'Emotion of writing will never die'

Lutz Bethge, Montblanc Cultural Foundation chairman

By Park Jin-hai

Lutz Bethge, Montblanc Cultural Foundation chairman, who came to attend this year’s Montblanc arts patronage awards ceremony, said that he still has a 27-year-old pen.

“This is the pen I received 27 years ago from my wife, then my girlfriend. It is always dear to my heart -- something that I carry around all the time,” he said.

In the digitalized world what hasn’t changed the company is the idea of lifetime companionship.

“It is the value that many of my customers might have the same experience. If you purchase Montblanc, either for yourself or for others, it means another way of saying ‘I love you,’” he said.

Bethge said Korea has developed into one of the most important markets for the German pen manufacturer.

“Korea is one of the oldest markets. Montblanc has been in this market more than 50 years. The market has become our No. 5 market in sales, after China,” he said.

Recording double-digit growth, after it successfully established Montblanc Korea last year, he says now is time to talk about long-term strategies for the company and one of them is the Montblanc de la Culture Arts Patronage Award to honor patrons of the arts.

This year, it gave the award to Kim Dong-ho, founder of the Busan International Film Festival (BIFF) for his lifetime contribution to developing BIFF into Asia's largest film festival, along with 11 other winners.

“Arts and culture will only be able to flourish if we have many people who support it. The Montblanc Cultural Foundation is an umbrella that houses different initiatives, the most important part is the Montblanc Arts Patronage Award,” he said.

He said the idea of first limited-edition writing instrument originated from the Montblanc Cultural Foundation.

“The ideal of a limited edition in writing instruments to the market started with the foundation. We wanted to give patrons a trophy -- special writing instruments that were only for the winners,” Bethge said.

“The first one was Lorenzo de' Medici, famous patron from Florence. Then, we had 4,800 different versions sold around the world to communicate why we believe modern patronage is so important. It was an innovation.”

Now the pens named after famous former patrons are given to modern patrons, he said.

He stressed that the award was not created as a typical promotional tool.

“It was created as part of the brand DNA, which creates very solid substance where customers say this is my brand. So many brands are promotion. What is the most the brand can achieve today is that customers say it is my brand. It is not only about the product or design. We all select not by the design, but also products that we feel attracted to.”

As to whether the company is losing its place in modern culture, where handwriting has given way to e-mails and text messages, he said the emotion of handwriting will never die.

He referred to instances where he asked university students to raise their hands if the female students still keep love letters they received from boyfriends and put a little ribbon on the box.

“I was surprised to know how many students still keep them. The emotion of writing has not been lost at all. When we write handwritten notes to somebody today, it shows respect. It tells the person, you are important to me and we give most precious present -- our personal time. This emotion of handwriting will never die,” he said.