MELBOURNE, AUSTRALIA – Media OutReach Newswire – 21 October 2025 – CHiQ is proud to announce its strategic partnership with the North Melbourne Football Club, a cornerstone team of the Australian Football League (AFL). Over the 2026 and 2027 seasons, CHiQ will be the club’s Co-Major Partner for the club’s AFL Program and Platinum Partner for the AFLW Program, with branding featured prominently across official playing apparel—bringing CHiQ’s dynamic energy and modern spirit to one of Australia’s most-watched sporting stages.

This collaboration follows CHiQ’s successful alliance with the St George Illawarra Dragons rugby league team, marking a significant step forward in the brand’s expansion across Australia’s elite sports marketing landscape.

As Australia’s most influential sporting league, the AFL attracts over 152 million viewers annually, boasting a surging commercial value and public engagement. CHiQ’s collaboration with the North Melbourne Football Club further deepens its connection with local communities and its brand presence in the Australian market.

“CHiQ is a rapidly growing global home appliance brand, already trusted by households across Australia,” said Orry Lack, Chief Commercial Officer of North Melbourne Football Club. “Partnering with a brand of such international calibre is a tremendous milestone for our club. We look forward to growing our partnership together.”

David Esler, Marketing Director of CHiQ Australia, added, “We’re honoured to join forces with North Melbourne. The determination of the men’s team and the excellence of the women’s program deeply resonate with our brand values. This partnership is not only a celebration of sporting spirit—it’s a meaningful step in forging emotional connections with Australian consumers.”

Over next two seasons, CHiQ and North Melbourne will co-launch a series of interactive activations online and offline, with key retail partners across Australia to amplify brand visibility and drive mutual growth.

Since entering the Australian market in 2018, CHiQ has earned widespread consumer trust through its commitment to quality and innovation—recognised by two respected Australian organizations. Canstar Blue honored CHiQ as the prestigious Five-star “Best Performance” Award, and Finder conferred CHiQ’s freezers as “Most Reliable”, “Loved Brand”, and “Value”.

From the FIS Alpine Ski World Cup and Porsche Tennis Grand Prix in Europe to Australia’s St George Illawarra Dragons and North Melbourne Kangaroos, CHiQ continues to engage in global sports marketing—connecting with consumers through passion and innovation, showcasing the strength of Chinese home appliance brands to the world.

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CHAOZHOU, CHINA – Media OutReach Newswire – 21 October 2025 – From November 28th to 30th, the city will host the 23rd Teochew International Convention, welcoming Teochew people from around the world and sharing the city’s cultural story on a global stage. Leveraging this opportunity, Chaozhou has prioritized engagement with the global Teochew diaspora, mobilizing the strength of overseas communities and entrepreneurs to enhance development capacity and showcase cultural heritage.

Cultural assets are becoming a reliable driver of culture-and-tourism integration. At Chaozhou Theater, the stage production “Return of the Great Tide: A Dream of Chaozhou,” inspired by local intangible heritage, has earned strong word-of-mouth, with audiences praising its authentic presentation of living traditions.

Chaozhou, a renowned historical and cultural city in south China’s Guangdong Province, offers scenic waterfronts and a deep cultural tradition shaped by a spirit of gongfu (meticulous practice) and refined aesthetics.

Spanning 2.36 square kilometers, the Ancient City (Chaozhou) has carried over two millennia of urban life. Over the combined National Day and Mid-Autumn Festival holiday, the ancient city drew large crowds. By Guangji Bridge, a river-spanning light show lit both riverbanks, while a projection-mapping show at Zhenhai Tower narrated a millennium of history.

Chaozhou advances conservation and renewal in tandem, exploring integrated models that link culture, commerce and tourism. Today, this historic porcelain capital is taking solid steps in modernization and forging a refreshed industrial profile.

Recent figures highlight this momentum: Chaozhou has become a national leader in the production of intelligent toilets; the Huaying LNG receiving terminal (Phase I), with an annual handling capacity of 6 million tonnes, has come online; construction is accelerating on Datang Chaozhou Power Plant Units 5–6; pre-selected offshore wind projects in eastern Guangdong associated with Chaozhou have advanced; and the city recorded a breakthrough with its first batch of provincial-level “Green Factory” titles.

Aligning with Guangdong’s High-Quality Development Project for Hundreds of Counties, Thousands of Towns, and Ten Thousand Villages, the city is deeply integrating rural greening initiatives with garden-city construction, mobilizing diverse stakeholders to craft micro-landscapes across urban and rural settings. These efforts are enhancing Chaozhou’s overall aesthetic and substance, propelling it toward its goal of becoming a supremely livable and beautiful urban-rural area.

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• Top five APAC cities including Tokyo, Singapore, Beijing, Hong Kong, and Shanghai remained in the top ten of Global Cities Index, underscoring resilience amid global volatility.
• Asian hubs such as Seoul and Singapore gained momentum on the Global Cities Outlook, through livability and innovation driven by sustained investment in infrastructure, talent, and digital readiness.

SINGAPORE – Media OutReach Newswire – 21 October 2025 – Kearney’s 2025 Global Cities Report highlights the enduring strength of Asia Pacific (APAC) cities on the Global Cities Index (GCI), a ranking of the world’s most internationally connected and influential cities. Despite heightened global volatility and geopolitical fragmentation, APAC cities including Tokyo, Singapore, Beijing, Hong Kong, and Shanghai continued to rank among the top 10 spots of the GCI, reflecting how adaptability in digital infrastructure, climate resilience, and institutional agility has become the foundation of leadership.

