Microsoft Digitally Empowers 4,000 Malaysian Women

At the press conference announcing the grantees of the Microsoft Unlimited Potential Grants	A visit to the YWCA Community Technology Learning Centre	Girls learn computer skills at the new facility

One of the most technologically underserved communities in Malaysia are women. Weber Shandwick recently worked with Microsoft to support its Unlimited Potential (UP) initiative, providing women with invaluable IT skills and resources including cash and software to bridge the digital divide.

Through UP, two women-specific non-governmental organisations (NGOs)—the National Council of Women’s Organizations (NCWO) and Young Women’s Christian Association (YWCA)—received cash grants and Yayasan Salam, the “peace corps” of Malaysia, received valuable software donations.

To highlight Microsoft’s digital inclusion efforts, Weber Shandwick planned for a press conference to announce approximately half-a-million US dollars in cash and software donations through UP grants and software initiative to the three NGOs. The firm also set up media interviews for Akhtar Badshah, senior director of community affairs at Microsoft.

Weber Shandwick and Microsoft arranged for journalists to gather first-hand coverage of girls acquiring IT skills using the UP curriculum through a visit to the YWCA’s Community Technology Learning Centre.

	Ocean Park Campaign Wins Hong Kong Marketing Awards

At the end of 2006, the Hong Kong office took the top gold award at the Hong Kong Management Association's Marketing Excellence Awards for the “Love Hong Kong, Love Ocean Park!” campaign.

The consumer team, lead by Georgeana Fung, have been working with Ocean Park since 2004. Weber Shandwick developed and submitted the award entry in partnership with Ocean Park and were delighted when the client received the top honor.

Since Disneyland announced its plan to launch, Hong Kong was in a fever of excitement. Ocean Park, of 29 years' age, was thought to have run its course and predicted to be fading into the sunset.

Ocean Park, however, decided to take a proactive and bold approach, and with the help of Weber Shandwick the park transformed a risk into an opportunity.

By positioning itself as the much-loved, Hong Kong people's park, which prides itself in connecting people with nature, Weber Shandwick differentiated Ocean Park from Disneyland. In addition, Weber Shandwick promoted the park as a must-visit destination in Hong Kong to capture the increase of inbound tourists caused by Disneyland.

The campaign resulted in a record year for attendance at Ocean Park. Most importantly, there was an effect on the public's perception of the park, which has grown to become one of Hong Kong people’s favorite attractions.

	The Crystal Mirror Appears in Asia

The PR campaign heralded the show’s spectacular performances	The Crystal Mirror brought European tradition to Asian audiences

Bringing together a century-old European tradition of dinner theatres, exquisite cuisine and spellbinding artistic acts, The Crystal Mirror extravaganza premiered in Singapore this March. The show’s producer, Shaksfin Entertainment, appointed the Singapore team to create buzz ahead of this novel and exciting experience.

From the “Mirror Tent” erected by a Belgium tent master on the Padang (a Singaporean landmark) to the orchestration of a five-star gourmet meal by Michelin-star chefs combined with the death-defying performances of 11 world-class artists, The Crystal Mirror upped the ante in multi-sensory entertainment.

	Airways and Fairways: Emirates Sponsors the Malaysian Open

Second from left, Emirates Hole-in-One contest winner	Emirates Golf Clinic with Darren Clarke for the kids at the Assunta Children Society (ACS)

Following its inaugural sponsorship a year earlier, Emirates returned to the golfing fairway a second time as the Official Airline of the Malaysian Open 2007.

Having established a strong presence as an avid supporter of global sporting events, Emirates was determined to further exemplify its commitment to amateur and professional golf tournaments, both locally and globally. The airline wanted to continue building its brand awareness and cultivate a personal relationship with its customers by supporting important local community programmes and networking with its stakeholders.

Weber Shandwick conceptualized a range of activities designed to engage tournament attendees, golfing enthusiasts, the media and corporate guests throughout the duration of the tournament.

