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Ashbury Communications has welcomed Hermen Chow as Associate Director, strengthening its advisory team.

Based in Hong Kong, Hermen brings expertise in corporate profile-raising, media relations, thought leadership, and crisis and issues management to Ashbury. She is experienced in advising conglomerates, financial institutions, professional services firms, and developers across Hong Kong.

Hermen has worked with firms including Weber Shandwick, Brunswick Group, and SEC Newgate. Prior to joining Ashbury, she was Associate Director at Sandpiper. 

Bastion Insights has launched Bastion Vantage, a new AI-powered digital intelligence offering. The service combines AI with the judgement and strategic thinking of senior researchers to review online conversations and provide digital intelligence for organisations.

The agency said that Bastion Vantage is designed to help organisations identify online behaviours, sentiment, cultural shifts, commercial opportunities and reputation issues. It is also meant to complement traditional research and social listening by providing ongoing intelligence on culture, sentiment, and emerging behaviour.

The service can be used for brand strategy, innovation, communications development, trend forecasting, and reputation management.

Cheuk Chiang, Group CEO of Bastion, said the launch reflects the agency's continued investment in solutions that help clients stay ahead of change.

“Innovation has always been about creating better outcomes for our clients. Bastion Vantage is an important addition to our integrated offering, bringing together AI and human expertise to help organisations navigate complexity with greater confidence. It's another example of how we're evolving our capabilities to keep our clients in a position of strength.”

Joanne Norton, Managing Director, Bastion Insights, said Bastion Vantage addresses one of the biggest challenges facing marketers today.

“Marketers are drowning in metrics and starving for meaning. Data can tell you what happened, but insight explains why it happened and, more importantly, what to do next. Bastion Vantage combines the speed and scale of AI with the judgement of experienced researchers to ask better questions, uncover the human truths behind consumer behaviour and give our clients the clarity and confidence to make smarter decisions.” 

Boutique strategic communications consultancy, FIT Communications, has strengthened its strategic communications and reputation advisory capability, with the appointment of Clare Kennedy (pictured bottom) as Associate Director.

Clare brings financial services communications experience, including a role in the formation of Australian Retirement Trust, alongside expertise in crisis preparedness, strategic communication, and reputational risk.

Working together with Founder & Director of FIT Communications, Megan Giles (pictured top), the pair have previously supported organisations through major transformation programmes, technology change, regulatory scrutiny, and complex stakeholder issues.

Megan said the increasing complexity of organisational risk was driving demand for trusted, senior strategic communications advice.

"Leaders today are navigating transformation, growing scrutiny and higher expectations from every stakeholder group, often all at once,” she said.

"Strong advisory means having the narrative, the judgement and the plan ready before you need them, whether that's leading people through change, protecting reputation, or responding when something goes wrong.

"We're seeing growing demand from leaders who want a trusted strategic partner they can turn to consistently, not just support that appears when there's a problem."