China SAPPHIRE NOW + SAP TechEd Beijing

12
// SPRING 2012 5 12 3 1 8 China SAPPHIRE NOW + SAP TechEd Beijing Imagemaker 6 9 4 2 7 11 10 IN THIS ISSUE... 1// Bao’an District Hits the Bigtime at ICIF China 2// Pico Activates SAP in China 3// GE Healthcare at China International Exhibition and Technical Exchange of Hospital Equipment 4// The Inaugural China International Sports Culture Expo 5// CNTV’s Futuristic Showroom Goes Live 6// Pico Wins Big at the Sultan Qaboos Award for Excellence in eGovernment Services 2011 in Oman 7// CG Stand Wins Best Stall at Elecrama 2012 8// Vanke Showcases New Dongguan Showroom 9// Huawei Continues to Lead at Dublin TeleManagement Forum 10// McDonald’s China Managers’ Convention in Chengdu 11// Barclays Singapore Open a Swinging Success 12// Nissan in the Driver’s Seat at the China (Guangzhou) International Automobile Exhibition 13-17// Insights: Tradeshows are dead? Bullocks! / The Common Denominator / Is being green a load of hot air? / Five Ways To Weaponise Your Brand Storytelling / Exhibit Design Q & A

Transcript of China SAPPHIRE NOW + SAP TechEd Beijing

// SPRING 2012

6

5

12

3

1

8

87

China SAPPHIRE NOW + SAP TechEd Beijing

Imagemaker

6

9

4

2

7

11

10

IN THIS ISSUE... 1// Bao’an District Hits the Bigtime at ICIF China 2// Pico Activates SAP in China 3// GE Healthcare at China International Exhibition and Technical Exchange of Hospital Equipment 4// The Inaugural China International Sports Culture Expo 5// CNTV’s Futuristic Showroom Goes Live 6// Pico Wins Big at the Sultan Qaboos Award for Excellence in eGovernment Services 2011 in Oman 7// CG Stand Wins Best Stall at Elecrama 2012 8// Vanke Showcases New Dongguan Showroom 9// Huawei Continues to Lead at Dublin TeleManagement Forum 10// McDonald’s China Managers’ Convention in Chengdu 11// Barclays Singapore Open a Swinging Success 12// Nissan in the Driver’s Seat at the China (Guangzhou) International Automobile Exhibition 13-17// Insights: Tradeshows are dead? Bullocks! / The Common Denominator / Is being green a load of hot air? / Five Ways To Weaponise Your Brand Storytelling / Exhibit Design Q & A

IMAGEMAKER // SPRING 2012

Pico Activates SAP in China - in a Big Way!

2

SAP turned to Pico to organise and project manage their large and

impressive inaugural China conference. The China SAPPHIRE NOW and

TechEd event was held in Beijing.

The thrust of the event was relatively simple: prove to the audience that

SAP is creating value, innovation and opportunities within China and

for China. However, with 15,000 attendees, there were a vast number

of elements to the conference which called for Pico’s experience and

creativity to ensure a successful delivery.

Pico helped ensure the SAP brand was properly activated by ensuring

the SAP brand message was delivered to the attendees and stakeholders

through the production of keynotes and on-site branded advertising.

The event was extremely successful - reaching over 50 thousand SAP

customers and partners in Beijing and across China. The 15,000 attendees

yielded over 3,800 leads. Media stories abounded, with over 262 unique

stories about the event published in China alone, and other stories

published across the region, by international journalists coming from

India to Japan and beyond.

This great success was due to the level of involvement by Pico in the

planning, design and production of all the essential event elements. From

the project managers who communicated daily with SAP stakeholders on

critical issues to the creative team, who stayed fully briefed on the event

guidelines and design requirements; all members of the Pico team made

sure the highest quality work was delivered to the customer at every

phase of the project.

And that’s what we do best.

- Beijing, China

Pico Organises Huge McDonald’s China Managers’ Convention in Chengdu

2011 saw a big splash of colour descend into the Chengdu International Exhibition and Convention Centre. Complete with trumpet fanfare, a huge

team-building event and a gala dinner - the McDonald’s China Managers’ Convention 2011 made a lot of waves.

With 1,900 participants, the theme of the five-day conference was “Bigger Better Faster”; and thanks to Pico, this event was all three!

This event required all hands to be on deck. We were involved at every level - from the initial creative design and content development, to the pre-event

management of everything from the convention’s budget to the catering; to coordination of transportation and on-site management during the event to

preparing the final accounts after wrap up.

