PR and digital marketing firm Allison HyperM declared it will transition into an AI-based communications company as part of an AI transformation strategy.

Allison HyperM said on Tuesday it strengthened its C-level leadership by hiring PR professional Kim Jun-kyung (김준경), with 23 years of experience, as chief transformation officer to lead its AI transformation, and narrative communications specialist Byun Jung-hyun (변정현), with 20 years of experience, as chief narrative officer to drive narrative innovation in the AI era.

Allison HyperM said that as AI increasingly automates information and execution, the differentiating factor for an agency lies in adding emotion, empathy and context on top of it through HI, or Human Insights. It said it will focus its capabilities on transformation and narrative innovation, centered on strategic narrative design based on senior experts' experience and insights.

The CTO role to be taken by Kim, a partner, is a newly created position at Allison HyperM. The company said the CTO will pre-emptively respond to structural changes in the agency industry in the AI era and directly design and execute AI-based communications transformations for clients.

Kim said, "Adding empathy and context on top of AI as a tool, or the harmony of AI and HI, will become the core competitiveness of agencies going forward. Through a communications lens, the CTO's key role is to understand clients' challenges in a multi-dimensional way and develop tailored solutions and narratives for each stakeholder."

Byun said he built communications capabilities in the B2B industrial field by working for about 14 years at Samsung Heavy Industries across public relations, marketing and technical sales organizations. He later served for 4 years as a public relations secretary, carrying out strategic communications in the public sector, including policy message design, responses to public stakeholders and crisis management.

Allison HyperM Chief Executive Jeong Min-a (정민아) said, "In an environment where AI tools have been democratized, what ultimately determines an agency's competitiveness is HI, or Human Insights, namely the experience and insights of senior leaders. Following the strategic expansion into AEO and GEO consulting in 2025, in 2026 we will leap into a true AI-native agency with a strategy that combines AI agility with human creativity."