Ruder Finn Asia signs MOU with The Media Alliance for Social Awareness

Ruder Finn and the Asia-Pacific Media Alliance for Social Awareness (The Media Alliance) have formalised an agreement to help increase and improve communications and message dissemination through media on a wide range of issues covering social and sustainable economic development in the Asia-Pacific region.

The aim of the agreement is to work together on selected projects, leveraging the power of the media in raising public?knowledge and understanding?on issues such as climate change mitigation and adaptation, disaster prevention and preparedness, protection of the natural environment, access to safe water, labor and child rights, human trafficking, aging populations, health and nutrition, sustainable development and many others. By raising public awareness, the media can also help to combat poverty, contribute to the social advancement of developing countries, and to the peace and stability of the region.

Ruder Finn and The Media Alliance will also cooperate to aim at improving quality, quantity and effectiveness of editorial coverage and other social awareness campaigns designed to influence public opinion and achieve positive behaviour change.

"We are delighted to welcome Ruder Finn Asia as a partner given the firm’s strong client base in the health and wellness sector and its long history of innovative communications programs to encourage private corporations to more actively engage in CSR initiatives on many of the social and developmental issues on which The Media Alliance is working," said David Astley, Executive Chairman of The Media Alliance.

"For the past decade, Ruder Finn Asia has been working with many clients and partners to help raise awareness of social and environmental issues", said Jean-Michel Dumont, Chairman of Ruder Finn Asia. "Our cooperation with both traditional and new media has been pivotal to this effort and we are pleased to be partnering with The Media Alliance to bring this effort to a new level."

The Media Alliance is a non-profit organisation formed in 2009 by a group of prominent Asia-based media and advertising industry executives. It brings together in the Asia Pacific region the reach and influence of all sectors of the media industry, the advertising and related communications industries, and the resources and expertise of international development agencies and foundations in multi-sector partnerships to deliver critical pro-social messaging through public service advertising, entertainment and editorial content. www.mediaalliance.asia

Ruder Finn has a tradition in Corporate Social Responsibility and has a dedicated full-time team working on CSR in Asia. Among other project aiming at raising knowledge and understanding of CSR, it has created a five-year "Tsinghua – Ruder Finn CSR Programme" with the Journalism school of one of the leading Chinese Universities in Beijing.

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Ruder Finn, Inc. is one of the largest independent integrated communication firms in the world, with offices in Chicago, Los Angeles, New York, San Francisco, Washington, Beijing, Hong Kong, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Singapore, London, Paris and Jerusalem. Through offices and affiliates worldwide, the agency serves the global and local communication needs of over 250 corporations, governments and nonprofit organizations. For more than 50 years, the Ruder Finn name has been synonymous with excellence in communications. At any one time, we are working with top "Fortune 500" names as well as other international corporations and institutions.

Ruder Finn’s business is structured under four strategic platforms. In Asia, Health & Wellness covers Li Ning, Roche, MSD and others. Life & Style covers luxury brands from the Richemont Group such as Cartier, and LVMH Group, Givenchy and Hennessy, as well as Hermes, Bang & Olufsen, and Audi. Global Connectivity covers DHL, Emirates, IPC and others. Corporate & Public Trust includes Michelin, Boeing, Volkswagen, Visa and others. For more information on Ruder Finn or Ruder Finn Asia, please visit www.ruderfinn.com or www.ruderfinnasia.com.