On this page12
- When does a local face actually matter?
- What happens if you enter without one?
- Who can be your local spokesperson?
- The five-test spokesperson scorecard
- How do you brief a local spokesperson?
- What if your founder isn't confident speaking to the press?
- When a local spokesperson is the wrong move
- FAQ
- Can a PR agency or consultant act as the local spokesperson?
- Should the local spokesperson be quoted in the global press release?
- How long does it take to get a new local spokesperson interview-ready?
- Do token projects need a different kind of spokesperson than AI or infrastructure companies?
You need a local spokesperson in APAC when the market's media works in its own language and you want more than a one-off story: a market entry, a local partnership, a launch aimed at local retail users, or anything that could turn into a crisis. For a single funding announcement, a well-briefed founder supported by an interpreter or a written Q&A is often enough. What you can't skip is someone who can answer a local reporter, in the local language, during the local working day.
That last sentence is the actual requirement. "Spokesperson" sounds like a job title. In practice it's a capability: being reachable, being quotable and being trusted to stay on message when the founder is asleep in another time zone.
When does a local face actually matter?
I decide this by announcement type, not by market alone. The same company might need a local voice for a Korean exchange partnership and be fine without one for a protocol upgrade.
| Situation | Founder alone | Founder plus interpreter or written Q&A | Local spokesperson |
|---|---|---|---|
| Funding announcement | Often fine in English-language business press | Works for most local-language crypto outlets | Nice to have |
| Product or protocol update | Fine | Fine | Not needed |
| Market entry or local office | Weak | Workable for the first story only | Needed |
| Local partnership (exchange, bank, telco) | Weak | Workable if the partner speaks too | Strongly helps |
| Launch aimed at local retail users | Weak | Risky | Needed |
| Video, broadcast or event-stage interview | Only if fluent | Hard to do well live | Needed |
| Incident, exploit or rumour in that market | Too slow | Too slow | Needed, and fast |
The last row is the one founders learn the hard way. During an incident, the community and the press in a market want an answer in their language within hours. If the only person allowed to speak is the founder, a team in another time zone ends up writing a statement while local channels fill the gap with guesses.
What happens if you enter without one?
Nothing dramatic, at first. Coverage still happens. It just gets thinner. This is the pattern I see:
- Interviews turn into emailed Q&As. The reporter sends questions, waits a day or two for answers that come back in translated English, and runs a shorter piece.
- Quotes go generic. A translated founder quote about "global expansion" gives a local reporter nothing to build a story on.
- Follow-ups die. A reporter who needs one clarification at 4pm local time and can't get it will often drop the story or run it without your side.
- Event weeks are wasted. Korea Blockchain Week or Token2049 brings reporters into the same room as you. Without someone who can do a ten-minute interview in the local language, those meetings don't happen.
I said this years ago and it's still the first rule I teach:
responding and answering journalists' query is PR 101! Shilika Jain on X, 25 Oct 2023
A local spokesperson is mostly a way to make PR 101 possible in a market where your team doesn't speak the language or keep the hours.
Who can be your local spokesperson?
There are fewer real options than founders hope. These are the ones I'd consider, roughly from strongest to weakest:
- A country lead or general manager. The cleanest option. They have a title reporters accept, they can make local commitments and they're accountable to you.
- A co-founder or senior team member from that market. Strong if they're genuinely senior and comfortable on the record. A junior employee with the right language isn't a spokesperson.
- A senior person at a local partner, for co-announcements. Useful for a joint story, since the partner speaks for their side. They can't speak for your roadmap or answer questions about your token.
- An advisor or ecosystem lead. Possible, but check for conflicts. If they advise three other projects, reporters will ask which hat they're wearing.
- A KOL or community influencer. Don't. KOLs are paid promoters. Putting one forward as your voice blurs disclosure and leaves you with no control over what's said next week.
If none of the first three exist yet, the honest answer is that you're not ready for a full market entry story. Run a narrower announcement with the founder and an interpreter, and build the local role before the bigger moment.
