These tickets are valid for the ThinkTank Live conference only. If you would like to buy a ThinkTank Live conference ticket in conjunction with an Asia-Pacific SABRE Awards dinner seat, please contact Celeste Picco.

Industry leaders Tim Sutton, Stephen Forshaw, Bob Pickard, Ross Gan and Simon Sproule will be among the headline speakers at The Holmes Report’s ThinkTank Live conference, which will take place on the day of the 2011 Asia-Pacific SABRE Awards dinner in Singapore, November 3.

The conference will focus on the corporate reputation and brand image challenges that face Asian Brands Going Global. Senior leaders from Asia's biggest companies and agencies will examine how the region's homegrown brands  can translate their Asian success onto a global stage, looking at such key PR challenges as brand positioning, crisis communications, CSR, media relations and digital/social media.

Among the confirmed speakers:

Tim Sutton is chairman of Weber Shandwick in the Asia Pacific region and is one of the global PR industry's most respected practitioners. He also serves as Asia Pacific Chairman of the Constituency Management Group (CMG) of parent company Interpublic, which includes its various below the line marketing services businesses in the disciplines of public relations, events management, sports marketing and brand identity.

Bob Pickard is the president and CEO of Burson-Marsteller Asia-Pacific. Bob is an international PR executive with two decades of experience focused on providing communications counsel for senior business leaders. He has been the co-founder and leader of successful award-winning PR consultancies in the United States, Japan, Korea and Canada. An experienced crisis communications practitioner, Bob has provided senior counsel on a wide range of communications issues to clients including AstraZeneca, British Airways, De Beers, EMC, GlaxoSmithKline, ING, Johnson & Johnson, Kia Motors, Merck, Microsoft, Nissan, Nomura and Pfizer.

Stephen Forshaw is managing director of corporate affairs at Singapore-owned investment firm Temasek. He took on the role earlier this year, after two years as Microsoft's Asia-Pacific corporate communications director. Before that he headed public affairs for one of Asia's iconic brands, Singapore Airlines. In addition to the experience he has built up as one of Asia's premier corporate communicators, Forshaw also brings a strong political background, having worked for five years as chief of staff to Gary Humphries, Deputy Chief Minister in the Government of the Australian Capital Territory.

Ross Gan heads corporate communications for one of the handful of Chinese brands with realistic global ambitions, telecoms giant Huawei. B2B specialist Gan has spent more than five years at Huawei, helping the firm navigate a variety of sensitive issues. These include the company’s current patent tussle with local rival ZTE; its corporate responsibility strategy; and, its continued efforts to set the record straight regarding its ownership. Prior to joining Huawei, worked at numerous in-house roles, and also spent two years at the Hoffman Agency.

Simon Sproule, is corporate VP, global marketing communications for Nissan Motor Company, a position he has held since October 2010. He is responsible for the design and implementation of global marketing and corporate communications strategies, brand communications, motor shows, sponsorship, motorsport, corporate social responsibility and internal communications for Nissan worldwide, including for the INFINITI luxury automotive brand. Since September 2009, Sproule has also held the position of Renault Nissan Alliance communication director. He was formerly corporate VP, corporate communications for Nissan Motor Company based at Nissan's global HQ in Tokyo and VP communications for Nissan North America, based in Gardena, California.

Thomas Crampton is Asia-Pacific director of 360 Digital Influence for Ogilvy Public Relations Worldwide, heading a team stretching across 23 cities in 15 Asian territories that helps companies conceive, develop and execute strategies in social media. Prior to joining Ogilvy, Crampton spent 18 years as a globetrotting newspaper correspondent, mainly for the International Herald Tribune and The New York Times, reporting from five continents and dozens of countries. Passionately involved in digital for the last six years, he writes a widely read blog, thomascrampton.com, and is a frequent keynote speaker and moderator at high profile conferences around the world.

