ThinkNoLimit Marketing Coaching

Are you aware that e-Bay and Yahoo advertise recently on traditional media channels like TV and prints ? It's an interesting phenomenon if we come to think about how they started their business. Yes it's the Internet. The Internet was considered to be a medium that would eat up the share of traditional media. Has this happened ? Yes but only to a certain extent. We are still overloaded by traditional media. There are more magazines. There are more ads at the MTR stations. There are more product placements in the TV dramas. And there are more short 10" TV infomercials where we are confused of what they are trying to sell. Coming back to the Internet brands. They are business models on the Net, trying to sell us something, like brick-and-mortar shops. Utilizing traditional media to advertise in order to draw traffic is not a bad idea. But the key has become how they will ride on their brand image built on the Net to build their brands in traditional media. Such "brand t...

Like everywhere in the world, the population of Hong Kong is ageing, coupled with low birth rate. Demand for healthcare services is expected to be on the rise. So over the years we see the growth of health related products and services. Health supplements, medical centre chains, medical insurances and so on are the "new" comers into the media scene. In the medical market, we see different players adopt different strategies of convergence and divergence. On one hand we see the IPO of bigger medical group like Quality Health and Town Health who have the ambition to be a one-stop medical conglomerate. On the other, some want to occupy a niche in a specific specialization. Like Pro-i, they are specialized in cataract surgery for the aged. Very specific indeed. As a new market develops over time, we will see different brands occupy different spaces to sustain.

I spotted this ad recently. There are 大長今 endorsements on many things with Korean association, Ginseng, restaurants, tourism and so on. Advertising is about differentiation and I wonder why LG still uses it for endorsement. The hype of 大長今 has long passed. What's more. The drama series is about ancient Korea and are such imageries good for promoting electronics and electrical prducts ?

Long time since we saw a big-scale advertising and promotion program for ice-cream. Price competitions and the increased power of the retail chains have led to lowered margins for many FMCG brands and they just don't have any more money to invest. So we see more promotion ads and fewer image-building efforts. More and more categories have been commoditized. Magnum can invest because they are (slightly) premium-priced. I see their prints, MTR posters and an expensive outdoor at the cross-harbour tunnel. Their proposition is not new though. Sensual enjoyment or indulgence is a category motivator for ice-cream. Who tried to own this category motivator first ? I don't know but Haagen-Daz did something like this much earlier. In fact I have a mixed feeling about the concept of category motivator. It sometimes makes every brand proposition in the same category pretty identical.

mYoga is a new name of Yoga Centre. At Mongkok, they have opened the largest Yoga centre in Hong Kong and they been spending big bugs to advertise. I saw their print ads and gigantic billboards at Mongkok. I guess they have the ambition. There is no obvious leader of Yoaga centre and they want to be the leader (?). About their ad, I wouldn't argue that it is different from many typical yoga centre ads. The key message is "get up and join" but such simple message is not conveyed directly by the "creative" or "provocative" headline. You can only find out what this ad is all about by reading the copies which contain the USPs like the biggest size in HK, purified air system and so on. For call-to-action ads, we should go for straight and direct headlines and copies which can generate excitement and promote newness. Unlike those so called "image-building" ads, the room for creativity and wittiness are limited in order to be effective.

I came across this ad and wondered what they are trying to sell. Without too much elaboration, I guess Chicks is trying to promote a new range of causal wear (fashion ?). They even have a image store in Mongkok. Chicks is known for its cotton and woolen under-wears. Once famous but now their products have become faddish. How do they rejuvenate their brand ? There is no easy answer. But one thing for sure - causal wear will not get them anywhere. They are competing with Giordano, Esprit, U2 and so on. Just by looking at their ad, you can tell they are way behind the competition.

This is a great ad. Great in the sense that it's much much better than many ads in the market. The key visual is attention-getting and already conveying softness as the key benefit. The supports are well laid out and illustrated. Copies are short and to-the-point. Branding and product shots is prominent. I would recommend this to be a good example for many advertisers to learn from.

