Post Event: Scouting the opportunities for Estonian creators and creative industry companies
The creative industry encompasses all that is based on intellectual property, from performing arts, gaming, design, tv shows, movies, architecture, music, publications, advertising as so on.
As the industry represents a great business potential for Estonian creators, who might also think about exporting their ideas and services to a third country, at the Estonia-Asia Trade Agency we organised a webinar discussion with nine panelists, with experience in China and Asia in the fields of: video gaming, movie production, design, architecture and fashion design.
The webinar, held last June 18th 2020, aimed at discussing the opportunities that the creative industry in China, and Asia in general, offer to Estonian creative minds.
The discussion started with the introduction of the way Chinese netizens make use of platforms such as Bilibili especially for virtual events related to games. Bilibili is a video sharing platform, defined as the “Netflix in China“ by Ms. Wang Yu, content manager at the platform. Bilibili has 130 million active users and the average age ranges between 18 and 35 years old.
From the gaming industry the discussion moved to the movie industry. Anita Smirnova, an Estonian actress with huge success in China gave us a sneak peek into the world of performing arts, sharing the insights that, being the movie industry in China an highly regulated one, most of the creations happen in Beijing, while Shanghai is more for commercials.
As for movie production, we also had Kenneth Go, from AIPRO Singapore, who together with Kong Li from Monstrou group, produced a documentatry of muslim minority life during Ramadan in Estonia.
We moved then to the design industry for which esponents of the fashion sector such as Siret Esko (Estonian fashion Designer who recently started a cooperation with a Chinese company) and Piret Eichhorn, Sales Manager at Huppa which winter jackets are produced in China.
They both shared their experience with Chinese partners indicating the high quality of the manufacturing process as well as the taste of Chinese consumers for foreign designs.
The conversation continued with the experience of Rasmus Gregersen and how his company introduced the nordic minimalistic style to China highlighting how it is important to establishing an online presence, even before setting foot in China.
Martin Oliu pointed out that although Chinese consumers are also shifting their taste towards a more minimalistic style, like the one introduced by Rasmus, the market is in change and that ther is still the need for true utility.
Finally, Merike Reino, from the Estonia Marine Initiative shared the project of approaching Asia as a cluster of companies from the Nordics offering full rounded services from design, to engineering and project management.
Key takeaways of the webinar:
- China offers plenty of opportunities but companies need to be prepared when entering the market;
- It is crucial to plan ahead;
- Need to understand the culture and historical background;
- Adapt to the market;
- Find reliable partners;
- Establish an online presence;
- Get local support.
As for the last point in the takeaways, readers can definitely rely on the Enterprise Estonia’s support. Our Asia market services are provided by the Estonia Asia Trade Agency, its experts will be there to support you with your enquiries and market access steps.
To contact us:
Ilaria Perla |
Rafael Jimenez |
The project is co-funded by the European Regional Development Fund.