Carson Dalton is head of corporate communications at BT Asia Pacific. Carson joined BT in April 2007 as the communications lead for the  Indian sub continent. It was in this role that he was awarded, the ‘Young PR Professional of the Year’ in 2008 at the Asia Pacific PR Awards. He then moved to BT’s press office in London where he managed corporate media relations and held the comms mandate for corporate responsibility  and climate change across BT Group. After his press office stint, he moved to Singapore in September 2010 to manage external comms for the region at a time when BT committed its largest investment outside of the UK to Asia Pacific.

Prema Sagar is principal and founder of Genesis Burson-Marsteller, India. Genesis Public Relations, which Prema established in November of 1992, mirrors the journey of the profession in India. An alumna of the Frank Jefkins Institute, U.K, Prema launched the firm at the advent of the economic reforms in India with just one client and one colleague. It is recognised today as India's most trusted public relations and public affairs firm. In 2008, it was ranked as 'India Consultancy of the Year' by The Holmes Report, acknowledging Prema’s success in nurturing reputation whilst managing complex issues in a business environment rife with inherent contradictions.

Melanie Brock is is Japan regional manager for Meat & Livestock Australia. She has been instrumental in launching MLA’s “Together with Japan” programme post the 2011 March earthquake, which has linked farmers in Australia with farmers in Japan in need of support following the earthquake, and tsunami. Melanie has been a resident of Japan for two decades, and has extensive experience in food marketing, consulting and project management. Prior to joining MLA, Melanie headed up her own import company in Tokyo, established in 2003, which focused on gourmet foods and beverages for the Japanese retail and wholesale market. In addition to her position at MLA, Melanie is also an active participant in Australia Japan relations.

Roma Balwani is Senior Vice President & Group Head, Corporate Communications at Mahindra & Mahindra Ltd., one of India’s leading business houses. An economics graduate with a post-graduate diploma in Marketing from Mumbai University, Roma has been instrumental in communicating the Group’s transformation into a global powerhouse. She has carved out a reputation as one of India's most outspoken PR professionals, both inside and outside her company. That sense of determination has helped her elevate public relations at automotive group Mahindra into a board-level function, something that is still a rarity at many Indian companies. In a career spanning 30 years, she has received several accolades, including the prestigious Hall of Fame 2010 award by the Public Relations Council of India (PRCI). In 2009, Mahindra Corporate Communications received the Gold award for ‘Brand Communicator of the Year’ at the 9th Asia Pacific PR Awards.

Agenda

8.15am           Registration

9am                Paul Holmes

Welcome and introduction

9.15am           Tim Sutton

Will Asia become the world’s next powerhouse for global brands? Balancing belief and scepticism.

10am              Ross Gan

A China-based Company Going Global: The Case for the Brand following the Business

10.45am          Coffee break

1115am           Bob Pickard, Burson-Marsteller

How Asian multinationals are using social technology to communicate with global communities.

12pm               Melanie Brock, MLA Japan

When Not Marketing Is Marketing!

12.30pm          Lunch

1.30pm            Simon Sproule [via video link]

'Kotozukuri'

2pm                 Stephen Forshaw

In Conversation with Holmes Report editor-in-chief Paul Holmes

2.45pm            Coffee

3pm                 India panel: feat. Prema Sagar, Carson Dalton and Roma Balwani,                    

Sagar, Balwani and Dalton discuss the challenges facing Indian brands looking to expand beyond their home markets,

3.45pm           Thomas Crampton

7 and a half lessons from the trenches of Social Media in Asia

4.30pm            Close

The event follows the Holmes Report's highly successful inaugural ThinkTank Live conference in Prague earlier this year, which saw almost 200 delegates attend presentations from Richard Edelman, Harris Diamond, Miles Young and Andre Manning. Chaired by Holmes Report editors Paul Holmes and Arun Sudhaman, The ThinkTank Live series aims to combine high-level speakers with provocative content, offering a uniquely focused environment to discuss today's critical public relations issues.

The Twitter hashtag for this event is #thinktanksg . You can follow us at @holmesreport