The five-test spokesperson scorecard
When there's a candidate, I score them on five tests before anyone talks to a reporter. Each gets a 1 (weak), 2 (workable) or 3 (strong).
| Test | What I'm checking | A 1 looks like | A 3 looks like |
|---|---|---|---|
| Fluency | A live interview in the local language, technical terms included | Fluent socially, stuck on product detail | Explains the product clearly to a non-crypto reporter |
| Authority | A title reporters accept, and the power to make local commitments | "Community manager" | Country lead with sign-off on local plans |
| Availability | Reachable in local hours, present at local events | Part-time, other job | Same-day replies, attends the main events |
| Message discipline | Staying on the agreed messages under pressure | Speculates on price or listings | Redirects cleanly and comes back to the three messages |
| Risk | Past public statements, token holdings, conflicts | Unknown history, undisclosed holdings | Clean record, disclosed holdings, no competing roles |
A total of 12 or more, with no 1 on Risk or Message discipline, means go. Between 9 and 11, they can handle written and print interviews while you train them for live ones. Below 9, keep the founder as the voice and use the candidate as a local liaison who arranges and translates, rather than someone who's quoted.
Risk and Message discipline are the two that can hurt you. A fluent speaker who guesses about a listing date in an interview creates a bigger problem than a careful one with an accent.
How do you brief a local spokesperson?
Briefing is where most local spokespeople are set up to fail. They get the English press release and a call the day before. Give them this pack instead, at least a week ahead:
- The local angle in one sentence, agreed with the founder.
- Three messages, written in the local language by a native writer, not translated by the spokesperson on the fly.
- Approved proof points. Every number they're allowed to say, with the source, so nothing drifts in the retelling.
- Red lines. Token price, future listings, unannounced partners, returns, and anything regulatory. For each, the exact sentence to say instead, usually a referral to a published statement.
- The hard-questions list. Fifteen to twenty questions a local reporter is likely to ask, with approved answers, including the uncomfortable ones about competitors, past incidents and the team.
- Who signs off quotes. And how fast, because a reporter won't wait three days.
- Escalation contacts for anything outside the brief, with names reachable in local hours.
Then run a mock interview in the local language with a native speaker playing the reporter. The media training guide for crypto founders covers the drill format. The same drill works in any language.
What if your founder isn't confident speaking to the press?
Plenty of excellent founders are uncomfortable on the record, and many of them are being asked to speak in their second or third language. I have some personal sympathy here:
Was bullied in school as i didn't know to communicate in English:/ Wanted to become a public speaker, did my toastmasters ✨ Shilika Jain on X, 10 Jul 2025
Speaking confidence can be trained. I'm proof. But launch day isn't the moment to train it. If a founder isn't comfortable in English or the local language, do the interviews in the founder's strongest language with a professional interpreter, or offer a written Q&A that a native writer polishes. Reporters accept both. What they don't accept is a founder who freezes, or one who wanders off message because the words weren't there.
Over the longer run, build the founder's voice in their strongest language first, then add a local spokesperson so the founder doesn't have to be the only face in every market. My founder profiling work often starts with exactly this split.
When a local spokesperson is the wrong move
There are real costs, and I'd rather name them than oversell the role:
- Narrative drift. Two voices can tell two slightly different stories. Shared messages and a shared hard-questions list help, but the risk never goes to zero.
- Key-person risk. If the coverage is built around one local lead and they leave, the relationships often leave with them.
- Cost and commitment. A country lead is a hire, not a PR tactic. If you aren't committed to the market for at least a year, a local spokesperson sends a signal you can't back up.
- English-language business press. In markets where much of the business press works in English, like Singapore, India and the UAE, a prepared founder is often enough for the first year.
For Korea and Japan, where the press and community largely work in the local language, I'd plan for a local voice early. The APAC PR playbook for Korea, Japan, Vietnam and India covers how each market's media works, and my APAC PR service is how I help teams set the role up.
FAQ
Can a PR agency or consultant act as the local spokesperson?
They can be the media contact who arranges interviews and handles follow-ups, but they shouldn't be quoted as your company's voice. Reporters want someone inside the company who can speak with authority, and a consultant's quote reads as a press office, not a source.
Should the local spokesperson be quoted in the global press release?
Only in the local version. In the global release, the founder's quote carries the story. In the localised release, the local spokesperson's quote can replace or sit beside the founder's, as long as both say the same thing.
How long does it take to get a new local spokesperson interview-ready?
With a good brief and two or three mock interviews, most senior people are ready for print interviews within a couple of weeks. Live video and stage interviews usually need more practice, so schedule those after the first round of written coverage.
Do token projects need a different kind of spokesperson than AI or infrastructure companies?
The scorecard is the same, but Message discipline matters even more for token projects. Questions about price, listings and vesting come up in almost every interview, and the spokesperson has to deflect them consistently.
Entering Korea, Japan or India and unsure who should speak for you there? Book a 30-minute call and we'll run your candidates through the scorecard together.
