Hahmshout Global, an integrated communications company driving marketing innovation through applied AI, has been named an Agency of the Year in the Asia category at the 2026 Asia-Pacific SABRE Awards. The trophy follows the agency’s earlier selection to The Best Agencies in Asia-Pacific 2026 by U.S.-based PRovoke Media, and was presented at a ceremony held in Singapore on August 18.
PRovoke Media, formerly the Holmes Report, is the most authoritative trade publication covering the public relations industry, analyzing more than 500 PR and communications firms across the world’s major markets each year. Recognition comes in two stages: agencies are first selected for the regional Best Agencies list — this year 75 firms across Asia-Pacific, of which 44 were in Asia — and a far smaller group is then chosen as Agency of the Year based on financial performance, creativity, culture and leadership. In the Asia category, only nine of the 44 firms received an Agency of the Year trophy, with Ruder Finn additionally named Asia-Pacific Consultancy of the Year.
The other Asia recipients were APCO Worldwide, COMCO Mundo League of Enterprises, Edelman, EloQ Communications, Hopscotch, Mad Hat Asia, Real Chemistry and Ruder Finn — a field dominated by global network agencies operating across the region. Hahmshout Global is the only agency headquartered in South Korea, and the only Korean independent agency, to take home a trophy — a distinction earned against multinational networks and each market’s strongest players.
Behind the result is more than two decades of integrated marketing communications capability, combined with three years of concentrated investment in marketing AI. From the moment generative AI began reshaping the marketing landscape, Hahmshout Global established a dedicated AI Lab, developed and published a generative AI landscape map built specifically for marketers, and released research reports on generative AI awareness and adoption — helping set the terms of the industry conversation in Korea.
That capability is now operational through Dlite Communication, the group’s AI-focused subsidiary, which offers AI search optimization (GEO) consulting and the brand diagnostic service AIBA™. Together they form an end-to-end marketing AI system spanning diagnosis, execution and performance tracking. Since July, the group has also published the monthly AIBA AI Citation Index Report, Korea’s first recurring analysis tracking how brands and channels are cited by AI across individual industries.
The leadership has translated into recognition at home and abroad. Domestically, Hahmshout Global received the 2024 Korea Artificial Intelligence Awards for its expertise as a specialist AI information platform. Internationally, after consecutive appearances in PRovoke Media’s Global Top 250 ranking in 2024 and 2025, the agency entered the Global Top 150 and was also named among Asia’s Fast Movers.
“We moved into generative AI marketing research earlier than most, ran a wide range of experiments, and built real experience — and that work has now returned to us as an Agency of the Year selection, beyond simply being named one of Asia’s best agencies,” said Jessica Kim, CEO of Hahmshout Global. “By adding proven AI capability to our strengths in traditional communications, we will keep evolving as a marketing partner that helps clients lead change in the AI era rather than follow it.”
