Taiwan might be shy, but make no mistake — it has much to be proud of

It’s exciting to be spending time in a country bursting with such astonishing potential.

Taiwan is nimbly reforming itself from mass commodity producer to high-end creator, profiting from the fast-rising margins that market leadership delivers. Despite short-term fluctuations, its economy is enjoying sustained benefits arising from democratic freedom and decades of economic growth.

This transformation has occurred after a bleak, unspoken era of martial law that only ended in 1987 after almost four decades; the longest imposition by a regime anywhere in the world over that period.

Taiwan now walks on the world stage with a quiet-almost-shy confidence, but the swagger of adolescence is unmistakable in this country’s collective stride.

The country is still to pin the tail on their first Unicorn (a privately owned startup reaching US$1 Billion in value under 10 years), but this brash milestone is sure to be marked soon.

Electric scooter manufacturer, Gogoro is tipped as a frontrunner, but there are enough rockstar startups from the Republic of China galloping forward for this island nation to anticipate a thriving unicorn herd within the next decade.

Standing proud alongside these fast-growing companies are long-established innovators such as Brogent Technologies and the Taichung-headquartered Johnson Health Tech.

The collaboration between local conglomerates promises to deliver large-scale new innovations too. For example, carmaker Yulon Group’s partnership with Acer’s autonomous driving system has already delivered the nation’s first self-driving vehicle; a feat all of Taiwan should be proud of.

Embryonic startups (collectively demanding to be known as Taiwanese) are bursting into prominence, delighting audiences who crave exclusive, authentic brand stories.

Tales of luxury chocolatiers such as Fu Wan with their unique double fermentation of cocoa beans sourced from the plantations of Pingtung, the emerging brands driven by the revival of Hakka culture, or in the hi-tech field — HTC’s leadership with their Vive range of VR headsets will spawn local startups under the protective umbrella of their ecosystem.

New startups spanning the full breadth of the nation’s technology and engineering prowess are constantly being uncovered. If a list of the next generation of leading global hi-tech successes from Taiwan were to be written, two likely candidates working in VR come to mind.

They would be Kaohsiung startup Phalanity with their somatosensory ‘SynSeat’ for immersive entertainment, and Taipei film production company Funique, whose mischievous virtual worlds are created with impressive technical expertise.

In the IoT category, keep an eye on Taipei-headquartered NextDrive who are destined to be a future market leader.

Also Read: In Photos: A stroll around CoHo’s tech-enabled co-living spaces in India

With so much to share, the surprising aspect of all of this is that Taiwan has been unnecessarily timid in a collective celebration of these successes offshore. The country is being left behind in its nation branding.

It’s time to right that wrong.

As a humble outside observer, it appears timely to take a fresh look at creating greater national brand cohesion, with some new thinking centred squarely on the nation’s international customers. Then to deploy greater investment in strategic marketing under this national brand umbrella.

A national brand would leverage the best of the existing ‘Made in Taiwan’ brand values, weave in ‘Made of Taiwan’ messaging and align this with ‘Come to Taiwan’, providing clear and unequivocal brand attributes to definitively position Taiwan abroad.

In carefully crafting a united country vision, Taiwan has the opportunity to position itself similarly to Switzerland. The comparisons are compelling to consider.

Switzerland has built a respected global brand on the concept of luxury premium products, including chocolate, watches and precision manufacturing. In a similar fashion, Taiwan can leverage its globally recognised electronic manufacturing prowess and channel these prestigious brand attributes into other high-value niches.

Beyond similarities to Switzerland of neutrality, freedom and transparency, the novelty and authenticity of Taiwan will give rise to a new exposure of indigenous brands that will enter the consciousness of discerning offshore consumers.

Marques of quality and trust can also be firmly tied to Brand Taiwan if manufacturers can continue to maintain, improve, demonstrate and promote messages of premium production and ethical values.

Brand Taiwan must crystallise a clear vision of where the country’s future stories lie. Brand Taiwan must embrace being loud and proud — traits normally shunned by the gentle people of Formosa.

The brazenness of modern social media and its self-absorbed flavour of promotion is a necessary evil to drive greater economic prosperity. Celebrate the clever, indelibly connect the country’s name to the artisans of the island and the technologists who are reshaping the world beyond the Taiwan Strait.