- Chengdu, China

Pico Wins Big at the Sultan Qaboos Award for Excellence in eGovernment Services 2011 in Oman

With Bill Clinton as the guest of honour and His Highness, Qaboos bin Said Al Said the Sultan of Oman as the honourable speaker, the Sultan Qaboos Award

for Excellence in eGovernment Services 2011 held at The Sultan Qaboos University Cultural Centre in December was very much a big deal for the State.

Pico partnered with Visionpro to ensure the success of the event through seamless project planning, management and content development.

With the objective to be recognised and award government institutions for outstanding e-projects in the Sultanate of Oman: one of the key

touch points of the ceremony was to utilise technology. Mr. Clinton himself remarked that “Information Technology is simply the latest in history’s

long list of tools that could be used or abused. Oman has decided to use it”.

To strive towards Oman’s bold objective as the leader in e.technology, Pico, driven by a single coherent core objective, was challenged with less than

three weeks to content development with the unusually tight timeline. While Pico’s efforts did not receive any awards, we do have the distinction of

being the recipient of a commendable speech by the Sultan of Oman himself, complimenting Pico for an excellent job well done.

- Muscat, Oman

The Inaugural China International Sports Culture ExpoThe General Administration of Sports of the P.R. China decided to organise

the first China International Sports Culture Expo and appointed Pico to

be the event organiser. With our wide range of experience and proven

track record, they knew their event would be a success.

Co-organised by the China Sports Culture Development Centre, the China

Olympic Museum and the China Sports Museum; the event ran from 15-18

December 2011. The goal of the first ever China International Sports Culture

Expo was far-reaching: to help build a platform to create awareness of

China’s powerful sporting culture through exhibition, demonstration,

networking and trade activities; and to improve the development of the

sports industry by showcasing the achievements of China’s sports culture.

Pico was not only responsible for the event organisation and setup; but

the press conference, opening ceremony and celebrity autograph signing.

This required an impressive amount of coordination and logistics planning.

Adding to the complexity was the fact that the expo was divided into

a number of unique ‘zones’, including a Sports Culture Display Area -

featuring booths from many of China’s major sports associations; an

‘Extreme Sports Culture Zone’ - which featured performances by

skateboarders and BMX bikers; and an ‘Outdoor Sports Culture Experience

Zone’, where visitors tried out a video golf simulator and the latest in

exercise equipment from Chinese and International suppliers.

- Beijing, China

IMAGEMAKER // SPRING 20124

Nissan in the Driver’s Seat at the China (Guangzhou) International Automobile Exhibition

Pico was appointed to build and project manage the Nissan display at the prestigious China (Guangzhou) International Automobile Exhibition.

To mark the global launch of the new Nissan Venucia, the company wanted to accentuate their themes of ‘innovation’ and ‘leading the future’. At

2,975 square metres, the display was particularly large and needed to be impressive. Pico decided to highlight the futuristic theme with round NET

LED ceiling, large LED screens, round mixed coloured corktiles flooring and a glass lobby.

There were several tricky elements to this project, including the moving LED screens, a ‘shadow dance’ mobile projection screen and the Venucia display’s

two-track points. The complexity of the project required a lot of testing and rigorous emergency backup planning, in case any equipment failed.

Dong-Feng Nissan were so impressed with Pico’s experts’ ability to deliver complexity on time and on budget that we were given a Reuben Award by

their Marketing Department.

- Guangzhou, China

Barclays Singapore Open a Swinging SuccessThe Barclays Singapore Open, organised and promoted by World Sport

Group (WSG) is one of the most prestigious events in the world of golf.

For the fourth consecutive year, Pico was appointed by WSG as the

official infrastructure and technical service provider for the event.

The scope of the contract was vast - from building and fitting-out more

than 10 hospitality suites and grandstand seating to house over 1,200

VIPs and corporate clients at the Serapong and Tanjong golf courses on

Sentosa Island. Pico was also responsible for the design and installation of

sponsors’ suites, Barclays hospitality pavilion a complete media centre for

international journalists, a scoring centre, and not to mention - ensuring

that the logistics for the entire, extremely complex event ran smoothly.