What is Samsonite Black Label ? A range of high-end luggage products by Samsonite. This ad is about their Contemporary Retro series of this brand extension. What do you think about such brand extension strategy of Samsonite ? Will it work ? I don't think so. Why ? Samsonite as a brand represents premium priced, high quality, functional and durable luggage products. It's not really a prestige brand that is famous for fancy designs. Then why such strategy works for say Burberry ? Burberry is Burberry. Samsonite is Samsonite. Burberry is a high-end brand. Their Blue Label range sells because they are willing to "trade" their brand equity of high-price, exclusivity and heritage to extend to a more affordable younger range of products. If I were Samsonite, I would probably come up with a "proper" brand name and take an endorsement strategy. There are just too many different colours of labels in the market. "Black Label" as a range name is not unique. We...

The "巴士阿叔" incidence was hot locally and internationally. But it seems to die down a bit recently. I'm not here to make more comments about it but would like to take the opportunity to talk about topical ads. Here are two examples (I bet there are more). HK is a small place and people act very quickly. (that's why HK is a very difficult market) When something gets talked about, everyone will talk about it and soon the topic will become faddish in a very short while. People can get sick and tired about it very soon too. Do you want to take the risk of tying with some fast-burn-out news that may turn people off ?

This is for the sake of our male viewers. This is a double-page magazine ad that I took sometime to scan and assemble the images. I really appreciate the courage of some health supplement advertisers. They have a sense of humour too. When I saw the headline "實物原大", I almost fell from my chair. I couldn't help putting up the magazine against my chest, wondering how big is "實物原大" actually ....A very impactful ad indeed....

3M is a very innovative company. They have thousands of patents and inventions that make our life easier. Like this Polarizing Task Light, it reduces reflective glare and protect your eyes. Their ad (TVC and print) is funny and they show it during exam season to capture seasonal sales. I bet parents would like this new product for their children. 3M is unique as it takes the mega brand approach to branding. The brand is in many diverse buisnesses, from pharmaceutical to office equipment, from automotive to construction. Somehow this goes against the modern thinking of focus in branding. But they manage this one-to-everyone approach through continuous innovations to differentiate from its competition.

This is an interesting promotion idea for sneakers. Free test run for 28 days. If you are not satisfied, you may get your money back. I wonder how many people would participate into this promotion and really test run the new sneakers. But the print already works to communicate the key message : comfortable, versatile and good quality. BTW, the creative idea is called "repetition".

Raid is a very long-established brand of roach killer. 雷達 is a very good descriptive Chinese brand name to associate with the power of the product. Do you still remember the animated roaches that were victimized funnily in their old TVCs like 20 years ago ? It's back again in this print ad. The headline says "kill roaches with herbs" and I thought it was some innovative natural formula. Not quite. It's the smell. The key benefit is better smell, scented with herbs. Then is it kind of misleading ? Or they miss to articulate the better smell key benefit ? Having sad that, it's a simple and clear ad in terms of execution.

This is a brilliant ad. Everything is in good order and it's kind of fun too. What do you do if you suffer from constipation ? Eat a lot of fruits, drinks a lot of water and do some exercises. Still doesn't work ? The solution is Rabbit Laxative. This ad uses a surreal representation of the problem to get our attention. I quite like the recent works of Rabbit brand. Not a big brand but our ads are good. Who is their agency ?

Coke Light uses a muscle man as the "Calorie Coach" to tell us how easy to burn one calorie contained in Coke Light. Let's not argue whether is muscle man is acting stupid or not. At least everyone gets it. The question is why the creative idea differs so much from the flagship product Coke which is about friendship, great tasting, the original and go-well-with-food. You know what (according to the books I read lately). Internally, they don't treat Coke Light as a brand extension from Coke (Coca-Cola to be exact). Coke and Coke Light are supposed to be two different brands in terms of brand management. So their brand personalities and propositions can be unrelated and different. This goes against the traditional thinking. Well, Coke have the money to do whatever they think appropriate. Consumers and the market will tell us whether this is right over time. Let's see.

