WORLD leaders like gatherings with each other. They give the gatherings unusual names so that we ordinary folk will know that their meetings are very special and are about solving world problems.
The advertising and marketing industry has caught on to the trend and next February, after a 20-year gap, it is going to reintroduce the famous AANA Conference. This is a big talkfest of media and marketing people who want to solve the problems of their world.
Louise remembers the old days when they were held in faraway places like the Gold Coast and Canberra and took on the pattern of an end-of-season footy trip.
Don't ever travel on the same plane as them. Reminders of Mad Monday.
Some good news came out, though, because the famous TV deals of media buyers and the TV stations, which have been the base of the television industry for more than a quarter of a century, were set at such talkfests at the Gold Coast in the late 1970s.
The deals are done these days in Sydney and Melbourne, but the industry owes it all to the AANA Conference.
The Prime Minister has picked up on the ''I'm off on a conference'' theme and tomorrow he will be at the APEC conference in Singapore with all his troops.
APEC, AANA, G8, G20. I think all of these names come from reading too many Enid Blyton books about the Famous Five and the Secret Seven.
It made me think that the PM is on to something with his trip to Asia. Charlie says the more we soak up Asia the better. So not wanting to upstage the Prime Minister and Foreign Minister, but wanting to be knowledgeable, I spent Wednesday of this week in our office in Singapore. But I politely left Wednesday night before the Prime Minister and his entourage arrived.
Very impressive, Asia. I can see what Charlie's on about. We like to look at where advertising is going and my good friends at ZenithOptimedia have sent out a forecast of the advertising landscape for next year.
It's generally dismal. Little growth in the US, negative in Western Europe and minus more than 3 per cent in Britain. I suppose that means another boatload of Poms with names like Jamie or Toby, are on the way.
But the good news is Asia. China up more than 4 per cent, South Korea nearly 8 per cent, Japan 4 per cent, and India, stand back, 11 per cent. Even Indonesia is more than 2 per cent. I wonder if the boat people know that? Tragic as it is, perhaps they wouldn't leave.
The latest IMF growth estimates that came out during the week show real GDP growth in China of 9 per cent, India 6 per cent, but the Western markets are generally flat.
So hang on for the ride in Asia.
I don't know why we didn't see this growth in Asia before. Probably because we hated the thought of the travel and catching swine flu.
I had the injection before I went to Singapore and I can see why. The cure is nearly as bad as the flu. Louise says don't worry, it's doing me good. Not sure that I agree. Or as Enid Blyton would say: "It would have been better to have a midnight feast, with lashings of ginger beer."
