GPJ expands in the middle east with action impact partnership
Press Release
GEORGE P. JOHNSON EXPANDS IN THE
MIDDLE EAST WITH ACTION IMPACT PARTNERSHIP
Two leading agencies tie-up to create a regional marketing powerhouse
London, April 26, 2012 – Global experience marketing agency George P. Johnson today announced a strategic partnership agreement with Action Impact, the leading brand experience agency in the Middle East. Under the terms of the agreement, Action Impact will represent GPJ in the MENA region, providing support to GPJ clients, whilst GPJ will support Action Impact regional clients internationally.
Action Impact, founded in 2005, is headquartered in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, with offices in Abu Dhabi, and Doha, Qatar. The award winning agency is,handling assignments for clients such as du, Nokia, Mubadala, Yahoo!, ENEC (Emirates Nuclear Energy Corporation) and Dolphin Energy.
“The relationship with Action Impact significantly extends and enhances GPJ’s capabilities in the MENA region” says Kim Myhre, CEO of Project: Worldwide EMEA, parent company of GPJ. “We are very excited to be working with the world-class team of experience marketing professionals at Action Impact and we look forward to many new opportunities to collaborate with them on behalf of our clients.”
“Partnering with a prominent global agency like GPJ will further enhance Action Impact’s offering and international reach by enabling clients to work seamlessly with a single global team” says Mike Wain, co- founder and CEO of Action Impact.
Adrian Bell, co-founder and President (International) of Action Impact added “This is a true affirmation of the MENA region’s strategic significance and our partnership couldn’t have come at a better time. Acting as one, Action Impact and GPJ will now offer our clients a very compelling proposition: local talent and local experience, international talent and international experience.”
“The twin motivations behind this deal are the blistering pace of innovation in the experiential space, as well as the increasing importance of the Middle East region to the growth plans of our shared client roster,” Kim Myhre. “This tie-up with Action Impact gives clients more firepower to create ideas that move people to action and the ability to activate them in-market.”
The partnership between these two agencies is another step in GPJ’s proven strategy of offering regional and international B2C and B2B brands a single global platform to conceive, plan, activate and measure more strategic and effective experience-based campaigns.
London Future Forum 2012
The second London Future Forum took place at this year’s Confex. The event continues ongoing engagement with key influencers and stakeholders in the events industry to feedback to local and national government on what London needs to deliver to be a leading events destination.
The topic of discussion was how London can capture the opportunities surrounding the 2012 Olympic Games to become a leading events destination. Kim Myhre formed part of the debate panel raising rather interesting discussion points such as outsiders perspective on London as a destination and how we need to effectively sell London’s value proposition.
The Eventice final - video
12 exceptional event management graduates battled it out over three days at this year’s Confex for a position here at GPJ. The Eventice final took place on the Haymarket stand in front of a panel of industry heavyweights with the finalists presenting their ideas on ‘The Future of the Event Industry’. It came down to two grads...Watch the announcement of winner and highlights on link above.
New Influx of talent here at GPJ
We would like to welcome all the new starters here at GPJ:
Anne le Vaillant - Senior Registration Coordinator
Cindy Nochchalad - Event Coordinator
Deirdre O'Sheehan - Marketing Strategist
Eleanor Dudley Williams - Senior Account Director
Jack O'Callaghan Intern - Strategy and Planning
Kieran McIver - Designer
Kirsty Douglass - Senior Event Coordinator
Manuel de Baaij - Designer
Paul Zerafa Art-Worker
Sarah Poole - Senior Event Manager
Simon Lamey - Marketing Strategist
Trish Pomeroy - Event Director
Ursula Cabjolsky - Team Leader
GPJ Win the gold at MIMA Awards
We are thrilled to have picked up the gold at the MIMA Awards 2011 (Monday 17th October) for ICC London launch at ExCel.
The MIMA judges commented on the evening that the campaign was ‘A truly innovative campaign which ticks all the boxes, generating huge interest and awareness and delivering remarkable ROI; if 100% agree to recommend you, you can’t ask for more really.’
The award winning campaign met and exceeded objectives with a bold pre event viral marketing campaign that featured Mayor Boris Johnson, the pre-launch ‘London Future Forum’ event and the spectacular launch event itself is a working example of the powerful capabilities of owned media used astutely to drive earned media and deliver impressive ROI.
