The on line magazine for the ever day ordinary Teddy Bear and their owners
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The on line magazine for the ever day ordinary Teddy Bear and their owners
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The Ted Rupert and Mollie Page World Wild Life Fund - Adopt a Svalbard Polar Bear
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Special Report by Freddie and Boris
David, Richard and Sophie of The Bear Club (Photograph with kind permission of the Derby Evening Telegraph/The Bear Club)
The Bear Club recently sponsored the Taiwan Teddy Bear Show, Freddie and Boris wanted to find out a little more about this event. David Booker was very kind in agreeing to answer their questions.
How did you become involved with the Taiwan Teddy Bear Association? This came about through Darren, my brother (and the Marketing Manager for TBC) who teaches English in Taiwan. When he approached the offices of theTWTBA in Taipei to show them details of the site, they were completely blown away by the concept and the characters, an expressed a keen interest in wanting to become involved with us in some way. This led first of all to them inviting us to sponsor the teddy Bear Show & Awards and also a possibility of them being granted a licence to produce a Chinese version of the site.
The Bear Club is sponsoring the show, what sort of things are you doing for them? We gave them permission to use our characters on their website and promotional material for the show. At the show itself, we provided TBC T-Shirts for all members of staff to wear at the event (30 in total), as well as putting together the press releases with TBC gift packs that went out to over 30 members of the international press. We also sponsored and presented one of the design awards that was given out on the day. The TWTBA felt that, by announcing that the show was in partnership with The Bear Club, that this would enhance and expand their market standing in across Asia & China. Have you ever made, marketed, sold, competed in any other Teddy Bear Shows, been involved with setting one up before? No, this was our first. Other than attending the Teddy Bear Fair in Kensington in September, this was our first experience of actually participating - so we chose to go the whole hog as it were! What is your goal here, apart from the promotion of The Teddy Bear Club? Aside from getting The Bear Club brand known to a wider audience, this was part of our commitment to working closer with the TWTBA. The main aim of the collaboration and of this show was to test the reaction of the Chinese market and to gauge interest in a Chinese version of the site. From the web site, we notice that the Taiwan Council of Cultural Affairs, is supervising the event, have you been working with them as well? Yes, Darren has been liaising with members of both the TWTBA and the Taiwan Council of Cultural Affairs. How does the Teddy Bear in Taiwan, differ from our Teddy Bears? Is there more interest? Not necessarily *more* interest, but a *rapidly growing* interest, which is also the same in China. Again from details on the show, there is mention of the Japanese Teddy Bear Club, is this more to do with manufacturers? Yes. There is also a Japanese Teddy Bear Association, whom we are also about to start talks with. What sort of people do you expect to attend? We weren't really sure what to expect! In the UK, teddy bear fairs tend to be attended predominantly by collectors and manufacturers, which isn't particularly our target audience. The show in Taiwan seemed to attract a slightly younger crowd (as well as the collectors) and those that just loved their teddies David Booker The Bear Club Above photographs with kind permission of The Bear Club
The Taiwan Teddy Bear Show report can be see on The Bear Club site Click on Freddie's head for the link
You can see The Bear Club report on the Taiwan Teddy Bear Show by clicking on the logo below
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The Christopher Hoggins Interview
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All rights reserved 10 September, 2008
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