| Subject: MISS WORLD CONTEST LAUNCHED |
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Date Posted: 04:52:13 06/28/03 Sat
 ">http://www.missworld.org/pics/mainhome.jpg"
MWO Latest - Morley's World vision
By Richard Fletcher - The Sunday Telegraph (22/06/2003)
It is one of the world's most popular TV shows: with 2bn viewers only the World Cup Final and opening ceremonies of the Olympic Games pull in more viewers.
But unlike other successful UK exports, such as Who Wants to be a Millionaire - which picked up a Queen's Award for Enterprise in 2001 after being exported to more than 60 countries - Miss World does not win the luvvies' plaudits.
Miss World may be frowned upon and even occasionally sneered at in the UK, but it goes from strength to strength across the globe. This year 124 countries will take part, and the broadcast is expected to attract more viewers than the Oscars or the Eurovision Song Contest.
It is particularly popular in South America, Asia and India, where viewers watch repeats three or four times. So perhaps it is odd that only now is Miss World Limited - creator and owner of the beauty pageant - making a big push to find other commercial uses for the famous brand.
At this year's contest in Sanya, China, the company hopes to unveil the first of a series of partnerships with international consumer goods companies, which should see the launch of a wide range of Miss World products, from branded make-up, to fashion items and haircare. A Miss World magazine is also planned.
And there are big hopes for the Miss World website, which attracts up to 5m visitors a day during the contest. "I want to develop the marketing and merchandising of Miss World," says Julia Morley, the former model, who took over as chairman of Miss World following the death of her husband Eric Morley in November 2000.
The company has been privately owned by the Morley family since 1991, when it severed its links with Trans World Communications, the investment vehicle of Owen Oyston, the disgraced businessman. Morley says she is also in talks to link up with "a very famous modelling school".
But one of the first licences she will grant is for the development of a "QVC style" shopping section on the Miss World website, where users will be able to view and buy the dresses worn by the competitors. "It is not just about the dresses. It is about giving young designers a chance. Each country submits their design and the girls wear them," says Morley.
Since the death of her husband - the canny Mecca PR man who founded the show in 1951 during the Festival of Britain - Morley has overhauled the format of the show. "I am not saying that my husband did not do a great job. But when he died two-and-a-half years ago, it was neccessary to move it forward and to bring it up to date," she says.
"I don't like swimsuits on stage. I like to see swimsuits on a beach. There was nothing wrong with it, but it's not the sort of thing I would want to work with personally," adds Morley. Not only has the swimsuit parade gone, but Miss World is now hosted by a female compere.
Meanwhile, Morley is also hoping to return Miss World to British TV screens. Last year Miss World was broadcast to 142 countries, but it was the first time in 51 years that it was not shown in the UK. "Before we switched to Sky [in 1997], we had 12.5m British viewers. When Channel 5 did it [in 1999], it had a bigger audience than it had ever had - 8m viewers tuned in," she says.
Morley says she is in talks with "three major British channels", although she appears to have no intention of kowtowing in order to get the programme back on British screens. Television, she says, lacks guts. "They are scared that they will be scorned by their fellows. Forget your fellows and get what your audience wants."
"A lot of the programmes on TV are not the sort of programme you would sit down and feel comfortable watching with your 13-year-old son," she adds. "Miss World is fun, it is fashion." So is British TV elitist? "Elitist is too good a word. We should have some spectacular shows. We should have some of these family shows. But instead you see guts spilled all over the place and the horrors of the world," she says.
*NEWS CULLED FROM THE MISS WORLD WEBSITE - www.missworld.org
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