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| The Forbes Team from Weber Shandwick
with Steve Forbes |
Weber Shandwick in Australia was appointed as the official public
relations counsel for the recent Forbes Global CEO Conference held
at the Sydney Opera House. The conference was the biggest ever gathering
of business leaders in the southern hemisphere and was attended
by over 350 of the world's leading CEOs.
As the official PR partner for the Forbes Conference, Weber Shandwick
was responsible for arranging all speaker and conference profiling
opportunities, together with managing media accreditation and putting
in place and executing a stringent issues management plan.
There were a number of challenges that the team had to overcome
including the communication implications of a loud group of protestors
that were determined to disrupt the conference proceedings. Thankfully,
the conference went ahead without disruption.
Weber Shandwick was successful in attracting top tier international
and local media. While coverage is still being tallied, the PR effort
has been responsible in generating extensive coverage across print,
broadcast and online media and worked to enhance Forbes' profile
within the Australian market. To help add to the credibility of
the conference, Weber Shandwick also secured interviews with several
high profiled speakers including Hernando de Soto from the Institute
for Liberty and Democracy in Peru and other leading academics.
The conference began with a press conference on Tuesday 30 August,
attended by Former Major of New York, Rudolph Giuliani, Steve Forbes,
NSW Premier, Morris Iemma and Minister for Industry, Tourism and
Resources, Ian Macfarlane.
There was also a Gala Dinner, which involved an interview between
Steve Forbes and the Australian Prime Minister John Howard. The
two-day conference concluded with a boat cruise on Sydney Harbour
and a team photo with Steve Forbes.
The team has made several new business leads and despite the challenges,
the conference was a success.
Andrew Pirie, president of Weber Shandwick in Asia Pacific was in
Sydney during the conference and commented: "Although the workload
was extreme, especially given the protest issues, it has raised
the firm's profile significantly among the Australian business and
political establishment."
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| Teens and children at Pele's
Volcano. |
Blazing sun high in the sky, powdery sand, sweet Polynesian songs,
colorful water guns loaded with cool water, refreshing foam…
All this was on offer in Hong Kong in what has been an extraordinarily
hot summer, as part of the Ocean Park Polynesian Summer Splash.
Weber Shandwick in Hong Kong proudly introduced the Polynesian Summer
Splash to media and visitors in July. The team in Hong Kong conducted
a media briefing with a difference on Makapuu Beach, the first ever
"in-park beach", for news and business pages. Children
in Polynesian costumes officiated the launch ceremony with Tom Mehrmann,
chief executive, awarding an ambassador plaque to Tiki, the god
who chases away evil and is a bearer of good fortune. Tom Mehrmann
and the children then moved to "Pele’s Volcano" to
witness its violent explosion. Children enjoyed the foam that exploded
from the volcano which also caught the attention of the media, especially
photographers.
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| Teens were ready to conquer the longest water
tag game in Hong Kong, which stretches 150m. |
Proceeds from the opening night of Polynesian Summer Splash were
donated to UNICEF’s China Children’s Health Fund, which
aims to help children in China live happy and healthy lives. Apart
from the participation of Hong Kong media, Weber Shandwick invited
leading media from Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and Shenzhen to
join the opening of Polynesian Summer Splash.
In addition, a series of tours, tailor-made for lifestyle media,
were arranged. Impressive coverage generated from these media tours
further enhanced the results of the PR activities carried out by
Weber Shandwick.
Over 150 journalists from Hong Kong, China and the region participated
in our PR events and shared the fun of Polynesian Summer Splash.
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Mothers to be show-off their stretch-mark
free tummies.
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In July, the Taiwan healthcare team organized a consumer event
for the stretch mark cream Galenic, a popular Paris-based brand
targeted at mothers and pregnant women.
To communicate the message that Galenic is a helpful tool to eradicate
stretch marks, a fashion show was held with mommies-to-be showcasing
their stretch mark free tummies. The team worked closely with Mom
Baby, a magazine for new mothers and mothers-to-be, in selecting
seven finalists to participate in the actual fashion show.
As the event was held on the weekend, the Taiwan team was faced
with the double challenge of attracting a consumer crowd and securing
media attendance. To stimulate both consumer and media interest
and to show the effectiveness of the product, mommies-to-be dressed
in bikinis and strutted down a catwalk, proudly showing off their
pregnant tummies.
