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EMG Asiacom Inaugural Conference kicks off 2013
New interactive forum for B2B communications addresses the changing Asian economy

January 16th 2013 - just before the Chinese New Year, EMG Asiacom hosted its inaugural regional conference in Pudong, Shanghai. More than 50 PR leaders and executives from leading international B2B companies operating in China attended the one-day event.

The event carried the theme ‘Business Communication in the Changing Asian Economy’ and was intended to provide an informative and interactive forum for anyone involved in Chinese and Asian B2B communications. Key note speakers included executives from PPG, the global paints and coatings leader, Comma Consulting, the EMG Asiacom partner agency in India, and Adsale Group – one of China’s leading trade publishing houses and owner and organizer of Chinaplas. Mr. Chen Guo, a business consultant with IBM and a highly recognized micro-blogger in China delivered an entertaining and insightful account of working with social media in China today.

Working with trade media
Also speaking were representatives from the media world including China Business News, who presented an outline of hot trends and topics in China for 2013, and ICIS, one of the world’s leading global petrochemical trade publication, who talked about working with trade media at a regional level across Asia.

The EMG Asiacom event was launched by John Gallagher, EMG’s International Development Director, whose presentation outlined the 4 basics things you need to know about conducting PR effectively across Asia. EMG founding partner Willem van de Velde provided an insight in crisis communications, so essential for businesses in today’s fast-moving world.

The day was rounded off with two extremely lively panel sessions, in which delegates debated the methodologies and merits of ROI in B2B communications, and the changing role of corporate communications in Asia. Panelists were drawn from both agency and the corporate world with participants from Clariant, Losberger, DSM, Valspar, and Thermo Fisher.

Coco Yang, Asia Pacific PR Director of Clariant, commented: "This event has far exceeded our expectations. We were really pleased to attend and actively participate in this event and to share ideas and insights with other regional PR practitioners."

“The feedback from guests and participants was overwhelmingly positive and encouraging and we intend to hold similar events on a regular basis.” said John Gallagher. “Our clients in China increasingly have Asia-Pacific responsibility and are looking to understand how to manage their communications effectively across different markets. This is precisely why we formed EMG Asiacom, to be able to respond to clients’ needs at a regional level.”

EMG formed the regional EMG Asiacom network of agencies in 2012 to consolidate its long-established relationships with local country partners in Asia, and provide local PR and communications expertise for key markets including China, Singapore, India, Japan, Korea and Australia.

Speakers and guests from China, India, Japan and Europe get together for EMG Asiacom's launch event at the Intercontinental Hotel, in Pudong, Shanghai.