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The fantastic ceremonies and great sporting achievements of the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games might still be fresh in our minds; however, the Tokyo office of Weber Shandwick is already focusing on the Olympic Games in 2016.

While most of the world tuned in to see the achievements of athletes in Beijing, the Tokyo 2016 Bid Committee—with the support of Weber Shandwick consultants from Tokyo, London, and Beijing—sought to secure global media attention with a press conference launching its new international communication campaign centred around the theme, “Uniting Our Worlds.”

In the presence of more than 100 media at the Beijing Grand Hyatt, Tokyo 2016 presented its Games concept and plan and a brand new video. Entitled “Musubi Sashes,” the video shows coloured sashes flying around the city of Tokyo, ultimately joining each other in the sky over the heart of the city, forming a five-colored musubi (Japanese ceremonial knot)—the logo of the Bid. A team including Dr Ichiro Kono, CEO and chairman of the Bid, and Tsunekazu Takeda, president of the Japanese Olympic Committee, participated in the Bid’s presentation and then answered journalists’ questions.

The launch received great coverage, as did Tokyo 2016’s exhibition at Japan House, featuring a virtual fly-through of the proposed Tokyo 2016 venues and information from environmental technology to Tokyo’s culinary riches. The communications team of the Bid also responded to more than 50 interview opportunities during the Olympic Games and organised a very successful social gathering for the media in a Japanese restaurant.

In the Autumn, the Bid’s activities will become even more dynamic as Bid leaders will travel to five continents in order to present their plans in front of the continental gatherings of National Olympic Committees. Weber Shandwick’s global network, led by the Tokyo office, is well-equipped to support them in this journey.

Weber Shandwick Taiwan organised a media gathering for client Energizer to launch their tiny new AAAA Alkaline battery and to leverage the presence of top executives who were visiting Taipei to further develop their partnership with OEM. The event provided updates of Energizer’s OEM strategy, market strategy, business operations and product roadmap and presented an opportunity for Jon Eager, director of OEM marketing, to communicate the suitability of the AAAA battery for small-size electronic devices to local IT/trade media.

Executives were able to share successful OEM collaboration cases and explain how these cases worked—satisfying media curiosity regarding how the new battery would fit into an OEM strategy. The brief went beyond this by educating local media about the new and improved features, capabilities and retail potential of the battery. Energizer predicts that the new AAAA will significantly influence electronic devices’ design and manufacturing in the future.

The gathering saw exceptional media attendance. A total of 14 reporters from 12 media attended the event, exceeding previous estimates. The interaction between media and Energizer executives was jovial and use of an interpreter meant that there were no issues with communication. Those media that attended were very responsive to the briefing and raised many questions demonstrating deep technological insight.

In June 2008, Nike began promoting its annual summer basketball campaign in China. Known as “Unstoppable Basketball”, the campaign took place across several locations: from the USA B team’s event held in New York to the Sky Cage Basketball tournament held in China from July to August, as well as a “Zhan Qilai” exhibition in Shanghai.

For this campaign, Weber Shandwick Shanghai developed a three wave communication plan that included products, athletes and Nike basketball brand messages. A total of over 200 print clippings and more than a thousand instances of online coverage were generated. Among these, Nike has dominated magazines with 15 magazine front-covers, which included top basketball magazine Slam and NBA Inside Stuff.

This campaign delivered Nike basketball brand messages to Chinese consumers in the lead up to the 2008 Beijing Olympics and has helped the brand maintain its dominance in the Chinese basketball market.

This summer’s competitive spirit lived on in runners everywhere with Nike’s TheHumanRace, the world’s largest one-day running event. The multi-city event took place on 31 August 2008. In Shanghai alone participation was 15,000 by the early morning. The day ended with an awards ceremony/concert that featured famous local artists. Registration fees benefited Sichuan earthquake relief efforts.

Weber Shandwick Shanghai provided proactive PR support for the event in both the warm-up and the race. A pre-event training run organised by the Shanghai team helped create registration traffic. Also, athletes and celebrities were well-briefed for interviews, and the race and a concert were set up for media access.

From 1 May to 1 September, there were a total of 93 media reports including print, digital and TV. Media considered this event to be the first global sporting event after the Olympic Games. And the event helped raise awareness of Nike among Chinese.

The Weber Shandwick Kuala Lumpur office teamed up with Shell Malaysia to hold a Tree Party in the Kepong Botanical Garden, Forest Reserve Institute of Malaysia (FRIM) attended by Malaysia leaders, staff and family. The party was a celebration of the first joint green initiative between Shell Malaysia Trading, Shell Global Solutions, Malaysia, and Shell I.T. International. The event coincided with Shell Safety Day 2008 and World Environmental Day.

Shell’s Malaysia Chairman Dato’ Saw Choo Boon gave the welcome address, in which he emphasised the importance of environmental issues. “Tree planting is one of those community events that can bring out the best in people from all walks of life. Every tree planted helps offset greenhouse gas emissions and gives us oxygen to breathe,” he said. The chairman kicked-off the event by planting a local species of tree called Sindora Coreacea.

Shell staff participated in an ice-breaker session with a light warm-up stretching activity known in Malaysia as senamrobik, organised by Malaysian Nature Society (MNS). Leaders and staff then proceeded to plant their own trees, with children as young as 2 years old joining in, using their own mini gardening tools.