There were a number of challenges, including having to navigate around

the sprawling landscape of the Serapong course to construct the 92

metre long double-storey sponsor suites. With its trademark mounds and

contours, two mammoth lakes with stone-lined walls and a spectacular creek

that slices through the fairway at a 45-degree angle, the uneven terrain

of the golf course posed much technical and engineering complexity

during the construction and build up phase. The design brief foresaw

building a double storey facility on flat ground; but when faced with the

reality of the undulating fairways, the team quickly identified alternative

measures to minimise the loss of production time.

Another obstacle was the existence of a tree on the intended site location

of the media centre and patron’s suite. Despite being given the go-ahead

to remove it, the Pico team chose to conserve the tree and went back

to the drawing board to explore other options. The end result saw the

splitting of the patron suite and media centre into two different structures -

separated by the tree that still stands firmly in its original position. Pico’s

commitment to promoting environmentally conscious design solutions

through conservation and sustainable sources is a CSR activity endorsed

by WSG, and part of our ‘Pico Eco’ philosophy.

As a final pat on the back for Pico, we received this accolade from the

Operations Manager (Golf) of WSG: “The Pico team possesses an uncanny

ability to navigate around challenging situations and have always found a

way to get the job done. They can always be relied on to create relevant

solutions and to connect the dots in the face of difficult situations and

pride themselves in executing their tasks with the highest integrity.”

- Singapore

Vanke Showcases New Dongguan ShowroomVanke is one of the largest professional housing developers in China.

The company has a strong presence in Dongguan, with several local real

estate projects currently in various stages of construction. With so many

projects on the go, the company decided to build the Vanke Dongguan

Showroom to show their customers their large range of products.

As one of the company’s most reliable and trusted partners, Vanke

appointed Pico as the official company in charge of the showroom’s

construction.

This was no ordinary real estate showroom however. At 2,000 square

metres and with multiple independent display areas, the size and

complexity of the project required a great deal of coordination, not to

mention a number of different elements and materials.

Making use of space and light and using technology to maximise interactivity,

and surrounding the entire showroom with lanterns to make it feel like

home, the showroom gives a true picture of the breadth and depth of

Vanke’s many products.

Pico easily met the three month construction timeline and once again

lived up to our client’s high expectations.

- Dongguan, China

GE Healthcare at China International Exhibition and Technical Exchange of Hospital Equipment

Employing the tagline ‘healthymagination’, Pico was appointed by GE Healthcare to bring their brand to life in China at one of the medical industry’s

premier gatherings.

China International Exhibition and Technical Exchange of Hospital Equipment (China-HOSPEQ) 2011 is a crucial platform for the Chinese medical

industry and public health services. The exhibition showcases cutting-edge tools and techniques from across the industry: all designed to create

positive outcomes and secure patients’ lives.

- Beijing, China

IMAGEMAKER // SPRING 20126

Bao’an District Hits the Bigtime at ICIF China

The China (Shenzhen) International Cultural Industries Fair (ICIF) is

an exhibition of the best of China’s culture. As the ‘biggest show in

Shenzhen’, the fair’s mandate is to help China’s cultural industries to go

global, by acting as a channel to help visitors understand China’s rich

and varied cultural development and the current cultural market.

CG Stand Wins Best Stall at Elecrama 2012Crompton Greaves Limited (CG) is one of the world’s leading engineering

corporations. CG was established in 1937 in India, and since then

they have been at the forefront of the management and application

of electrical energy. Elecrama, on the other hand, is the world’s largest

electrical T&D exhibition, held every two years in Mumbai, India.

With Pico’s help, these two legends came together at Elecrama 2012

in January. The concept for CG’s stall this year was ‘Expansive and

Growing’. Featuring sectional arrangements of growing verticals with

large amounts of wall and podium space for product displays, the

stall was covered by a huge, tree-like floral printed ceiling, emphasising

CG’s commitment to ecology, power saving and the environment.

CG carefully worked through all the elements of its stall, and gave

Pico a lot to work with: the open concept of the stall represented

the company’s transparency, the rich colours used signified CG’s

young and fresh approach, while the mezzanine level added ‘a dash

of aristocracy’ - housing the VIP lounge and discussion rooms.

Finally, the entire range of the company’s products were on display

in various electronic and physical formats, ensuring a wealth of

information was available to any visitors who stopped by. Both CG’s

CEO and Managing Director were on hand to answer any questions.

Thanks to Pico’s careful planning and comprehensively thought-out

approach and Pico’s flawless execution of the client’s vision; CG’s

Elecrama stall won Best Stall in the Bare Space Category at the show.

- Mumbai, India

Each of mainland China’s 31 provinces, autonomous regions and

municipalities as well as Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan send delega-

tions to the annual show.

