Archive for the ‘Relentless Delivery’ Category

Green Office Alliance appoints Illuminant

Monday, June 1st, 2009

Green Office Alliance bilingual logo

Beijing, 1st June 2009 - The Green Office Alliance has appointed Beijing-based Illuminant Partners as its PR and strategic communications agency. The Green Office Alliance is the world’s first multi-company green building and furnishing products alliance.

Following a competitive pitch, Illuminant Partners’ appointment – for PR, corporate identity development, digital marketing and experiential marketing – was made in order to support the GOA’s market introduction, strategically position its brand and publicize the initiative to key opinion leaders and decision makers in China’s architecture, building construction, interior design and real estate industries.

The GOA consists of four global leaders in sustainable commercial interiors: Haworth, InterfaceFLOR, Owens-Corning and Philips. It is has been formed as a collective of like-minded companies promoting sustainability and green practices in the workplace. The GOA’s primary objective is to elevate the levels of sustainability in commercial offices and buildings.

The official launch of the GOA will be made at Beijing’s Eco Expo on June 17th, 2009.

The GOA offers designers, owners and users of commercial interiors a continuum of a high-quality, cost efficient and environmentally sustainable furniture, fittings and building products. Used together, a commercial interior which utilizes products from the GOA helps to reduce negative impacts on the environment as well as achieving excellent occupant satisfaction.

Illuminant’s Amy Meng, an expert in innovative and environmental-friendly construction sector marketing services in China will head the account from Illuminant’s Beijing office.

About the Green Office Alliance’s member companies

Haworth, Inc.

Haworth partners with local suppliers, environmental experts, customers and the community across Asia Pacific, The Middle East and Latin America to innovate world-class practices in product design and sustainability.

As a leader in office furniture and architectural interiors with a worldwide presence, Haworth products are informed by a lifetime of global learning. We have nurtured a corporate culture committed to superior customer service, environmental responsibility, and engineering innovation.

Haworth has been a pioneer in the China market as the first multinational office furniture company to establish its own manufacturing facility eleven years ago in Shanghai. Haworth made another first when we moved our Regional Headquarters from the Puxi zone of Shanghai to the fast growing Pudong zone. The Haworth Organic Workspace is now in the tallest building in Asia, The Shanghai World Financial Centre. Haworth Ideation Group is Haworth’s research unit that aligns organizations with their goals and visions.

www.haworth-asia.com

InterfaceFLOR

InterfaceFLOR is the largest modular carpet manufacturer in the world. With over 30 years of global experience, our goal is to provide you with innovation, beauty, performance, service, value and environmentally responsible products and processes in every 50cm*50cm tile.

At InterfaceFLOR, we’ve made it our mission to go way beyond green product
attributes. Every creative, manufacturing and building decision we make is intended to help us achieve zero environmental footprint by 2020 and give you the most fashionable, high performing and environmentally well-rounded products in the industry. And we call it Mission Zero.

www.interfaceflor.com

Owens Corning

Owens Corning, the inventor of fiberglass, is a world leader in building materials systems and composite solutions, delivering a broad range of high-quality products and services.

We define sustainability as meeting the needs of the present without compromising the world that we leave to the future. This approach to business energizes our people, creates growth opportunities for our customers and drives value for our shareholders.

To accomplish that, we focus on three strategic initiatives:

1 Greening our operations- achieving specific environmental footprint reductions
2 Greening our products – continuously improving the life-cycle impact of our products
3 Accelerating energy efficiency improvements in the built environment

Sustainability at Owens Coring is a journey of continuous improvement. We believe that the world is a better place thanks to our many products and services that help conserve energy and other precious resources. Owens Corning makes the world more energy efficient.

www.owenscorning.com
www.owenscorning.com.cn

Philips

Philips is no. 1 in the global lighting market, and part of Royal Philips Electronics of the Netherlands (NYSE: PHG, AEX: PHI). As a world leader in healthcare, lifestyle and lighting, Philips integrates technologies and design into people-centric solutions, based on fundamental customer insights and the brand promise of “sense and simplicity”.

Sustainability is one of the focal points of our strategy, and we use our expertise to help combat global challenges – i.e. climate change – by offering business solutions in all markets that reduce our ecological footprint and enhance social equity.

Philips was the first to introduce the energy-saving light bulb back in 1980. Our latest EcoVision program, which is our fifth multi-year plan, seeks to make our product portfolio ever more efficient, and sets targets to expand our investments in Green Innovations, increase revenues from green products, and improve the energy efficiency of our facilities.

www.lighting.philips.com

Ends.

