Ketchum Shanghai has been supporting Europe’s number one electrical goods retailer, Media Markt, in partnership with China’s Foxconn, make a successful entry into China with the opening of its first two stores in Shanghai. The comprehensive communications campaign developed for the first store opening set the benchmark for success. The key was ensuring maximum brand exposure. As a warm up to the opening of the first store, a full day interview program was arranged for Media Markt China’s senior leadership team with leading business media. This was followed two days later by a press conference and opening ceremony to officially announce Media Markt’s entry into Mainland China. Around 80 journalists from media outlets from Beijing, Guangzhou and Shanghai were invited to attend the press conference. An exclusive media preview shopping event was organized the day before the store opened to the public, targeting lifestyle and consumer electronics media. Media were guided by Jack Sun, store director, over five floors and more than 45,000 different products encompassing everything from brown goods such as TVs, hi-fis, and DVD/Blu-ray players through computers and photography/video accessories to white goods and small electrical appliances. Media Markt opened its second store in Shanghai three months later and used the event to make a supplemental announcement that it would be taking over the after-sales service of US electronics retailer Best Buy, just one day after Best Buy decided to retreat from the Mainland China market. The same formula of media preview tour and one-on-one interview opportunities was used. Even such a short time after the opening of the first store, 35 journalists from news and business media including Shanghai Morning Post, Oriental Morning Post, Economy Daily, International Channel Shanghai and China Business News attended the event with the Best Buy angle providing an extra hook. Two days later, customers started queuing at 5 am to get in to the store and doors were opened half an hour early to shorten the waiting time. The well planned media activities ahead of each opening not only generated positive coverage – over 350 reports have been picked up – but also successfully created publicity buzz about the new stores which ensured high levels of customer traffic from the moment the doors opened.