This consequently sparked plenty of interest from print and TV,
and provoked passers-by to stop. A huge crowd gathered to support
the mothers while Chun-chun Chang, an exercise guru in Taiwan, taught
the mommies and their partners a specially devised exercise to be
used in conjunction with Galenic’s stretch mark cream.
The event attracted over 200 people in total with 29 members of
the media in attendance including five TV stations—an impressive
figure, especially considering that the event was on a weekend.
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| STX Pan Ocean's dry bulk carrier |
Weber Shandwick in Singapore recently provided public relations
support for the successful IPO for STX Pan Ocean Co., Ltd. (STXPO),
a leading Korean shipping company in the dry bulk sector. The STXPO
listing ceremony announcing the IPO was held on July 14th. With
market capitalization of approximately US$918 million, STXPO raised
more than US$369 million, making it one of the largest IPOs in Singapore
in recent years as well as the largest IPO in the country this year.
This was a challenging project as Singapore's already depressed
equity market had been further impacted by poor investor sentiments
following the bombings in London on July 7th, recent corporate scandals
involving several publicly listed companies in Singapore, and the
disappointing IPO performance of another shipping-related company.
The Singapore team worked closely with STXPO and its financial advisors,
Goldman Sachs and DBS Bank, to develop and implement an integrated
IPO communications campaign which focused on positioning STXPO as
one of the world's leading diversified dry bulk shipping companies
with consistent profits and efficient shipping operations. Another
goal was to provide attractive dividend yield for the IPO, making
STXPO an ideal and stable investment in a time of economic uncertainty
and weak investor sentiments. At the same time, Weber Shandwick
recognized that it was critical to differentiate the dry bulk shipping
sector, from the container shipping sector (perceived as more cyclical
in nature and where there is a current oversupply of related companies).
Weber Shandwick assisted STXPO in planning and executing a comprehensive
and integrated pre-IPO and IPO communications program that included
media relations, advertising, production of collateral materials
and a redesign of the STXPO corporate Web site. Initial meetings
were held with STXPO's management and the financial advisors to
develop key investment messages and outline potential market issues
and responses. Following this, Weber Shandwick implemented a profiling
campaign to increase awareness and understanding of STXPO and its
operations in preparation of the IPO. The team also worked closely
with STXPO and its advertising agency on an advertising campaign.
Despite the challenging market environment, the STXPO IPO secured
strong investor support resulting in oversubscription and raised
US$369 million. On its first day of trading, STXPO shares also increased
7.8 percent above its offer price, giving a boost to an otherwise
dim financial market in Singapore.
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| Smriti Irani is appointed
the WHO-ORS "ChildCare" Angel |
In India, diarrhea kills approximately 500,000 children under five
years of age every year. Most of these deaths can be prevented if
parents administer World Health Organisation-Oral Rehydration Salts
(WHO-ORS) as soon as diarrhea starts and/or after every unformed
stool.
CV|WS is currently engaged in a campaign for ORS which entails popularizing
the use of WHO-ORS in the urban and semi-urban areas of key eight
states in North India, where diarrhea deaths are the highest.
CV|WS’s focus has been to bring partners on board who can help
spread the campaign message. These partners have included: media
companies; celebrities; corporates with high public interface; doctors;
and chemists. The single message that partners communicated was
that WHO-ORS is the first line of treatment for diarrhea among children.
Ongoing research established that mothers were most receptive while
consuming entertainment and that mothers' influence in urban districts
would have a cascading effect through the community, bringing about
faster results.
In-programming in popular television soaps to reach out to the urban
and semi-urban mothers was a proven technique. The popular Indian
television serials like "Astitva", "Kasauti Zindagi
Key" and "Sarrkar" had the messages of ORS woven
into their scripts.
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| Special postal cover
released by Indian Postal Department to mark national ORS Day
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Celebrities with great credence have also been a very effective
medium to communicate socially important messages. The agency negotiated
with Smriti Irani, popularly know as "Tulsi" to spread
the message of ORS. CV|WS negotiated with Tulsi to be the goodwill
ambassador for the campaign and to embark on field activities in
48 cities, shoot an advertising campaign and be available for public
messaging of ORS at any time. Tulsi also dedicated her time free-of-charge.