The Tree Party continued with activities and games at the Nature Education Centre in FRIM coordinated by MNS. At the end of the day each participant was given a certificate, signed by Dato’Saw, which dedicated a tree from the day’s planting in their honour.

Weber Shandwick’s Malaysia team was proud to support this green initiative, which illustrated the little changes we can make today to create a better environment tomorrow.

Nationwide public education programme Jiwa Baru (“Renewed Soul” in Malay) stepped up its efforts with Celebrate Jiwa Baru this September, a call to all Malaysians to take a closer look at the problem of drug abuse in their country.

The keynote speaker at the launch was Dr Steven Chow, president of Addiction Medicine Association of Malaysia (AMAM), who stressed the need for greater openness among the community and greater acceptance of individuals affected by drug dependence.

“People with drug problems are shunned, rejected or ignored instead of being treated with compassion. Fighting society’s perception is an ongoing battle but it is necessary. Without greater understanding and compassion, we cannot address the needs of this hidden population, who are desperate for help but unable to seek advice,” said Dr Chow.

To emphasise this message, a documentary on addiction was screened, showcasing testimonials from patients, parents and addiction specialists. The documentary was both factual and emotive, illustrating the impact of drug addiction on the family, challenges that lead to relapse and breakthroughs that are now making treatment more effective.

The event concluded with the announcement of the Jiwa Baru short-film/documentary competition, which was conceptualised as a means to engage fellow Malaysians in celebrating recovery through education and reducing social stigma. The judging panel for the competition was comprised of independent filmmaker Zan Azlee and producer Ng Ping Ho, both of whom have received many industry accolades, as well as Josephine Tan, programme director at the Taylor’s College School of Communication, and Ahmad Izham, chief executive officer of 8tv, a nationwide channel.

Celebrate Jiwa Baru is supported by the Federation of Private Medical Practitioners’ Associations Malaysia (FPMPAM), Addiction Medicine Association of Malaysia (AMAM), Malaysian Psychiatric Association and Schering-Plough Sdn Bhd.

Leading global payment solutions provider, MasterCard Worldwide, recently collaborated with the All-China Women’s Federation to launch the Green Family Campaign.

MasterCard donated environmentally friendly shopping bags and distributed an environment protection brochure that echoed the Chinese government’s call to reduce consumption of plastic bags. The press conference was attended by Tina Chiang, senior vice president and general manager, China, MasterCard Worldwide.

Weber Shandwick Beijing coordinated with MasterCard to organise this event and also the bag’s design and production. The designer of this bag is a renowned local environmentalist, Fat Rabbit Zhouzhou, and each imprint on the bag included the classic MasterCard tagline—“Saving our Planet: Priceless”.

The campaign attached great importance to women consumers, whom MasterCard see as the key decision makers of household expenditure, and whom therefore play a significant role in selecting environmentally friendly products.

At the press conference, held at the recreation centre of the Beijing Asian Games Village, both MasterCard and the Women’s Federation of Chaoyang District awarded certificates to recognise the families that have come on board to support the initiative. As part of the event, these "Green Families" presented tips on "green consumption" to all families in China. These included six ways in which one can help protect the environment through the use of green shopping bags, taking public transport, saving water and energy, waste separation and recycling.

Prepaid Debit debuted as a concept in Taiwan in January 2008. It warmed up the market for a future product launch: the Access Debit Card. On 12 August 2008, MasterCard Worldwide and bank SinoPac officially launched the Access Debit MasterCard, transforming the concept into a real market product. Weber Shandwick Taiwan assisted the conceptualisation of this product, helped to identify key audiences and organised a press conference to announce the launch and communicate key messages.

To showcase the special features of Access Debit MasterCard, Weber Shandwick ensured the event decoration and theme illustrated the multiple functions of the Access Debit Card that that will complement the lifestyle of Asia’s young generation. Also, the team prepared the event with wireless internet so that special guests could demonstrate how to add value to the card online. A total of 26 journalists from 18 media organisations attended the event.

The introduction of the Access Debit MasterCard marked another significant milestone in MasterCard’s payment solutions, which aim to provide a wider range of users with greater accessibility.

When the Disney Channel and Malaysian TV network Astro partnered to produce the Bahasa Malaysia-dubbed version of Disney Channel’s hit movie “Camp Rock”, Weber Shandwick Malaysia was enlisted to generate publicity.

What followed was a press conference at No Black Tie, Kuala Lumpur’s premier jazz club and gastro bar, which was an appropriate venue as it mirrors the musical aura and spirit of the final jam scene in the movie.

Laura E Wendt, vice president and managing director of Walt Disney Television International, Southeast Asia, said “Disney Channel and Astro have partnered to bring Malaysian families a television movie that speaks their language. This movie had an outstanding premiere in the US with 8.9 million households tuning in, and we’re confident the movie will be warmly and enthusiastically received in Malaysia, where families can watch it in either English or Bahasa Malaysia.”

Apart from the Bahasa Malaysia dubbing of Disney Channel’s “Camp Rock”, another initiative was to create publicity for the dubbing of the “Camp Rock” theme song, “This is Me,” sung by local reality TV show “One In A Million” star, Suki.

Both these exciting collaborations were covered in local major dailies and entertainment magazines.