WELCOME TO THE ADVERTISING OPPORTUNITIES AVAILABLE ON INTERNATIONAL MEETINGS REVIEW
- the international meeting planner resource

Welcome to an introduction to International Meetings Review (IMR), the international meeting planner resource delivered by the International Meetings Review Network (IMRN).

IMR is the new meetings industry portal delivered by the world's leading publishers in partnership with the industry's foremost associations and events - the global network - going live on the 30th January 2012.

Why?

Domestic planners of business meetings and events are already well served by local print and digital publishers. However, international planners are not. As the meetings market becomes increasingly global and supply chains converge, there is no portal which currently aggregates the best and most informative content to satisfy the information needs of this growing community. Further, there is no central distribution or database platform that can attract the attention of this buying community. It is apparent that only through the collaborative efforts of local publishers and international bodies as a combined force, can the convergence of content and reach be achieved to meet the demands of suppliers and planners alike. From the time of the site going live, over 300,000 meeting professionals will receive the initial network's weekly email service, a service which will swell as the network expands and completes its global footprint.

In addition, the weekly IMR service will reach out to over 400,000 ad hoc and occasional buyers delivered by the site owners, Questex Media Group.

Welcome, therefore, to International Meetings Review - the industry voice addressing the global international meeting planner community. As a potential advertiser, IMR delivers best value reach into this global outbound market and a series of environments best suited to place your promotional messages.

How is IMR configured for the user?

IMR is a .com portal which consists of a global hub where the aggregated 'best of' news, features, video, and resources from our industry publishers is supported by up to 20 country/regional editions of the site. By clicking on these stories and video links, the hub directs planners to sections of the web site where the subject matter by geography or interest resides, as well as links and access to the media properties of the supporting publishers and partners delivering the content. So, for example, if a planner seeks information and insight into the Scandinavian offer, he/she will be directed to a dedicated edition of IMR, 'IMR Scandinavia' delivered by Meetings International (the leading publisher within the region). For the UK, to 'IMR UK' delivered by CAT Publications, and for South East Europe, to 'IMR S. E. Europe' delivered by Kongres Magazine, and so on.

In addition, if the planners' interest is in specific areas of the industry, they are directed to global subsections of IMR including IMR Association News (especially pertinent for international association meeting planners), IMR Sustainable Events, IMR Incentives, IMR Technology, IMR Education, etc.

Selecting the Appropriate Environment for your Advertising

Advertisers should consider each section of the web site based on relevance - in the olden days, it was called 'facing matter'. If, for example, an Asian destination or venue marketer seeks profile to the international meeting planner community, he/she should aim to secure advertising inventory within the IMR Asia edition where planners go to gain insight into delivering their outbound events into Asia. There they will find the most in-depth news and commentary delivered by TTG Asia Media's TTGmice who are the foremost publishers for the region, and are delivering the Asia showcase/edition of IMR. Conversely, if the marketer is delivering technology solutions, they should consider IMR Technology, a global subsection, as the natural environment to promote their service or solution.

Global providers, such as the global hotel chains, should consider the global hub (the .com) as should those destinations and venues seeking a premium profile within the heartland of the site's real estate. (However, these opportunities upon the global hub are limited.)

The Publisher Network

The publishers contributing to the global and national/regional editions are all exclusive to the territories that they represent within the portal - all with focus on the editorial needs of international meeting planners;

• CAT Publications will deliver insight into the UK
• Meet Middle East will deliver insight into MENA (Middle East and N. Africa)
• TW Germany will deliver insight into Germany
• TTG Asia Media's TTGmice will deliver insight into Asia
• Meetings International will deliver insight into Scandinavia and the Baltic States
• BBT Online will deliver insight into the Benelux region
• Kongres Magazine will deliver insight into South East Europe
• CIM Australia will deliver insight into Australasia
• Questex will deliver insight into the US
• The International Meetings Review global editorial team will aggregates the news feeds of all of the above, as well as add a global perspective through the video resources of MEETINGS:review which is subsumed into the resources of the portal.

Destination and venue marketers should therefore consider the territorial country or regional editions within which they themselves reside. (Imagine how incongruous it might be, for example, for BESydney to market its iconic city within the context of the Middle East edition where the news, insight, and resources is focussed entirely upon the Middle East and North African region!).

Global chains, unless supporting specific properties or regional offers, should consider the global hub, whilst marketers wishing to align their offers to technology or key vertical interests such as sustainability, or international association planners, should consider the global subsections as natural homes for their advertising messages.

The Advertising Opportunities

Herein you will find the Media Kit identifying opportunities within the site as follows;

• Global Hub
• Global Subsections (such as IMR Association News, IMR Incentives, etc)
• Regional/Country Editions delivered by the publishers (such as IMR America)
• Bespoke video series, and other custom productions

Please note that if you are targeting only specific source markets, such as the German outbound sector, we suggest that you speak directly to the commercial contacts of the publishers enclosed (in such case to Christine Fuchs at tw-media), and direct your interest and spend through these existing source market media channels. Details of these key contacts reside in the Media Kit below). However, if you wish to target the global international meeting planner community, then we believe that IMR offers the best value marketing solutions for you.

Thank you!

Finally, I would like to thank you for taking an interest in the meeting and business events industry's first ever super site. I hope you enjoy reading and watching the best content from over 40 correspondents from around the world, and we look forward to receiving feedback from you. Meanwhile please support your local publisher as he/she delivers insight into your country or regional offer and I very much hope that your advertising and sponsorship is secured through them in time for the site going live on the 30th January 2012.

Meanwhile, please do feel free to contact me with any thoughts or comments you may have regarding the evolution of the site. We value your constructive comments enormously and we look forward to working closely with you to ensure that we can deliver best content, best community, and best value.

James Latham
Executive Producer
International Meetings Review

Ray Bloom and Carina Bauer
IMEX Group

"IMEX and IMEX America very much welcome the initiative to create International Meetings Review as an industry super site. We recognise that our ability to reach out to global audiences has always relied upon our relationships with leading industry media partners, and the formation of a super site greatly enhances our opportunity to market and promote IMEX and IMEX America to each of your communities while providing access to our own.

Collaborating together to provide a global source platform, cross-fertilising your respective websites and audiences, demonstrates how powerful all the participating publishers can be as global, regional, or domestic sources of content and community. It also elevates each publisher as a member of the industry 'Top Table' of which we as a global event partner alongside our association counterparts, are pleased to be a part."

Deborah Sexton
President and Chief Executive, PCMA

"Collaboration in the meetings industry is more important than ever before as we continue to demonstrate the power and value of our industry around the world. Most recently, PCMA experienced the importance of collaboration in working with 13 other industry organisations to complete a historic study quantifying the economic significance of the meetings sector, demonstrating how our industry plays a critical role in supporting jobs and creates environments that foster innovation and business success.

The proposed collaboration of publishers around the world to create a global news network reflects the very type of collaborative effort PCMA supports and would look forward to being associated with, as it benefits and elevates our industry as whole."