Case Studies

CIBJO is a confederation comprising representative organizations in the jewelry industry from more than 40 countries, as well as international corporations involved from mining all the way through to retail. Its mission is to encourage harmonization, promote international cooperation in the jewelry industry, and to consider issues which concern the trade worldwide. Its General Assembly meets annually at the CIBJO Congress. In February 2010 the congress was held in Munich, Germany.
 
A CIBJO Congress will typically attract between 150 and 200 delegates, who themselves represent thousands of jewelry industry members. The goal of MarketDirect Business Communications (MDBC) was to maximize exposure of the event throughout the industry, and to the greatest degree possible as it happened. As is typically the case with representative organizations, this had to be done on a modest budget.
 
The key to providing ongoing coverage of the congress was the Internet. A special congress website was created, which simultaneously served as the congress section on the main CIBJO website.  
 
Prior to the event, the website served to provide details about the upcoming congress, and enable online registration. 
 
Preparation for the project was critical. The website was designed so that we could upload materials as they became ready. Consequently, while sessions were actually underway, speeches, presentations and photographs from the meeting halls were uploaded onto the website, enabling an international audience to gain access to materials from the event within minutes of it taking place.
 
Each evening an electronic newsletter was prepared distributed, to the CIBJO membership and to contacts in MarketDirect’s expensive media database. Each newsletter comprised headlines and teaser paragraphs about news and developments from that day at the congress. When one clicked upon them, they were linked to the congress website where they could read the full article, and also gain access to the full volume of information about the event.
 
Eight press releases were distributed just prior during and after the 2010 CIBJO Congress, and, following the event, a full press kit was uploaded including meeting agendas, speaker bios, a full set of speeches and  presentations and a full set of photographs in high resolution. This was to encourage coverage in the printed trade media over the coming months.