Facing the complex and changing business environment, especially the huge external impact brought by the trade war, the International Mayors Communication Centre (IMCC), an NGO in special consultative status with the United Nations, and “am730,” a newspaper-Internet integrated media outlet with great influence in Hong Kong, have joined forces. On the occasion of the 20th anniversary of both “am730” and the IMCC, a special page named “Northbound Trends,” fully planned by the IMCC, is about to be launched. The special page aims to promote trade exchanges and consumption interactions between Hong Kong citizens and the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area and other regions in China’s mainland. It responds to the latest call of the country and will contribute the Bay Area’s strength to stabilizing employment, enterprises, markets, and expectations, and responds to the uncertainty of the rapid changes in the external environment with the certainty of high-quality development.

The special page of “Northbound Trends” will be presented in the form of a specially edited section in the inside pages of “am730,” and is expected to be published every Wednesday. The special page will guide Hong Kong citizens to travel in the Greater Bay Area and other areas of the mainland in a low-carbon manner, advocate the concept of green living, and stimulate green consumption. It will promote the government departments in the Greater Bay Area and other provinces and cities in the mainland, such as the departments of culture, tourism, commerce, and public services, as well as various enterprises to display and promote cultural and tourism attractions, food, shopping, exhibitions, real estate and other products to Hong Kong compatriots in an organized and planned way. It will take the Greater Bay Area tourism and cultural promotion as the starting point, and design advertising content based on the needs of the mainland market. In the future, it is also expected to plan offline activities in combination with the tourism and cultural promotion of the Greater Bay Area, such as Hong Kong citizens participating in mainland festival activities (for example, dragon boat racing and Zongzi tasting during the Dragon Boat Festival), feeding back the content of the activities to newspaper and electronic media to form a virtuous circle.

Content marketing examples of am730.

IMCC: An NGO in special consultative status with UN, striving to implement the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development

With the support of the China Association of Mayors and the Chinese People’s Association for Friendship with Foreign Countries, the IMCC was incorporated in Hong Kong in August 2005. Its vision is to integrate the world’s urban culture and jointly seek sustainable development among cities. The United Nations granted the IMCC special consultative status on July 25, 2017. Enjoying a number of privileges, organizations in consultative status can actively engage with the Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) and its subsidiary bodies, as well as with the UN Secretariat, programs, funds and agencies in a number of ways, and can regularly submit suggestions and proposals to promote human peace, civilization progress, and sustainable development. The IMCC has submitted written statements to the UN many times, sent representatives to attend important UN meetings from time to time, and has long been committed to the research, development and promotion of products and services related to sustainable development.

Since 2018, the IMCC has persisted in publicizing the UN’s 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development in Chinese and English through its official website and the “Green City GCPS” WeChat public account. During this period, it overcame the severe challenges brought about by the three-year pandemic. In January 2025, it successfully completed the promotion of 17 Sustainable Development Goals and 169 specific targets through a total of 374 articles, showing practical examples and new ideas and methods around the world, which have been highly praised by the international community.

The Council of the Global Mayors’ Forum, initiated by the IMCC, published the monthly electronic magazine “Dialogue to Global Mayors” from 2010 to 2015 to spread the concept of sustainable urban development, showcase sustainable urban models, and provide a professional dialogue, exchange and publicity platform for global urban decision-makers, planners, government departments, experts, scholars and other urban stakeholders. Two to five mayors were invited to write articles for each issue, totaling more than 180 mayors from all over the world. UN officials, professors from world-renowned universities, and experts from research institutions constantly wrote articles to share their thoughts.

Am730: Hong Kong’s “No.1 local newspaper,” a cross-platform media outlet

Founded in 2005, am730 has been a trailblazer in Hong Kong’s mainstream free Chinese newspaper industry. It has consistently upheld the spirit of truth-seeking, maintaining a reporting approach that is neutral, fair, and unbiased. Its focus is on providing multi-angle analysis of social current affairs, inspiring readers to think critically while delivering rich and comprehensive news and infotainment to the general public. In addition to the print edition, it offers a mobile app and website, which deliver a vast array of real-time local news, international news, finance and real estate updates, entertainment, health, lifestyle, travel and food deals, and parenting information daily.

Am730 values both print and online platforms, establishing itself as a credible and influential cross-platform media outlet in Hong Kong. It has won many awards in the industry, including more than 30 awards of the “Hong Kong News Awards” by The Newspaper Society of Hong Kong. In 2023, it was recognized as Hong Kong’s No.1 print media (local newspaper) of the year (by Marketing-Interactive HK Media Report 2023).

Am730 has a huge distribution network and audience of office workers. Its print edition is published from Monday to Friday (except public holidays) and distributed free of charge during the morning rush hour. It has more than 1,300 distribution points in Hong Kong, covering streets in central business districts, the exits of 85% of the MTR stations (including those on East Rail Line, Tuen Ma Line, Island Line, Kwun Tong Line, and Tsuen Wan Line), high-traffic street points in residential areas, selected private housing estates in more than 60 areas in Hong Kong Island, Kowloon and the New Territories, colleges and universities, major hospitals, and professional group offices.

Special page of Northbound Trends: a publicity platform for “reaching out to each other”

In recent years, with the more convenient transportation facilities and the full swing of Internet communication, mainlanders and people in Hong Kong and Macao have reached out to each other. Citizens of Hong Kong and Macao have gradually come into contact with emerging consumption scenarios in the mainland, such as Internet celebrity restaurants, cultural tourism projects and traditional Chinese medicine health care, but there is a lack of systematic guidelines. The IMCC and am730 will jointly launch the special page of “Northbound Trends” to guide Hong Kong citizens to choose leisure and consumption destinations, advocate green consumption, promote sustainable lifestyles such as low-carbon travel, green diet, and eco-tourism, and at the same time encourage the government departments of investment promotion, commerce, culture, and tourism in the Greater Bay Area and other regions of the mainland, as well as major enterprises, chambers of commerce and industry organizations, to promote cities, enterprises and products on this platform.

Government departments, enterprises, institutions, merchants and industry organizations from all places are welcome to contact the IMCC for cooperation talks.

Contact: Ms. Wang

Tel: (86) 0755-86100515, 86100516

Mobile: 17688730127

Email: rachel@hk-imcc.com