Reed Exhibitions Acquires Singapore Toy, Games & Comic Convention!

04.13.2010 - Reed Exhibitions, the world’s leading organizer of trade and consumer events, has today announced that it has acquired the Singapore Toy, Games & Comic Convention (STGCC) from local toy designer and manufacturer Play Imaginative (PI). STGCC was launched in 2008 and operated by local event planner PI Events, a subsidiary of PI. STGCC doubled in size at its second showing in 2009 and went from a 2-day event to a 3-day event, including a full day of conference sessions. The last STGCC took place in August, 2009. The next STGCC will take place from December 10-12, 2010 at the Suntec Singapore International Convention and Exhibition Centre (www.suntecsingapore.com)...

Reed Exhibitions has consolidated a team of professionals in its North American office to work exclusively on pop culture events since 2006. The new pop culture team will work closely with the Reed Exhibitions team in Singapore staff that will organize and manage the event in strategic collaboration with PI. Reed Exhibitions and PI share a congruent goal of staging STGCC as the preeminent event in the Asian market that will fit with other events in the Reed pop culture portfolio, including New York Comic Con (NYCC) and the soon to be launched Chicago Comic and Entertainment Expo (C2E2).

“We are delighted to be able to enter into a partnership with Reed Exhibitions, whose pop
culture business has grown rapidly in recent years. NYCC has grown to become the second
largest pop culture event in the world. We are confident that by collaborating with Reed
Exhibitions, we will be able to bring STGCC to the next higher level of experience for the toy, game and comic fan community and the industry in Asia,” shared Jacky Teo, one of the founders of PI. “With Reed Exhibitions’ connections to the industry in the US, we will be able to deliver better and more content that will inspire and excite the fans in Singapore and the region.”

“Reed Exhibitions believes in working with the industry to deliver quality events that delight fans and helps expand the industry it serves. We are happy that PI has agreed to be STGCC’s Strategic Partner as its continued involvement in the event will help to ensure that we continue all of the things you loved about STGCC and help us make the show even better,” observed Huileng Yeow, Project Director for Reed Exhibitions Singapore. “We have already started meeting with fans and exhibitors to discuss how to enhance the STGCC experience and the customers are thrilled about the ideas in the pipeline. We are committed to working with our friends at New York Comic Con to deliver world class guests and content. STGCC will also be held around the same time as Asia Television Forum (ATF), which will add a strong media flavor to the show. Although it is too early to reveal detailed plans, we encourage fans to stay tuned and sign up for our newsletter for the latest developments on STGCC.”

“This acquisition is the first step in our far reaching commitment to service pop culture fans all over the world by building quality events which bring enormous attention to the pop culture community,” noted Lance Fensterman, Group Vice President for the Reed Pop Culture Group. “We want to spread the currency of cool to regions all over the planet. We have a team in place that is wholly devoted to pop culture and which shares in the passion of the community, and we have the support of a company that is not only committed to the growth of our business, but which has offices, staff and resources around the world. We are eager to work with our colleagues in Singapore to make the next Singapore Toys, Games & Comic Convention a massive success and a dominant show in Southeast Asia for years to come. We want to take advantage of the unique location of Singapore, being at the crossroads of Asia, and build a show with broad appeal and which combines the best of the East and the West.”

Underscoring the significance of this development for the pop culture community, Kuo-Yu Liang, Vice President of Sales & Marketing for Diamond Book Distributors, the world’s biggest distributor of English-language comics and pop culture products, stated: “Singapore is one of our biggest export territories and it is also the gateway into the fast growing Southeast Asia and UAE markets, home to hundreds of millions of young fans who love pop culture. The fact that Reed is making this market more accessible is fantastic. It significantly enhances our opportunity to know our customers and to grow our business in this important part of the world.”

To receive regular updates about STGCC, please visit www.singaporetgcc.com or follow
developments on Twitter at www.twitter.com/singaporetgcc and Facebook at www.facebook.com/singaporetgcc. For more information about ATF, please visit
www.asiatvforum.com.