Bao’an District, to the northwest of Shenzhen is the Special Economic

Zone’s second-largest administrative region. For ICIF 2011, the Bao’an

District Government turned to Pico to design and build their 774

square metre stand.

Working with a bold red theme, Pico used a grand arch shape

to symbolise the recent rapid economic of Bao’an District. Plan-

ning the use of space and the layout of the stand required a lot of

creativity, as 24 different sub-stands needed to be located within

the main stand; and given the short production time - Pico had to

leverage all its assets to ensure the stand was on-time and looked

perfect.

The efforts paid off and the Bao’an District stand attracted many visi-

tors, including the mayor of Bao’an himself!

- Shenzhen, China

CNTV’s Futuristic Showroom Goes LiveChina Network Television (CNTV), China’s national web-based TV broadcaster, has

been a huge success in the Internet world. To reflect their accomplishments, CNTV

turned to Pico to boost their profile in the physical world and deliver a showroom

worthy of a world-class dual platform service provider.

The showroom highlighted CNTV’s focus on reprocessing and repackaging traditional

TV programming to produce a novel ‘interactive TV viewing experience’.

Taking this theme forward, Pico decided to make the showroom as interactive as

possible. With dozens of computers and live monitors arranged around the 128

square metre showroom at their office in Beijing, streaming live webcasts, the new

showroom captures the essence of CNTV’s fast-moving and exciting style.

- Beijing, China

Huawei Continues to Lead at Dublin TeleManagement ForumTeleManagement Forum (TMF) is a global non-profit industry association

which aims to simplify the complexity of running a service provider’s

business. As an established industry thought-leader, the Forum serves

as a unifying force, enabling more than 850 companies across 195

countries to solve critical business issues through access to a wealth of

knowledge, intellectual capital and standards.

At the same time, Huawei is also an industry-leading global information

and communication solution provider. Huawei’s products and solutions

are used in over 140 countries, and serve over one-third of the globe’s

population. Huawei became a TM Forum member in 1999 and this year,

they won an Industry Leadership award.

Pico was appointed to build 81 square metre two-storey Huawei’s booth

at TMF Dublin, held at the Convention Centre Dublin.

- Dublin, Ireland

Pico Awarded Hong Kong Smoke-Free Grand Award

Pico Hong Kong has been awarded the Hong Kong Smoke-free Leading

Company Grand Award. This illustrates the strength of Pico’s commit-

ment to maintaining a healthy and smoke-free working environment for our

staff members.

The Smoke-free Workplace Leading Company Awards were first organised

by the Hong Kong Council on Smoking and Health (COSH) in 2004 to

encourage the business sector to proactively set up smoke-free workplaces

for their employees, as part of a wider effort to improve public health.

Pico has been a strong supporter of the Council’s work, and is proud to

have their comprehensive employee health protection efforts officially

recognised. The honour is especially great this year, as out of a field of 213

participating companies, Pico is one of only 15 companies receiving the

Grand Award.

The Grand Award was presented by Dr York Y N Chow, GBS, JP, Secretary

for Food and Health to Mr K D Ho, Executive Director of Pico Hong

Kong at a ceremony on 14 March.

Creating and maintaining a smoke-free environment for our staff

underlines Pico’s core brand values of excellence and harmony. A

healthy and sustainable natural environment is also part of our ‘Pico

Eco’ philosophy. By going above and beyond what is required of us, Pico

is safeguarding the health of its people, and by extension, safeguarding

the company.

- Hong Kong, China

Insights: Five Ways To Weaponise Your Brand Storytelling - Mike Walsh

Right now, as you read this, the world’s most dangerous symbol is only

inches away from your eyes. That small blue thumbs up icon may look

harmless enough, but believe me - some things are more dangerous

because they are deceptive. The future of social media is not chasing

friends and followers, but rather influencing what they are talking about.

Here’s my prediction - your most important decision this year will not be

the amout of money you spend recruiting fans on Facebook, but rather

the investment you make in the stories your brand tells its customers

about what it stands for.

When a fighter jet approaches an aircraft carrier to land, after a high

gee turn to throw off speed, they then do the unthinkable - they rev to

full throttle. The idea is simple. If the jet misses the arresting gear wire,

it needs enough velocity to take off again. Stranger still, is the fact that

I learned this not from talking to a pilot but the marketing director of

IWC watches in Geneva. At the SIHH watch fair this year, IWC staged

an incredible, immersive brand environment that created the illusion you

had stepped on board a high tech naval vessel - aided with a cast of real

life Top Gun veterans and celebrities - all recruited to do the one thing

that luxury brands do better than just about anyone else - tell sophisticated

brand stories to sell their products.

