Clockwise from top left: Switzerland Pavilion, Norway Pavilion (top), EU/Belgium Pavilion (below), Spain Pavilion, the acoustic ball inside the Germany Pavilion, UK Pavilion, France Pavilion, and Little Mermaid statue on display at the Denmark Pavilion. Photos provided to China Daily

Europe reflects on a successful public relations blitz at the 2010 World Expo in Shanghai and says the effort was well worth it

Denmark's decision to send its iconic Little Mermaid statue to Shanghai for the 2010 World Expo sparked fearsome debate and led to a municipal government vote in Copenhagen, but the country's top tourist attraction ended up putting its politicians and businessmen on the same page after enjoying a fairytale run in China. "We came (to the Expo) as a branding exercise, to bring Denmark into the minds of the Chinese as a positive country with good ideas and good values in city planning," says Christopher Bo Bramsen, commissioner general of the country's pavilion. "We consider it a huge success. We were a lot more popular than we expected, and we know the Little Mermaid played a role."

The pavilion, a circular white building composed of sloping white paths, lent out Copenhagen city bikes and welcomed 5.5 million people from May 1 to Oct 31 - more than the entire population of the country.

"Some politicians were against sending our national treasure to China, because she's been sitting on four big stones in Copenhagen harbor for 97 years, but we thought it would be a wrong signal to send a copy to China," he adds.

Bo Bramsen was referring to the slow-burning benefits of attending the Expo, such as encouraging Chinese to respect intellectual property rights and the environment, in line with the Expo's motto "Better City, Better Life".

China poured 28.6 billion yuan (3.2 billion euros) into hosting the event, the first World Expo held in a developing country. It welcomed 72 million people, including a world record 1.03 million on Oct 16, as well as 242 countries, regions and international organizations with new subway lines and a citywide facelift.

This created a perfect platform for the 46 European countries that showed up to forge closer bonds with one of the world's biggest markets, sell themselves as tourist and investment destinations, and help their corporate sponsors build invaluable guanxi (relationships) with prospective partners and clients.

Norwegian Pavilion Commissioner General Arild Blixrud says his pavilion's business center was used for more than 100 events, despite strict World Expo rules outlawing most commercial activities to distance the event from a trade fair.

"It's been a wonderful arena for closing deals and getting face to face contact," he says. "I've been in China since 1991, and I've never seen such an opportunity for openness and exchange and getting things done.

"As I explained to the companies, this is more for events and guanxi and having a good time. I told them, 'Don't push the business too much'. But sometimes you have to keep reminding them about that."

Blixrud says the corporate sponsors he talked to were intoxicated by the event's success.

"Our main sponsors, people who have spent 7 to 10 million yuan, have been very impressed. They say in board meetings, 'We got results after our Expo investment that far exceeded our expectations'. And that's without even doing any business here," he says. "And they don't give away money easily, believe me."

Now Europe is moving into Phase 2 of the bridge-building and public-relations blitz it collectively launched in China's financial capital in May. Many countries spent millions of euros constructing a dreamscape of arresting architecture that included a giant apple (Romania), a huge wicker basket (Spain) and a designer greenhouse made of 60,000 seed-bearing acrylic rods (the United Kingdom).

Sweden says its 15-million-euro Expo budget - the largest branding activity ever undertaken by the Swedish government and business community - was money well spent.

"Sweden wasn't very well known in China, so of course we've put Sweden on the map," says Nina Ekstrand, deputy commissioner general of the pavilion.

"The Expo was a good platform for meeting decision-makers from China and all over the world. Our target was to create a platform for dialogue," she says, adding that her committee has already banked a database of over 200,000 useful e-mail addresses.

"The key question is: "How do we follow up on this?"

Others have been thinking the same thing.

British Prime Minister David Cameron led London's biggest-ever delegation to Beijing less than two weeks after the Expo, which featured an iconic UK Pavilion designed by Thomas Heatherwick, ended.

The delegation of 40 businessmen signed contracts worth a reported 2 billion euros, including an 881-million-euro deal between jet engine-maker Rolls-Royce and China Eastern Airlines.

Meanwhile, 500 business leaders from Europe met with 200 Chinese counterparts at the China Investment Forum (CIF) in Prague from Nov 8 to 11 to bolster economic ties and cement the new bonds forged in Shanghai.

