China & The Middle East: A Bird’s Eye View

I’ve just rounded off two back to back business trips to Shanghai and Dubai. Different regions and very different cities, but both places are clear statements of the extent and speed of change happening around us.

New Perspectives for Shanghai Office

Over 12 years after setting up our operation in China, it remains a cornerstone of the agency’s business. I spent time with our team at EMG China in Shanghai ahead of an imminent office move across the city from Pudong to a new vibrant business district in Puxi, in order to be closer to our customers.

As one of the first truly industrial communications agencies in China we are working with a combination of global technology brands like Clariant, Continental, DSM, Medtronic, PPG and Orange as well as with a number of mid-market US, European and Asian companies across the automation, chemicals and materials sectors.

There is a lot of discussion about growth rates in China and the challenges international businesses face. Indeed it is not easy and it can be difficult to predict outcomes, but the one certainty is that if you have a strong team - which we do - and you remain committed - which we are – then the opportunity is there.

More to come very soon on our move…

Partner Conference: Adapting and Operating in Times of Change

And onto Dubai to participate in the 16^th Eurocom Worldwide conference being hosted by our regional partner Orient Planet.

A lot has changed since my last visit four years ago. The first being what seemed like a three kilometre walk from our arrival gate at the new airport terminal to passport control and baggage reclaim, followed by the transfer for myself, my wife and my colleague Josina in a pink-roofed taxi with a female driver – a new service aimed at female passengers.

The Eurocom Worldwide conference continued the theme of change giving me the opportunity to meet new partner agencies from Columbia and Panama and existing partners from India that I had not yet had the opportunity to meet.

The conference is an annual platform to share best practices and discuss how our respective businesses are adapting and developing services to align with the needs of our clients.

The central discussions this year were around measurement and content; the need to support our clients with meaningful metrics that are aligned with KPIs and measure real outcomes from a qualitative and quantitative perspective.

Content creation and content marketing was the subject of a masterclass led by digital strategist Jerry Silfwer.

Regaining Control of Content Strategy

Content creation is at the core of what we do as PR agencies. We have a depth of knowledge of our customers’ businesses, we are in constant dialogue with the key influencers in their industry sectors and we regularly speak to their customers.

Continually looking to transfer this knowledge and expertise across content channels and platforms needs to be front of mind for us as agencies and the teams of communicators we are working with in our clients’ organizations.

Here at EMG we are working with a number of our key clients to leverage the partnerships we have built with them and their teams, to recommend and execute content strategies based on their core messages and the product, technology and industry themes that are most important to their business.