Convention bureau DÜSSELDORF sets course for future
The convention bureau DÜSSELDORF (cbD) is going on the offensive during the second of the year to ramp up its already successful convention and conference business. Christian Ortlepp, who previously worked with Messe Berlin, is taking charge of the unit. There has also been an organisational change: with immediate effect cbD is fully attached to Düsseldorf Marketing GmbH (DM). To date it had been a cooperation between Düsseldorf Tourismus GmbH and Düsseldorf Congress Sport & Event GmbH (DCSE). This step underlines the importance of both cbD and of convention tourism in general, within the framework of the realigned strategic marketing of the city.
“The Meeting and EventBarometer Düsseldorf registered almost 45,000 events and 3.6 million participants for 2015 – impressive figures. They emphasise that the convention and conference industry is not only a significant economic factor for the state capital but is also an important factor of city marketing. That is why we, DCSE and our shareholders have decided to assign the convention bureau DÜSSELDORF directly to Düsseldorf Marketing because, in its role as a representative and central contact for the convention location, with its new positioning and umbrella brand, cbD also represents the state capital as a whole,” says Frank Schrader, Managing Director of Düsseldorf Tourismus GmbH. He further stresses that this cooperation with DCSE of course extends further: “As the Managing Director of DCSE, Hilmar Guckert was instrumental in the development of the convention bureau and in its success to date, and he will remain so. The reorganisation enables those involved to bring in their core competences even more effectively.”
The declared aim of Düsseldorf Marketing and its partners at DCSE is to achieve further growth in the dynamic international convention and conference market. By 2019 the DCSE’s CCD Congress Center Düsseldorf will have been completely refurbished and modernised, so that in two years’ time, the quality of the city’s convention infrastructure will have been increased to an entirely new level.
The substance of the cbD’s marketing offensive is to be strategically devised and implemented by new management. From August, Christian Ortlepp – an experienced industry expert – will be taking up the position of Director at cbD, and will drive convention business in conjunction with DM’s executive management. The 33-year-old economist who specialises in marketing had been working with Messe Berlin GmbH since 2010. His most recent position there was Sales Director International Business where his brief included responsibility for the international marketing of the exhibition centre and for the global network in the convention market. Speaking about his new role, the convention specialist says: “After over six years in Berlin, I very much look forward to my new challenge in the state capital. As the Director of the Convention Bureau Düsseldorf, my central task will be to bundle and develop the marketing of the city in the international convention and event market. This is a tough market but Düsseldorf currently has good qualifications – which will only get better – if one considers the expansion and redesign of the CCD by 2019. I would like to make the location better known within the industry and raise its profile in the market.”
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