Story at Marketing online here

Story at Media online here

Illuminant wins the Australia-China Business Entrepreneurial Award 2008

Tuesday, November 11th, 2008
Illuminant's chief executive, director of operations, and Australia's ambassador to China, at awards ceremony of the Australia China Business Awards 2008

Illuminant's chief executive, director of operations, and Australia's ambassador to China, at awards ceremony of the Australia China Business Awards 2008

Illuminant Partners wins 2008 Australia-China Business Entrepreneurial Award

November 10th, 2008

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Hong Kong — Illuminant Partners, a Beijing based multi-disciplinary public relations and strategic communications agency has won 2008’s AustCham Australia-China Business Entrepreneurial Award.

Announced by CNN Hong Kong anchor Andrew Stevens at the Awards gala dinner on Thursday November 6th, Illuminant Partners was one of more than sixty entrants to the awards, now in their 16th year. The ACBA Business Entrepreneurial Award is given annually in recognition of an Australian-originated business which has demonstrated entrepreneurial excellence in greater China.

Australia’s ambassador to China H.E. Dr Geoff Raby described the award as “the most sought-after award of its kind outside of Australia”. Illuminant’s chief executive Simon Cousins said “Our ACBA award recognises entrepreneurial excellence in China, and to that end, we are honoured to have been elected this year’s winner by our peers. The award belongs to our entire team and also to our fantastic clients, without whom Illuminant would not have been able to develop and implement such interesting and effective campaigns over 2008.”

Roger Wolfe, Chairman of the Australian Chamber of Commerce Beijing said “AustCham Beijing extends sincere congratulations to Illuminant Partners on winning at the 2008 AustCham Australia-China Business Awards. Illuminant’s innovative team proved they have the passion, vision and commitment needed to overcome stiff competition and come up trumps.”

Illuminant is based in Beijing with operations throughout China’s mainland and Hong Kong. The agency’s core team first began working together in 2004 and began life as Illuminant Partners in June 2007. Illuminant supports the public relations and strategic communications needs of many of the region’s best brands, including the world’s largest insurance broker Aon, 151-year-old global design and engineering consultant Hyder, China’s largest foreign gold minerSino Gold and dozens of foreign government agencies and SMEs. Illuminant employs a staff of 25 across its Beijing and Hong Kong operations.

The 2008 Australia-China Business Awards were announced at a gala dinner at Hong Kong’s Grand Hyatt Hotel on November 6th in the presence of Australia’s ambassador, all of Australia’s consuls-general, Austrade’s senior trade commissioner and more than 150 guests from across China.

About the AustCham Australia-China Business Awards (ACBA):

Since its inception in 1993 the AustCham Australia-China Business Awards is a means of recognising companies that have worked to deliver Australian products or services to the greater China region. The awards have grown in stature over the years and are now recognised as a high profile celebration of business success among Australian business communities in the region.

The organizers of the ACBA include the Australian Chamber of Commerce Hong Kong & Macau, AustCham Beijing, AustCham Shanghai, AustCham South China, the Australian & New Zealand Chamber of Commerce Taipei, the Australia-China Business Council and the Hong Kong Australian Business Association. The ABCA is fully recognized and supported by the Australian Government and the Australian Trade Commission.

Ends.

CEO of Austrian National Tourism Office visits Beijing

Friday, November 7th, 2008
Dr Petra Stolba and Dr Josef Stockinger of Tourism Austria with Travel Channel

Dr Petra Stolba, CEO of Illuminant client Tourism Austria visited Beijing as one of her major stops on her tour throughout Asia. In cooperation with our friend and Head of the Austrian National Tourist Office Beijing, Josef Stockinger (who amazed journalists and travel agents with his witty speech in fluent Mandarin), Illuminant Partners had the pleasure to arrange an interview with Travel Channel China and Dr. Stolba during a tourism workshop at the Landmark Hotel today.

Austria, which ranks among the top ten tourist destinations in the world, welcomes more than 170,000 Chinese tourists every year, making China the third largest overseas tourist market for the beautiful country in the heart of Europe.

In 2009, Austria will focus on marketing the 200th anniversary of the death of the outstanding composer Joseph Haydn (1732-1809), who started his career as a member of the oldest boys choir in the world, the Vienna Boys’ Choir. The Austrian city of Linz will also be the European Capital of Culture in 2009.

In her interview Dr. Stolba was confident that an ever increasing number of Chinese tourists will discover the beauty and cultural heritage of Austria and invited the audience of Travel Channel China to come and see the home of “Sisi gongzhu” and “Sound of Music” themselves and to discover how Austria has changed in its more than 1,000 years of history.

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Article by Illuminant’s Director of Account Services, Anja Knass.

Secure data logging will help China

Thursday, October 23rd, 2008
DAN logo

DAN logo

Illuminant Partners is excited to be working with our new client, Data Acquisitions Networks (DAN). DAN is a fast growing Australian company with a revolutionary technology that holds exceptionally strong promise for the Chinese market: a comprehensive, secure data logging system that protects the integrity of local data while allowing it to be monitored remotely from anywhere in the world.

