The Shanghai World Expo can be an unparalleled opportunity for savvy companies keen to present their brand to a wider range of potential customers over a longer term.
The 184-day event to be held on May 1, 2010, will attract about 70 million visitors from home and abroad, three times the number of visitors to the Aichi Expo held in Japan in 2005. International organizations from more than 220 nations and regions have confirmed their entries, compared with the record 172 at the 2000 event in Hanover, Germany.
“The Shanghai Expo provides a great opportunity for its corporate sponsors to expand its international influence in the run-up to one of the world’s biggest events,” says Vice-Mayor of Shanghai Yang Xiong.
Their sense of “social responsibility and strategy of long-term planning” are also embodied by the participation.
Savvy businesses have already taken note of the opportunities and have been striving to chip in for the Shanghai Expo.
The event’s organizer, the Bureau of Shanghai World Expo Coordination, has contracted 12 global partners, seven senior sponsors and five project sponsors.
The nation’s top oil producer and a global partner for the Beijing Olympics, the China National Petroleum Corporation, is the latest global partner for the 2010.
According to Wang Yilin, the oil giant’s vice-president, his company will provide oil and gas as well as financial support for the 2010 event. It also plans to increase investment in order to upgrade its gas pipelines and logistics-based facilities to meet the needs of the Expo.
The company, with a sales income exceeding 1 trillion yuan ($146 billion) in 2007, looks to further improve its management levels, build better corporate image, expand its global influence and become first-class business worldwide.
Shanghai Industrial Investment (Holding) Co, a conglomerate fully funded by the Shanghai municipal government, also plans to build their brand, improve service and raise visibility through the Expo.
By being involved in the preparations of the Shanghai Expo, the group will explore new economic growth opportunities and further development, says Teng Yilong, the group’s president. They will take on the obligations as a global partner of the Expo; carry out partnerships on industrial investment, overseas expansion and pharmaceuticals with Expo organizers and fully support the preparation of the event.
Other big names of Shanghai Expo sponsors include China Mobile, China Telecom, China Eastern Airlines, the Bank of Communications, Siemens, the Shanghai Automotive Industry Corporation and its partner General Motors.
Drinks giant Coca-Cola has distinguished itself among the sponsors because it is the only multinational sponsoring the four largest international events in the country in recent years.
Besides being a global partner of the Shanghai Expo, Coca-Cola has sponsored the 2007 Shanghai Special Olympics, and the 2008 Beijing Olympics and Paralympics. The company is also in talks to build a pavilion at the 2010 event.
“As the leading beverage company in China and globally, Coca-Cola is well placed to undertake the huge task of providing beverages to the estimated 70 million visitors to Shanghai during the World Expo,” says Doug Jackson, president of Coca-Cola China. He added that the 2010 Shanghai Expo would be a great platform to showcase their company’s future to the global community when they gather in Shanghai to celebrate a “Better City, Better Life”.
The 30 billion yuan the event will cost is expected to be covered by the marketing campaigns and partnerships of the Shanghai Expo.
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