HONG KONG, July 21, 2015 /PRNewswire/ -- In the inaugural interview of the Inspire Conversation series, PR Newswire spoke to Adrian Heng who is the Group Marketing Director of Asia Plantation Capital (APC) Group which is the owner and operator of commercial plantations and other environmentally sustainable businesses across the Asia-Pacific region and around the world. APC provides social and cultural support, as well as investment, to promote the use of sustainable and certified wood to prevent deforestation and illegal logging activities, protect biodiversity and combat poverty in tropical rainforest regions.

With PR Newswire's close working relationship with the PR and marketing communications community, an interview series called "Inspire Conversation" was developed. The aim of the series is to promote the sharing of personal lessons, experiences and insights among PR, Marketing and Communications professionals which they have accumulated throughout their careers. The interview clip is now available for viewing.

"Although our clients come from different industries, our contacts are mainly in PR and marketing communications functions. And during our interactions with them, we found that our clients have an abundance of knowledge and unique insights on PR, marketing and communications related topics such as the latest trends, best practices and most importantly the challenges they faced and lessons they learned with the continuing blurring of lines in the media landscape -- all of which could be shared with their peers," said Fern Cheng, Senior Marketing Manager of PR Newswire for Asia Pacific region excluding China. "This mooted the interview series idea, and we are pleased to have Adrian be our first featured guest."

During the one hour interview, Adrian Heng spoke about his role at APC and his views on the ever evolving marketing and PR trends, and how these changes have impacted him as a PR and Marketing professional. Some of his takeaways include:

• While there are major changes in the way we handle PR, marketing and communications nowadays, what hasn't changed is the engagement and experience that we need to give to our audience. Using APC as an example, Adrian explained that his company not only uses videos and photos to complement their communications efforts, they also regularly fly their customers to plantations to create a real life experience.
• With marketing teams becoming leaner and their budgets restricted, it is important for marketers, especially those in niche markets such as in the case of APC, to be targeted and focused in their marketing activities so as to reach the audiences who have short attention spans in the most efficient manner.
• With the increasing demand and expectation of audiences towards brands, brands need to think and act outside of the box so as to evolve and change the way they have been communicating with their audiences. Adrian used the airline industry -- where low-cost carriers are pushing boundaries in their marketing efforts -- to grab audience's attention away from the full commercial airlines.
• Homogenous communication does not work in the Asia-Pacific region which exhibits multi-cultural and multilingual characteristics. A successful ad in the United States might work in Singapore but does not guarantee the same success in Thailand or Myanmar. Global key messages are essential but it must be adaptable with in-market input to meet the local market's expectations.
• Sending out vanilla media communication and invites is no longer enough to attract media pick up and attention. Besides incorporating video and images, brands must deliver an experience to their audience, which includes journalists, for them to tell their brand stories more easily and interestingly.

Adrian Heng, who has vast PR and marketing communications experience, both in-house and agency, considered careers in government and the financial sector before starting his PR career with Ogilvy Public Relations (which was Ogilvy & Mather Public Relations at the time).

About PR Newswire

PR Newswire is the premier global provider of news release distribution and multimedia platforms that enable marketers, corporate communicators, public relations officers and investor relations professionals to leverage content to engage with all their key audiences. Having pioneered the commercial news distribution industry in 1954, PR Newswire today provides end-to-end solutions to produce, distribute, target and measure text and multimedia content across traditional, digital, mobile and social channels. Combining the world's largest multi-channel content distribution and optimization network with comprehensive workflow tools and platforms, we enable the world's enterprises to tell their stories to the world. PR Newswire serves tens of thousands of clients from offices in the Americas, Europe, the Middle East, Africa and the Asia-Pacific region, and is a UBM plc company.

About Asia Plantation Capital

Quick facts:

• US$ 600 million - combined value of assets owned and under management
• US$ 53.5 million - turnover in the last financial year
• US$ 100 million - turnover forecast for current financial year
• 2,000,000 - Aquilaria trees today, on Agarwood plantations.

Asia Plantation Capital (APC) is the owner and operator of a diverse range of commercial plantation and farming businesses across the Asia-Pacific region and around the world, and is part of the Asia Plantation Capital Group of associated companies. Its focus is on multicultural and diverse plantation projects geared to the domestic and commercial demands of the countries in which it operates. Working closely with, and supporting local communities, is an underlying core principle of the APC business, providing social and cultural support, as well as investment, to move these communities away from deforestation and illegal logging activities, previously seen as a main source of income in some regions of Asia. Established officially in 2008 (although operating privately since 2002) the group now has plantation and agricultural projects on four continents, with operational projects at various stages in Thailand, Malaysia, China, Laos, India, Cambodia, Sri Lanka, Myanmar, Vietnam, North America and Europe.

Promoting the use of sustainable and certified wood is the best way of preventing deforestation, protecting biodiversity, and combatting poverty in the tropical rainforest regions. For the yachting sector (a major user of teak) which strives for excellence and which is already involved in environmental efforts, this is also a way of ensuring that no wood from illegal logging is used.

Source: PR Newswire