Creating opportunities for print media, pitching broadcast interviews and designing a radio contest, the team positioned Emirates as a supporter of international sporting events. Weber Shandwick also hosted an editors networking luncheon with Emirates' Malaysia country manager at the sponsored marquee overlooking the 18th hole. The luncheon saw over 23 senior editorial members from 13 publications in attendance.

Next, the team coordinated a community programme consisting of fundraising for a local charity and an Emirates Golf Clinic, an educational golf curriculum for underprivileged children from the Assunta Children Society (ACS). This was in conjunction with professional golfer and Ryder Cup winner Darren Clarke.

Throughout the tournament, Weber Shandwick displayed Emirates’ distinctive branding on the main scoreboards, welcome boards, entrance and exit structures as well as A-boards located around the course. To further enhance brand presence, the daily activity sheets given to golfers and fans included daily announcements of Emirates activities.

	Online Animation Aimed to Curb Thai Drunk Drivers

Each year, a huge number of road fatalities and injuries caused by drunk drivers mar the festive Thai New Year, or Songkran. LMG Insurance, one of Thailand’s leading insurance providers and a member of the Liberty Mutual Group USA, desired to deliver a powerful “Don’t Drink and Drive ” message.

Weber Shandwick’s team in Bangkok conceptualized a unique media campaign to deliver a very familiar message through a non-traditional channel: online animation.

The animation shows a man drinking excessively in a bar, then getting in his car outside the bar and driving away. After a period of reckless driving, he smashes into a passenger car ahead of him. Police and an ambulance follow.

The provocative animation was passed among friends and family members through e-mail in the days leading up to Songkran to encourage safe driving and specifically discourage drinking and getting behind the wheel.

The campaign successfully helped deliver a serious message as well as help position LMG as a good corporate citizen that is concerned about Thais and social issues.

	Raytheon Flies High at Aero India

Weber Shandwick ensured that new business received media attention

Raytheon Aircraft Company (RAC), the private jet manufacturer of leading brands Hawker and Beechcraft, participated in Aero India 2007 in Bangalore, India; Corporate Voice | Weber Shandwick was on the ground to ensure maximum visibility.

The key objective was to use Aero India 2007 as a platform to create excitement around the Hawker and Beechcraft brands in India. With the presence of big players such as Bombardier and Boeing, it was imperative that the Weber Shandwick team employ creative PR activities to keep RAC in the news. With RAC spokespeople meeting media on the subcontinent for the first time, Weber Shandwick also provided market guidance and media relations support.

Team members organised test flights for media to experience the aircraft first hand. Photographers and broadcast media also got a bird’s eye view—and unforgettable footage.

By arranging one-on-one interviews for RAC spokespeople, and providing exclusive announcements of new orders to a leading daily, Weber Shandwick scored a prominent story in the publication. As a result, Aero India 2007 generated more than 26 media clippings in broadcast and print with an advertising equivalent of USD300,000 for RAC.

	Tokyo Batting for American Major League Baseball

Ryan Howard of the Philadelphia Phillies at an appearance in Japan	A Major League Baseball player conducts interviews in Japan

Our Tokyo office has embarked on a campaign to broaden the appeal of American professional baseball in America beyond its established fan base of young males, to women, the elderly and children. As importantly, it wanted to attract more Japanese companies to the sport as sponsors.

Covering all the target audiences, a team of two female consultants invited a young working mother, a female baseball fan and a former high school baseball player to brainstorm ideas for the proposal. They also revisited activities that they had developed for other sports accounts such as Reebok, FC Barcelona and the Japan Racing Association (JRA). Together with Weber Shandwick in New York, the team also identified up-and-coming stars from Major League Baseball (MLB) who could be recruited as spokespeople in Japan.

The various activities reached their peak during a visit to Japan late in 2006 by three of MLB’s hottest young talents—Ryan Howard of the Philadelphia Phillies, David Wright of the New York Mets and Joe Mauer of the Minnesota Twins—who all took part in the All-Star Series against Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB). Easy-to-understand profiles about their lifestyles and their sport, complete with photos, were created for the players, who were also interviewed by lifestyle magazines that have extensive readership among the target audiences.