A nice note from the client –
‘George P. Johnson delivered a truly innovative business launch event that successfully showcased our new facilities and proved through creative yet strategic execution the power of face to face marketing. Not only did the experience created by GPJ generate substantial ROI – the experience had benefitted the London economy as a whole and that in my opinion is award winning criteria.’
Gemma Parkhouse, Head of Marketing and Communications, ExCel London
The latest GPJ double act
The most respected experts in their respective industries presented on a variety of topics, to stimulate change throughout many organisations. There were presentations on developments and trends to an audience of over 1500 delegates, in Leipzig, Germany for the 50th ICCA Congress from Saturday 22nd October-Tuesday 26th October.
Kevin Jackson and Kim Myhre took centre stage and did what they do best – speak on the topic that is experience marketing and it’s future.
They said that there has never been a better time to be in an experience marketing agency. The market conditions, the world economy, the changing consumer all of which has created the "perfect storm" for us, an objective led results focused industry that get brands out from behind their advertising blah blah blah and gets them engaging on an emotional level with the audiences that are important to them.
Truly powerful stuff and the feedback for the audience was amazing, more than a few used the word inspirational, but we think Kevin probably promised them free drinks!
Zumba® Party In Pink
Zumba Fitness® is one of the world’s fastest growing and most successful dance-fitness brands, with more than 12 million people of all shapes, sizes and ages taking weekly Zumba classes in over 110,000 locations across more than 125 countries.
Events have been a large part of Zumba strategy and, up until now, all events have been executed in- house in the US. But all that’s about to change, as Zumba has appointed George P Johnson to deliver their very first 2.5 day EMEA event. In February 2012, several thousand Zumba instructors from all over the region will be descending on ExCel in East London, to learn the latest moves and join in a huge celebration of this amazing phenomenon.
We’ve always believed in the need to immerse ourselves in the brands we work with, so this was the perfect opportunity to try out a Zumba class. Led by TV’s Lilia Kopylova, we were put through our paces. And although there was no blood, there was plenty of sweat and tears. Hit on the headline 'Zumbafied' above to watch the video and see what a superfit bunch we are.
It’s nice to be shortlisted (again!)
With the Awards season in full swing we must admit that it is extra nice to see that GPJ is maintaining its momentum. We are up for a few more superb awards including The Meetings Industry and Marketing Awards, The C&IT Excellence Awards and The Eventia Awards. Hooray!
The ICC London launch at ExCel is playing a blinder, having been nominated for ‘Best Relaunch Award’ at the FMBX Awards is also up for ‘Best Live Marketing Event’ at The Meetings Industry and Marketing Awards. An innovative campaign that produced very significant ROI results – come on the ICC.
News just in that IBM has secured their place in the final at The Eventia Awards for ‘Best Creative Use of Technology’. GPJ not only integrated the smarter use of technology for IBM but actually created and developed an experience that revolutionised the event format, transformed the way the brand interacted with its target market, and helped the company stand apart for its competitors. That must be worth a shot!
At the C&IT Awards GPJ are shortlisted in two major categories – ‘Best International Conference’ for Cisco Live 2011 and we are delighted to announce IBM’s firm place in the ‘Best Use of Technology’ category.
It is going to be a very busy season...
It is nice to be shortlisted
How do you modestly announce that you have been shortlisted for several prestigious awards including The Event Awards, Field Marketing and Brand Experience (FMBX) Awards and The B2B Marketing Awards? A difficult task to say the least!
Dreamforce, a week-long event programme for the leader in enterprise cloud computing Saleforce.com, is up for Best International Brand Experience at the 2011 Event Awards - a competitive category. Fingers and toes crossed.
The ICC London launch at ExCel has been nominated for Best Relaunch Award at the FMBX Awards. An innovative campaign that produced very significant ROI results – in it to win it.
At the B2B Marketing Awards Cisco Live Europe 2011 is a finalist in the Best Marketing Event category, another mammoth campaign in the GPJ calendar. This event was particularly significant as it moved to London for the first time in its 20 year history yet saw a 40% year-on-year increase in the number of attendees. We must be doing something right!
