EXPO Express

In Brief

McDonald’s Corp plans to serve “Shanghai flavor” meals

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Blackberry users worldwide will soon have easy access to Expo news

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Shanghai will see more than 900 parades involving 23 floats throughout the Expo

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Stringent security checks on all vehicles entering the city are to start next month

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Participants

Little Mermaid to Leave for Shanghai

3/21/10 – The renowned Little Mermaid will leave Denmark’s Copenhagen harbor Thursday and make her first overseas journey since birth in 1913. After a ribbon-cutting ceremony, the statue will be lifted from the Copenhagen shore. She is expected to greet visitors starting from the end of April and will return to the Danish capital by the end of November. The bronze statue was created by Danish sculptor Edvard Eriksen according to Danish writer Hans Christian Andersen’s fairytale that bears the name. Renowned Chinese artist Ai Weiwei (known for the Olympic Stadium “Bird’s Nest” in Beijing) will create a video installation from footage of the Little Mermaid’s journey to Shanghai. A documentary will be shown on the large screen in the Denmark Pavilion about the Little Mermaid’s journey to Shanghai every evening during the Expo.

[Shen Li / en.expo2010.cn]

New Zealand’s Solid Energy Releases Competition
3/21/2010 – Solid Energy today released the judging criteria for its competition, which challenges senior high school students in its mining communities to write a “well-researched and well-argued” essay on the role of coal in sustainable energy solutions for New Zealand. The main prize will be a trip to the Expo. Solid Energy Chief Executive Officer said: “We received a number of comments from people last week about this competition. We definitely want students to think critically about the topic of the essay and we hope that we get a range of opinions argued in the entries.” Submissions will be up to 2,000 words on the main topic, along with 500 words on why each student would benefit from winning the trip to the Expo. The closing date is 5pm Friday, April 9^th.

[Mediacom, New Zealand Press Association]

Italian Renaissance Masterpieces to Debut

3/19/10 – Two representative works of Caravaggio, one of Italy’s most eminent Renaissance painters, will debut in China for the first time in the Italy Pavilion. The paintings, “Boy with a Basket of Fruit” and “Basket of Fruit,” will leave Italy and be flown to Shanghai in mid-June from the gallery Scuderie del Quirinale in Rome, said Beniamino Quintieri, Italy’s Expo Commissioner General. The paintings showcase “the Italian lifestyle” and convey the idea of “harmonious coexistence of humans and nature,” Quintieri said, adding that 2010 marked the 400th anniversary of Caravaggio’s death. Quintieri also disclosed that Italian masters of opera, symphony, ballet and handicrafts will perform during the Expo.

[Xinhua News Agency]

Café Jubilee to Open Outlet

3/18/10 – Café Jubilee will open its second overseas presence during the Expo with an outlet located within the Malta Pavilion. The Shanghai outlet will follow hot on the heels of the recent inauguration of a Café Jubilee outlet in Budapest in a joint venture with the Corinthia Group of Companies. A new Café Jubilee menu, wine, and drinks list have been created, modeled on those offered in outlets in Malta, Gozo and Budapest, but slightly modified to cater for the Expo environment. “Our brief is to promote traditional Maltese products and we will also be enhancing the visitor experience to the Malta stand by offering a full Café Jubilee menu,” said Alex Scicluna, Chief Executive Officer for Jubilee Group.

[Times of Malta]

China Pavilion Makes Sound Deal

3/17/10 – The China Pavilion will invite visitors to hear the sounds of nature purely “made in China” – by using audio equipment provided by a domestic manufacturer. The Bureau of Shanghai World Expo Coordination yesterday signed an agreement with Sound-king Co on a strategic partnership for audio equipment to be used at the China Pavilion and Expo Theme Pavilion.

[en.expo2010.cn]

General Info

McDonald’s to Launch “Shanghai Flavor” Meal
3/22/10 – McDonald’s Corp plans to serve special “Shanghai flavor” meals in Shanghai, as part of its marketing strategy for the Expo, Shanghai Daily reported. The special meal will be served from April 18th to May 21st, the English-language newspaper said. Kenneth Chan, CEO of McDonald’s China, was cited as saying that the fast-food giant will also use the slogan “I’m lovin’ Shanghai.” He said the company plans to aggressively expand the number of drive-through outlets and McCafes in China by opening 150 to 175 new stores in 2010.

[China Knowledge Press]

Construction in Final Phase

3/19/10 – With about 40 days to go until the Expo, preparation for the international event has entered its final stage. Ninety-five percent of the on-site construction has been completed and the rest will be finished by April 15th. Other major projects for the Expo are also well on track. Reconstruction of the Bund will finish later this month and the Longyao road tunnel, a passageway south of the Expo site, will open to traffic as well.

