Event GM Media Briefing – Auto Shanghai 2009
Venue Shanghai New International Expo Centre (SNIEC)
Agency Turningpoint Solutions
Group size 230
Date April 20

The brief
China has overtaken the US in sales as the world’s most significant auto market and, based on figures for the year to date, the China auto industry has a continued growth rate of 13.3 per cent. GM and one of its global PR agencies, Weber Shandwick, engaged Turningpoint to deliver a media event to convey their core business messages through electronic and print media to a mass audience.

Challenges
The available meeting venue was not ideal for a live event with 230 media. The solution was to change the room’s orientation and build a larger stage and backdrop. This meant increased brand exposure in front of the cameras, a shorter distance between the media riser and the main stage, and a more inclusive feel to the room’s layout. The set and graphics were designed with camera shots in mind. The existing chairs were also unsuitable for the expected media numbers as they were too large, so smaller chairs were sourced. 

The press briefing was scheduled for the lunch break of the Press Day at Auto Shanghai and the media had to be catered for as they were all on a tight schedule. Once the briefing had begun, the area outside the conference room was transformed into the GM Cafe, where the hosted media could collect a substantial boxed lunch. 

Execution
There were 230 local and international media in attendance, creating a global reach for GM’s key business messages. The format was to start with a 15-minute presentation followed by a Q&A session, with simultaneous translation available.

As the exhibition halls concentrated more on product, an alternative experience was designed to take GM’s message to a different area of the venue. This gave more of a platform for GM to tell the story of its key messages, which included what is happening globally as well as in China and Asia Pacific, that they are doing well in the China market, and its theme ‘GM in China, with China, for China’.

Comment
Koko Sheng, GM Asia Pacific corporate communications operations manager, says: “Turningpoint successfully adapted their best practices in designing an experience to effectively deliver our core business messages to the media in attendance”.