This is not a bad ad at all. It has the stopping power. It gives an African, rugged and raw feeling that convey the message "The Original Professional Outdoor Slippers". The shortcoming is that they could have chosen a better typeface and font colour. The almost illegible headline reads "Go. Do. Be." (sound very Nike to me) and what is the name of the series down there ? It reads "TERRAFI. Think execution.

Forgive me for being critical. This ad is a complete disaster. It breaks my heart. I saw they spend on MTR trackside posters as well. Money down the drain. This is from a brand called EW x EKI?a?a. I can't pronounce it. What's the slogan ? It is "???? t?? Difference" What are the supports or USP ? You can't see the small icon down there ? Let me help. It says "Wind Stopper", "Anti-Mosquito", "UV Protection" and "Quick Dry". Plus some cliche execution with the gewlos. Are we back into the 70's ?

Hair health ad again. Number of advertisers in this category is growing, after slimming. Women want slimmer bodies and Men want their hair back. This ad makes use of "hair on the pillow" as a familiar situation to depict a relevant problem. A typical problem and solution approach playing with exaggeration. It's not a bad idea but they may be too greedy to include too many copies which cover up the key visual.

Just at a glance, I almost mistook that it's another Lasik ad. It's in fact from Orbis promoting donations. A bizarre creative representation of how little could help others to recover their eye-sights. In the past, charitable organizations seldom used advertising for fund-raising. They used to use PR. Things have been changed and it's now all about marketing. They have marketing communications managers and directors who bring in the marketing thinking from commercial organizations. And it's true that there are growing number of charitable organizations competing for share of pocket and share of mind. It's not an easy "market".

Trappist is a "long-forgotton" brand in dairy. It seems lost in our memory as we are bombarded by other bigger brands with advertising and new products. Trappist has become a dated brand. But what does it stand for ? Novelty : cows in Lantau Island, small productions, fresh, "hand-made" by the monks, high quality, the "real thing". Competition forces them to innovate. Here are two new products. Pineapple-flavoured and Papaya-mango-flavoured low fat milk drinks that have different health benefits. When it comes to brand or line extensions, we would need to review what our brand stands for. In this case, I don't think these new products really match with their brand equity. By milk drinks, it's not the real thing and the fancy flavours also go against the traditional image of hand-made qaulity. What would you do to revitalize this dated brand through new products ?

Mobile phones are more and more technologically advanced. Camera + Music is becoming a standard. Some manufacturers compete on camera function of their phones, i.e. resolutions. Some compete on the music playing side. Sony (Ericsson) has a strong foothold in music playing devices and logically their phones stresses on music quality as the marketing handle. They feature David Tao in the print ad with the headline "Take off with the music". But what does it look like ? Visually, it's like "Slip over with the music". David is not flying but falling over... My friend saw this ad and said it's a waste of how David Tao is featured. Isn't it ?

This must a magic shower. They employed 楊千嬅 as the spokesperson and put up 2-page consecutive ads. This shower is so magic that they used around a thousand words to explain its functions. It takes the eyes of an eagle to really read all the text as they are in, I guess, font size 5. Tonnes of efforts in the write-ups by the copy-writer and the marketing person who proof-read it. Congratulations for a job well done but I bet no one will read them ! If our job is to simply dump all the things we want to say in a print ad, there is no need for "Integrated Marketing Communications", right ?

I talked about the the weaknesses in execution of the Singapore Airlines ad (top) before. Here is a brand new execution. The message is the same about destination coverage. But the style and tone are very different. One is more warm and joyful. The other makes use of some retro illustrations to catch our attention. We are not here to argue which one is better. It's about consistency which rules image build-up.