	F1 Simulator Selects Top Racer in Sydney

The state-of-the-art simulator was based the AT&T-Williams team Formula 1 show car

Bringing the Formula 1 Grand Prix’s adrenalin-fuelled excitement to Australia, Weber Shandwick in Sydney teamed up with The Royal Bank of Scotland Group (RBS), a global financial services leader and official partner of the AT&T-Williams team, to roll out the global RBS Grand Prix Challenge in March 2007.

Running for two weeks at Customs House, Circular Quay, the RBS Grand Prix Challenge made its first stop in Australia before heading off to Singapore, London, Tokyo and then Hong Kong in the ultimate search for the world’s fastest aspiring Formula 1 driver.

The RBS Grand Prix Challenge calls on all aspiring F1 drivers to set their fastest lap time in a state-of-the-art simulator based around a full-size AT&T-Williams team Formula 1 show car.

Next, the fastest three Australians challenged AT&T-Williams driver Nico Rosberg. The overall winner, Justin Ruggier of Western Sydney, won the chance of a lifetime to travel to Europe and drive a real race car on a real track under the guidance of racing experts and AT&T-Williams drivers.

Weber Shandwick in Sydney developed a campaign that not only drove foot traffic to the event and directed the entire consumer experience on the simulator from start to end, but also launched the RBS Grand Prix Challenge concept to the Australian media. 

The team also developed two key media partnerships, guaranteeing RBS-branded, pre-event publicity and ongoing exposure of this highly popular consumer event on Sydney’s leading radio station, the Daily Telegraph, and CARSguide, Sydney’s leading daily metro newspaper and motoring lift-out.

A press conference took place upon the arrival of AT&T-Williams driver Nico Rosberg for the grand final on Monday, March 12, followed by a series of one-on-one interviews with Sir Jackie Stewart, former F1 champion and RBS global ambassador.

In order to extend the newsworthiness of the campaign throughout its two-week lifespan, on Sunday, March 18, the simulator opened exclusively for the enjoyment of families and children of the Starlight Foundation.

Results from the event included 18 media interviews with RBS and AT&T spokespeople and coverage on major TV networks and newspapers. Featuring prominent RBS branding, the Sydney team calculated the total reach of media and promotions at approximately 14,645,000 viewers.

	MasterCard Reaches Out to Youth Market with CSR Initiative

A poster was designed for the campus talk and photography contest

As corporate social responsibility is gradually becoming a topic du jour in the business sector, our China team worked closely with MasterCard to kick off its inaugural youth financial literacy enhancement program, Youth Education Program (YEP) in 2005, and achieved great success in terms of the creativity of the program, its effective message delivery and resulting media coverage.

In 2006, to further step up on its commitment to the youth in China, MasterCard decided to extend this program further and worked with the team to plan and execute a refined version of YEP in China, expanding the campaign nationwide to include the cities of Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou.

The campaign also leveraged the recent global launch of its Debt Know How website to extend the impact. The whole campaign was divided into six stages: campus survey, campaign launch, campus lectures on credit card use and financial management, campus contest, credit card experience and the wrap-up press conference.

Elements of the 2006 campaign garnered more attention from students and the media than in the previous year. The Priceless® photography contest held among university students not only provided a good platform for students to demonstrate their talents, but also created a good opportunity for MasterCard to share its Priceless® concept with potential card holders of tomorrow.

Weber Shandwick crafted a campus survey to include hot topics of the day that media were interested in, including average income, financial knowledge and spending behaviour of college students. These strategies developed into effective outcomes and received positive and widespread media coverage.

Most of the students in the campaign participated in all the events with great enthusiasm, and the comprehensiveness and relevance of the campaign impressed media.

Weber Shandwick collected approximately 70 pieces of media coverage covering all key messages, and many different media articles picked up the data released in the survey results.

MasterCard and Weber Shandwick are now building on the campaign’s success and continue to work closely to position MasterCard as a socially responsible corporation.

	Smart Devices Enable Smart Living: Microsoft-dopod Joint Product Launch

The performers and models showcase the devices on the stage during the unveiling ceremony	Jason Lim and David Lee showcase the devices with celebrities Feng Jue and Jiang Peilin

Weber Shandwick’s technology team, representing Microsoft’s Communications Mobile Business, helped the launch of dopod C720 and dopod C858 in Beijing. The event was held at one of China’s top social clubs and included a combination of traditional and modern elements.

