Cityscape showcases global ambition
#Week 37’s Paperclip comes to you from Riyadh, where many of the Innesco team have been busy as the official PR partner of the inaugural Cityscape Global event in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, having previously been held in Dubai since 2002.
And what an event it has been! Over the course of four days at the Riyadh Exhibition & Convention Centre, some 250,000 delegates took in everything that the world’s largest real estate event has to offer. With all of the Saudi Arabian ‘gigaprojects’ engaging and exhibiting under one roof for the very first time, there is surely no property forum quite like it. On day one alone, new projects and launches totalling some 68.7 billion riyals (£14 billion; $16 billion) were unveiled.
The event’s official theme was ‘The Future of Living’, but in truth its scope goes well beyond that. Visitors were given an incredible insight into the sheer scale and pace of growth in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and its Vision 2030. European visitors in particular could only be impressed by the level of energy and ambition on display; as French artist Olivier Pron, who has been working on the marina element of Neom’s flagship development The Line, said: “What has struck me most is the enthusiasm.”
Innesco has been working with Cityscape for a number of months on International PR, social media and wider marketing initiatives. But our role at the event itself has been much more wide-ranging, with support from the 10+ team on the Innesco stand – including Saudi members of our permanent Riyadh office – for various clients, such as ROSHN, SEVEN, Benoy, Knight Knox and Malahi Entertainment.
And it is the presence of these international companies and delegates – exhibitors and attendees have come to Cityscape from an incredible 170 countries – that demonstrate the wider success of the event. People have come to hear, to learn, to discuss, to share, to announce, to meet and to collaborate. Many commented that the event completely changed their view of the Kingdom and its tangible ambition. Cityscape Global is a forum in the truest sense of the word.
One of the pleasures of attending large-scale events is having to adapt at short notice, to react to opportunities and operate under intense timescales to optimise media coverage for clients. It is a question of raising positive awareness and maximising impact to properly capitalise on the opportunities an event can present; in Cityscape, there is a lot to be taken advantage of, and to stand on this world stage.
So thank you to all our clients there - and to those that weren’t, see you next year!