On the afternoon of December 5th, the China’s Capital of Trendy Toys Brand Development Conference and HI FUNNY World Trendy Toys & Animation Industry Week event (hereinafter referred to as the ‘Industry Week’) opened in Dongguan, the capital of trendy toys in China. It has attracted scholars, industry leaders, brand representatives, designers from 40 countries and regions to participate in this grand event.
The first Industry Week has a total of 548 key guests, among which nearly 200 are overseas guest representatives. As a highly anticipated event in the global trendy toys and animation industry, the Industry Week will revolve around the theme of ‘Trendy Toys World, HI FUNNY’. During the event, the ‘Dongguan Trendy Toys Leading Enterprise Management Measures (Trial)’ and Dongguan’s ‘IP Loans for Dongguan’ financial product will be released successively, and the HI FUNNY Trendy Toys & Animation Industry Alliance will be established, aiming to deepen the exchanges and cooperation between China’s trendy toys and animation industry and overseas markets. The first Industry Week has created a series of comprehensive industrial exchange activities. It fully covers the trendy toys and animation industry chain, including B-side activities such as brand development conferences, industrial investment promotion conferences, industrial seminars, enterprise roadshows, and trading markets, as well as C-side activities such as trendy factories, trendy corridors, animation autograph sessions, and reflected animations. It efficiently connects domestic and international design, production, and sales links. Through the multi-dimensional linkage of industrial seminars, business matchmaking, and brand markets, the Industry Week accelerates the deep integration of the trendy toys and animation industry, promotes the upgrading of Dongguan’s trendy toys industry to professionalization, internationalization, animation, and branding, and leads the global trendy toys industry towards a more prosperous and sustainable future. Trendy toys are becoming the real expression of new-quality productivity in Dongguan. One-fourth of global animation derivatives are produced in Dongguan. Nearly 85% of China’s trendy toys are produced in Dongguan. Trendy toys are not only a new engine promoting Dongguan’s economic development but also a new carrier of ‘Trendy Dongguan’. The exhibition is located at Huifeng Center in Guancheng District. The event will last from December 5th to December 8th. Industry guests and citizens can make reservations for admission through the Industry Week mini-program. With international characteristics, it promotes cooperation in ‘trend + animation’ (Luca Fois) (Mehwan Chaba) (Michihiko Suwa) (Mitsugu Sekiguchi). Domestic and foreign animation elites gather. For example, the famous French cartoonist Mehwan Chaba brings original comic manuscripts. Mitsugu Sekiguchi, the former creative design director of Sanrio’s Hello Kitty, brings creative experience in the industry’s spotlight. Michihiko Suwa, the producer of ‘Detective Conan’, Andy, a famous Hollywood storyboard artist, and many film stars such as the lead actors of ‘The Wandering Earth 2’ and ‘Hidden Man’, Luca Fois, a tenured professor at the Politecnico di Milano Design School in Italy, Ha Narae, a senior independent animation producer in South Korea, and Vincent Wager, a famous French playwright, illustrator, and designer bring cutting-edge sharing in industrial seminars.In addition, the industry week has specially invited relevant representatives from the consulates general of Italy, Colombia and other countries in Guangzhou to attend, in order to deepen international cultural exchanges and in-depth dialogues.