There are many more stories that the country is yet to nurture and expose internationally.

The country’s unique flora and fauna make for a tourism marvel that most of the world is yet to experience. Taiwan’s geographic location and horticultural expertise can feed the elite in body and mind.

Anyone who has ever taken a bite of the Emerald Green Taiwan Jujube fruit will acknowledge its export potential. This southern delicacy deserves to be as Taiwan as the Kiwifruit is New Zealand.

Let’s embrace our marketers, package the super-food qualities of the Taiwan Green Jujube (Kaohsiung No 2 Cherish) with its first-class crispy crunch and take it to the world. The Jujube can be served segmented and chilled to the business class passengers of the world greatest airlines, carrying with it a carefully crafted brand story celebrating its homeland.

Single plantation cocoa reared in the Cacao trees of the southern county of Pingtung, then painstakingly crafted from bean to bar into award-winning chocolates that extract premium prices.

These are the future stories to shout out as Taiwan’s voice matures.

The country can promote the mindful gains of therapy vacations to Taiwan’s hot springs and national parks that showcase the beauty of the only green island on the Tropic of Cancer.

Further demonstrating its natural storylines, fresh initiatives to incentivise major film productions to shoot in Taiwan are being driven by the Ministry of Culture. This positive step will showcase more of Taiwan’s sheer beauty to a voracious content-consuming world.

In addition, a new wave of animation and film production companies is being cultivated with co-investment to drive greater local onshore content production. These stories must align with a carefully considered national positioning for Taiwan that binds together the rural and the rustic with the cutting edge innovation and the country’s visual beauty.

These traits must fuse together as more than a national campaign, but a vision for the country’s production sector to align behind. The cost of small scale, sporadic efforts or misaligned promotional budgets is not just in the wasted resources, but in missed opportunities that allow other nations to fill gaps.

In this next decade from Taiwan 2020, local marketing expertise must be nurtured, mentored and celebrated alongside Taiwan’s technology talents.

Nation branding has moved beyond mere sloganeering to strong salesmanship and confident communications. So it’s vital that Taiwan can advance a coherent image and a shared sense of purpose in its storytelling. Sourcing and deploying sufficient marketing capability to guide government and corralling resources will be critical in positioning Taiwan.

There is much more to be done tactically and proactively as well.

Also Read: A decade of innovation: How East Ventures is building Indonesian tech ecosystem from the ground up

For instance, let’s take virtual reality to the world with a homegrown content-centric Kaohsiung Karnival, perhaps better named ‘WanLove’ (referencing Bob Marley’s One Love) in the spirit of that city’s new Mayor. It’s a festival that tours the globe with a month in each city, showcasing Taiwan’s top creative immersive content alongside the world’s best, displayed on the finest hardware from Taiwan.

Refreshing the national talent pool is vital, but luring startup companies to relocate to export from Taiwan is a highly competitive business. Taiwan’s subsidies available to inbound businesses with global potential are generally in place, but initiatives to communicate these directly to prospective offshore founders must be better undertaken.

English is the language of business for many potential markets, therefore the value of quality translation and a refresh of international-quality packaging of our promotional material is a vital first step forward.

The exciting challenge ahead for Taiwan is to deliver storytelling that connects the passion that comes from ‘the heart of Asia’ to the soul of its business expertise. The substantiation brings together the rich natural resources, diverse creative talents, and high-tuned production abilities that allow this country to stand atop the world in many fields.

Communicating stories in this way will ensure that the world not only hears Taiwan’s stories but feels empathetic and a connected to collectively buy what this country has to sell.

—

Photo by Tom Ritson on Unsplash

Michael Gregg has travelled from New Zealand to establish his boutique virtual reality experience studio in the Southern Taiwan city of Kaohsiung and to open his PROJECTR® XR Center – specialist technology incubator – in Taipei. He has a 30-year career spanning strategic marketing and technology and has worked in immersive tech since 2016.

e27 publishes relevant guest contributions from the community. Share your honest opinions and expert knowledge by submitting your content here.

The post What a time to be in Taiwan! appeared first on e27.