Two Indian companies among Top 70 shortlisted entries

Company Brief

Mumbai, June 1, 2011

70 companies from around the world are now officially in the running to win $1 million (AUD) worth of Queensland incentive travel experiences, after Tourism Queensland today revealed the Top 70 shortlist in its global Million Dollar Memo campaign.

In a twist to the campaign, Tourism Queensland CEO Anthony Hayes announced the shortlist had increased from 50 to 70 as a result of the large number of high quality entries.

This announcement brings good news to India as its leading travel company Thomas Cook and IT Company Datamatics Global Services Ltd have made it among the top 70 which will now be running to win AUD 1 million dollars.

"We were so impressed with the quality and creativity of the entries that we found it impossible to shortlist to just 50," Mr Hayes said.

"It's also pretty evident that the companies who've entered are all quite keen to reward their hard-working staff and that the employees themselves are also enthusiastic about the possibility of an amazing incentive trip to Queensland.

"In order to let these great workplaces have a chance at winning the $1 million in Queensland travel incentive experiences, we decided to increase the short list from 50 to 70."

Mr Hayes said the Million Dollar Memo campaign aimed to position Queensland as a leading destination for incentive travel and that the video entries were great mini-promotions for Queensland.

"We estimate that these entries have a global reach of over 2.5 million employees. We're especially excited about the next stages of the competition where we'll be encouraging the entrants to promote their competition entry, to increase their chances of being one of three People's Choice entrants, which will in effect further promote Queensland as an incentive travel destination.

"Incentive travellers spend around 2.5 times more than regular visitors and bring approximately $334 million to the Queensland economy, meaning that corporate reward travel is truly a high-yield market which deserves our attention.

"A strong show of entries from our key incentive markets in Asia Pacific means that this region is well represented in the Top 70 shortlist and demonstrates that we're certainly getting the incentive travel message to the right people."

Mr Hayes said there was a real "David and Goliath" element to the campaign, with entries from both large multinational companies and smaller independent local businesses.

"Some large multinationals which feature in the Top 70 shortlist are Procter & Gamble (Taiwan), Yahoo! (Taiwan), Twentieth Century Fox (Australia), Mary Kay (Australia), Samsung Card (Korea), CBS Interactive (Australia), Thomas Cook (India), JW Marriott (Canada), Park Hyatt (Dubai), Groupon (Malaysia), COM2US Corp (Korea), De'Longhi (Australia), JWT (Taiwan), Ubisoft (Australia) and Bechtel (Australia).

"Smaller workplaces include Base Architecture (Australia), Christchurch Radiology Group (New Zealand), Community School of Davidson (United States), Diver Inc (Japan), Dorians Music (Hong Kong), Frontier Technology Group (China), and Radio Relations (United Kingdom)."

Nine Queensland companies and 15 Australian companies are represented in the shortlist along with a further 45 overseas companies.

Some of Australia's largest companies are represented in the Top 70 shortlist including Aussie Farmers Direct, Austereo, Coles (Logistics Division), Collins Food Group (Sizzler), Commonwealth Bank (Financial Services Division), Stockland Development (Queensland), Swann Insurance and Wotif.com to name just a few.

The Top 70 shortlist is comprised of organisations from 19 countries and includes a diverse range of workplaces including architecture firms, advertising agencies, construction companies, education providers, game software developers, insurance and banking companies, digital and interactive agencies, national food retailers, travel and tourism companies, oil and gas companies, engineering and manufacturing companies and food retail outlets.

Five people's choice entries, as voted for by visitors to www.milliondollarmemo.com are included in the Top 70 shortlist. The five People's Choice entries are; Woodland Education a childcare centre in Victoria, Australia; the Russian Federation division of Sodick - a multinational manufacturing company; PT Depriwangga – a leading inspection and certification company based in Indonesia; PT. Spektra Solusindo - a leading integrated facility management company based in Indonesia; and Boomerang Reisen – a German travel agency.

The remaining 65 companies were shortlisted by Tourism Queensland and its international offices.

Visitors to www.milliondollarmemo.com can now vote again for their favourite entries from the Top 70 shortlist, with voting closing on July 1, 2011.

Tourism Queensland will select a further 17 entries for the Final 20 list, with the remaining three spots decided by public vote. The Final 20 list will be announced on July 6, 2011.

Representatives of the Final 20 shortlisted companies will travel to Queensland to compete in an Incentive Challenge Event to be held in unique locations throughout the State from August 24, 2011. The winner of the Million Dollar Memo competition will be announced on August 31, 2011.

The Million Dollar Memo campaign is proudly supported by Virgin Australia, Etihad Airways, Gold Coast Convention Bureau, Business Events Sunshine Coast, Tourism Whitsundays Convention Bureau and Business Events Cairns & Great Barrier Reef. Mackay Convention Bureau, Townsville Convention Bureau, Brisbane Marketing Convention Bureau are also supporting partners.

For further information, please contact:

ZZEBRA Public Relations Private Limited

Saloni S. Saraf

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Email: saloni@zzebra.net