Singapore wins UFI Marketing Award

I was very pleased to see UFI's annual Marketing Award come to Asia for the first time. Based on the presentation I saw in Helsinki, Suntec Singapore's campaign was innovative, simple and very well executed. So, a good choice by the judges.

In this picture, Elena Arabadjieva, Director of Marketing Services & Communications for Suntec Singapore, is accepting the trophy from UFI President Tom Beyer and Berislav Cizmek, UFI Marketing Committee Chairman. Semi-finalists for the 2006 competition were: CES, USA; CeBit, Hannover; Excel, London; Messe München, Munich; RAI, Amsterdam, and Suntec, Singapore.

Update: Read the full press release here.

Problems still not solved

We posted last November on the negative impact on business events of the post-9/11 tightening of visa procedures which has made the US an unappealing destination for many travellers. I was interested to see, then, the MeetingsNet site reporting on a Congressional panel meeting in which the problem is clearly reported to be remaining a major issue.

"Travel and tourism industry leaders last week told a Congressional panel that the United States still faces a daunting task in attracting international visitors", it says. It goes on to note that "...overseas traffic into the United States was down 16.5 percent in 2005 from its peak in 2000, when 51.2 million travelers visited the U.S".

On the road again

Last week in Sri Lanka, speaking at a workshop organised by the Sri Lanka Convention Bureau and ICCA. Now on the road again, heading to UFI's Summer Seminar in Helsinki. I'll try to post a bit on both but it may be a while before we're back to normal.

Marketing jobs online in Asia

Interesting to see in an e-mail today that Haymarket's Media magazine, based in Hong Kong, is branching out into the online employment business. The new site is linked with the UK Brand Republic branding.

Media has done good, solid business for many years with the traditional trade magazine staple of classified job ads for the advertising, PR and marketing industries. The revolving door nature of those trades helps to keep business good of course. Now, presumably, the Haymarket team are taking pre-emptive action to make sure that they can keep that business as it inevitably migrates online.

Having a Digg with Hugo

Hugo E. Martin in Germany has been leading the charge with a number of innovations in the B2B media consulting field. His was certainly the first B2B blog I started to look at and he kindly provided both direction and encouragement when I started this one.

So, I am intrigued by the news of his latest venture, b2b-media and publishing, which he describes as a "Digg-like Website".

I'm honestly not sure he will achieve the critical mass of activity required to make something like this work in the B2B field. We're not dealing with real enthusiasts here (or are we?). However, it's very good to see somebody pushing the boundaries of how we work and communicate to see what works and what doesn't. I for one will certainly keep an eye on it and, time permitting (in short supply right now I'm afraid), try to contribute.

Busy week for Reed in China

It's been a busy week for the Reed Exhibitions China team. We reported just two days ago on its gaming show venture with the AGA. Now we see that it is working through its Reed Huayin JV in Shanghai to hook up with the China National Machine Tool Corporation and Capital Exhibition Services on what they're calling "China's foremost Machine tool exhibition" - China International Machinery & Equipment Show (CIMES).

Chirac-san search plans

John Battelle points us towards news that the Japanese government is taking a leaf out of the Chirac playbook - rarely a good plan - and ponying up government funds to develop a Japanese search engine to fight back against the global domination of those nasty Google and Yahoo! people. Too late boys, too late.

It has been an unkind maxim among Hong Kong investors for years that, as they are usually so slow to arrive, Japanese funds coming into a strong market are a good sign that it has run it's course and it's time to sell. So, perhaps, the great search bull is about to be neutered. We shall see...

Rolling the dice in Macau

Neat little acquisition here in Macau: Reed and the American Gaming Association (AGA) have teamed up to buy the Australasian Gaming Machine Manufacturers Association's Asian Gaming Expo which is currently underway at the Macau Tower. It will be re-branded G2E Asia, bringing it into line with AGA's events in the US and, in 2008 will be able to move into the more spacious surroundings of the Macau Venetian.

Call me cynic if you will, but I find myself less mystified now by the stories appearing in local newspapers at the beginning of the week from the expo's current organisers bemoaning the lack of space in the Macau Tower and saying that many more stands could have been sold if only there were a bigger hall.

Indian business newspapers

There's certainly no lack of ambition among the backers of new business papers in India. Exchange4media.com reports on the latest project with a new business paper in Delhi. Initial print run for the new paper is reportedly 35,000 with the backers targeting 75,000. Perhaps not surprisingly, given its base in the national capital, ‘Political & Business Daily’ will devote 1/3 of its space - 6 pages - to politics.

While new newspapers jostle for position, we reported back in April that business magazines are losing readers. To newspapers? Probably not...

HK reports strong trade fair growth in 2005

Hong Kong is one of the few places in the world publishing detailed (and, we think, pretty accurate) statistics about its exhibitions industry. It has just released 2005 numbers and they show good growth in total space sales - up 9% - and very strong growth in visitor numbers - up 34%.

The city was still space-constrained for the period covered by these stats as AsiaWorld-Expo didn't open until December. We can expect really stunning numbers in 2006 as the existing fairs have been doing pretty well and many of the new ones at the new venue look pretty solid too.