Professional curation to create an industry ‘circle of friends’ (Yu Zhou) (Chen Liaoyu). ‘What is the latest development trend of the trendy toy industry?’ ‘How can animated films become the source of trendy toys?’ ‘How can Dongguan trendy toy enterprises develop?’… The industry week has invited 11 domestic and foreign industry big shots as the main curators, including Yu Zhou, president of Light Chaser Animation, Chen Liaoyu, general director of ‘China Tales’, Zhang Lei, CEO of the global trendy toy culture and fashion retail brand X11, Liu Xueshen, founder of the trendy and collectible toy brands ‘ALMOSTREAL’ and ‘GENMEC Machine Gene’, Zhao Qianying, founder of ArtDepot, Jiang Xuheng, vice president of AliFish, Yu Renguo of FIGO, founding partner of Magic Bean Investment, etc. They will plan and carry out 9 industry seminars around different sections and themes such as the animation industry, trendy toy industry, IP licensing, and overseas curators, allowing participating guests to deeply understand the development trends of the trendy toy and animation industries and promoting exchanges and cooperation among enterprises in the upstream and downstream of the industrial chain. Deepen docking and help Dongguan enterprises ‘expand the market’. What does the’super factory’ that produces trendy toys look like? What kind of production process does trendy toys need to go through from design drawings to physical models?… As one of the blockbuster activities of the industry week, the ‘Trendy Factory’ will allow guests from the trendy toy and animation industry to go deep into trendy toy manufacturing enterprises and fully understand the production process and manufacturing technology of trendy toys and animation derivatives. The ‘Trendy Factory’ consists of 3 ‘trendy craft routes’ that showcase the exquisite craftsmanship and advanced equipment of manufacturing enterprises and 1 ‘trendy exhibition hall visiting route’ suitable for professional audiences. The visiting enterprises include Dongguan Weishi Culture Technology Co., Ltd. (Liaobu Town), Dongguan Shunlin Model Gift Co., Ltd. (Shipai Town), Dingyi Creative Culture Co. , Ltd. (Qiaotou Town), Dongguan Wanle Fairy Tale Baby Products Co., Ltd. (Chashan Town), Dongshi C Park three-dimensional park-style shopping center, etc. Many heavyweight guests such as Suwa Michihiko, producer of ‘Detective Conan’, Sekiguchi Mitsugu, former creative design director of Sanrio Hello Kitty, Yu Zhou, co-founder of Light Chaser Animation and producer of ‘Chang’an Three Hundred Miles’, and Ding Liang, general director of the ‘Boonie Bears’ series, will deeply experience the beauty of manufacturing of Dongguan trendy toys through activities. In addition, the industry week will set up three exhibition areas of industry seminars, industry investment promotion conferences, and trading markets according to the upstream, middle, and downstream of the industrial chain to promote the docking of the entire industrial chain. Among them, the industry seminar is an in-depth discussion on the development of the trendy toy and animation industries; the industry investment promotion conference is an investment promotion platform for Dongguan to attract high-quality trendy toy and animation enterprises and improve the Dongguan trendy toy-animation industrial chain; the trading site is a business docking platform for direct dialogue between IP parties and trendy toy manufacturing enterprises.Talent Recruitment: Seizing the opportunity of the gathering of trendy toy industry enterprises and talents, a platform for supply and demand is established. At the Industry Week, a recruitment booth is set up for two-way communication between trendy toy companies and college graduates, as well as social job seekers. The booth displays information on the development of Dongguan’s trendy toy industry, company introductions, and related recruitment information. Industry veterans are invited to share on-site insights into the history of Dongguan’s trendy toy industry, development trends, career paths, and technological innovations, providing a valuable window for fans and recent graduates to understand the industry.
In addition, through prior solicitation, the event has gathered a group of high-quality trendy toy and toy companies from Dongguan, releasing nearly a hundred high-quality positions such as designers, original painters, engineers, brand operations, and reserve cadres, attracting applications from college graduates and social job seekers. Both parties will negotiate one-on-one on-site to secure quality positions and attract top talents.
Brand Gathering: ‘Trendy Dongguan’ invites you to the ‘Trendy’ Corridor, a key C-end event of the Industry Week, providing a public showcase platform for trendy toy brands and companies. Nearly 20 trendy toy companies and 40 domestic brands and enterprises participate, including international artists from Singapore, Thailand, and Indonesia, such as Berry Winkle, Cubemelt, Tu!!, and JimmyGummy. Renowned domestic and international trendy toy brands like B.Duck, TUTU MOKEY, Berry Winkle, Milk Dragon, Modo Core, and TOYCITY are also present, offering a diverse range of trendy toy products to enhance consumer experience.
As a super event for animation fans, the Industry Week will host autograph sessions with popular comic artists 35, Zuo Xiaoling, and Bei Ke Zi, where fans can get signed copies of works such as ‘Starting to be a King at Three’, ‘Nan Yan Zhai Bi Lu’, ‘Morning Flowers Cherish Time’, and ‘Success or Failure in Xiaohe’. Additionally, the Industry Week will collaborate with Cpark to hold a series of ‘Trendy Toy C Power’ activities from December 6th to 7th, including a second-element parade and the Dongguan Pokémon Alliance Cpark Station card competition.
During the event, shuttle buses will continuously travel between the HI FUNNY main venue and the Dongshi Cpark branch venue, strengthening the connection between the two locations and facilitating audience enjoyment of this trendy toy feast. ‘China’s Trendy Toy Capital · Dongguan’ sincerely invites friends from all walks of life to buy trendy toys, visit comic exhibitions, eat roast goose, and tour Dongguan, sharing in the trendy toy and animation event and enjoying a wonderful time.