[China Radio International]

Parades to Extend Throughout Shanghai

3/19/10 – More than 900 parades involving 23 floats will be staged citywide throughout the 184-day Expo. Three routes have been designed, covering 2.6 kilometers in total. Two will be in the Pudong New Area, the main venue of the Expo site, and one will be in Puxi. The 920 parades – five daily on average – are expected to attract 30 million visitors. A number of sponsors for the upcoming fair and neighboring cities of Shanghai, such as Zhoushan and Changshu, yesterday signed cooperation documents with the organizer and will contribute “floating pavilions” to the parades.

[Hu Min / en.expo2010.cn]

BlackBerry to Send Expo News

3/18/10 – Blackberry cell phone users worldwide will be able to read World Expo news provided by Shanghai Daily, as the mobile telecom service provider signed a partnership contract with the Expo organizer last Wednesday. The service will be available from the middle of next month until the Expo ends. According to the contract between Research In Motion, developer of the BlackBerry, and the Bureau of Shanghai World Expo Coordination, Expo staff will use BlackBerry cell phones at work during the Expo. They’ll have a tailor-made system enabling them to handle e-mails, get updated information and keep in touch with co-workers.

[Jia Feishang / Shanghai Daily]

Expo Displayed at Int’l Tourism Show in Paris

3/18/10 – A workshop of tourism products related to the Expo and its emblematic China Pavilion put the upcoming event in the spotlight of the 2010 International Tourism Show, which opened last Thursday. The China National Tourism Bureau (CNTB), an exhibitor at the show, decorated the workshop with photos and posters featuring the Shanghai Expo, while the red China Pavilion, the largest at the site, stood out prominently in the 1,700-square-meter exhibition area. “By inviting a dozen French tour agencies, we are organizing the workshop to provide information exchange for international professionals attending this tourism show,” Paris Office Director of CNTB, Xue Guifeng, said. “Many French agencies have already developed special products for the Shanghai Expo.”

[Xinhua News Agency]

Shanghai Opens Post Office along Expo Site

3/18/10 – Expo visitors can have customized postcards of themselves made at a post office next to the Expo site during the event, according to the Shanghai Post. The post office, which opened Thursday, will run every day from 7:00 to 24:00 during the Expo. Visitors will be able to take photos inside the Expo park, and ask any service stand of the Shanghai World Expo Post Office to deliver the pictures to the post office, where they will be made into postcards, said Chen Xiaolu, head of the World Expo command center for Shanghai Post. The post office will provide services in Chinese, English and sign language.

[Xinhua News Agency]

Free Maps at Expo Site; Passports to be Issued

3/17/10 – The Expo organizer plans to distribute 80 million free maps of the site to visitors to help them enjoy a convenient tour. The Expo’s coordination bureau yesterday signed the Shanghai Dow Culture Media Co as a project sponsor for the map design. Twenty million free maps of Shanghai will also be provided to visitors. Meanwhile, five types of “Expo Passports” will be issued. Visitors with a passport will get different commemorative seals at each pavilion; each will have its own ID number. The practice originated at the Montreal Expo in 1967, when the passport could even serve as a ticket. The passports, with three editions – standard, cartoon and classical – are the size of real passports with pictures of pavilions inside. Anti-forgery technologies will be used in the design.

[en.expo2010.cn]

Policy Report

Entering Traffic to be Checked

3/19/10 – All vehicles entering the city will have to go through stringent security checks starting next month to ensure the safety of the Expo. The checks – beginning on April 15 and continuing until November 15 – apply to corporate and private vehicles and trucks, the Shanghai Public Security Bureau said last Thursday. To shorten the checking process, free fast-track passes have been made available for drivers, including expats and overseas Chinese, as of last Friday at city police stations. Officials said they haven’t set any quota for fast-track pass applications. Shanghai traffic authorities announced an Expo transport plan in January, ruling no vehicles except those with special passes be allowed within a seven-square-kilometer zone around the Expo site.

[Ni Yinbin / Shanghai Daily]

Biz Offering

Shanghai Airports: First Step to Expo 2010

We are pleased to inform you that Hill & Knowlton has recently formed a strategic alliance with JCDecaux Shanghai airports media, and is now launching a “First Step to Expo 2010” offering. With the forecasted 70 million visitors to the Expo, there will be a significant increase of daily flights bringing an unprecedented number of visitors to Shanghai during the six-month period. As the No. 1 touch point for Expo visitors and tourists, Shanghai’s airports are a solid platform to boost your brand exposure, stage promotional events, and make a first impression on consumers in China.

Please get in touch if you are interested in knowing how H&K can help you best leverage this special opportunity. Simply email Marc Arnold at marc.arnold@hillandknowlton.com to receive the offering.