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Temasek Holdings (Private) Limited, an investment firm based in Singapore, won the Stevie Award for Communications Campaign of the Year in Asia (Subcontinent, Australia, and New Zealand) in the 2009 International Business Awards.
 Though wholly-owned by the Government of Singapore, Temasek operates as a privately run company. While Temasek is not required to publicly report its accounts, it has, since 2004, voluntarily published the Temasek Review as a platform for communication with its stakeholders worldwide.
Amidst the global scrutiny of state-owned institutions over the past year, the Temasek Review has proved to be a valuable tool for communicating its commercial objectives.
Over the past year, the 2008 Temasek Review has received a number of regional and international accolades for its design excellence and clarity. Covering the year ended March 31, 2008, the 2008 Temasek Review summarises the company group financials and highlights over the past year. It was published in August 2008, and was designed by Addison Corporate Marketing, a London-based provider of corporate reporting services.
“It is extremely rewarding to receive this Stevie Award and the recognition of our peers,” commented Myrna Thomas, managing director of corporate affairs at Temasek Holdings on being recognized at the International Business Awards. “The Temasek Review has been published since 2004. The Temasek Review communications program has been continuously refined to engage our expanding and increasingly diverse pool of stakeholders.“
Addressing Concerns
A corporate image study conducted in 2007 across six markets had reinforced this need to communicate. The study revealed that, although Temasek was widely viewed as having the expertise to make sound investments, there were concerns that it might have an underlying political agenda driving its investment strategy.
To address these concerns, the Temasek corporate affairs team, led by Myrna Thomas, and Weber Shandwick Singapore collaborated on a carefully devised global communications program around the launch of the 2008 Temasek Review.
The team sought to instill in Temasek’s international stakeholders a stronger understanding of Temasek as an independently run and commercially motivated global entity, while also presenting the company’s strong financial standing. In order to achieve these objectives the key messages were that:
- Temasek delivered a strong performance with profit doubled from the year before despite the challenging environment;
- Temasek continued to rebalance its increasingly global investment portfolio in an environment of attractive opportunities.
International Media Coverage
A media conference coinciding with the publication of the new Temasek Review was held on August 26, 2008, fronted by a team of four senior Temasek executives with risk management and international investment expertise.
To meet the needs of the diverse media that would attend, collateral materials were translated from English into five other languages: Chinese, Vietnamese, Bahasa Malaysian, Bahasa Indonesian, and Thai to meet the needs of a diverse media. In view of Temasek’s significant presence in China, India, and Vietnam, a localized version of the news release was also issued.
Interviews with Temasek’s senior executives were successfully pitched to CNBC,
BBC, Bloomberg TV, the Financial Times, and the Wall Street Journal Asia.
Copies of the 2008 Temasek Review, printed on environmentally graded paper, were subsequently sent to key stakeholders and influencers worldwide.
To engage online audiences, a high-quality micro site—developed specifically for the 2008 Temasek Review—went live during the media conference. The media kit, media conference video highlights, and a transcript of the question-and-answer session were all made available online within six hours of the conference.
Successful Outcome
The media conference was one of Singapore’s best-attended corporate briefings
in 2008, with 42 journalists from 29 local and international media attending—a significant turnout considering Singapore’s limited media pool.
Within 24 hours of the publication of the 2008 Temasek Review, Temasek received 130 media reports from the mainstream media worldwide, which was impressive for a non-listed company and a non-consumer brand.
The micro site attracted thousands of international visitors with Australia, China, the UK, and USA featuring among the top ten countries.
Following the launch of the 2008 Temasek Review, Temasek received a perfect score of ten points in the Linaburg-Maduell Transparency Index in the fourth quarter of 2008, up from eight points in the third quarter.
Further Honors
Honors for the 2008 Temasek Review came as early as November 2008, when it was named the Financial Communications Campaign of the Year at the Asia-Pacific PR Awards. In July 2009, Temasek garnered a Gold Award in the financials capital markets category for annual reports at the Vision Awards, organised by the League of American Communications Professionals. In September 2009, Temasek also received a Bronze Award for overall annual report in the investment house category at the International ARC Awards in New York (no Gold or Silver Awards were presented in the category this year). Temasek has also won in the financial services and investor relations' category at the Golden World Awards for Excellence organised by the International Public Relations Association, to be presented in London at the end of October.
About Myrna Thomas:
Myrna Thomas joined Temasek Holdings in April 2006 as managing director,
corporate affairs. Ms Thomas began her career as a newscaster with Singapore’s national TV station. She later joined international public relations consultants Hill & Knowlton, where she eventually became managing director for South East Asia before taking on a position with Caltex Corporation as the global communications director. She was later moved to the parent company, Chevron Corporation, as the Asia-Pacific advisor for government and public affairs. Before joining Temasek, Ms Thomas was the senior vice president at Strategic Public Relations.
About Temasek Holdings:
Incorporated in 1974, Temasek Holdings is an Asia investment company headquartered in Singapore. Supported by 12 affiliates and offices in Asia and Latin America, Temasek owns a diversified S$172 billion (US$119 billion) portfolio as at 31 July 2009, concentrated principally in Singapore, Asia, and the emerging economies.
Temasek's investment themes centre on transforming economies, growing middle classes, deepening comparative advantages, and emerging champions. Its portfolio covers a broad spectrum of industries: financial services; telecommunications and media; transportation and logistics; real estate; infrastructure, industrial and engineering; energy and resources; life sciences, consumer and lifestyle; and technology. Total shareholder return for Temasek since its inception in 1974 has been a healthy 16% compounded annually. It has a corporate credit rating of AAA/Aaa by rating agencies Standard & Poor's and Moody's respectively. For further information on Temasek, please visit www.temasek.com.sg. |
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