Singapore (dpa) - Key players in advertising were urged on Monday to view the Asian region "as one big market," with creative standards comparable to those in the United States, Europe and Australia.
Kicking off the opening of AdAsia 2005 attended by 500 executives, Singapore's Information, Communications and the Arts Minister Lee Boon Yang said design in Asia is growing rapidly.
"It is mostly timely to discuss strategies and ideas on winning in Asia," Lee told the participants. "With China and India enjoying exponential growth, we need to position ourselves to plug into this vast potential and soar with them in the next wave of Asian success."
"Design can elevate, differentiate and empower economies," Lee noted, specifically citing Thailand and the Philippines for making strong headway into sectors like architecture, interior design and web design.
"China already acknowledges that they need to go from 'Made in China' to 'Designed in China'", Lee said. The country has more than 800 university-level design schools while South Korea has 350.
Design has been placed at the top of many countries' agendas, Lee said. "With strong government backing, it is only a matter of time that these countries become confident and capable enough to assert their design leadership in Asia, and in the world."
In Singapore alone, Lee said spending on advertising surpassed the 2 billion Singapore dollar (1.1 billion U.S.) mark in 2004, increasing by 15 per cent mark over the previous year. Another good year is forecast for 2005.
The city-state has hosted a series of design related events this month as part of its strategy to latch onto the creativity explosion in Asia.
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