Jack Morton opens in Beijing

Rebecca Lim, who was until recently the MD of Singapore-based Eventus, has been appointed to head the office. "A lot of people identify Jack Morton with our public events, but (the Beijing Olympics) is not the strategy driving the opening of our office in China," said Ben Taylor, JM's regional MD. He said Beijing offered strong new business opportunities on top of the possibilities of servicing an existing roster of corporate clients. JM, which has handled public events such as the 2004 Athens Olympics' opening and closing ceremonies, is competing against another foreign-owned agency and three local firms for the deal. The Beijing office is JM's second in Asia after Hong Kong, and there are plans to open in Singapore and Shanghai this year. "Singapore will be the forerunner of the two markets," he said. Despite setbacks resulting from Hong Kong's protraced economic downturn and Sars, Taylor said the Hong Kong office bounced back to deliver 70 events in the B2B, B2C and internal events areas in 2005. Among them were the opening of the Four Seasons hotel and the launch party for the Wall Street Journal's compact edition. Lim, who has 16 years' experience in the event and conference sector, will be supported by account manager Carmen Kwong, who has transferred from Hong Kong to Beijing in the same role.