Best use of event
Best use of event
Think “The Business Times (BT)” and “wine” may not be the first thing to pop into your mind. But it comes as little surprise that many of our readers are connoisseurs of the elegant art of wine tasting. In the latest edition of The Business Times Wine Challenge, we brought together CEOs and wine experts to select their top choices from a wide selection submitted by registered wholesale companies and merchants in Singapore. Buoyed by two successful runs of the annual event, we introduced a series of new awards in 2015: The CEOs' Top Choice for Top Contemporary Wine 2015 and Top Classic Wine 2015. The wine awards are held in partnership with Swiss banking group UBS AG. After the event announcement in July, the contest saw a record 176 entries submitted, exceeding our cap of 150 and forcing us to bring the deadline
forward. A panel of carefully selected industry experts, namely chief judge Lim Hwee Peng, Maximilien Fedkiw, founder and sommelier of Le Bistro du Sommelier, and Timothy Goh, Les Amis Group' director of wines, assisted by two guest judges - Kelvin Tay, managing partner and group sommelier mentor at The White Rabbit, and Kenneth Au Hon Man, Resorts World Sentosa chef sommelier – shortlisted the number of bottles to 50 for the finals. A panel of wine connoisseur CEOs then took over, blind tasting the wines and scoring them on aroma, complexity, balance, intensity and length of flavour. In October, the winners were announced at an awards ceremony held at UBS AG, One Raffles Quay, attended by Singapore's business elite and UBS' high net worth clients.
Objectives: With The Business Times Wine Challenge 2015, we sought to fulfil four main objectives, of which we succeeded on all counts. 1.
2.
3.
4.
Raise BT branding and visibility beyond previous smaller wine events we'd been doing for many years. Results: Succeeded. Wine Challenge has built a name for itself and winning distributors now use the event to advertise their wines, which always results in their relevant allocations being sold out. New high-profile platform to connect with CEOs and industry leaders. Results: Succeeded. The event was well attended by Singapore's business elite and UBS' high net worth clients. Build relationship with wine distributors and wineries Results: Succeeded. Winning distributors always sell out their allocations and get strong publicity, so are eager to participate. A well-structured awards system ensures everyone felt like a winner too. Generate revenue Results: Succeeded. Investment from main partner UBS means event led to positive revenue. Entrance fees for participating wineries and distributors also helped to defray costs.
BUILDING ON the BT news brand
ONE
Leveraging on BT’s high profile network The Business Times prides itself on being Singapore’s top financial newspaper. That means access to a network of high profile individuals that no other news publication has. The Business Times Wine Challenge builds on the BT brand by leveraging our connection with that network, specifically with CEOs. In fact, the event’s full name is The Business Times Wine Challenge - CEOs' Choice. We wanted to have the winning wines reflect the choices of actual drinkers and business leaders. No other brand has the same connection with CEOs, which is why only BT could credibly hold a wine awards ceremony with this angle.
TWO
Leveraging on BT’s journalistic capabilities In support of the event, BT featured each of the 50 "Judges' Picks" in print and online over five Saturdays, from Sept 5 to Oct 3, in the run-up to the awards ceremony. This included a standalone section catering specifically to the BT Wine Challenge, which offered all the related stories, made free to read on our website.
Generating Profitability Apart from the return on increasing brand awareness among our targeted audience, the event generated profitability through the strategic partnership with Swiss banking group UBS AG. Both parties worked together to mutually benefit from hosting The Business Times Wine Challenge 2015 – both by boosting brand awareness of both the UBS and BT brands, as well as establishing the brands in connection with a high profile network. The partnership came with an investment from main partner UBS, which helped to generate revenue for The Business Times. In addition, entrance fees for participating wineries and distributors helped to defray costs, boosting direct profitability from the event. Other partners supporting the BT Wine Challenge 2015 - CEOs' Choice were Temasek Polytechnic as the tasting coordinator, Park Hotel Group as the catering partner and Samsung as the TV partner.