CV|WS also associated with the Indian Postal Department to develop
and unveil a special postal cover to celebrate National ORS day
on July 29, 2005. This was launched by the national health secretary.
The innovation of this special cover particularly impressed the
client.
The campaign has so far been is extremely successful in delivering
the right messages to all parts of the target regions.
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Jogathon warm-up
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| The jogathon winners |
The slogan for the World Asthma Day Jogathon 2005 was a challenge
to all asthma patients – you can live free from asthma symptoms.
For the fourth consecutive year, the Malaysian Thoracic Society
(MTS) organised a public jogathon to commemorate World Asthma Day
while conveying the message that asthma isn’t a deterrent so
long as it is controlled and properly managed.
Weber Shandwick’s involvement was on behalf of the yet-to-be-launched
Asthma Council Malaysia; the team were responsible for introducing
the Council members to media prior to the launch in order to generate
coverage as well as increase the council’s visibility in conjunction
with its first public activity. The Council is funded by GlaxoSmithKline
Pharmaceuticals (manufactures of Asthma treatments Ventolin and
Seretide) and was formed with the intention of highlighting the
importance of long-term asthma management.
Charged with the task of increasing media coverage surrounding World
Asthma Day while raising publicity and participation for the event
itself, Weber Shandwick undertook a three-pronged approach: they
arranged one-on-one interviews with print media; distributed media
announcements cum diary listings; and broadcast interviews.
Registrations, which began one month prior to the event, were initially
poor – after more than two weeks, less than 300 entries were
recorded, out of the targeted 800. The number of registrations however,
took an upturn with the publication of the media announcements and
diary listings in all the major dailies in each vernacular, culminating
a sharp increase immediately following the broadcast interviews
on national TV and radio.
At final count, the official number of participants was recorded
at 950, with more than a hundred additional participants who took
part despite being unable to register.
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| Master class held
at the Shanghai Conservatorium of Music |
Baldwin Piano, one of the oldest and most respected piano makers
in the world, partnered with piano maestro, Mr. Vladimir Viardo,
in his summer tour of China. Weber Shandwick’s Shanghai team
conducted two events as part of the tour.
Viardo is the most established piano educator in the United States
today. As part of the promotional tour, Viardo gave master classes
to young protégés in more than ten cities, including
Shanghai, Tianjin, Xi’an and Chengdu, to celebrate the China
Piano Art Tour of the hundred-year-old Baldwin Piano Company, owned
by Gibson Guitar.
The first event conducted by the Shanghai team was a press conference
for Vladimir’s solo concert "Baldwin Night" at the
Hangzhou Music Hall. There were 100 piano teachers and students
and 35 journalists at the event. Before the concert, Vladimir taught
some of his piano skills to three students, including one very talented
blind boy.
On the last leg of the tour, a master class was arranged at the
Shanghai Conservatory of Music. Over 500 people attended the event
which gained much media exposure with some key lifestyle publications
and radio stations eager to conduct further interviews with both
Vladimir and his students.
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Conference Media Office
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| Speakers at the opening
press conference (from left): Mr. Tadamitsu Kishimoto, Chairman
of the 7th ICAAP Organizing Committee, Mr. Dennis Altman, President
of the AIDS Society of Asia and the Pacific, Mr. Peter Piot,
Executive Director of the Joint United Nations Programme on
HIV/AIDS and Under Secretary-General of the United Nations |
The Japanese healthcare practice has successfully prepared and
executed media relations for the 7th International Congress on AIDS
in Asia and the Pacific (ICAAP) which was held in Kobe, Japan. The
team worked together with the Secretariat of the Congress for approximately
three months, advising the organizers on all aspects of media relations
relevant to an international conference as well as reaching out
to domestic, regional, and transnational media outlets ahead of
the event.
During the five days of the Congress, from July 1-5, three consultants
managed the day-to-day operations of the media center and organized
18 press conferences for various speakers and participating organizations:
among them UNAIDS; the World Bank; UNDP; UNICEF. An official daily
press release was also distributed to the more than 300 journalists.
