AcrossChina
AcrossChina International Group is an Integrated Communications Solutions company based in Beijing, China. AcrossChina International Group (also referred to as ACC or ACC International) was founded in Beijing in 1992 as one of mainland China's first Event Management agencies. AcrossChina was also the first agency in mainland China to be a member of the International Special Events Society. They have since expanded their services to focus on Integrated Communications Solutions, including Public Relations, Marketing Communication and Event Communication and have opened branch offices in Shanghai and Guangzhou in addition to their head office in Beijing. Their main services are Event Strategy and Management, Daily Public Relations, Brand Campaigns, Marketing Campaign Strategy and Management and Digital Communications.
Key Personnel
- Hersey Cao, EMBA – President / CEO
- David Zhang – Vice President
- TC Li – Vice President
- Charles Yan – Chairman
- Shelagh Lester-Smith – Senior Advisor
- Albert Cao – General Manager
- Li Wenlong – Deputy General Manager
- Samuel Xu – Deputy General Manager
- Daphne Yang – Deputy General Manager
History
AcrossChina was founded in Beijing in 1992 by Charles Yan. Upon its foundation it was one of the first Event Management companies in existence in mainland China. Since this time it has experienced steady growth, opening up branch offices in Shanghai in 2000 and Guangzhou in 2006. It has helped various international brands break into China over the years and has served 70% of the Fortune 500. At the end of 2002, Founder and CEO Charles Yan stepped aside from the day to day running of the company to take up the position of Chairman. Hersey Cao was brought in to take his place. Hersey Cao had previously been working as head of the Chinese division at Australian company AWA. It started its PR department in 2003 and since then has gradually expanded its services to focus on Integrated Communications Solutions. The PR department was given a huge boost with the recruitment of David Zhang from Weber Shandwick in November 2006. David Zhang has over 20 years experience in the PR industry and was one of China's first PR practitioners.
Future
AcrossChina continues to grow with the intention of becoming an international ICS provider. Hersey Cao describes the company as "...still a teenager, always growing." In order to aid this growth AcrossChina plans to become publicly listed in the near future. This will not only make it easier to expand into an international market, but also allow the company to invest in further infrastructure and talent.
Corporate Culture
AcrossChina is unusual in China in that it promotes a relaxed atmosphere among its staff. The wish from senior management downwards is an atmosphere where staff can work with freedom and without traditional constraints. For example, formal office attire is not required save for when meeting clients and the classic hierarchical restrictions on staff interactions are much more easygoing. AcrossChina also has a commitment to CSR which is expanded upon below.
Community and welfare projects/pro bono work
As well as their business responsibilities, AcrossChina considers community projects to be an important part of corporate culture, taking part in various social and green initiatives.
Shanghai University of International Studies
AcrossChina is currently working in collaboration with the University of International Studies in Shanghai. A joint research institute has been founded there which seeks to analyse trends and interpret research in Public Relations from around the world. A series of white papers have been produced to promote their findings. AcrossChina CEO Hersey Cao acts as Chairwoman of the institute.
Environmental work
In 2009 AcrossChina took a lead role in that year's World Environment Day in China by promoting a message of "Take action to reduce pollution!".
National Tibetan Centre
In 2008 AcrossChina started a strategic cooperation with the School of Journalism and Communication at the National Tibetan Centre. This would provide a fund for disadvantaged students as well as a program to help students in the region get into the PR industry and would culminate in a Summer internship for selected students.
Notable clients
AcrossChina has served clients from a variety of different industries. Below is a non-exhaustive selection.
Automobile
- Bentley
- BMW
- Citroën
- Chrysler
- Ford
- Mercedes-Benz
- Mitsubishi
- Porsche
- Toyota
- Volvo
Computing/software
- AMD
- Cisco Systems
- EMC2
- Intel
- Microsoft
- nVidia
- Sun Microsystems
- Symantec
- Yahoo
Energy
- Caltex
- ExxonMobil
- Shell
Fashion/luxury goods
- Cartier
- Hennessy
- Pierre Cardin
Finance
- Deloitte
- HSBC
- NYSE
- Financial Times
Manufacturing
- Canon
- Compaq
- Dell
- Eriksson
- IBM
- Hewlett Packard
- Motorola
- Nokia
- Panasonic
- Philips
- Samsung
- Siemens
- Tetra-Pak
- Toshiba
Pharmaceuticals
- Bayer
- Gillette
- GlaxoSmithKline
- Henkel
- Johnson & Johnson
- L'Oréal
- Pfizer
- Procter & Gamble