All of us know that Switzerland is simply made for sports activities, may it be hiking, biking or sailing on one of the beautiful lakes. Daniel Chardon, Managing Director of GlobalCom partner agency Chardon Communications, is also making use of these fabulous qualities of his home country for business. With its new “BIKE & HIKE COMMUNITY Magazine” Chardon Communications is the new media partner for the trade fair “Bike Expo”  in Munich for  2009 and 2010. “The event will take place from the 23rd until 27th of July, which is simply the best time of the year for this type of fair”, explains Daniel Chardon. “They are expecting around 5.000 trade visitors and almost 50.000 private visitors.”

Besides being present with his own booth at “Bike Expo”, Daniel Chardon still managed to arrange another cooperation project with Munich Exhibition Center: „We are going to launch the „BIKE & HIKE Community Magazine“ for sportsmen in May. It will have a circulation of 92.000 copies and will be distributed in Germany and Switzerland by partners like “Intersport”, “Vaude”, “Migros Fitnessparks” and more.” 12.000 Magazines will be distributed during „Bike Expo“ at the entrances of Munich Exhibition Center.

And just in case you have not experienced it yet: Munich in July makes an excellent tourism and leisure destination!

Claudia Wittwer

Perfect time for ITB in Berlin again – spring is coming closer, the weather is bad, and we do not remember our Christmas holidays any more. It’s definitely time for the visual temptations of the biggest tourism trade fair worldwide! Where else could you possibly feel the spirit of the African Savannah – and a couple of meters away you are “electrified” by Salsa & Merengue?

Well – to be honest, we are not really talking about “a couple of meters”, but visiting ITB for sales meetings comes pretty close to endurance sports. You need to be physically fit to carry tons of brochures and press kits around and walk from hall to hall, God knows how many kilometres a day!

Still it was a great experience to see new stars arising on the travel scene – and to meet GlobalCom partners on this colourful stage. This year GlobalCom was represented at the booth of Kleber PR Network, our tourism partner in Germany. That was a great choice, given the lively press event they had arranged for Friday afternoon, where hundreds of people enjoyed their get-together (as well as drinks and snacks, of course). It was also a great meeting point for the international partners who represented GlobalCom at ITB: Daniel Chardon from Chardon Communications (Switzerland), Wilma Schippers from our new Belgium partner PR Consult, Rubén Wertheimer, who will hopefully join GlobalCom with his agency MS&W (Argentina).

But of course the party was only the end of the event. Before we had countless meetings with airlines, tourism companies, representatives of destinations and more. Even though most of these meetings were arranged on the spot, especially some of the “rising stars” on the travel scene like “Costa Rica”  and some airlines showed a serious interest in GlobalCom. Follow-up is crucial, of course – we will keep you updated on the results of our visit in Berlin.

Claudia Wittwer

From its founding days in 2005, GlobalCom PR-Network has always been very IT and Technology-driven, due to the business background of the network founders and their existing contacts. But this is changing and therefore we are happy to welcome public link on board. The Berlin-based PR agency  was founded by Ingo Harding and Indra Musiol in 2002, and is mainly working for clients from the Consumer & Lifestyle Sector. Among them are renowned companies like Villeroy & Boch, Audi or the online travel portal hotels.com (Expedia, Inc.).

Managing Partners Indra Musiol and Ingo Harding were actually inspired by their work with international clients to set up their own agency. They are focusing on product launches and re-launches as well as on the PR support of market entry strategies. “Now we are repeatedly approached by our clients with regard to international PR contacts, and that was the main reason for us to join GlobalCom”, explains Indra Musiol.

“Additionally to this, we are in the process of developing a new business field: marketing for destinations and investment regions”, adds Ingo Harding. “Cities and regions worldwide have to present themselves in an increasingly competitive environment. I am convinced that this will create business with a tremendous potential for GlobalCom: the hands-on-mentality of the member agencies, their expertise and the global reach make GlobalCom a perfect partner for this type of clients.”

“Besides our own agency, Kleber PR Network (tourism) and Patzer PR (healthcare), public link is now the fourth German agency within GlobalCom”, says Ralf Hartmann, Chairman and Founder of GlobalCom. “They will add perfectly to the network’s consumer & lifestyle competence, and last but not least: they are our window to the German capital.”

Claudia Wittwer

Far too much time has passed since our last Global Meeting, and it was the highest time to meet again. For some participants it was actually the first personal contact with their GlobalCom colleagues. The agenda of the meeting was packed, and there were quite a number of new partners present: Federico Unnia from Echo Comunicazione d’Impresa (Italy, Healthcare), Michael Patzer from Patzer PR (Germany, Healtcare), Irene Tato from Salud y Comunicación (Spain, Healthcare), Hanna Kleber from Kleber PR (Germany, Tourism) and Ingo Harding from Public Link (Germany, Consumer & Lifestyle) took their chance to introduce themselves and their agencies to the network.

In the second half of day 1, the competence teams or task forces were “on stage”. It was simply amazing to see how many clients GlobalCom agencies of the first specialised teams –such as ICT – have already shared. But even several members of the more recently established competence teams (Tourism, Healthcare & Energy) have already shared clients – sometimes even without even knowing (yet).

