Sarawak Convention Bureau wins Diamond Award for New MICE Commercial

The Sarawak Convention Bureau (SBC) recently won a Diamond Award for its new MICE video commercial at the prestigious Das Goldene Stadttor (the Golden City Gate) Film Competition in Berlin.

The award-winning commercial was among multiple entries submitted by 32 countries for eight different categories. The four-minute commercial entitled 'Recharge in a New World' was selected as the best overall entry by the international jury.

SBC’s Chief Executive Officer, Jill Henry said her team took a different approach in their first production to stand out and be noticed. “We chose to produce a story-lined TV commercial leavened with a touch of “tongue in cheek” humour instead of the usual showcase of the whole destination,” she said.

She also added that the honest approach they adopted in making the video commercial may have worked to their advantage. “We did not shy away from the fact that many international meeting planners do not know where Sarawak is located. Hopefully, that will all be changed as we embark on an intensive profile building exercise in the lead up to the opening of our new convention centre next year,” Ms Henry added.

The story line of the commercial featured Sarawak’s Iban community and the set up of the climactic meeting between the overseas MICE visitors and their exotic Iban hosts. The commercial will help position Sarawak and the upcoming convention centre as a new MICE venue next year.

The winning entry was scripted by Peter Lo of the creative agency Magicmakers. It was directed by an international award-winning Kuala Lumpur based film director, Yoki Chin of Filmpoint, with co-director Leong Euho. The production also has veteran producer Han Chung Huat as executive producer on a ten-day shoot which included shipping a cast and crew of about 100 people and two tons of equipment into the rainforest of Sarawak.

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