European and international companies often look to commercial property Barcelona. When establishing an office for their business, Barcelona is an ideal city locale for international companies, for creative startups, and for entrepreneurs looking to extend their European base of operations.
Short term rents are available for MWC luxury apartments
If your business is newly established in Barcelona, participating in Mobile World Congress can be a leverage point for actively promoting your Barcelona commercial property location. But the event can also be a closed shop, especially if you are on the periphery of the industry, or are more interested in bringing attention to your mobile communication channels, rather than being an active player in the mobile business world.
One solution is to make a splash by sponsoring events or participating in the new Mobile World Congress Fringe Festival. This “unofficial” event will run alongside the main industry activities. It is hosted by highly respected, and experienced mobile business leaders. In particular, it offers opportunities for Barcelona-based businesses to build sales leads and expand networks at the start of 2012 by leveraging off the international interest in MWC.
So far, events organized include:
- Mobile Barcamp hosted in Telefonica’s Barcelona offices
- Investors and startups lunch with a leading tech internet site
- Swedish Beers networking party.
Helen Keegan is key organizer of the “Heroes of the Mobile Fringe” Festival and explains that there are a number of sponsorship opportunities available to help businesses get noticed amidst the noise of Congress. As a Barcelona-based business, you can choose a level of sponsorship participation to match your business goals.
“We have a range of sponsorship levels available. For example, local businesses could support with some cash sponsorship and some support for food, drinks and a venue for the rest.
There are several type of events currently open to sponsorship:
- For businesses who have event ideas, Keegan recommends chatting with her team: “We can match your ideas with an event organizer, arrange event spaces and promote your business to Congress participants. For example, we are working with one of the larger advertising companies to make use of their MWC space to hijack their area for 20-minute guru sessions with mobile industry leaders.”
- Local businesses can host a roundtable lunch for Congress participants and open up their Barcelona office doors to international visitors. Keegan explains: “One of the problems with Mobile World Congress in the past has been that local businesses don’t tend to get involved. We’re looking for businesses with office spaces nearby or close to a metro station just one or two stops away (on the red or green line) that can host an industry lunch or roundtable.”
- While Fringe events can be planned for during Mobile World Congress (26 February – 1 March 2012), organizers are also open to starting activities from the weekend before through to the weekend immediately following.
One of the key benefits of sponsorship is working with industry networkers who can help arrange your business liaison at Mobile World Congress. “We find out who you want to meet and since we work with many of the big names at Congress, we can make sure you get some time with your key targets. That’s why we’re looking for active sponsors who are interested in doing something during the week of Mobile World Congress, and who want to get involved in the event they sponsor,” explains Keegan.
If you are a newly establishing Barcelona business or are looking to extend your international brand reach in 2012, the Heroes of the Mobile Fringe may present sponsorship and networking opportunities suited to your marketing goals. To find out more about sponsoring an event for the Mobile World Congress Fringe Festival, contact helen@mwcfringe.com. To book your stay in one of our short-term luxury apartment rentals during Mobile World Congress, contact Lucas Fox.