With the theme “Smart devices enable smart living,” the event highlighted how Windows Mobile smart phones are helping users maintain a balance between work and life. Photos of all previously launched Windows Mobile-powered dopod devices were placed on the walls in the buffet area to underscore the strength of the partnership between the two companies.

David Lee, president and CEO of dopod Communications Corp., and Jason Lim, regional director of Microsoft MED Asia Pacific and Japan, announced the launch and touched on the key features of the new devices, the partnership between the two companies and smart phone trends in China and Asia Pacific. Zhang Shu, Beijing marketing manager of dopod Communications Corp., provided a detailed introduction of the two devices. Wang Dipeng, general manager of Digital China Handheld Devices Business, delivered a speech on Digital China’s partnership with dopod as its first nationwide distributor.

David and Jason kicked off the unveiling ceremony by typing in the words dopod and WM (short for Windows Mobile) on the keypad of a giant mock-up of the dopod C720. A dance and modelling performance artistically presented target users’ work and life.

Two celebrities—model and actress Jiang Peilin and vice president of Tom Online Feng Jue—were invited to endorse the new devices. An interview was organised for the two celebrities to talk about their understanding of smart work-and-life balance as well as their thoughts on Windows Mobile 5.0 and the new devices.

The event received positive feedback from dopod, Microsoft and attending journalists.

	HUGO Targets Freethinkers in Beijing and Shanghai

P&G executives unveil the Hugo Freethinker Man in Beijing	Images of Hugo Freethinkers on display at the event venue

Launched in 1995, HUGO Man has evolved into a top-selling men’s fragrance around the world. Weber Shandwick worked with Hugo on its re-launch campaign to refresh the brand in China.

Creating a HUGO Freethinker Space in Beijing and Shanghai, Weber Shandwick showcased the HUGO spirit to the target audience—a new generation of freethinkers.

The three-day Freethinker Space event in both cities involved media events and consumer gatherings in unlikely venues designed to reflect freethinkers’ different approach to life. Eight Chinese freethinkers took part in the event to tell their stories. The brand space also included featured HUGO fashion, graffiti art, unique performances and information on HUGO’s new face, Jonathan Rhys Meyers.

The whole event, including a party in Shanghai for consumers, became the “talk of the town”, creating buzz among the target audience and reinforcing HUGO Man as a classic, cool brand.

	Hwang-DBS Starts with Southeast Asian Spice

Hwang and DBS recently launched its latest subsidiary in Malaysia, Hwang-DBS Investment Bank. To fill the occasion with unique Asian flare, Weber Shandwick and Hwang-DBS co-conceptualized a theme based on Southeast Asian spices: “When we master the skills to blend their strengths, we can offer something truly unique: Dynamic. Unique. Asian.”
 
The theme of spices was infused into key messages, press and event collaterals, including spice-laden event memorabilia modelled after spice boxes.
 
Weber Shandwick undertook media relations and event coordination management. The press conference, cocktail party and dinner all reflected dynamism, uniqueness and true Asian hospitality.
 
The analogy to spice also communicated the strength and value proposition of the full-fledged investment banking subsidiary to differentiate it in the crowded marketplace and to flavour an otherwise dry financial topic.
 
Media attendance was outstanding, as was the resulting coverage. Satisfaction of the event was truly evident with such comments as “fantastic” and “a truly Asian feat” heard above the clinking of glasses at this unique press conference.

	Bayer HealthCare Enters China Oncology Market

Media Interview with Zhang Wenjie in Beijing	Executives a the press conference in Shanghai

Bayer Healthcare, one of the world’s leading, innovative companies in the healthcare and medical products industry, brought in Weber Shandwick for the launch of its oncology product Nexavar in the China market. The agency’s healthcare team helped organise four press conferences in Beijing, Chengdu, Guangzhou and Shanghai to announce the product.

