LOS ANGELES: The Los Angeles office of Fleishman-Hillard was tapped by the mayor's office to spearhead communications for an economic stimulus mission to Asia last month.
Fleishman was given two months to arrange the 10-day mission to China, South Korea, Taiwan, and Japan, with the goal of obtaining media coverage for Mayor James Hahn's first overseas trade-and-tourism venture.
Fleishman helped organize the trip using its overseas offices to arrange press events and other media endeavors, as well as arrange for a traveling press corps to join the delegation.
"It's somewhat unusual that the mayor of a large city would utilize the international capabilities of a multinational firm," pointed out Fleishman's LA director Doug Dowie. "The mayor received tremendous media coverage overseas, thanks in large part to the efforts of my colleagues in Beijing and Hong Kong."
The tour visited six cities, holding press conferences in Beijing, Hong Kong, and Shanghai, and a press event in Tokyo featuring actor Arnold Schwarzenegger and LA Dodgers' pitcher Kaz Ishii, who is Japanese, to promote Los Angeles tourism.
That event was part of the unveiling of a separate "See My LA" campaign designed to draw in more foreign visitors, whose numbers have declined in recent years.
Fleishman also helped to publicize the key achievements of the trip, including a pair of rare golden monkeys to be loaned to the Los Angeles Zoo, a business agreement designed to help LA firms win contracts to assist Beijing in upgrading its airport, the designation of Los Angeles as a gateway to Beijing for the 2008 Olympics, and an environmental accord that will enable ships in LA's port to use the city's electricity - rather than diesel engines - when they are docked.
Fleishman worked on the trip as part of its ongoing contract with the city's Department of Water and Power, which will benefit financially from the port electricity deal.