The Eventice
The Eventice, an Apprentice-style competition for the event industry, is expanding this year and has chosen George P. Johnson as the agency to provide the winning graduate with a position. The Eventice is the brainchild of Event and ESP Recruitment and the competition objective is to give talented graduates the opportunity to get their foot in the door of a top agency, venue and exhibition organiser.
The format of the competition is as challenging as its tv counterpart – with video submissions, hands on tasks, pitching - all under the watchful eye of the heavy weights of the industry – hats off to all who enter. Watch this space for updates.
‘The name of George P. Johnson will certainly encourage lots and lots of students.’
– Jeremy King, Editor Event Magazine
Unleashing our creativity
You read Chris Barez-Brown’s article in this month’s edition of GPJ newsletter, here a little background on this month’s guest writer and how we will be leveraging his skills even further. Chris is one of the world’s leading voices on the subject and practice of unlocking the creative potential within any company, and not just those that deliver creativity as part of their role i.e. agencies like us.
Chris will be spending some time here at the GPJ towers in October, working his lovely, awesome powers to unleash and enhance the creativity of the GPJ. And for those of you who won’t be here you can buy his book!
Shine: How to Survive and Thrive at Work
GPJ's Latest Account Win
Motorola has appointed George P. Johnson for Motorola Mobility at IBC2011.
IBC is the leading global tradeshow for organisations engaged in the creation, management and delivery of broadcasting media and entertainment. It is the biggest ‘home’ trade show for Motorola Mobility, attracting over 30,000 visitors and 17,000 exhibitors.
New Starters
It is a very exciting time for GPJ and we are delighted to have Gareth Dimelow, Director of Engagement Planning and Vanessa Hurrell, Event Director on board. Below is a little background on the new additions.
Gareth
With experience across a variety of marketing disciplines, Gareth brings with him an effective combination of creativity, planning insight and logical thinking. Over the last 15 years he's been a creative consultant, brand steward and, most recently, Experience Director with Jack Morton Worldwide. Before that, he spent seven years creative director with Omnicom.
Vanessa
Vanessa is an experienced conference and event director who has worked with dmg world media (now dmg :: events) on high-level international events in the energy sector and has run her own company in event management. Vanessa has joined GPJ as Event Director to work on the P&G account.
MIMN - Meeting Industry Meeting Needs
GPJ is the latest top brand in the events industry to have signed up as a new Charity Partner of Meetings Industry Meeting Needs (MIMN), the events industry’s own registered charity.
MIMN is a registered charity founded by leading figures in the UK conference and events industry. The objective of MIMN is to raise funds for worthy causes relevant to the events industry which may not have the resources to raise sufficient funds without additional contributions. Many needy causes do not have access to public funding contributions and MIMN can provide financial support to these types of organisations through various fund-raising initiatives and activities.
Treasurer Charles Blowfield said: “This is a record time for MIMN with more than £80,000 raised for good causes in the past financial year. And now it seems we have really turned the corner with the industry’s top brands joining us. It is fantastic to have the support of GPJ, which will result in even more worthy organisations seeing the benefits, on a national and global basis.”
GPJ wins at The Conference Awards 2011
George P. Johnson takes the trophy for Best Middle Eastern Conference at this year's Conference Awards, held at the QEII Conference Centre on Friday 17th June 2011. The Award winning Cisco Networkers flagship training and technical education event was launched in Bahrain in 2010 and triumphantly met and exceeded all of the award criteria, including extensive research, strategy and planning pre-event and overall marketing strategy. Well done team GPJ and Cisco for all your hard work and well earned success.
Times supplement - Corporate Hospitality & Events
Kim Myhre, senior vice president and managing director (Europe, the Middle East and Africa), at experience marketing agency George P Johnson is quoted in this special supplement to the Times: “There is no more powerful connection than that made in person, and there’s an equally irreplaceable efficiency of initiating, nurturing and maintaining connection through the many capabilities of digital technology,” “From initial contact with individuals to building connections and communities of interest, digital capabilities deliver the power of extended reach, expanded dialogue and enhanced community.”
To download a full copy of the supplement please click on the title above.
Event Marketer Round Table - Open Season
GPJ's Mark Mullen joins together top marketers from some of the biggest brands in banking, healthcare, high-tech and retail to discuss what’s changed over the past 12months, and what’s ahead for makers of the brand experience.