According to Karoline Huber, head of marketing at the Swiss watch brand,

IWC tells two kinds of stories to attract its customers. There are horizontal

stories that establish heritage, explain provenance and reassure customers

of the brand’s long history of quality, engineering and authenticity. And

then there are vertical stories - annual themes like military aviation, deep

diving, ship navigation or Italian south coast lifestyle - that support specific

product lines and provide a contemporary edge to the core brand values.

In the luxury industry, stories are what establishes a brand’s prestige - not

just because they defend premium pricing, but because they provide

something for their customers to believe and talk about.

So why should this matter to you? Luxury brands are one thing - but

you sell washing machines, industrial tunneling machines, legal services

or mortgages. Truth is - whatever business you are in - if you want to

engage your customers on the new social platforms, you need to think

very deliberately about what you want them to talk about. Unfortunately,

it is no longer enough to just hire a team of copywriters to invent clever

fictions about your brand. In the near future, you need to start thinking

about how you can turn your stories into weapons in the war for attention.

Here are five ideas to get you started:

1. Build A Dedicated Content Team

The worst thing you can do is outsource your storytelling and content

to your marketing agency. Think seriously about bringing your content

resources in house - even if it just some good editors to drive strategy. If

you don’t have them already - you need a strong set of video assets for

YouTube, reguarly articles for your blog and newsletters, whitepapers

and controversial thought pieces, and other interesting things for people

to share on their networks.

2. Close The Loop

Storytelling may seem like an art, but these days it is also a science.

Spend time understanding the new tools of inbound marketing, and

track which articles and videos attract the most leads, and which of

those leads end up becoming customers. The platform integration and

data analytics can be tough to implement, but when you can understand

exactly what types of content really engage and convert consumers - it

will transform the way you think about how you allocate marketing

funds.

3. Bring In The Anthropologists

You may know what kinds of stories you want to tell, but what stories

are your customers already telling each other about your products? How

are these stories changing, and what is driving these changes? All of

these may be anthropological questions, but they are certainly not

academic ones. Immerse yourself in your customers lives and you will

gain critical insights into how to make your brands truly part of them.

4. Leverage Pinterest

The persona board is a favourite tool for brand experts. They are a quirky

way of illustrating a consumer segment through a collage of products,

pop culture and activities that best represent them. Spend some time

on Pinterest and you will realise that the future business model of that

platform may lie in the incredible data on product and brand affinity

it offers marketers. As a very early example, check out the Women’s

Inspiration Day campaign by Kotex in Israel (http://www.youtube.com/

watch?v=UVCoM4ao2Tw), where the brand used Pinterest to find out

what inspired fifty women from their pin-up boards and sent care packages

based on their contents.

5. Global Values, Local Context

The most compelling stories always have a local twist, and social media

is no exception. I’ve been watching for some time how global brands

like Converse have successfully engaged new consumers in markets like

China by contextualising global brand values with hyper local content

strategies. And in emerging markets, local celebrity endorsement whether

on Weibo in China or Orkut in Brazil - is a critical part of local engagement.

Social platforms may standardize in many markets, but consumers will

retain a very native perspective on the content and individuals that

influence them. Global CMOs will have the increasingly tough challenge

of navigating the tensions between global values and local context - but

the companies that become adept at this, will be clear winners in the

digital space.

When I wrote my book Futuretainment a number of years ago - I predicted

that brands would need to behave more like media companies, and

media companies more like brands. If anything, that is truer than ever.

When so many are competing for 140 characters of consumer mindspace,

brands have to be both deliberate and ruthlessly strategic about how

they craft and articulate their stories in order to get cut-through.

As usual, Oscar Wilde’s said it best - ‘the only thing worse than being

talked about is not being talked about at all.’

Mike Walsh is the author of

Futuretainment and a keynote

speaker on future trends. You

can read more at http://www.

mike-walsh.com

IMAGEMAKER // SPRING 20128

Insights: Exhibit Design Q & A - Jerry Firbank

Jerry Firbank, Pico Concept in UK’s Chief Creative

Officer, was recently interviewed by Exhibitor Magazine.

