With so many new developments in DY&R's operations planned for
2001, our leaders across all communications disciplines convened
recently in Bali for a planning session. Our major focus in 2001 will be
on making DY&R the best communications resource for our clients and
there are aggressive plans within the network to achieve our goal.
Right from the start, major initiatives will develop, including a
primary focus on our people across the network.
In the final quarter of 2000, Noel Pearse joined the network as
vice-president, human resources. His brief is to examine our staffing
structure and assess the best resources to bring the best
people-development programmes to our staff at all levels in the
network.
In addition, we have appointed one of our most experienced
internationalists, Brian Harrison, to lead our training programme for
the region, in addition to his leadership role in Singapore.
We have forecast approximately 11 per cent growth for DY&R in 2001. This
is slightly lower than the previous year, but our intention is to grow
alongside an increase in budgets from existing clients and also through
a substantial number of new business pitches.
We expect the development of online marketing and brand building to
continue at a rapid rate, to coincide with and embellish the impact of
traditional off-line communications.
As the impact of the economic recession fades, almost all DY&R offices
look forward to 2001 with their senior management intact and with strong
prospects.
Our progress will be underpinned by several client-focused initiatives,
including extensive research to pave the way for a new round of our
global brand study, BrandAsset Valuator, which will be initially fielded
in three countries and then extended to others through the year.
Shortly, we will announce important steps to drive our creative
standards and consistency in the region. We have also focused on our
strategic capabilities and each of DY&R's agencies are tasked with
strengthening our planning and consumer-knowledge teams. The DY&R
network will continue to expand with major Japanese and Western clients
in 2001, but our primary business development focus will be on winning
and growing with major national advertisers and those who are already
operating regionally.
