The Golden Pin Design Award has been a national design award organized by the Industrial Bureau of Taiwan’s Ministry of Economic Affairs for over 30 years. However, before 2014, it was not a serious consideration for designers due to its unclear positioning and insufficient publicity. DDG was appointed by the Taiwan Design Research Institute to reposition and promote the award. Through strategic actions to create awareness and build audiences, the Golden Pin Design Award became the top design award in the Chinese market.
Champion design in Chinese-speaking markets
When we found that the Chinese market, the world’s largest economy, lacked representative awards, we decided to reposition the Golden Pin Design Award with huaren design as the core. We established a website – Perspectives – to discuss design for the Chinese market. Hundreds of designers from worldwide shared their ideas and experiences, attracting more than 300,000 visitors. We held 26 salon discussions for the Golden Pin Design Award in 19 essential cities, including Taipei, Shanghai, Beijing, and Kuala Lumpur, focusing on huaren design, successfully amplifying interest in the Award.
Increased domestic and international media exposure
The Golden Pin Design Award’s passion for huaren design has spread across major international news outlets. From 2014 to 2019, the award secured over 5,000 exposures in Taiwan and foreign media from our efforts in establishing domestic and foreign media partners, issuing press releases, and organizing visits for international media groups, exclusive interviews, and special talks. Through earned and owned media, we’re helping the Award expand its influence in all creative communities—furthering awareness and enthusiasm for the Golden Pin.
Sharing designers’ centripetal force with fans
DDG established four major social media platforms for the Golden Pin Design Award: Facebook, Instagram, Weibo, and WeChat. The platform shares first-hand news about the award with fans, exciting winning works, and design-related information, including live broadcasts streaming and interviews with award-winning designers on the day of the award ceremony to gather the designers’ centripetal force. In the past six years, it has accumulated more than 200,000 fans.
Huaren design in the global spotlight
We worked closely with the Taiwan Design Research Institute to grow the number of Golden Pin Design Award applications by 62%, significantly increasing entries from 1,901 in 2014 to 3,091 in 2019. This collaboration has successfully attracted talented designers from all over the world to compete for prestigious design awards, and the Golden Pin has become a critical stage in promoting the huaren design trend worldwide.