The press conferences were attended by 90 media, generating 122 clippings nationwide, and 96 percent of reports mentioned Nexavar/Sorafenib and key messages. Print media in 22 cities picked up the news.

The campaign successfully raised the awareness of Bayer Oncology and Nexavar and strongly supported sales. The team in Beijing handled a number of inquiries regarding Nexavar following the news reports generated by the press conferences. Bayer Healthcare was impressed by the outcome of the campaign, and Nexavar’s China launch was listed in the best practice section of Nexavar’s global PR tool kit.

	Olay Introduces a Celebrity

Olay celebrity spokespersons Rui En, Celia and Denise and client Jopa	Members of Weber Shandwick and P&G teams

Olay and the Weber Shandwick team in Singapore staged a glamorous media cocktail event at the trendy Fashion Bar to introduce the newest face of Olay—well known cover-girl and model Celia Teh—and re-introduce established Olay spokespersons, TV personality Denise Keller and singer Rui En.

This was the second phase of the “Right Olay For You” campaign launched last year to distinguish the brand’s three product ranges. Now all three ranges of Olay treatments are represented by well-recognized spokespersons. The campaign helps consumers identify the right Olay product for consumers to protect, defend or renew their skin.

Jopa Malantic, P&G country marketing manager for Singapore, and all three spokespersons appeared on stage, providing entertainment for the media and guests, who also enjoyed cocktails, champagne and canapés.

The evening ended on a high note with compliments all around.

	PR Turns Up the Volume at the 13th Channel [V] Chinese Music Awards

Celebrities and performers at the Channel V Awards ceremony in Shanghai

Weber Shandwick recently carried out public relations activities for Asia’s No. 1 music channel, Channel [V], for its 13th Channel [V] Chinese Music Awards in Shanghai.

For three successive years, Channel [V] and China’s state broadcaster, CCTV, have jointly presented the Channel [V] Chinese Music Awards, the definitive music industry event boasting live performances by top artists from Hong Kong, Taiwan and mainland China. Channel [V] is the first-ever foreign TV service to hold such a large-scale music event in China, and the awards show continues to boost the channel’s popularity among Chinese audiences.

The Shanghai team worked with the client for three months to organise a series of events in Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou, ending in January 2007. The final awards ceremony was held at the Shanghai Grand Theatre and featured 30 notable celebrities.

In addition to attracting more than 1,000 fans and 70 media, the event generated more than 500 media clippings, including full page exposures in print media.

	A Rediscovering Journey for General Motors in China

GM employees at the GM Family Day in Shanghai	GM designers express appreciation to the audience at the GM Designers Night in Beijing

Weber Shandwick worked with General Motors China to develop a corporate image campaign aimed at renewing and strengthening relations with its Chinese employees and partners. The objective was to reinforce GM China’s commitment to its joint venture (JV) partners and fully embrace their individualism while bolstering the sense of mutual cooperation.

Under the theme “Family Pride”, GM China hosted a family-day carnival on a Saturday in the outskirts of Shanghai. More than 1,200 employees and their families attended the event, a first in GM China history. Employees and family members experienced a day of GM China “Pride”, fostering an atmosphere of collaboration, unity and pride in being part of GM.  The post-campaign survey showed a 50 percent increase in positive perceptions GM China.

To show respect for each partner’s identity and culture, GM China hosted an installation art exhibition themed “Together” that commissioned artwork reflecting each JV partner’s unique characteristics. When all pieces were aligned together it showed one harmonious picture, reinforcing creativity and synergy between JV partners and GM China. 

The “Together in Art, Together in Partnership Modern Art Exhibition” attracted more than 2,000 local and foreign visitors during Golden Week (a national Chinese holiday) making it one of the most successful and innovative art exhibitions sponsored by a foreign corporation in Shanghai.

Despite being focused on internal communications, 91 media clippings were generated throughout the exhibition. 

GM China held Phase Two of the corporate image campaign surrounding the Beijing Auto Show in November 2006. GM Designers from around the world demonstrated GM’s technology leadership at “GM Designers’ Night”. The Beijing team arranged for senior executives to communicate the company’s leadership and vision to external audiences, resulting in more than 238 media clips.