Marketing Birmingham: Birmingham uses Conservative Party Conference to make its business case
|
|
THE Team Birmingham ethos kicked into action during the Conservative Party Conference, with local organisations co-ordinating activity to showcase the city’s business case to senior figures across business, the media and government.
Twelve partners worked together to present a Birmingham Fringe Programme that spanned the arts, business, transport, health, digital media, science and technology. Ian Taylor, commercial director of Marketing Birmingham, believes that involving more city partners in the event can be beneficial: “Attracting such as high volume of influential figures to the city provides us with a fantastic opportunity to not only promote Birmingham as a welcoming city, but also as one that can work as a team and present a united front. We involved more partners in the event than ever before, and I believe it will create a consistent and positive message to delegates that we are a strong, confident and welcoming city.” A media strategy to highlight Birmingham’s policy was implemented, with outreach to regional, national and international journalists. Mike Whitby, leader of Birmingham City Council, said: “Throughout the week we have enjoyed unprecedented access to the most senior figures in Government, and have not hesitated in our efforts to work alongside them in ensuring Birmingham and its interests play a central role in shaping national policy moving forward. “I personally have met a wide range of senior figures and Secretaries of State, including the Prime Minister who I took on a tour of the Library of Birmingham, and am delighted to say that all have taken a very keen interest in what is happening here and expressed genuine interest in making regular return trips to learn from what we are doing.” Birmingham’s status as an ever-developing cultural destination was promoted with the visit by David Cameron to the Library of Birmingham, as well as visits by Ed Vaizey, Minister for Culture, to the site and to the launch of the Brian Griffin photo exhibition at Snow Hill. Moreover, recently released figures total the economic impact of the event at £18.4m for the local economy. The conference also generated valuable media exposure hitting nearly £29m across global and domestic print, broadcast and online. Geoff Fenlon, general manager of The ICC Birmingham, said: “These results are absolutely staggering and I know that I speak for the whole team at The ICC when I say how exceptionally pleased we are to have contributed to this success. High-profile conference events such as this provide us with an opportunity to demonstrate the flexibility of the venue and commitment of the team that we bring to each and every event staged at The ICC. “As well as the main speeches and sessions, our teams also looked after over 400 smaller, individual fringe meetings – ranging in size from a dinner for 30 up to a meeting for 600 – across the four days of the conference – roughly the same number of events that we host at The ICC every year. We are already gearing-up for the Conservative Party’s return in 2012 and while I’m sure that we will make that event even more outstanding that this one, we’ve certainly set the bar high. “With results such as these under our belts and through the Team Birmingham approach it is no small wonder that Birmingham and The ICC are now being recognised as the home of the political conference.” More articles in
Sectors
CommentsIf you'd like to leave a comment, please register now for free or login
|
.jpg?access=667T839T840){kind=logo}