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October 2008, Vol. 1, Edition 9
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This month about the EMEA meeting in Bucharest, a sad passing in Hong Kong and the state of the MAR system…
The European/Middle East/Africa Region Meeting of the ICOM network (from now on known as EMEA Region for obvious reasons) met for the first time in Bucharest. Our host, Alina Musat and the whole crew of the SPOTLIGHT agency put together a full agenda for their guests and warmly welcomed them to Romania.
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It was the first meeting for three new ICOM members, Primus Communications from Ghana and Nigeria, m.a.d. brand care from Switzerland and Channel 7 from Pakistan.
Anthony Smee presented an idea to move the Middle Eastern and European markets closer together that involves bringing clients interested in selling to the Middle East to Dubai for a couple of days of networking with local business executives.
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The group caught up on the latest in digital marketing from Microsoft executive, Chris Schaumann. They also participated in a review of recent new business presentations and held the first General Meeting of the EEIG members.
The members did an in depth review of the last submission to the European Union for the $17 million euro Anti-Smoking campaign. Robert Goossens of Wondercom, (formerly FAST) Brussels reported that the participation was good and the creative work impressive. We should know if the account was won by the end of October.
Best Ideas were hotly contested as they always are in this region. The Management award was won by Alice Cimini of Opinion Leader in Milan. Alice showed the new, high quality magazine the agency in now publishing to show case their clients … and the agency.
The Creative award was won by Tomaz Gaube of Kraft & Werk in Maribor, Slovenia. Tomaz showed how the agency helped sell Henkel Ceresit household anti-moisture product with a very integrated political style campaign about how Mr. Damp could not find a place to live. You can see all the Best Ideas, presentations and pictures from the meeting in the library section of the ICOM web site (www.icomagencies.com)
The group voted to hold next year’s meeting in Malta hosted by the Switch agency.
The network lost a long-time member and good friend on September 20th. John Cohen of PMP in Hong Kong passed away after a battle with lung cancer. Those that knew John will remember his strong support of ICOM, his willingness to try new ideas and his ready smile. Our condolences to his family and the staff of the agency. Sherman Lee will assume the duties of the ICOM representative at PMP.
About those Mutual Assistance Requests. They’re one of our bests tools for sharing ideas and information but we could be using them better for everyone’s benefit.
Requesters: Read the rules for submitting a MAR and then provide a concise description of exactly what you want from your colleagues and how you want it. Don’t wait until the last minute to send a MAR. If you give members less than 72 hours to respond you will not get much. Please take a minute to thank those who responded to your request and tell them how it helped. Did you win the pitch?
Responders: Be sensitive to the requested date; information coming after the new business presentation is of little value. Do not hit Reply and send your response to me. The requestors email address is at the bottom of the form. If you respond to me I just have to forward it on to the requestor which adds delay. Do not hit Reply All. Only the requestor is interested in your response. Finally, if you can’t help on an MAR request, take a minute to send the requestor a note and tell them. It is better to get these notes than no responses at all.
MAR RESPONSE REPORTS: This is a new report that requestors are asked to complete after their MAR process. It tells the Board how the MAR system is working, who is using it and who is doing a good job of responding. .
Gary Burandt
ICOM Executive Director
burandt@icomagencies.com
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