He has been an active inventor and exhibit designer

since the 1960s, and has designed everything from

exhibits, pavilions, and retail spaces to public and

private events. His work has received awards from

EXHIBITOR magazine as well as the UK Queens Award for Industry. He

shared his thoughts on the shape of the exhibit-design industry in general

and the RFP process in particular.

Q1 : If you had a catch phrase about exhibit design to share with

exhibitors, what would it be?

“It’s not what it is — it’s what it does.” It’s not enough for an exhibit to

look nice or be appealing. It has to perform. Good design should be a

given, however, ingenuity with customer engagement isn’t a given and is

often sadly missing. Make an impression on attendees with your exhibit,

with a prominent brand statement, modern, appealing architecture,

lights, color, movement, and style. It’s not enough to just leave it to the

sales team, some demos, and a meeting room.

Q2 : Obviously, making an impression on attendees at a trade

show is priority numero uno for most exhibitors. Do you have any

advice on how to increase engagement?

Engagement with attendees is won or lost in the first few seconds. People

want new information, things that they don’t already know, to hold their

attention. Build an innovative initiative to provide information in a way

that is new, exciting, and memorable. And keep in mind that a majority

of any engagement at an event is lost upon parting. Develop and manage

a follow-up process with post-event activity, such as mailers, phone calls,

e-mails, etc., to build opportunities for future engagement.

Q3 : What do you wish exhibit managers knew (or did) to better

facilitate the exhibit-design process?

Exhibit managers should determine a far more sophisticated,

experienced, and qualified method for assessing a creatively strategic

and tactical bid proposal via a professional selection process.

Corporate selection committees typically don’t have the time or

resources to fully understand, quantify, and assess the large numbers

of bids that they request through RFPs. For example, in a typical RFP

process, exhibit houses are asked to spend large sums of money to design

a proposed exhibit, which often has no stated budget and no real

direction regarding the desired response from attendees. What’s worse,

all this is done with little or no interaction between the exhibit designer

and the company requesting the bid.

While it seems like a good idea to get designs and responses from a lot

of exhibit houses, it can really distort the outcome. The reality is that

the best companies in our industry are the ones that ask the toughest

questions upon receiving the RFP, and are the ones least likely to bid.

The real exhibit-industry experts add true value to a company’s exhibit

program because they’ll take the time to learn about the company’s

challenges and objectives.

Source: Exhibitor Online

http://www.exhibitoronline.com/topics/designerQA-archive.asp

IMAGEMAKER // SPRING 201210

CES, the world’s largest consumer technology tradeshow, is always a

highlight of the year for me. Not only do you get to see some great

work from some of the most creative minds in the event and exhibitions

industry, but you also get to check-out some new technologies that can

be potentially used in future work.

I didn’t get to go this year so I spent a bit of time recently online trying

to catch some of the action. There was a lot of buzz about Microsoft

announcing that CES will not be as important in their plans beyond 2012.

Related articles had quotes like “the final nail in the coffin” or “tradeshows

are dead”. I think that such turns of phrase make catchy headlines, but for

a topic that has been regularly discussed over the years, I was again left

wanting for an intelligent argument in support of the hype.

While some event organizers are letting their shows become extinct

through a lack progress or change, many are far from dead. In fact,

many brands would suffer negative consequences to their business if

these shows were to disappear. Someone from IBM once told me that if

it was not for Sibos, he would need to work four times as hard, because

the tradeshow was guaranteed to bring almost all of his clients under

one roof. Tradeshow equity is, in large part, made up of how they

contribute to how an industry runs.

For Asia, we can learn a lot from what is happening in tradeshows

in Europe and North America because the maturity of many regional

tradeshows is less than these markets. It is not that the older tradeshows

are becoming obsolete; instead they are simply losing relevance to some

sponsors and exhibitors. This is perfectly natural. As some exhibitors

leave, new ones come along. New industries will require the creation of

new tradeshows. It’s not Armageddon; it’s just life.

For would-be sponsors and exhibitors in places like North America, they

get to a point where they already know who their customers are and

decide that they no longer need to aggressively look for new ones. In

such situations, scaling back investments or reallocating to spend to

other types of events or relationship building activities makes sense.

In developing markets where you need to reach new customers, then

tradeshows work as a platform to introduce you to new markets and

prospective customers. Or in the case of Sibos, they provide a very

important part of doing business on a global scale. Sometimes simple

economics explains why tradeshows are dropped (i.e. budget cuts and

discretionary spend).

