By RDK Group
Vientiane-based agency joins One Asia Communications as regional leaders examine how artificial intelligence is reshaping brand discovery, reputation and trust.
Laos has joined One Asia Communications (OAC), a regional network of independent communications agencies spanning 13 Asian markets, with Vientiane-based RDK Group representing the country.
The membership was introduced at the inaugural OAC Regional Communications Forum, held on November 5, 2026, in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, bringing together brand and communications professionals from across Asia to examine the growing influence of artificial intelligence on the industry.
Led by RDK Group Senior Partner Aditta Kittikhoun, the company’s participation establishes a new connection between Laos’ marketing and communications industry and a wider regional network of independent agencies.
OAC connects locally established agencies across Asia, allowing members to retain their independent operations and market expertise while collaborating on cross-border projects and international client requirements.
The network’s approach reflects the growing importance of combining regional reach with an understanding of individual markets, particularly as businesses increasingly seek to engage audiences across different cultural and linguistic environments.
AI Visibility is Not the Same as Trust
The OAC forum, hosted by Ivy+Partners with OAC as network partner, focused on how businesses can move beyond AI-driven brand discovery to build credibility, trust and relevance.
Under the theme Found by AI, Chosen by Humans: Rethinking Communications Strategy in Asia, discussions explored how generative artificial intelligence is changing the ways consumers discover, evaluate and interact with brands.
One emerging consideration is Generative Engine Optimisation (GEO), an approach that seeks to improve how brands appear in AI-generated responses and recommendations.
However, appearing in an AI-generated answer does not necessarily mean a brand is accurately represented or trusted.
Ivy Nhi Chau, CEO of Ivy+Partners in Vietnam, highlighted during the forum that reputation is shaped not only by what audiences encounter online but also by stakeholder relationships and real-world experiences.
The discussion also examined the growing volume of AI-generated content and the risk that businesses could prioritize production speed and visibility at the expense of distinctive messaging and meaningful audience engagement.
Ong Hock Chuan, Chair of the OAC Network and Managing Partner at Maverick Indonesia, noted that AI visibility and GEO can help brands understand how they appear in AI-driven discovery, but that visibility data becomes valuable only when it informs decisions about brand positioning, content and communications priorities.
The broader message was that technology can help businesses become more discoverable, but building a credible and trusted reputation requires a much wider approach.
Regional Communications Require Local Understanding
Another key theme was the challenge of developing communications strategies across Asia’s diverse markets.
While businesses increasingly seek regional reach, the forum highlighted that successful communications cannot simply rely on translating messages or applying a uniform strategy across countries.
Languages, cultural references, media environments, consumer behaviours and stakeholder expectations vary considerably across the region.
A message that resonates with audiences in Vietnam, for example, may require a different approach to achieve the same relevance and credibility in Laos, Thailand, Indonesia or Japan.
For international brands operating across multiple markets, regional consistency must therefore be balanced with local knowledge and cultural understanding.
For RDK Group, this is also where its experience in Laos’ evolving media and digital landscape offers a distinctive contribution to the network.
“RDK Group brings a somewhat different perspective to the OAC network because we operate at the intersection of media and communications. We have decades of collective experience in media, and we are not only an agency advising clients on how to communicate with audiences but also involved in creating, publishing and distributing content ourselves. That gives us a first-hand understanding of the relationship between platforms, publishers, audiences and brands. We are also deliberate about maintaining a clear distinction between our media operations and our agency work,” said Kittikhoun.
He pointed to Laos’ experience with social media as an example of how technology can fundamentally reshape an entire information ecosystem.
His postgraduate research at the University of Oxford examined Facebook’s role in Laos’ online media ecosystem and how, in a relatively short period of digital development, the platform evolved into something approaching the country’s de facto internet infrastructure.
For many people, Facebook became not just a social network, but a primary gateway through which they accessed news, information, businesses and public discourse.
“Today, we are potentially witnessing the emergence of another gatekeeper. AI systems are increasingly becoming intermediaries between people and information, influencing what gets discovered, how it is presented and which voices gain visibility. The parallels are worth paying attention to. We have spent years learning how to navigate platform algorithms and their influence on the media ecosystem; we now need to understand what happens when AI begins performing that gatekeeping function,” he added.
Kittikhoun said RDK Group hopes to bring this perspective to OAC while learning from the different experiences of its partners across Asia.
Connecting Laos to Regional Opportunities
Established in 2015, RDK Group is a Vientiane-based full service marketing, media, research and communications group offering services spanning strategic communications, public relations, digital marketing, media investments, market research, translation, and event management.
Through OAC, RDK Group will connect with independent agency partners across Asia, creating opportunities to collaborate on international campaigns, share industry expertise and support clients seeking to navigate multiple Asian markets.
The membership also provides an avenue for Lao businesses and organizations to access regional expertise, while enabling international companies to draw on RDK Group’s hyperlocal knowledge, media experience and communications capabilities when engaging audiences in Laos.
As artificial intelligence continues to reshape how information is produced, distributed and discovered, the discussions at the inaugural OAC Regional Communications Forum highlighted the continuing importance of human judgement, cultural understanding and trusted relationships.
For Laos, joining the network represents another connection to an increasingly interconnected Asian communications industry, where international collaboration and local expertise will remain central to how businesses build their brands and engage audiences.
Editor’s Note: This article was contributed by RDK Group. Views and information presented are those of the contributing organization.
