News + Views
Simeon Mellalieu
Dr. Simeon Mellalieu (麥善銘), Partner, Client Development APAC, is a communications specialist with almost 20 years of experience in PR consultancy in Europe and Asia. His expertise lies in corporate positioning and reputation management, brand building, consumer marketing and engagement and issues and crisis management.
Listed in the PRWeek Global Power Book 2016 and 2017, Simeon is Honorary Secretary of PR Hong Kong and served as Chairman from 2010-2013. He also sat on the Advisory Committee for the School of Communications at Hong Kong Baptist University from 2014-2016.
His business-to-business, business-to-consumer and crisis communications experience spans industry sectors as diverse as aerospace, automotive, food and beverage, finance and investment, gaming, healthcare, payment, petrochemical, retail, travel and technology. He has consulted for such clients as Bacardi, Boeing, Disney Channel, FedEx, Ford, Levi Strauss & Co., Hewlett Packard Enterprise, Malaysia Airlines, Motorola, Nissan, Philips Semiconductors, Rolls-Royce, Shell and Visa.
Simeon is a steward of client relationships across all of Ketchum’s offices in the Asia Pacific (APAC) region, rallying and coordinating specialist support across the region, upholding client care, best practices, and the introduction of new services. He provides senior counsel for local, regional and global clients at the highest boardroom level.
His work has gained recognition through multiple industry awards. In 2007, he received the David Drobis Award, Ketchum’s highest accolade rewarding excellence in client service.
Simeon is also a regular speaker, panelist and chair at industry events in the Asia Pacific region covering subject matter as diverse as social/digital communications trends, data and creativity, issues and crisis management, corporate affairs and agency management. Recent appearances include PR360 Asia 2017 (panelist), the Asia Pacific Corporate Affairs Forum 2015 and 2016 (panel chair) and Crisis and Reputation Management 2016 and 2017 (conference chair).
He is also a regular judge of industry awards including Public Affairs Asia Gold Standard Awards (2011 – 2017) and PRWeek Asia (2013).
Based in Hong Kong for 15 years he started his PR career in the UK before transferring to Asia. He joined Ketchum in 2004.
Simeon is British and was educated at University College London.
Posts: Simeon Mellalieu
Social Commerce in 2021: East Meets West
by Simeon Mellalieu | December 17, 2020
I made a prediction recently in Ketchum’s 2021 Social, Influencer Marketing + Analytics Trends Report, that the year ahead will see social commerce come of age. This idea was partly based on accelerated demand for e-commerce and social media content born out of coronavirus lockdowns around the world. But, it also recognizes the increasing prevalence […]
Is Asia Still the World’s COVID-19 Communications Compass?
by Simeon Mellalieu and | April 10, 2020
If there’s one thing I’ve heard a lot over the past three months, it’s “You’re in Asia, you’ve experienced all this already, what does the way forward look like?” In February and March this looked fairly clean-cut. Now, in April, it seems like the end destination hasn’t changed, but the paths towards it have diversified. […]
Future gazing to 2035: How the Greater Bay Area will change the PR/communications sector in Hong Kong
by Simeon Mellalieu | March 26, 2019
The start of the new year, calendar or lunar, is always time to look ahead to the future. Traditionally, trend forecasting is limited to the next 12 months. So, you might think that looking ahead sixteen years to 2035 may be a bit of stretch. But recently the PRC government in Beijing supported by the […]
Coming Soon: 12th months of Cyber Monday
by Simeon Mellalieu | November 21, 2018
How the expanding world of e-commerce shopping festivals is changing the global retail landscape. November has long been a critical month in the retail calendar. Now, thanks to global inventiveness and e-commerce, the November shopping frenzy is being reinvented, amplified and replicated to deliver an online retail shopping festival for every month of the year […]
Selling Human: Navigating Audience Engagement in the Age of Influence
by Simeon Mellalieu | December 15, 2017
In today’s world, conversation is the expectation. You should build relationships with target tribes by seeding and sharing relevant content. When was the last time you had – or triggered – a water cooler moment? The phrase seems to have lapsed into the annals of marketing history. They still happen, but perhaps we call them […]
The Role of Social Media in Crisis Situations
by Simeon Mellalieu | September 13, 2016
Social media has changed absolutely everything and absolutely nothing in crisis communications. I’m on my way to the International Air Transport Association’s Crisis Communications Conference in Hong Kong today and much of the discussion leading up to the event has focused on the impact of social media in crisis situations, and for good reason. Social […]