Whatever the catalyst for change, there is usually a negative side effect

from not participating. It is simply a matter of working out which is the

lesser of two evils.. Microsoft is a perfect example of this and they did

the right thing by going to great lengths to communicate the thoughts

and rationale behind the change in their participation in CES going

forward. They realized that if they were not to show-up next year, this

would send tongues wagging about why. Would it mean that Microsoft

are going under?

Some within the events industry have often used hype to advocate

spending on proprietary events or small targeted brand experiences. I

am not saying that such events don’t have a place. My company does

these for clients because they are the right tactics to deploy in the right

circumstance. However, I feel that tradeshow protagonists often have

ulterior motives and I question how genuinely they are concerned about

your business and brand. Be warned!

The simple fact is that tradeshows offer a unique business opportunity

for brands and they always will. Brands often need to work out how to

make them more relevant to your current or future needs by leveraging the

equity that many tradeshows have in different ways. For some, guerilla

marketing efforts are popular as they leverage the draw of the tradeshow,

but allow the creation of exclusive brand experiences offsite.

Ultimately, I really believe that there is an onus on brands to push event

organizers to provide them what they need. Just don’t believe the hype

that some in the industry are spreading! Many event organizers are willing

and open to explore ways to make their shows better and relevant.

Often new ways of participation are simply needed to make tradeshows

a better part of your marketing mix.

Tyronne O’ Callaghan has more than 12 years’

marketing experience from events to data planning

and is currently the Director of Brand & Strategy

at Pico Group. He provides strategies and insights

for many renowned global brands and in particular

creating engaging and integrated brand experiences

across multiple platforms.

Source: Campaign Asia Online

http://blog.campaignasia.com/tyronne-ocallaghan/tradeshows-are-dead-

bullocks/

Insights: Tradeshows are dead? Bullocks! - Tyronne O’Callaghan

Insights: Is being green a load of hot air? - Tyronne O’CallaghanEarly in my career I worked at a small boutique agency in Sydney called

McCorkell & Associates. At the time we specialised in marketing

communications for the ICT industry and during the late 90’s it was

a booming business. Every year there was something new. A piece of

software that would revolutionise the way we would work. A piece of

hardware that was larger in capacity, but smaller in size and more secure

than all the rest. One year there was Y2K – that crafty date bug that

was going to lead to Armageddon!

This was the agency where I learnt many things about my trade. It was

also the place where I first begun to question how genuine a trend was

or if it simply just hype. To this day, I still don’t know how much of a

problem Y2K was. It certainly did not lead to a world meltdown. Was it a

job well done or just a whole lot of hot air? I don’t know.

Every now and then I find a subject matter where I struggle to form an

opinion on. It’s not that I am being impartial; it is simply that I just don’t

see any evidence that helps me form an opinion one way or another.

Today, I feel that being green in marketing leaves me in that same no

man’s land of opinion.

In 2007/2008, I was working with a number of different clients on how

to make their events and exhibitions greener. Virtual events were being

touted as the green way forward. Buzzwords such as paperless environments

or low carbon events were rampant. Being green often meant being

more expensive, but many clients were willing to pay more to be green

back then.

A personal observation – then the GFC hit and all has gone quiet! Cost

became the primary decision maker.

I appreciate that at the time it was a matter of survival. Discretionary

spend is the first thing that gets cut. However, 3-years on and I am still

not seeing any signs of sustainability practices in marketing becoming

main-stream – beyond that of paperless environments. This is certainly

the case in my industry and I have not observed it too much in others.

Even fly-in and fly-out events are becoming popular again!

This is not to say that being green in marketing has not continued. It is

simply an observation based on of lack of observations. I see huge efforts

by brands to make the manufacturing of products greener and

more sustainable. Is it just that these stories are taking center stage? Or

is it a matter of “green blushes” – the want for marketers to be seen

as authentic in their sustainable practices which makes them shy about

talking about them?

What does inspire me is the effect when government legislates or

mandates sustainability practices. For those brands sponsoring the

London Olympics, they and their agency partners are being challenged in

ways like never before by the One Planet Living concept and the London

Organising Committee of the Olympic Games (LOCOG) sustainability

approach – which is a good thing. Through the creation of a necessity

to be sustainable, new approaches, techniques and materials are being

explored. I just hope that these just don’t stop at the end of the games,

but continued to be applied elsewhere.

