Mix – Asia’s Creative Meetings – July-August 2018

04 MIX AUGUST/SEPTEMBER 2018 http://www.mixmeetings.com

TRADE shows, exhibitions, pop-up expos or

experiential marketing platforms – call them

what you will. What makes or breaks them

these days is not necessarily boots on the floor,

but sponsors.

Another word increasingly used as speakers

heap praise on those sponsors is the

description of them as partners. As Melbourne

events legend Peter Jones points out in our

Spotlight feature (page 40) the new relationship

is akin to a marriage – give and take or, as we

term it “for better, not worse”.

I’m not long back from Sydney where the mini-

extravaganza known as Get Global seemed to

be a success before co-founders Gary Bender

and Donna Kessler even opened the doors

to the show’s second edition. The stats will

be rippling through the MICE media as we go

to print. But behind stories about the rise in

registered buyers, the sellout exhibition space

and how Get Global is disrupting the standard

trade-show format, lies a sponsorship-stroke-

partnership formula that works. The result

is an event that’s going to get organisers

from Sydney to Shanghai and Melbourne to

editor’s note

GET WISE WITH

SPONSORS

AND PARTNERS

Editor: Martin Donovan

E: martin.donovan@

panaceaasia.com

Art Director: Loretta Lam

Designer: Julia Yau

Contributors:

Steve Cray, Mark Graham,

Ed Peters, Vicki Williams

E: [email protected]

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Juliet Lim

Regional Sales Directors:

Gracy Siu, Iris Yeung

Queenie Kwong

Admin & Production Manager:

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FoR DEtAilS on how to ADvERtiSE

E: [email protected]

Circulation Manager: Allan Chan

Senior Marketing Executive:

Cherrie Wong

FoR DEtAilS on how to SubSCRibE

E: [email protected]

Managing Director:

Julian Gregory

Editorial Director: Tom Otley

Director: Peggy Teo

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Moganshan thinking about how they can up

their game. Australia’s already talking about it,

but long-suffering buyers in Asia will still have

to endure the whip crackers at the big shows

in Bangkok and Beijing, if they so choose to

attend. How long those tired formats – with

show crews in Beijing even using exhibitor

booths to take a mid-day nap – may last

depends on how long it takes for buyers and

Asia’s docile MICE media to get wise.

Some partnerships are more daunting. Take

for instance working with bureaucracies in

the region and convincing them of taking an

enlightened approach when it comes to open-

air event spaces. That is what Maureen Earls,

who is the subject of our Eventist profile (page

38 ), and her team did when helping bring some

magnificent public and corporate events to

Hong Kong’s Central Harbourfront. Maureen

and the success of Central Venue Management

was no simple striking of a sponsorship-style

deal. Her links with the Hong Kong government

stretch back to the heady days prior to Britain

handing sovereignty of Hong Kong back to

China, and Maureen’s crucial role in organising

the UK’s Farewell Ceremony in 1997. It’s a

fascinating story that our rivals will follow up.

Elsewhere, changes continue for the better.

Those with a penchant for K-pop will be happy

that Korea is dusting down hallyu with exclusive

packages for MICE groups. See Vicki Williams’

take on KTO’s recent showcase (Explore, p26).

For sponsors seeking that amazing spot for

brand placement, see what modular backdrops

have to offer in The Trend, p5 0. If you need to

discuss any partnership over a cocktail, try a

rooftop bar in Thailand (Themes, p3 2 ), or at

venues in Shanghai (Explore, p20), with an

egg tart in Macau (Event Bites, p14) or even

over the potent Chinese spirit moutai in Sydney

(Examine, p4 6 ).

Martin Donovan

[email protected]