In October 1996, The Chartered Institute of Marketing, Hong Kong Branch was inaugurated at the initiative of Professor Michael Thomas, National Chairman. Ten years later on November 16, 2006, The Chartered Institute of Marketing, Hong Kong celebrated its 10th Anniversary with a full-day programme at Crystal Ballroom, Holiday Inn Golden Mile, Kowloon, Hong Kong.

The day began with the International Marketing Conference, under the theme of “Marketing for Profit”. The conference was divided into two sessions with different sub-themes: the morning session probed into “The CEO's Agenda” and the afternoon session dwelled upon the “China Market”.

Mr. Stephen Bradley, HM British Consul-General in Hong Kong, was invited to officiate the opening of the Conference. He delivered a very light-hearted speech showing that he was not only a diplomat, but also a seasoned marketer promoting successfully the services of UKTI to businessmen in UK.

The Keynote Speaker, Sir C. K. Chow, CEO of MTR Corporation, set the tone of the day's Conference. Sir C. K., a world-class CEO, having worked in UK for more than 20 years managing global businesses, such as BOC Gases, GKN and Brambles Industries, shared the perspective of a CEO on marketing for profit. He related the MTR successful story as a case study. MTR introduced the “More time for life” concept, Fare Saver machines, the Octopus Card, and the Disneyland Resort Line, etc. over the last ten years and to this day is still enjoying fabulous results – all demonstrated that MTR has become more marketing-driven than ever. Under his leadership, MTR attained the leader position in terms of value for money among all transport operators in Hong Kong in the third quarter of 2006.

Other Speakers included Paul Gostick, Chairman of CIM;. Jenny Heak and Larisa Okeke of Ipsos; Alec Cheng, Managing Director of JWT, Beijing; Viveca Chan, Founder of WE Marketing Group and Sherman Lai, Managing Director of Centaline (China) Property Consultants Ltd. Moderators for the morning and afternoon sessions were Professor Michael Thomas and Adrian Chan respectively.

The Conference received support from CIM's Asia Pacific regions with their Chairmen Michael Woo (Malaysia), Dr. Ron Lim (Singapore) and Suren Rajanathan (Sri Lanka) taking part as panelists together with S. K. Cheong, Chairman of CIM HK.

The Gala Dinner also celebrated the newly qualified Chartered Marketers and elected Fellows. Professor Michael Thomas, Emeritus Professor of Strathclyde University, a.k.a. “Father” of CIM HK, was the Guest Speaker. A Best Dressed Competition selecting a male and a lady dinner guest who wore “Red or Black” that could best reflect the theme of the celebration and CIM's logo highlighted the success of the evening.

For this occasion, a 10th Anniversary Commemorative Journal was published. It showcases the many successes CIM HK accomplished over the course of this past 10 years, the fond memories cherished all this time, the path to become a Chartered Marketer, and a number of featured articles discussing market transitions and snags overlooked in China, how to cope with competition without dampening your profit margins, and more. They are all commonly talked-about topics with worthy insight.

The Conference and Gala Dinner were attended by close to 700 participants. It received very good response and many considered the Conference world-class given its content and quality. Most importantly, the celebration was supported by many big and prestigious corporations in Hong Kong, such as Oracle Systems Hong Kong Ltd. (Platinum sponsor), MTR Corporation (Diamond sponsor), The Kowloon Motor Bus (1933) Co. Ltd. (Gold sponsor), CLP Power Hong Kong Ltd. (Silver sponsor), Hong Kong Economic Times(Exclusive Chinese Newspaper) and Career Times Online Ltd. (Media sponsors), Holiday Inn Golden Mile (Hotel sponsor).

CIM HK's Regional Office is situated at 2702, Tower 1, Lippo Centre, 89 Queensway, Admiralty, Hong Kong (www.cimhk.org.hk). It has organised 268 events during the past ten years attracting participation of 15,000 members and friends. The anew future mission of CIM HK in the coming decade is to expand its territory into China.