(Reporter Tang Ya-wen / Taipei Report)
What does Taiwan look like through the eyes of foreigners? The Extension Education Division of Chinese Culture University held the “Marketing Challenge” creative competition yesterday. Participants from all walks of life were required to promote Taiwan through video production. In the end, a team of foreign office workers and three female white-collar professionals won first place.
A total of nine teams signed up for the creative marketing competition, including university students and office workers from Taiwan and abroad. Seven students from Chengyuan High School were the only high school team participating. Contestants had to produce a one- to two-minute marketing video on the spot and present it in English to convince the judges of their creativity and planning.
In the end, a team made up of three foreign office workers and three Taiwanese female white-collar workers won the championship. Judge Elias Ek said that the foreign office workers used shock marketing by creating a fake online rumor claiming that “Taiwan is going to merge with Portugal,” allowing the topic to spread online. Meanwhile, the three female office workers — Yu He-an, Jian Ting-xuan, and Zhou Meng-shu — won the judges’ favor with their idea of using international celebrities to market Taiwan.
Yu He-an, who works in the shipping industry, explained that their ideas included inviting American talk show host Oprah Winfrey to work as a one-day employee at a 24-hour bookstore, and inviting international cyclist Lance Armstrong to ride a bicycle in Taiwan, using international celebrities to create excitement around Taiwan.
The youngest participating team, seven students from the English Experimental Class at Chengyuan High School, also demonstrated creativity by imagining a Superman character dressed in Taiwan’s national flag outfit, traveling around the world to promote Taiwan. Student Wu Jun-ting said that combining Taiwan’s flag with Superman could attract foreigners’ attention.
The seven students said they formed the team after their foreign teacher informed them about the competition. Besides meeting many foreigners and listening to English all day, they also learned the importance of teamwork. The students added that the competition taught them new things and was different from traditional classes based on rote memorization.
