The "1999 International Magazine Con-ference of Taipei," which ran from April 12 to 14 in Taipei, brought a number of trans-national publishers to Taiwan. Hot topics at the conference included magazine marketing, on-line publishing and the future of the Chinese language market.

Global cultural exchanges are growing by the day, and the potential of the Chinese language market is already receiving a great deal of attention from publishers. Faced with intense competition, local publishers need specialized knowledge. Noting this fact, the Government Information Office (GIO) and the Magazine Business Association of Taipei (MBAT) organized the "1999 International Magazine Conference of Taipei-Transition and Opportunities for Magazine Publishing."

Chien Chih-hsin, executive director of the MBAT, says that the last few years have been a period of intense development for the Taiwan magazine market. With nearly 6,000 magazines, both large and small, competition is fierce. Chien hopes to broaden local magazine publishers' outlook via the conference.

Among those invited to the conference this year were individuals well known in international publishing circles such as: Donald D. Kummerfield, president and CEO of Magazine Publishers of America; Dieter Filipp, director of editorial research at Burga Media, one of Germany's largest magazine publishers; Jack Maisano, president of Asiaweek; Joe Cappo, president of the International Advertising Association; Christine Debiais-Brendle, Asia-Pacific president of Hachette Filipacchi, France's largest magazine group; and Tsuguhiko Kadokawa, president and CEO of Kadokawa Shoten Publishing. All presented stimulating reports to the conference.

In the conference's keynote speech, "Transition, Challenges and Opportunities for Magazine Publishing in the Coming Years," Kummerfeld pointed out that with the globalization of the media, international publishers such as Elle and Businessweek are prospering. Although it is US and European firms which are leading the trend, publishers from other areas will have their own success stories in the near future. Kummerfeld noted that the opportunities were especially great in the Chinese language market.

He particularly mentioned that media outlets which wish to be successful in the next century cannot afford to ignore six trends: media convergence, connectivity, choice, convenience, cost and public credibility.

For people in the industry, the most pertinent question is how to be profitable. Tsuguhiko Kadokawa used his company's Walker series of urban leisure guides to outline how to create a successful magazine. Roger Black, head of Roger Black Inc., which gave both Newsweek and Reader's Digest a makeover, discussed the relevance to editors and creative staff of "branding" a magazine. Black also talked on how to use the look of a magazine to catch readers' attention, on the principle that it is the look that gives the reader his first impression.

With regard to marketing, Asiaweek's Maisano cited examples of advertising and market research by Time-Warner and International Herald Tribune to illustrate for local publishers how intelligent marketing techniques can be used to grab consumers.

In their own talks, Michael McCarthy, president of IDG's Web Publishing, as well as Filipp and Cappo, shared their knowledge of the Internet, market surveys and advertising, respectively. Though the growth of the Internet seems to be threatening the magazine market, Black pointed out that the advent of electronic media did not bring about the demise of the newspaper. He expects magazines and the Internet will also develop a complementary relationship and grow together.

The conference

Because Taiwan makes up only a small part of the Chinese language market in Asia, publishers have their eyes on the tightly regulated mainland Chinese market, searching for an opening.

Looking at the situation from a different perspective, Cheng Chien-jen, director general of the GIO, points out that in Taiwan a total of more than 5,800 magazines have been registered with around 450 in circulation at any given time. This contrasts sharply with the strict mainland Chinese market. As President Lee said in addressing the conference, there are tremendous differences between the two sides of the Taiwan Strait in terms of the degree of freedom of speech, the press and the dissemination of information. The greater freedom seen in Taiwan is the basis of its importance in the international magazine market.