We recently assisted DAN in its first China market visit to Beijing and Shanghai, and we were thrilled with the enthusiastic response its technology received from food industry and environmental protection officials, two sectors in which DAN’s technology has particular applicability.

DAN’s technology is two-fold: on-site hardware and web-based software hosted by DAN. The on-site hardware is comprised of a compact black box which can be configured to communicate wirelessly with up to six industrial probes. There are literally thousands of industrial probes commercially available, measuring variables from temperature to pollution levels and much more. Probes send their data back to the blackbox, which utilizes GPRS communication to transmit the data back to DAN’s server.

The web-based software gives users complete control over their data, allowing them to remotely change parameters, set alarm points, and monitor data collection. Using a secure login, users can see their data displayed in a simple format requiring no interpretation. Customized alarm points can be set, meaning that if data points fall outside of chosen parameters, SMS and e-mail alerts will be automatically sent immediately to as many as five designated recipients.

In Australia, DAN’s technology is used to measure everything from salinity in aquaculture – where it has substantially increased harvests – to monitoring chlorine levels in municipal swimming pools, ensuring safety. The advantage of DAN’s technology is not only the flexibility it offers, but also the security: data cannot be manipulated or changed, meaning central authorities can exercise remote oversight without fear of local tampering.

In China, the applicability of DAN’s technology is wide-ranging and exciting. Regulatory authorities constantly struggle with the challenge of centrally monitoring industry round-the-clock to ensure compliance with standards designed to protect safety, environmental quality, and efficiency. Data integrity is frequently suspect thanks to corruption, inappropriate monitoring techniques and tampering. DAN’s system takes the guesswork out of data collection and monitoring, meaning authorities can be independently assured of the integrity and reliability of data.

The disastrous results of faulty central oversight of industry have hit China particularly hard in the last year – from tainted food causing tragic infant deaths to faulty and dangerous products being exported around the world, never has the need for more reliable data logging and monitoring been so apparent. DAN’s comprehensive solutions would give authorities and regulators the oversight they need to ensure food safety, product integrity, and environmental protection. Illuminant is extremely excited to be working with this very promising new client!

Article by Illuminant senior account manager Matt Doran.

Sino Gold appoints Illuminant

Wednesday, October 22nd, 2008

Sino GoldIt’s a kind of destiny for Illuminant and the largest foreign gold mining company in China, Sino Gold to come together.

Two days before the Chinese national day holiday, Mr. Wang called the Illuminant Beijing office for a broad range of PR and communications needs. Senior Account Manager Amy Meng answered the call and took Mr. Wang’s brief and within 24 hours, a full strategic communications plan was delivered to our prospect. On the first working day after the holiday, Mr. Wang called us back, very happy with our professional proposal, and two days after that Illuminant and the leading gold mining company signed their services contract.

Thanks to all the efficient Illuminant team members, the team started work from the next day. Our Beijing-based video taping team was sent out to two remote areas of China while our Sydney-based team was despatched to get corporate images. Simultaneously, our media team, our studio team and our copywriting team got to work on the very interesting brief. We’re really pleased that our client is very happy for our flexible and fast response.

Article by Illuminant Senior Account Manager Amy Meng.

Manage your China risk though judicious use of effective PR

Monday, October 20th, 2008

Despite the Summer Olympics it seems that 2008 was, so far, a quite disastrous year for Chinese government. The snow chaos before Spring Festival, the international criticism during the Olympic torch relay, the Sichuan earthquake in May and the recent milk scandal are forcing the Chinese government to make their crisis management not only more efficient, but also more transparent.

Brown and RedBut not only for the Chinese government has the year 2008 turned out to be a challenging year. The current unstable situation on the financial markets in combination with the post-Olympic slow down of the Chinese economy may lead to a dangerous combination for private companies on the Chinese market.

The better you know the risks you might face during your market entry, the better you can prepare and find ways to even profit from a seemingly disadvantageous situation. A good understanding of the market place your company is in and of all the internal and external factors that might affect your operations is the key to a successful business strategy. This is especially true, when you are new to the market and your competitors are already have an efficient crisis management and good market understanding.

We, at Illuminant Partners, are experts in strategic communications and can help your company to

  • understand the market you are operating in and the potential internal and external factors that might affect your business negatively from a PR and marketing perspective.
  • analyze the market position of your competitors and their strategic communication choices
  • create a crisis management plan based on clear and pro-active strategic communication actions

Please do not hesitate to contact us directly for more detailed information on how Illuminant Partners can help your company to successfully get through the current global crisis and establish yourself on the Chinese market effectively.

Article by Anja Knass, Illuminant’s Director of Client Services

Illuminant is a finalist in the Australia-China Business Awards 2008

Friday, October 10th, 2008

Illuminant Partners learned today that we have been voted a finalist of the forthcoming Australia-China Business Awards 2008.