Cisco CEO advocates live events
Cisco's CEO John Chambers has highlighted the value of face to face meetings during his keynote at Cisco Live. The largest event of the year for Cisco is being held for the first time in London and has been produced by George P. Johnson.
"This is my most important event of the year," said Chambers, who yesterday (31 January) met Prime Minister David Cameron to pledge Cisco’s support for creating an East London Technology City.
He added the event was a chance for Cisco to build on its "ability to listen and share" with Cisco Live delegates, who include IT developers, managers and technology industry experts.
"The future is all about collaboration and teamwork," said Chambers.
Cisco announced it would use the east London venue for two years during the launch of the ICC in June 2010.
Cisco Live has recorded a total of 5,800 registered delegates, according to marketing project manager James Bedford, up from an expected 4,000.
In Cisco’s World of Solutions exhibition – which this year hosts 107 exhibitors, up from 64 last year – headline sponsor BT ran a series of demonstrations highlighting the use of telepresence systems.
GPJ and ExCeL London win Gold Award
George P. Johnson (GPJ) and ExCeL London have scooped the coveted Visit London Business Event of the Year for the launch of London’s first International Convention Centre.
The award, one of the most fiercely competed awards in the events industry, was voted for by readers of C&IT Magazine who recognised the launch ahead of five other shortlisted events, including Peugeot’s RCZ launch and BT Wholesale’s Shine dinner by Adding Value, an M&S event by Timebased Events and Smyle’s Entrepreneurs Bootcamp 2009.
GPJ were selected by ExCeL London to design the broad launch strategy following the opening of the new phase 2 expansion. The launch focused on delivering a number of important objectives – to engage press and industry influencers, to showcase the new space and facilities and to inspire the events and conference industry to select the new ICC for future events ahead of rival locations.
“This programme is a perfect example of GPJ’s ability to deliver highly creative and professional communications programmes in a complex multiple stakeholder environment.
It’s fantastic to have an experienced partner like GPJ involved in the launch, especially given the high calibre of events they have produced in the past.”
David Pegler, Managing Director, ExCeL London
The ICC London launch positioned the city alongside other major convention locations such as Paris, Vienna and Barcelona, and demonstrated not only the flexibility and scale of the new ICC facilities but also showed that the venue, the Mayor and the city are working together to ensure London is a leading destination for events and conferences. Since the launch, ExCeL London has confirmed more than £66million of new business for the ICC. The campaign generated press coverage with a valuation in excess of £500,000 with more than 14 million people viewing coverage of the launch.
www.takemethereboris.co.uk
www.excel-london.co.uk
“GPJ has worked at ExCeL London for many clients previously and has developed excellent relationships with the team there. It was great to work with them again to demonstrate London’s credentials as a leading events destination and to do it in a creative and inspiring way. We are delighted that our partnership has been recognised by Visit London with the Business Event of the Year award.”
Kim Myhre, SVP and General Manager of GPJ EMEA
GPJ Managing Director voted one of top 100 most influential people
Kim Myhre, Managing Director of GPJ EMEA has been voted one of the top 100 most influential people in the events industry by Event magazine.
TMD 06
Truly, Madly & Deeply 06 Newletter available now
Breaking News: The 2010 Advertising Age annual ranking is out...
GPJ Voted Number 1 Experiential Agency in the world by Advertising Age
Hybrid Events - Blending Digital And Physical Experiences
GPJ had a successful webcast program with Event Marketer on why Hybrid events are becoming the ultimate killer app.
Hybrid Events - Blending Digital And Physical Experiences
GPJ had a successful webcast program with Event Marketer on why Hybrid events are becoming the ultimate killer app, why they are here to stay and why hybrid events are growing so quickly. More and more of our customers lives are becoming split between the physical and the online worlds. The ways they shop, learn, communicate with families and closest friends, and consume entertainment have all been altered by omnipresent connectivity. So its no surprise that the world of live marketing has also been transformed by technology with more and more events now marrying online and offline elements. Event marketing has officially gone hybrid, as marketers combine the effectiveness of face-to-face with the reach, scale and trackability of the digital realm. Brands that have already taken the leap and sandwiched digital and live report tangible ROI increases across the board.
GPJ survey finds "Marketers rate event-marketing most effective"
C&IT report on Sue Potton's, GPJ's Business Development Director, comments at the MPI European educational conference in Malaga
