I may get killed for this, but...is Hong Kong back? Well, did it ever actually leave? Yes and No!
There are actually 2 Hong Kong Toy Fairs happening at the same time in the month of January. There is the big convention centre on the Island (#HKTF) where primarily Chinese suppliers show product and then at the other side of the harbour there is TST/Kowloon where most international toy companies gather around Mody Road for what I call the #ModyRoadShow (aka #MRS). This is an example how the LA Show and the American Toy Fair could actually function along each other in the same city during the same time. More about this in a next post.
And what about you, #NicoBlauw with your big mouth; what made you go to HK in January? Well personal circumstances made me cancel my November/December factory trip to China & HK and therefore forced me to be here in January. To my surprise I was welcomed by HK customs and received with open arms in TST...I did not try to hide in HK last week and I was positively surprised with the outcome. Now to be very honest: here at BOTI Global Ltd. we do have some fantastic new products to show, so this was a good test before the upcoming London and Nurnberg Toy Fair. So, yes I have attended Hong Kong last week against my initial principles...this post is therefore my (partial) mea culpa.
To be honest...HK is not back, but it is still there...till a certain degree. And the craziness hasn't left either. In the time the world is looking for durable and safe products, one (Italian) company in the industry lives by the slogan "Plastic is Fantastic"...of course their livelihood is selling dolls...but somehow for them the durable message didn't come across.
For sure there were less visitors than before covid. The North Americans were missing, very few Australians wandered around and some Latam countries showed up. We saw mainly Asian, Middle East and European customers and in all fairness: less is more. Less people, means more time to meet. Pure quality time. This was the major plus for last's weeks fair..
Yes, there was excitement and enthusiasm. After a dark year for many, being in HK at the start of the new year was an enlightenment. Was this enthusiasm driven by the "come back" to HK and leaving a difficult year behind? Or was it the new innovations people saw that made them excited?.... I believe it was a little bit of both.
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