As the initial interest from delegates was rather low, and participation
from regional media was expected to be minimal, (owing to expensive
travel and accommodation in Japan), it was the organizers’
wish to make sure that both the domestic and attending regional
media covered the Congress thoroughly. In response to this request,
the Japanese healthcare team drew up a media list covering more
than 200 media outlets and sent out preliminary information to them
in the form of media advisories on a periodic basis. During the
Congress, daily contact was also maintained with this group of journalists
by sending them the official press releases and handling their various
requests.
As a result, coverage of the 7th ICAAP has surpassed that of any
previous international conference on AIDS for the Asia Pacific region.
In Japan, more than 400 articles and daily television coverage put
the 7th ICAAP into the field of vision of a largely disinterested
general public. Globally, over 500 English-language articles, more
than 300 Chinese-language articles, and significant coverage in
Spanish, French, German, and Italian resulted from the Congress.
News giants CNN, BBC, and Reuters have also covered ICAAP in print
and on air as well.
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| Dr John Ang, Vice President, Professional
and Regulatory Affairs, J&J Vision Care, Asia Pacific (left);
Miss Lily Li (middle); and Ms Rita Lip, Business Director, J&J
Vision Care Hong Kong (right), officiate the launch ceremony
at the press conference. |
Sufferers of astigmatism, who do not have appropriate correction
lenses can suffer from headaches, eyestrain, distorted images and
blurry vision at all distances. New astigmatic contact lenses, ACUVUE
ADVANCE for Astigmatism, with Accelerated Stabilization Design (ASD),
is the first astigmatic lens to feature HYDRACLEAR technology that
provides long-lasting comfort to contact lens wearers.
Having successfully completed a public relations campaign for ACUVUE
ADVANCE with HYDRACLEAR in November 2004, Weber Shandwick was appointed
by Johnson & Johnson Vision Care (Hong Kong) this year to introduce
ACUVUE ADVANCE for Astigmatism to both eye care professionals (ECPs)
and local media. An ECP launch and press conference were held on
28 June at Langham Place Hotel.
The Weber Shandwick team in Hong Kong proposed and executed the
idea of conducting an online consumer survey to investigate the
problems that astigmatic contact lens wearers commonly face, via
she.com, the most popular women’s website in Hong Kong. More
than 1,000 current contact lens wearers responded to the survey
in just two weeks.
The survey found that over 90% of astigmatic patients do not correct
astigmatism and over 99% of them want to do so if there is a good
method available. The findings suggested that the launch of this
new product was perfectly tailored to consumers’ needs. The
survey results were announced and well-received at both the ECP
launch event and press conference.
During the press conference, the Weber Shandwick team invited a
local artiste, Miss Lily Li, and three patients to share their experiences
in a trial of ACUVUE ADVANCE for Astigmatism. Their testimonial
further strengthened the endorsement for the breakthrough product.
More than 25 journalists from general news, features and entertainment
sections from print and broadcast media attended the press conference.
Weber Shandwick’s Hong Kong team was highly commended by the
client for their commitment, passion and energy in making the two
launch events a success.
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| A PSP demonstration pod |
Weber Shandwick in Sydney assisted to launch the biggest consumer
product of the year - bringing the highly anticipated PSP™
(PlayStation®Portable) to Australia for Sony Computer Entertainment
Australia (SCE Aust.).
Weber Shandwick created and managed the news briefing and product
unveiling event which was the first opportunity for the majority
of local journalists to give the PSP a test-run. Held on August
10 at the prestigious central Sydney venue, The Sheraton on the
Park, the press event ensured a high volume of editorial coverage
in key publications in the weeks preceding launch day and generated
a real buzz of excitement in the market.
The news briefing created a platform for the heads of relevant partners,
including the local Australia Sony Group of Companies, the Key Australian
retailer and software and content providers, and SCE Australia to
outline their plans for the new product and category. This was followed
by a separate "unveiling" event where journalists could
get their first taste of the full functionality of the PSP - everything
from downloads to movies. And, of course, great games!
The event was a huge success and was attended by more than 120 journalists
from across Australia as well as TV broadcasters and representatives
from every major metropolitan newspaper in the country that cover
business, finance, marketing and general consumer news.
"Already, we've seen phenomenal coverage across a broad spectrum
of media with the PSP being loudly credited as heralding in a new
revolution in how we view and consume entertainment today,"
said Emma-Jane Granleese, creative director and senior vice president
of Weber Shandwick's consumer technology team in Sydney.
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