Best use of event
Think “The Business Times (BT)” and “wine” may not be the first thing to pop into your mind. But it comes as little surprise that many of our readers are connoisseurs of the elegant art of wine tasting. In the latest edition of The Business Times Wine Challenge, we brought together CEOs and wine experts to select their top choices from a wide selection submitted by registered wholesale companies and merchants in Singapore. Buoyed by two successful runs of the annual event, we introduced a series of new awards in 2015: The CEOs' Top Choice for Top Contemporary Wine 2015 and Top Classic Wine 2015. The wine awards are held in partnership with Swiss banking group UBS AG. After the event announcement in July, the contest saw a record 176 entries submitted, exceeding our cap of 150 and forcing us to bring the deadline
forward. A panel of carefully selected industry experts, namely chief judge Lim Hwee Peng, Maximilien Fedkiw, founder and sommelier of Le Bistro du Sommelier, and Timothy Goh, Les Amis Group' director of wines, assisted by two guest judges - Kelvin Tay, managing partner and group sommelier mentor at The White Rabbit, and Kenneth Au Hon Man, Resorts World Sentosa chef sommelier – shortlisted the number of bottles to 50 for the finals. A panel of wine connoisseur CEOs then took over, blind tasting the wines and scoring them on aroma, complexity, balance, intensity and length of flavour. In October, the winners were announced at an awards ceremony held at UBS AG, One Raffles Quay, attended by Singapore's business elite and UBS' high net worth clients.
Objectives: With The Business Times Wine Challenge 2015, we sought to fulfil four main objectives, of which we succeeded on all counts. 1.
2.
3.
4.
Raise BT branding and visibility beyond previous smaller wine events we'd been doing for many years. Results: Succeeded. Wine Challenge has built a name for itself and winning distributors now use the event to advertise their wines, which always results in their relevant allocations being sold out. New high-profile platform to connect with CEOs and industry leaders. Results: Succeeded. The event was well attended by Singapore's business elite and UBS' high net worth clients. Build relationship with wine distributors and wineries Results: Succeeded. Winning distributors always sell out their allocations and get strong publicity, so are eager to participate. A well-structured awards system ensures everyone felt like a winner too. Generate revenue Results: Succeeded. Investment from main partner UBS means event led to positive revenue. Entrance fees for participating wineries and distributors also helped to defray costs.
BUILDING ON the BT news brand
ONE
Leveraging on BT’s high profile network The Business Times prides itself on being Singapore’s top financial newspaper. That means access to a network of high profile individuals that no other news publication has. The Business Times Wine Challenge builds on the BT brand by leveraging our connection with that network, specifically with CEOs. In fact, the event’s full name is The Business Times Wine Challenge - CEOs' Choice. We wanted to have the winning wines reflect the choices of actual drinkers and business leaders. No other brand has the same connection with CEOs, which is why only BT could credibly hold a wine awards ceremony with this angle.
TWO
Leveraging on BT’s journalistic capabilities In support of the event, BT featured each of the 50 "Judges' Picks" in print and online over five Saturdays, from Sept 5 to Oct 3, in the run-up to the awards ceremony. This included a standalone section catering specifically to the BT Wine Challenge, which offered all the related stories, made free to read on our website.
Generating Profitability Apart from the return on increasing brand awareness among our targeted audience, the event generated profitability through the strategic partnership with Swiss banking group UBS AG. Both parties worked together to mutually benefit from hosting The Business Times Wine Challenge 2015 – both by boosting brand awareness of both the UBS and BT brands, as well as establishing the brands in connection with a high profile network. The partnership came with an investment from main partner UBS, which helped to generate revenue for The Business Times. In addition, entrance fees for participating wineries and distributors helped to defray costs, boosting direct profitability from the event. Other partners supporting the BT Wine Challenge 2015 - CEOs' Choice were Temasek Polytechnic as the tasting coordinator, Park Hotel Group as the catering partner and Samsung as the TV partner.
Best use of event