"At the Expo, the Chinese and European parties had a great chance to become acquainted," says Petr Hyl, executive chairman of the CIF. "I expect the results of the Prague event to be fruitful for all, especially in terms of informing Chinese investors on the rich opportunities available to them in central and eastern Europe."

For many corporate sponsors and exhibitors, the pavilions served as veritable Trojan horses through which to promote their goods and services.

France's Aldebaran Robotics signed new deals with Chinese universities and a Japanese buyer for its "Nao" humanoid robot after demonstrating it inside the France Pavilion. Aerodium, which outfitted a glittering Latvia pavilion with one of its wind tunnels and gave visitors free rides, also got a foot in the Asian market.

"Aerodium will definitely have one or two projects in Asia next year because of this," says pavilion chief Roberts Stafeckis. "However our main aim was showing people that our country exists, and that we have something special to offer."

Many countries are expecting a tourism boost. Norway has already got one.

"We've noticed a lot more tourists coming from China this year," Blixrud says. "It's partly related to the Expo, because we did a lot of preliminary marketing work."

Germany invested 50 million euros in building one of the most popular pavilions. It included some high-tech theater in the form of a giant acoustic ball that responded to hand clapping and shouting from its packed auditorium.

Commissioner General Dietmar Schmitz says the 100-plus German companies featured in the pavilion had built new bridges.

"We showed that we can deliver solutions to the Shanghai Expo's theme of building sustainable and environmentally-friendly cities, and that we have enterprises that can deliver world-class products on this big theme.

"We already have a good image in China, but it was important to underline it and let people come and test it in reality."

Switzerland engineered a chairlift offering Chinese a tour of a virtual Alps. The building was clad in biodegradable soybeans and 20,000 intelligent solar cells that generated electricity from camera flashes. Officials there say the Expo was more than worth the price it paid for entry: 25 million euros.

"We had very expensive media coverage throughout," pavilion director Manuel Salchli says. "The total ad value looks to be much, much bigger than our investment."

Switzerland also got to re-brand itself and show that there is more to the country than pristine mountains and tennis ace Roger Federer - who showed up briefly.

"The No 1 question by far from Chinese media before the Expo started was 'Is Federer coming'?'" Salchli says.

"We did an image survey back in 2006 and the result was good, but it was all based on stereotypes. Beautiful mountains, blue skies, clean water, that kind of thing, but nothing about our economy or innovation. So we offered around 50 different innovative solutions for sustainable development at our pavilion."

The European Union, which shared a giant building with Belgium that included a luxury diamond corner, says it used the Expo to network by organizing many conferences.

"We have many projects where we are in contact with Chinese experts. It's a huge network. So this was a great opportunity to keep going on with all those," says Oliver Rassat, director of the EU pavilion.

For France, one of the most popular pavilions alongside Germany, the UK, Italy and Spain, the Expo was an opportunity to repair ties with China after a spat that erupted in the build-up to the 2008 Beijing Games when protesters sabotaged the Olympic torch relay in Paris.

"With the success of the Shanghai Expo, this little crisis between France and China, I think, has now totally passed," says Jose Freches, whose "Sensual City" France Pavilion had an Expo budget of 40 million euros.

It exhibited Rodin's The Age of Bronze and Van Gogh's The Dance Hall in Arles, among a handful of masterpieces from the Orsay museum in Paris. About 10 million visitors came, including the person described by Forbes as the world's most powerful man.

"President Hu Jintao came on a private visit at the end of April (during the Expo's soft opening) and stayed for 15 minutes, looking at all the magnificent art we brought over from France," Freches says.

"In political and symbolic terms, it was a very significant visit for the French government. So after he left, I called President (Nicolas) Sarkozy and told him. He was very surprised, and very happy.

"In China there is a link between business and politics. It's not like Western countries. So when the governments are on good terms, it can be very good for the companies of that country," he says.

Meanwhile, Greece signed 14 bilateral business and investment agreements with China in May, when the Expo started, and another 13 in October, when it ended, including a major deal to export its olive oil.

"The Expo has been a worthwhile and successful forum, a springboard for developing economic and business cooperation," says Ioannis Drymoussis, secretary general of Greece's Development and Competitiveness Ministry.

"This could also assist Greece in overcoming her current financial and economic difficulties."

Many European countries say they saw attending the Expo as a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.

"It will not be so soon before we see another Universal Exposition of this amplitude and impact for its organizing country," Freches says.