talk is the newest member of the PR World Alliance having been voted in earlier this year and becoming the first India-based PR firm in the organization’s history.
In keeping with the PRWA goal to elevate the understanding of industry trends and to be at the forefront of new technologies, members engaged in a roundtable discussion of artificial intelligence. Recognizing AI can benefit clients, agency members shared ways to use this critical tool without compromising creativity or the ethical standards necessary to maintain trust in the profession.
Highlights of the social program included a dinner cruise on a traditional Yakatabune boat around Tokyo Bay (complete with sushi, tempura, sake and loads of Karaoke), a tour of Tokyo including a walk around the Imperial Palace and a farewell dinner at a famous Japanese izakaya, Gonpachi Nishiazabu, the Tokyo restaurant that served as inspiration for the “House of Blue Leaves” in Quentin Tarantino’s “Kill Bill” movie.
The organization thanked its chairman Henry Feintuch, Feintuch Communications, New York, and Catherine Kablé, Kablé Communications, for their many years of active board service. Both executives remain active in the organization but have stepped down from the board.
“The PR World Alliance is a vibrant and active partnership of premiere PR firms collaborating to deliver extra value to their clients,” said Feintuch, past chairman, PRWA. “It’s been a thrill to serve on the organization’s board for a quarter century. We’re all very excited to see the organization strengthen further under Anders’ leadership and that of the board elected in Tokyo.”
Agencies interested in learning more about the PR World Alliance and applying for membership should fill out the “Contact Us” form on the PRWA website.
About PRWA
PR World Alliance, founded in 1988 in Belgium, is an international network of premier independent communication consultancies. Partners are carefully selected and are established, respected and accomplished firms with a solid reputation for producing superior results for clients. The network encompasses public relations companies and offices on five continents, and through its membership in thenetworkone, has access to 1,600 agencies in 120 countries.
PR World Alliance provides clients with an extensive depth of knowledge in individual countries as well as a solid understanding of the dynamic multi-national marketplace. The network offers strategic communication, public relations and public affairs counsel, new product launch and promotion, investor relations, social media programs and more. For more information, visit www.PRWorldAlliance.com.