ACBA 2008 logoIn what we believe was a record number of entries, we are down to the final three in our category, “Entrepreneurial Business of the Year”.

Our directors are flying to Hong Kong on Friday 17th October to present to the judging panel.

We’re honoured to have made it this far, and we wish our two competitors in our category, Chongherr Investments of Shenzhen and the Shanghai Pie Company the very best of luck. May the most entrepreneurial Australian business in China win!

More info here.

Update, Saturday 18th October: Well, we have pitched our agency’s performance and philosophy to the judging panel in Hong Kong, and we eagerly await the result!  We won’t know if we’ve won the award until the evening of the awards ceremony, Thursday 6th November.

Australia’s leading food safety expert meets head of the Chinese International Dairy Federation

Wednesday, September 24th, 2008

NSW Food Authority Director-General George Davey met with the President of the China chapter of the International Dairy Federation, Madame Pan Beilei, in Beijing on September 24.

George Davey and Pan Beilei

George Davey and Pan Beilei

Illuminant Partners has proudly supported the China-side government relations and public relations of the Authority since 2004.

The NSW Food Authority is a State Government agency established in April 2004 to provide New South Wales with the best food regulation system in Australia. The Food Authority was formed by merging SafeFood NSW with the food regulatory activities of NSW Health. As Australia’s first completely integrated or “through-chain” food regulation agency, the NSW Food Authority is responsible for food safety across the entire food industry, from primary production to point-of-sale.

Before the Authority was established, responsibility for food regulation in NSW was divided across a number of State agencies. The establishment of the NSW Food Authority will create a more streamlined, consistent and efficient approach to food regulation in NSW and a single point of contact for both the industry and public. The Authority will work with local government to better define and support their continuing role in food regulation.

The Authority also controls Milk Marketing (NSW) Pty Limited and Pacific Industry Services Corporation Pty Limited.

Hyder sponsors FT Urban Regeneration Summit, Shanghai

Monday, September 22nd, 2008

lluminant recently supported key client Hyder Consulting in the Urban Regeneration Summit held in Shanghai on September 22, 2008. The summit, with Hyder as Associate Sponsor, was organised by London’s Financial Times, and gathered more than 200 top decision makers and leading experts in urban planning, architecture, property development, finance and environmental science.

Stephen Porter of Hyder Consulting interviewed during the summit

Stephen Porter of Hyder Consulting interviewed during the summit

Following the opening speech given by Tu Guangshao, vice mayor of Shanghai, the summit explored issues urban centres face during the process of developing and expanding, and best practices for sustainable revitalisation of under-developed city areas.

Robbert Van Nouhuys, director of International Projects with Hyder’s environmental consultancy ACLA, led a panel discussion in the afternoon, which emphasised collaborative approaches to ensuring sustainable living and working environments.

Hyder is an international advisory and design consultancy providing engineering, planning, environmental and management consultancy throughout UK, Europe, Middle East and the Asia Pacific region. With a 150-year heritage and a global network of more than 4,700 staff, Hyder is committed to protecting the society and environment through sustainable designs. ACLA, one of Asia’s leading planning and landscape architecture consultancies, joined Hyder Consulting in 2006.

Article by Amor Mao, Illuminant Media Relations Manager

Carlo Aspri’s Olympic summer

Friday, August 22nd, 2008

After a wonderfully well-received debut concert July 19 at the YAMAHA Music Performance Center, Carlo Aspri’s success continued with hit performances at the British Columbia Pavilion during the Olympics, a VIP-only mini-concert at the Canada Club, and a once-in-a-lifetime experience at Shaolin Monastery.

Carlo Aspri performance at Canada Club Beijing 2008-08-15

Carlo Aspri performs at the Canada Club Beijing 2008-08-15

Carlo, a phenomenally gifted young composer and pianist from Quebec, entertained crowds at the British Columbia Pavilion’s Pub Night events. Attended by dozens of VIPs, the Pub Nights gave Carlo the opportunity to support his native land during the Olympics. He performed classic favorites as well as his own compositions.

Carlo was also honored when the Canadian Embassy asked him to perform at an exclusive, VIP-only event at the Canadian Club, celebrating the 400th anniversary of his native Quebec. Carlo performed traditional Quebec music and was touched by the opportunity to honor his home.

Fresh off his Gamestime success, Carlo headed off to Shaolin Monastery, for a much deserved week of gong fu training and exercise. It was a terrific chance for Carlo to continue his study of Chinese gong fu, at the world’s premier gong fu center. Carlo enjoyed the opportunity to train with the Shaolin monks and even took the opportunity to create a video chronicling his experience at the monastery.

It’s been a terrific summer for Canada’s next great musical export, with more excitement sure to come this fall.

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