Kearney’s report reveals that as the world enters the intelligence age, cities are not competing on size or legacy alone, but increasingly on readiness: the ability to align infrastructure, renewable energy, and talent to harness the opportunities of artificial intelligence while managing its risks.

Global Cities Index

The GCI evaluates cities across five dimensions: business activity, human capital, information exchange, cultural experience, and political engagement. With 31 indicators, the Index quantifies each city’s ability to attract, retain, and generate global flows of people, capital, and ideas.

The capital of Japan, Tokyo, remained steady at number four for the eleventh consecutive year, maintaining its strength in human capital and showing modest gains across business activity, cultural experience, and information exchange. Additionally, Singapore secured the fifth spot once again, matching last year’s ranking. This stability reflects modest gains in political engagement and human capital, driven by improvements in ease of entry. These are offset by slight declines in cultural experience and business activity.

Among the top-performing APAC cities, Hong Kong took the seventh position this year, rising from ninth place in last year’s GCI, while the other APAC cities retained their positions. Hong Kong posted an improvement in international travelers, and a strong performance in visual and performing art which led to gains in the cultural experience dimension.

The top 10 cities in the 2025 Global Cities Index include:

1. New York
2. London
3. Paris
4. Tokyo
5. Singapore
6. Beijing
7. Hong Kong
8. Shanghai
9. Los Angeles
10. Chicago

“This year’s Global Cities Index reiterates the resilience of legacy Asian hubs. Despite mounting global headwinds and technological disruptions, all the leading APAC cities remained at the top of the GCI, highlighting their enduring relevance and the region’s expanding global influence,” said Shigeru Sekinada, Region Chair of Asia Pacific and Managing Director of Japan, Kearney. “This demonstrates the region’s ability to navigate evolving global dynamics through expanding digital infrastructure, prioritizing regulatory innovation, and investing in climate resilience. We are optimistic that APAC cities will not only accelerate the region’s economic growth, but also serve as critical connectors of the global economy.”

Regional catalysts of growth

Emerging Asian hubs are also gaining momentum on the GCI, driven by sustained investment in infrastructure, talent, and digital readiness. Across the measured dimensions, business activity saw notable shifts this year, with Taipei and Kuala Lumpur achieving strong upward momentum, rising 13 and nine positions on the dimension respectively. In Jakarta’s case, the human capital dimension rose 13 positions in line with the city’s strong progress in strengthening its institutions and infrastructure.

The APAC region is also outperforming in information exchange, where scores rose across all regions – underscoring the growing importance of digital infrastructure and global integration in shaping urban competitiveness. Cities such as Shenyang, Osaka, Taipei, and Mumbai recorded significant improvements – each investing in connectivity and service-sector development.

Global Cities Outlook

Where the GCI captures current performance, the Global Cities Outlook (GCO) offers a forward-looking assessment, evaluating how effectively the world’s leading metros are creating conditions for future success. It seeks to measure future potential across four dimensions: personal well-being, economics, innovation, and governance.

This year’s GCO revealed meaningful shifts in both global and regional hierarchy, as Seoul and Singapore surged into the top five. For the first time in five years, Singapore returned to the top five, leaping from 20th to the third position. This sharp rise reflects gains in infrastructure, GDP per capita, and foreign investment, underscoring Singapore’s resilience and global appeal. Meanwhile, Seoul climbed to second place from the fifth position, building on consistent gains in innovation and governance.

Emerging Asian hubs such as Taipei and Jakarta also advanced, signaling a broader redistribution of global opportunity.

A look ahead: leadership in the intelligence age

Kearney’s Global Cities Report also concludes that cities’ long-term competitiveness will rest on three interdependent enablers: expanding energy capacity, embedding resiliency and livability into growth, and developing talent ready for AI adoption. Cities that act systemically, integrating these elements into a unified vision, will not only withstand disruption but shape the next era of global leadership.

“Cities are now at the frontline of the intelligence age. Their leadership will depend not only on capturing AI’s productivity gains, but also on how they govern its risks. Cities of the future would be those that can integrate energy security, renewable investment, and talent development into a single, coherent strategy, defining the next era of global competitiveness,” concluded Mr Sekinada.

Note to editor

The GCI assesses how globally engaged cities are across five dimensions: business activity, human capital, information exchange, cultural experience, and political engagement. The GCO, on the other hand, examines how cities are creating the conditions for future status as major global players. This analysis covers four dimensions—personal well-being, economics, innovation, and governance—which are the key determinants of a city’s ability to attract talented human capital, generate economic growth, increase competitiveness, and ensure stability and security.

While the GCI quantifies the current state of urban centers, the GCO is a measure of how these same cities are ensuring that they can retain – or augment – their global city status in the future. The GCO is designed to spotlight not only the well-established leaders, but also those cities that may be best positioned—thanks to strategic investments in future performance—to challenge their supremacy.
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About Kearney

Since 1926, Kearney has been a leading management consulting firm and trusted partner to three-quarters of the Fortune Global 500 and governments around the world. With a presence across more than 40 countries, our people make us who we are. We work impact first, tackling your toughest challenges with original thinking and a commitment to making change happen together. By your side, we deliver—value, results, impact. To learn more about Kearney, please visit www.kearney.com.