Selling Britain
to the world
Media 10 CEO Lee Newton on launching Best of
British in Shanghai and the appeal of China to
businesses post-Brexit
B
28
est of British launched in 2017 as a
way to showcase high-end British
products, events, services and
experiences to the Chinese market. The event
had its second edition in October 2018 at the
Shanghai Exhibition Centre and welcomed
more than 28,000 trade and consumer
visitors.
The event, says Media 10 CEO Lee
Newton, “showcases the Best of British to
the Chinese consumer and business visitors,
who look at British-ness and British products
as something that they admire.”
The show isn’t Media 10’s first foray into
Shanghai. Design Shanghai launched back
in 2014 and the organiser also brought the
iconic Ideal Home Show brand to the city in
2017. Around 40 members of staff work in
the Shanghai office and one of the company’s
directors relocated to the city.
“We understand the market better than
most and we understand it from a British
and European point of view,” says Newton.
“Rather than relying on a local Chinese
point of view we have our own people out
there. We were quite comfortable launching
Best of British out there.”
It was a different story, however, when
the organiser first set out to launch in the
country.
“It was definitely a leap into the unknown;
we made lots of mistakes,” admits Newton.
“We spent far too much money and we fell
into lots of the traps that British companies
do.
“But you learn lessons quickly and make
sure that you don’t make the same mistakes
again. Some of the advice that we got was
completely wrong and the opposite of what
we should’ve been doing.
“Through having a lot of things go wrong
in year one we were able to see the size of
January 2019 | exhibitionnews.co.uk
the market and the benefits of an economy
like China’s. We worked out our recipe for
success and in year two it was already much
easier and much more successful.
“It isn’t cheap to do, you have to be
quite brave to launch and there are many
exhibition companies who say they can’t or
don’t know how to launch in China. I can
understand why, but we do know how to
launch.”
As Best of British has a focus on promoting
UK products overseas, government support
can be incredibly valuable.
“We’ve had help from the Department
of International Trade and the GREAT
campaign,” says Newton. “We’d like more,
but we’ve had some and we appreciate it.
We’re hoping that when Brexit sorts itself
out there will be more funds available to help
companies come out.
“The British Consulate General Shanghai
have been very helpful and we’re thankful
to them. They can see the value of the show;
that they’re representing British business out
there and we are bringing a whole bunch of
companies from Britain to Shanghai.
“We can only do so much as a private
business, but we do think that there’s a big
market – not just in China but all over the
world – for British shows, if they’re done in
the right way.”
A simple formula
Newton says that, while Britain sells, part
of that is knowing how exactly how to sell
the country’s products to an international
audience.
“You can’t just chuck everything British
into one pot and hope that you can attract
the right audience,” he tells EN. “There’s a
lot more science to it than that. It’s what’s
attractive, it’s what’s sellable, it’s how one
product can link to another product. The
mistake that people make when they do a
show like this is that they’ll have a Rolls
Royce jet engine sitting next to a Barbour
raincoat and expect visitors to like both. It
doesn’t work that way.
“It’s quite a simple formula; you have to
match your visitors to your exhibitors and
treat it as a strict trade business show. Profile
matching is a big part of the success.”
The show has a wide range of exhibitors,
from Rolls Royce and Bentley to the Royal
Ballet and Wimbledon.
It features 40 fashion shows across the
four days, screens the latest British films and
has a presence from companies like the Royal
Shakespeare Company and the Royal Opera
House. Media 10 encourages exhibitors to
have an experiential element to their stands,
such food and drink companies providing
tastings for visitors.
Best of British is also aimed at both trade
and consumer, with a two-day trade show
followed by two days open to the public.
“The idea is that you can test your product
into the market,” explains Newton. “You
might have a new partner who’s standing
next to you seeing how consumers react
to your product, so you can prove to the
Chinese business market that your product is
liked by the consumer.
“We think the two sides complement each
other, particularly in China. There are lots
of trade and consumer shows that are just
confusing, but I think in China it works
well.”