A regional daily editor has flown to the south of France in a bid to “sell” his newspaper’s patch to potential investors.
Derby Telegraph editor Neil White, pictured left, is part of Derby’s delegation to the MIPIM international business conference in Cannes.
The event caused controversy in the UK regional press last year when Mayor of Leicester Sir Peter Soulsby blamed the Leicester Mercury for his decision not to attend after one of its columnists branded the event a “jolly.”
But, in an editorial for the Telegraph, Neil denied the event would be “a right old knees-up in the sun.”
The self-confessed film geek started a blog in 2011 in which he challenged himself to watch and review every film released in UK cinemas throughout that year.
But he wrote: “Sadly, my dream of sipping a cool beer before nipping off to watch a movie in the home of film premieres will not be happening. Instead, I will be helping to sell our city.
“In my paws will be business cards hailing “Derby, UK – Capital For Innovation” and I will be trying to hand them to as many influential people as possible.
“This is where we try to attract investment and, ultimately, jobs to our city. Is success guaranteed? No. But is it worth the effort? Absolutely.”
Added Neil: “Anyone who is anyone in the world of investors, local authorities or industry will be there. In 2014, MIPIM was attended by 21,000 individuals and 2,225 exhibitors from 93 countries.
“Some might say that Derby City Council’s representatives should save its money and stay at home. I profoundly disagree.”
“Who knows whether a well-placed word, combined with a business card, will have the same effect in France this week but what you can all be assured of is we will be trying our very hardest to make sure it does.
“Meanwhile, the cold beer will remain in the fridge and the film unwatched.”
MIPIM stands for Le Marché International des Professionnels de l’immobilier, which translates as “the international market for real estate professionals.”
Neil is part of a delegation of around 20 as part of ‘Team Derby’, which includes representatives from Derby City Council.
Last year Sir Peter refused to attend the event on Leicester’s behalf, blaming the Mercury’s coverage of his visit the previous year for the decision.
He accused anonymous Mercury columnist Fred Leicester of using his column to “whip up ill-informed popular criticism, basing it on inaccuracy”, after the conference was termed as a “jolly” in the piece.
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Going abroad to lure investors into Derby as some staff at home are losing their jobs. A Stonished
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“…..a well-placed word, combined with a business card…”
At least its good to see they are gong there with a well thought out marketing plan and high quality promotional material then
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Good on Neil White for going.
The doom-merchants will come out with the same old reasons for doing things the same old way, while newspapers continue to become more and more alienated from their business communities.
MIPIM is an event like no other, for the calibre of attendees. It would normally take Neil three-months of appointments to meet the contacts he’ll get chatting to at this event.
By going along with his city’s delegation, Neil is cementing his already-good relationships with key Derbyshire decision-makers and will meet many more potential advertisers; he’ll get some exclusives and make sure his titles continue to be at the top-table in his county.
I’ve noted a number of titles have done this and I applaud their bosses for showing ambition and creativity, rather than just sitting back and shrugging their shoulders while their titles struggle.
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In the highly conpetitive environment of a high level trade show where e stones pitching for much needs business ,only the ones with the best offering presented in the most professional way and with the highest level of sales and promotional material stand any slight chance, a nice chap having a quiet word and handing out a few business cards is pointless.
This is 2016 not 1970
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Well done Le Real World.
Your promotion is in the bag!
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An Editor supporting the business sector in his city and in particular the Real Estate sector. Congratulations Neil White. I don’t know whether this will help attract new businesses to Derby or not but it will certainly allow your ad-reps when they talk to customers in Derby and tell how the Newspaper is supporting local business.
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“Derby, UK – Capital For Innovation”…Oh please.
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Unless the whole presentation is of the highest calibre and with a range of real and tangible benefits to offer the potential investor this trip will be pointless.
Sorry to be a naysayer but having seen how well executed and delivered many such trade delegation pitches are,and in an arena of 2,225 other exhibitors all out to close some business, a regional press editor slipping someone a business card with a promotion slogan on it or the web address of the local paper is likely to do more harm than good.
But as jollies go its sure to be a good one
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I scarcely know where to begin.
Should it be with holdthefrontpage for publishing a story without bothering to ask me for a quote or the woefully uninformed comments?
I think it is the duty of any newspaper editor to support his or her community. The Derby Telegraph is so immersed in ours that I was invited to several confidential meetings which are crucial the city’s development. As has been said, it demonstrated that we are serious about business while also gaining background knowledge about some very big stories.
The business cards were actually Team Derby’s not mine. And, as it happens, I did have one short conversation and an exchange of cards with a lead who is considering making a sizable investment in the UK, creating many jobs. I put Derby’s case to him while networking at the city’s embassy event. Of course, that was just the first of very many, hopefully rewarding, conversations to follow.
As for the jolly quip… yes, I did drink a few bottles of beer and ate a few canapes but not that many because we had to be up at 7am and 6am respectively to travel back into Cannes from our hotel in Nice.
Derby is right to badge itself city of innovation. It was the heart of the industrial revolution and is now at the forefront of technology with Rolls-Royce’s world headquarters employing 15,000 in the city. In fact, 12% of Derby’s population work in high-tech jobs.
Finally, I struggle to understand the motivation of most who post so negatively on holdthefrontpage but I did note that nobody made a single comment when our latest investigation in child experiments at a mental hospital was raised in the Commons two weeks ago. I would have thought that was the ‘good old-fashioned’ journalism that so many on this forum consider to be the province of the past.
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“…..to travel back into Cannes from our hotel in Nice”
Not a jolly then
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A good reply from Neil and the paper does really support the city – a shame Local World thought India was a better centre of IT innovation than Derby though. I wish some of the newspaper groups were as pro-local jobs as the editors.
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Last time I was in Derby they had just built a huge new hotel which dominated the city skyline. I think it was clad in green, and above the traditional skyline looked terrible. I hope this monstrosity wasn’t the result of a MIPIM delegation.
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MIPIM is indeed an important and influential conference, Neil, and that explains why no one commenting here has any idea of what it means to attend, or why it was a good business and editorial decision for you to do so.
I’ve sent senior execs to MIPIM and the contacts they make – and stories they bring back to develop – are extremely valuable.
But let’s not forget HTFP is a strange world where commenters think a new MD should have subbing skills to do his job. How would they know an editor attending an international conference to promote a city and a brand is not unusual in any way?
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” ….a well-placed word, combined with a business card”
Beyond belief
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Neil puts up a plausible defence – and I’m sure that in his own mind he believes it…
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