16th Western China International Fair
Initial situation
For 16 years, the Western China International Fair has been one of the most important trade fairs in Asia. In 2016, Germany will be the guest of honour at this renowned exhibition. As the trade fair was hardly known among local business associations and politicians we were commissioned to organise an information event in the heart of the German capital before the actual event.
The challenge: very little time. We had only four weeks until the scheduled date. And at the same time the Internationale Tourismus Börse (ITB) was held – not exactly favourable circumstances for scouting a top location in the centre of Berlin next to getting at least 50 high-calibre people from politics and business interested in attending.
Our approach
Since 2010, we have our own China Division and through numerous projects have been able to create good relations to Chinese clients, important Chinese business representatives as well as the Chinese embassy in Berlin. Thanks to our large network we succeeded in securing a 5-star location and 76 participants for the event. Thus we could clearly exceed our client’s expectations.
First-class speeches and presentations successfully showcased the 16th Western China International Fair and raised great interest in the economic region of western China among the guests. Afterwards, during an “Eat & Talk” time, participants had the opportunity to exchange views with the Chinese delegation and other visitors. A wide choice of European and Chinese food and drinks was served by cooks from the Hilton and the Ming Dynasty, one of the best Chinese restaurants in Berlin, an offering the international guests thoroughly enjoyed.
By the way, the client liked the event so much that they are going to talk about their next project with us soon.
MENT Initiative: social innovations for SMEs
Initial situation
Taking on social responsibility is a decisive factor for the success of brand companies because: the shortage of skilled labour, the demographic change, dwindling resources, technological developments, changing consumer needs and the growing complexity of our society are factors that not just global corporations have to deal with but increasingly also medium-sized enterprises. In the long run, they can only secure their economic survival if they align their business activities with the current social and ecological conditions i.e. have innovative (CSR) concepts at hand: for new product or service offerings, alternative production and delivery chains, energy supply and raw material utilisation and/or the recruitment and promotion of employees. But a lot of SMEs have a very critical attitude towards social innovations and consider such approaches to be marketing blurb if not outright consumer deception.
Our approach
Particularly medium-sized businesses need impulses to develop innovative answers to the aforementioned challenges. That's why the MENT Initiative brought companies and social entrepreneurs together and arranged company specific mentorships (mentor/mentee tandems). By way of a mutual dialogue with these social innovators, who seek to solve social and ecological problems with their business ideas, the participating "classical" companies questioned their previous CSR strategies, developed and tested innovative approaches for social and thus economic challenges of our times, which can be implemented in their day-to-day business operations. The respective partners were attended to individually; specialist events, discussions and workshops on company specific questions concerning corporate social responsibility (CSR) rounded off the offer.
united communications, as one of the project partners, was responsible for the internal and external project communication (including logo development, concept, design and editorial work for the website and the information materiel as well as media relations) and for the development of acquisition and communication formats. Moreover, united communications supported participating companies in communicating their commitment and turning it into a credible distinguishing factor - through lectures, workshops and joint project work.
During the period from December 2011 to February 2014, the MENT Initiative was sponsored by the ESF federal programme "Social responsibility in medium-sized businesses" within the national strategy "CSR - Made in Germany" funded by the European Social Fund and the Federal Ministry for Labour and Social Affairs.
3D printers
Initial situation
Until 2013, 3D printers were only used in a business environment as they then cost tens or hundreds of thousands of euros. Mail order company Pearl wanted to open up the market for 3D printers to consumers with a 799 euro model. The printer, designed by Luigi Colani, was initially going to be presented at an international press conference during IFA 2013.
Our approach
In co-operation with a partner agency, united communications invited the press to the German launch event into the Pearl TV IFA studio. The result exceeded all expectations so that many journalists did not even find a seat. From TV to print and online: the response was overwhelming and the client also considered it a great success.
By the way: in 2014 and 2015 we also supported the Taiwanese 3D printer manufacturer XYZprinting in introducing of new products. XYZprinting is a subsidiary of the Kinpo Group, an EMS company with annual sales of over 30 billion dollars.