But of course it was not all about prospects, to-do-lists and the like – the meeting also provided insights into various aspects of communication business as well. Cheryl Gale, Principal at March PR (Boston, USA), presented a case study on how Twitter can be used in PR and Communication. After listening to her “learn more about Twitter” was probably on the to-do-list of most participants.

One novelty for our global meetings was the idea to invite potential cooperation partners and network clients to the meeting. Dr. Johannes Niggl, Head of Division “Invest ins Bavaria” at the Ministry of Economics in Bavaria, discussed the communicative challenges to present Bavaria as an investment location in an increasingly competitive world. Stuart Hurst, International Market Access Director at Nycomed, introduced his company and the expectations he would have regarding an international PR-Network. For him PR partners worldwide are not simply “the voice of Nycomed” in foreign markets. He also expects them to act as “transmitters”, as they have an insight into the different healthcare systems and national healthcare policies.

Well, and after all, it’s not only about learning and listening… sitting together, enjoying a nice Milanese dinner and having great conversations was a very important part of the meeting. Thanks to the great support of our Italian partner Prima Pagina, everything was well organized. Thinking about the location for the next meeting, maybe we should integrate a partner agency from the Seychelles or some place like that into the network…

Claudia Wittwer

The network is growing – and some of its members too

GlobalCom welcomes its latest member: Luzie, third daughter of Michael Patzer (Managing Director of Patzer PR), was born on February 19th 2009. She is in good health and keeps the proud parents very busy. She  nearly made it to GlobalCom’s annual meeting in Milano but after calling her Daddy home on the 13th she decided to wait one more week to make an appearence in snowy Munich.

Luzie’s birth symbolizes what GlobalCom stands for: The network is young, there is tremendous potential for growth and development, the network members are hungry (all day!) and full of energy.  So who cares about the global economic crisis then?

Claudia Wittwer

Kick-off meeting of GlobalCom healthcare task force reveals global business perspectives in the healthcare sector

The decision to set up task forces to organise work within GlobalCom more efficiently was taken some time ago. Following on from tourism and ICT, the Healthcare task force had its first official meeting on the 10/11 of July in London. Michael Patzer (Patzer PR, Germany), Erinn White (HealthStar PR, USA), Urara Shiratake (Kyodo PR Medix, Japan), Ralf Hartmann (Chairman of GlobalCom), Claudia Wittwer (GlobalCom) and Federico Unnia (Echo Comunicazione d’Impresa, Italy) participated in the kick-off meeting in London, which was hosted by Martin Ellis, Chairman of Medicom Group. The London-based agency is the founding member of GlobalCom Health.

more… Work hard, get great awards and party even harder…

New affiliate Patzer PR strengthens GlobalCom’s healthcare competence

Meeting new neighbours can be a daunting experience but on the other hand, having someone around the corner you can trust and who can help you out with all those things you cannot manage by yourself can be of real benefit.

Patzer PR,  a communication agency specializing in healthcare and pharmaceutical communications are, however, a very close neighbour to GlobalCom Germany with its office location in Ismaning near Munich. Patzer PR became a member of the network last month.

more… A fruitful neighbourhood

U.S. healthcare agency HealthStar PR joins GlobalCom

We are happy to welcome the New York based company HealthStar Public Relations (HSPR) to our growing healthcare group. HSPR is a full service, independent agency dedicated solely to healthcare industry communications. Founded in 2003, HSPR employs more than 50 full-time client-service executives in Consumer Health, Rx and Device and Diagnostics. “A cooperation with an international PR network was definitely on our agenda when we were approached by GlobalCom”, says HSPR President and Chief Executive Officer Helene Ellison. “We will be happy to share our experience and contacts with our new international partners and thus contribute to the network’s success.”    more… Stars from heaven …

GlobalCom PR-Network wins strong partner for tourism market in Germany and welcomes Kleber PR Network as a new member to the GlobalCom family. Founded by Hanna Kleber in 1994, Kleber PR Network (KPRN) is one of the leading PR agencies for the travel industry in Germany. Attractive travel destinations, renowned hotel groups and international airlines are counted among the Frankfurt-based agency’s clients.

The full service agency offers to its clients tailor-made communication solutions resulting in the successful implementation of their marketing goals. “Our service offers range from dynamic marketing strategies to individual solutions for special products”, explains Hanna Kleber. In doing so, the main focus lies in planning and organizing press campaigns, media co-operations and promotions. more… GlobalCom welcomes Kleber PR

GlobalCom PR-Network presented at ITB Berlin

No premiere, but still exciting: GlobalCom PR-Network was represented with its own booth at ITB Berlin, the biggest tourism trade fair worldwide! Four participating agencies went to see the world: Claudia Wittwer from GlobalCom PR-Network (Germany), Luc Malcorps from Outsource Marketing and Communications (Belgium), Daniel Chardon from Chardon Communications (Switzerland) and Velibor Zolak from amc communications (Montenegro), all members of the tourism task force within the network, presented GlobalCom to airlines, hotel chains and destinations.

Little obstacles put in our way – the public transport was on strike and there was heavy snowfall right on the first day of ITB – did not keep us away from making about 50 meetings with companies and organizations like Kempinski Hotels, Regione Piemonte, National Tourism Organisation of Montenegro, Abu Dhabi National Corporation for Tourism and Hotels and many more. The follow-up of these meetings is still in progress, but some of the meetings were quite promising. more… GlobalCom goes ITB