London tops the world's financial centres

The 2012 Global Financial Centres Index by think-tank Z/Yen Group, launched on Monday in the FT, reasserts London's position at the top of the league table.

In rank order, the top 10 are London, New York, Hong Kong, Singapore, Tokyo, Zurich, Chicago, Shanghai, Seoul and Toronto. Phew!

Smallbone of Devizes goes global!

Rescued from receivers only two years ago, looks like entrepreneur Leo Caplan, has turned things round for this local Wiltshire business.

I see reported, in last weekend's Sunday Times, that he's planning a store opening in Shanghai, hot on the heels of success in Russia, and aims to attract the affluent Chinese consumer. Apparently the brand has long been popular with the likes of Liz Hurley, Davina McCall, Oprah Winfrey and Dustin Hoffman.

It will be interesting to see which Shanghai celebrities choose Smallbone fittings to house their Aga! The latter also ventured into China recently.

Good for export, and good for the UK balance of payments, if they work.

City Facts!

Check out these facts about the importance of cities, supplied to me by Pamela Perl, at the IPA:

Just 100 cities account for 30% of the world's economy, and almost all its innovation. Many of these engines of globalization, their enduring vibrancy coming from money, knowledge, and stability, are world capitals that have evolved and adapted through decades if not centuries of dominance (Source: Foreign Policy, August 2010).

Rich in networks and opportunities, these vast hyper-productive, hyper-consumptive centers act as magnets, sucking in talent and spewing out innovation: Hong Kong receives more tourists annually than all of India. Tokyo and New York have an estimated GDP similar to those of Canada or Spain, while London's GDP is higher than that of Sweden or Switzerland. Paris, Lisbon, Brussels, Budapest and Seoul all account for more than 25% of their respective national economies. (Source: UN Habitat, 2010).

In the coming decades, they will be joined by many new and/or bigger cities, and these cities will also be host to an increasing concentration of global and national wealth, talent and creativity:

Indian cities are forecast to generate 70% of new jobs created to 2030, produce more than 70% of Indian GDP, and drive a near fourfold increase in per capita incomes across the nation. By 2030, India will have 91 million urban, middle class households, up from 22 million in 2010. (Source: McKinsey Global Institute, April 2010.)

China's Academy of Sciences estimated that for every 1% increase in urbanization, China can expect a 1.6% increase in the contribution made by domestic demand to China's GDP. (Source: Deloitte, June 2010.)

Shanghai's economy represents over 13% of China's total GDP, despite having less than 2% of the population. (Source: UN Habitat, 2010.)
The number of African households with discretionary income is projected to rise by 50 percent over the next 10 years, reaching 128 million. By 2030, the continents' top 18 cities could have a combined spending power of USD 1.3 trillion. (Source: McKinsey, June 2010.)

Delhi, Shanghai, São Paulo and Moscow are each expected to reach a GDP in excess of USD 500 billion by 2025—more than the GDP of entire nations such as Indonesia or Belgium today. (Source: McKinsey, December 2010.)

The result? A global emerging middle class numbering some 2 billion, who currently spend USD 6.9 trillion a year. Over the next decade, this is forecast to increase to USD 20 trillion, double current US consumption. (Source: McKinsey, July 2010.)

Have mobile, will travel?

Looking through WARC News this morning there were two related stories on mobile 'phone growth in Asia:

Market Research company GfK Asia are reporting that smartphones are becoming the handsets of choice in Asia with one in five mobile 'phones bought in the last quarter being smart purchases.

Of course it's sparked a war among suppliers of operating systems, such as Symbian and long-term growth may have to wait for a market shake-out and common platforms.

However, Informa Telecoms & Media are also expecting massive growth in mobile adspend, from $2.3bn in 2009 to around $24.1bn by 2015, again with much of that growth coming from the chattering masses of India and China.

Analysts here expect advertising expenditure on mobile 'phones in the Asia-Pacific region to be representing over 30% of the market by 2015 with North America at around 18% and Western Europe 8%.

It's good to talk isn't it, but though the language barriers of global marketing have long been addressed, let's hope the multiple languages used by the computers running mobile 'phone operating systems and applications to talk to each other, don't take their place.

IPA Effectiveness awards go global

It's been a few years now since the IPA's premier award scheme has allowed entries from outside of the UK.

But it's the first year that a live camera crew from China's news agency has been on site at the awards night to film proceedings and relay it back to China. They were not disappointed. There were three winners for Asia: Ogilvy & Mather Asia Pacific for Comfort, JWT London for HSBC Global (best international campaign) and Ogilvy & Mather Hong Kong for MTR.

It's all part of the IPA's grand plan to develop a UK/China nexus for advertising; in order to facilitate better transactions between the two countries for IPA member agencies and Chinese brand owners seeking to go global.

Next October the IPA is taking a delegation of member agencies and friends to China's International Advertising Festival where '30 years of IPA Effectiveness' will be a showcase exhibition. 88,000 people attended this year's event. By next year, it could be 100,000