Event and exhibitions must be one of the least green out of all types of

marketing tactics. When phrases such as build and burn are commonly

used by clients to describe exhibition stand builds in Asia you know that

there is a lot of room for improvement. However, I fail to believe that

there could not be progress in this industry or in marketing as a whole

within the region.

I do fear that we may have gone backwards in the last few years.

Perhaps, it is that we lost the momentum created by government policy,

corporate desire and consumer demand all being aligned and united by

the global warming debate. However, I am not sure if we actually have.

I see sustainability in the CSR policy of some of my clients, but fail to

see it in many of the briefs that we receive. I see the effort of some Pico

teams, but fail to see an industry wide movement that has substance (i.e.

not green washing). I see what happens when the weight of government

demands change and what can be done as a result. I fail to see this in

many Asian countries. I also fail to believe that there is not some sort of

innovation taking place.

I have no opinion, but would like one.

If you have any insight or examples of green marketing practices in Asia,

please feel free to share!

Source: Campaign Asia Online

http://blog.campaignasia.com/tyronne-ocallaghan/is-being-green-a-load-

of-hot-air/

As a brand activator, one of the greatest challenges in my job is to create

singular experiences that connect with multiple audiences.

There is great danger in targeting multiple segments in a shared environment.

In trying to recognise their differences, you can make things too complex.

By trying to be too many things to too many people, sometimes you

can lose sight of the fact that there is only one brand. Or, in an effort to

simplify things and create a singular brand engagement, the experience

becomes too diluted and meaningless.

I have always admired ATL campaigns that are able to nail this balance by

sparking the right emotions though copy, sound and visuals. But what about

“live”? Can you really be something to everyone? The answer is yes.

The great thing about “live” is that it gives an opportunity for audiences

to truly engage with a brand; so much so that they actively contribute to

the experience. The creation of audience-specific journeys are great for

achieving specific marketing objectives, but there is always an element of

brand in every live engagement – sometimes it’s passive and sometimes

it’s more overt. The challenge is in creating this common brand link.

For those who are planning their next event, exhibition, sponsorship or

shopper activation that will involve multiple audience segments (or for

those who feel challenged to do so); I would encourage a simple thought

process in your planning, something I call the Common Denominator.

The Common Denominator is simply the activation of common ground

amongst the audience members. It is more than just a shared space. It is

the experience, content and messages that are delivered in this shared

space. It is not just your keynote speaker, but what they talk about or

how their profile appeals to more than one audience segment.

The best execution of the Common Denominator that I have seen recently

was last year at a Manchester derby. Football fans, by their tribal nature,

are very different. So what do you do if you’re a brand that feels it’s

important to stimulate the competitive nature of opposing fans, yet remain

impartial and a friend to all? You find something that you all can hate!

In their activation at the Manchester derby, Betfair focused on the fact

that Carlos Tevez was a hated figure for both Manchester United and

Manchester City football clubs. Fans were encouraged to “Trash” their

Tevez jerseys and collect a new replacement. This simple insight turned

into a brilliant way of creating common ground between two bi-polar

audiences - as well as activating a brand while they were at it.

So what are some areas to look at when trying to find the Common

Denominator?

Pain-point

Who is the common enemy?

Culture

Are there any common links between the audiences based on location,

race or sub-culture?

Aspirations

Are there any shared dreams or places that the audiences would rather be?

Needs

Is there a common need from a product or service category that the

audiences share?

Opinions

Is there a common theme in views/opinions expressed by the different

audiences?

Trends

Are there any macro- or micro-trends that are impacting how the

audiences live?

Whilst this list is not exhaustive, researching for insights into some of these

areas could go a long way to helping design your next multi-audience

engagement.

Source: Campaign Asia Online

http://blog.campaignasia.com/tyronne-ocallaghan/the-common-

denominator/

Insights: The Common Denominator - Tyronne O’Callaghan

Please visit www.pico.com for more information.

Edited, coordinated, designed and published by Pico Group. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced in any form or by any means, including photocopying and recording without the written permission of the publisher.

The photos shown in this newsletter were taken by photographers and cameramen commissioned by Pico, courtesy of our direct and indirect clients, and were chosen to highlight Pico’s part in our clients’ projects and to place it in context. While care has been taken to select the most appropriate photos, no implication is intended that all elements in the projects shown were done by Pico.

For information, please contact us at Pico House, 4 Dai Fu Street, Tai Po Industrial Estate, NT, Hong Kong SAR, or call us at 852 2665 0990, or email to [email protected].

IMAGEMAKER // SPRING 201212