CEO Positioning

The newly appointed China CEO of a multinational corporation in the healthcare industry with over ten billion US-dollars of annual sales wanted to sharpen his public profile and carefully increase the visibility of his company via interviews, speeches and meetings with key stakeholders.

Asia Waypoint was retained to give advice on CEO positioning in China. Applying our proprietary research tools and databases, we first conducted a media benchmarking, comparing the CEO´s and the company´s visibility in mainstream and industry-relevant media in China with the same metrics for competitors. We then prepared first recommendations on how to enhance the status quo, and worked with the company´s communications team to prepare for several CEO Positioning workshops with their leader.

During and after the workshops, a clear profile aligning the CEO´s personal strengths and interests with the desired public profile of the whole company was developed and aligned with the company´s global mission statements and business strategy in China. Key messages were drafted and slightly adjusted for various groups of stakeholders, like Chinese and international media, government and party officials, and investors. Asia Waypoint then went on to assist with the drafting of a new media plan, held media training sessions with the CEO to prepare for interviews, and also facilitated the concrete placement of interviews in leading Chinese media. Deliverables included a key message book based on the new positioning.