A large show carries a small oneThe Gift & Stationery Autumn Show and the Cultural and Creative Industries Exhibition are held together
The two-shows-in-one joint 2007 Taipei International Gift & Stationery Autumn Show and the 2007 Taiwan International Cultural and Creative Industries Exhibition stimulated buying interest and also allowed the first Cultural and Creative Industries Exhibition in Taiwan to display the special situation of the industries in Taiwan. Can the Gift & Stationary Show use the Cultural and Creative Industries Exhibition show to revitalize after shrinking for the last few years? Can the Cultural and Creative Industries Exhibition use the exhibition platform to attract international business opportunities?
The TAITRA-organized 2007 Taipei International Gift & Stationery Autumn Show and 2007 Taiwan International Cultural and Creative Industries Exhibition were attended by 289 domestic and international companies, using 517 booths. Foreign buyers numbered around 700 people and, over three days, around 10,000 visitors were received by the combined shows.
The gift and stationery show transforms into a fine goods show
The 60th Taipei International Gift & Stationery Autumn Show was attended by 179 companies, using 261 booths. The exhibition area was divided into “fine goods area,” “stationery area,” “handbag area,” “foreign company area,” “cultural and creative product area,” “home decoration area,” “general product area,’ “tomorrow’s product area” and “brand authorized area," bringing together Taiwan’s upstream, midstream and downstream gift and stationery companies and meeting the various needs of international buyers and domestic customers.
In addition to domestic company participation, there were also companies from nearby Japan, China and Vietnam, and also from far away El Salvador in Central America, all showing their exotically flavored goods.
Exhibitions and industry are interwoven. In recent years, low price products from China have been the biggest challenge faced by the Taiwan stationery and gift industry. However, TAITRA Secretary-General Chao Yung-chuan said the result of the appreciation of the RMB, rises in labor costs, water and power prices in China, and frequent recall of China-made products in the US market was that toy orders were down by 10% at the recent 102nd Canton Fair. This shows that the quality and design capability of Taiwan’s stationery, gift and toy makers and the complete service they offer are their advantages. To resolve the problem of overseas relocation of industry, and utilizing the advantages of Taiwan’s industry, TAITRA is using a “large show carrying small show” method in an attempt to break through the difficult situation and bring better days to exhibitions in Taiwan.
The joint holding of the 2007 Taipei International Gift & Stationery Autumn Show” and the 2007 Taiwan International Cultural and Creative Industries Exhibition is the third time that that TAITRA has combined exhibitions for similar industries and held them together at the same time following April’s joint Taipei Autotronics and Taipei International Auto/ Motorcycle Parts and Accessories Show and the jointly held Taitronics Autumn, Taiwan International RFID Applications Show and the Taiwan International Photovoltaic Forum and Exhibition.
The objective of holding the 2007 Taipei International Gift & Stationery Autumn Show and the Taiwan International Cultural and Creative Industries Exhibition is to help bring about the transformation of the Taipei International Gift & Stationery Autumn Show which in the past has been manufacturing oriented, with the focus of displays on stationery, gift and toys. In recent years, the Taipei International Gift & Stationery Autumn Show has sought to transform into a fine goods show, offering an opportunity for specialized high quality and high added value trading, separated by quality and design from similar shows in China and southeast Asia, providing a “brand establishment” and “innovative product” platform for Taiwan’s companies.
Taiwan’s cultural and creative industries are growing fast and carrying out international marketing through “display”
Since 2002 cultural and creative industries have been included in main national development plans and, through planned promotion by the private sector and government, they are growing strongly.
The director of the Board of Foreign Trade, MOEA, Huang Zhih-peng said that Taiwan’s foreign trade has substantial room for development and the combination of these two shows can allow them to complement each other. Taiwan’s cultural industries are performing outstandingly and cultural and creative industries can be said to be supporting technology and traditional industries. He hoped that organizing and supporting bodies can expand the trading platform for cultural and creative industries, promote quality Taiwan original brands and market them to the world.
According to the “Global Competitiveness Report” of the Economist Intelligence Unit in May, 2007, from 2007 to 2011 Taiwan’s innovation power will ran sixth in the world and second in Asia. The “2006 Report on the Development of Taiwan’s Cultural and Creative Industries,” also said that, from 2002 to 2007, the turnover of the industries and numbers of employed people rose by an average of 7.6% annually.
Also, in 2006 Taiwanese designers won 146 renowned design awards including iF, Reddot, IDEA and G－Mark. The Franz Collection’s “Butterfly Dance” won the Collector’s Prize in the New York International Gift Fair, Tittot works became a permanent display in the world’s biggest fine good show, the “Ambiente Fair, Frankfurt” and, in 2007, “Brainchilds Design Inc.,” won the Digital Media Animation Category Award” in the iF Awards, known as the Oscars of the design world.
These success cases prove the power of the Taiwan cultural and creative industries and the organizing body hoped to use the experience of planning and promoting shows to allow Taiwan’s cultural and creative enterprises to bring in to play their unique cultural features, search for new design concepts and international cooperation opportunities.
Taiwan Design Center Project Section Section Chief Jhang Ke-yuan, responsible for this Cultural and Creative Industries Exhibition, said Taiwan has extremely good cultural and creative and design capability, but is relatively weak in terms of packaging and marketing., By holding the Cultural and Creative Industries Exhibition together with the Gift & Stationery Autumn Show, the aim was to use the experience of the organizing body in event planning and promotion to alter the situation where Taiwan’s cultural and creative industries had cultural and creativity capability but were weak in terms of output value.
The 2007 Taiwan International Cultural and Creative Industries Exhibition is positioned as an “industry” exhibition. The scope of some cultural and creative industries is intangible so in exhibitions, fine and high value products are displayed. This matches the position after transformation of the Gift& Stationery Autumn Show, allowing the two shows to be held at the same time.
This year’s cultural and creative industries exhibition had 109 companies taking part, using 255 booths. The exhibition area was divided into “international brand area,” “Life aesthetics,” and “local features area” themed areas.
Foreign buyers were also satisfied with the results. Foreign buyers included large sized ones like Fiskars Brands of the US and Buffalo-Eastcantra of Canada. From Taiwan, there were also department stores, high-tech industry and financial sector companies in attendance. In addition, over 200 enterprises and government departments sent personnel to the exhibition to make purchases, including Costco, Hi-Life, Eslite and the Grand Formosa Hotel.
What are the benefits of holding the two shows together? Making the strategy a success will be a big challenge for the organizers. The cultural and creative industries exhibition is the first held and is close to the autumn gift and stationery show in tone and objective. Thus, it can be said that the two are complementary. Chao Yung-chuan said this is not the first time TAITRA has created a new show and they will try to make the strategy work, observing the response of foreign buyers and domestic companies. Of course, in the end, the output value benefit will be the main basis on which the decision whether to continue a show is made. As to whether the two shows will be held together next year, the answer is we will see the Gift & Stationery Autumn Show and the Cultural and Creative Industries Exhibition together again next year.
