ThinkNoLimit Marketing Coaching

The internet is kind of crawling. A sign for us to take a break. Let's get back on January 2 in the new year. Happy New Year and have a good time.

Sometimes I find it pretty funny how people use celebrities. This time, Kelly Chan endorses TOTO, a bathroom appliance brand. What does Kelly have to do with bathroom appliances ? None, even if I try hard to stretch my imagination. The ad is a promotional one : HK$3,200 for a set of 4 pieces. It's a bargain ... Kelly endorses it ... Everytime I take a pee, flush the toilet and wash my hands, I'll get to think of her ...

In a highly competitive market like HK, who doesn't want to expand sales and secure additional businesses ? Distribution expansion is an easy way out to get immediate sales. SanDisk is now available in (some selected) Circle-K. But who will buy memory sticks at Circle-K, late at night, round the clock ? Convenience store is where we buy drinks, snacks, condoms and all kinds of small-value items that we don't mind paying an extra compared with other outlets because of convenience. It's not the kind of outlet that comes to our mind if we want to buy memory sticks. Memory stick is not an "urgent" purchase, like a bottle of water or condom after all.

Hope all of you had a good holiday during Christmas. New year holiday is round the corner. Guess not too many people are the mood for work. It was Boxing Day yesterday. Are you lucky enough to receive one of these little red boxes ? How long have Cartier used this signature gift box ? I have no idea but it's a long enough heritage for everyone to remember. "Surprise in the red box" ? I don't quite agree. There is no surprise if you receive one of these red boxes. It must be a Cartier, an expensive gift of a prestigious brand. Packaging is a brand reminder as well as an image builder.

Time to take some good rest during the holiday. Daily new posts resume on Dec 27. Stay tuned. Merry Christmas and a Wonderful Holiday !

No one would miss the latest campaigns or campaign platform that has been used by HSBC for building corporate image and communicating various products and services. It's rather philosophical. Some "half full, half empty" kind of philosophy telling us there can be two different points of view on the same thing. This platform is quite campaignable, I have to say but it much depends who we are talking to. For average consumers, it could be too hard to comprehend. Of course for those highly educated, intelligent consumers, it's not an issue. The problem is that they use the platform for literally everything in an unsegmented way.

3M is a huge conglomerate that has businesses in numerous product categories and industries, ranging from medical supplies to kitchen cleaning aids. Their brand-product architectures are complex and sometimes confusing. Scotch is a brand itself for tapes and adhesives. What do we know about Scotch Brite as a brand ? Probably we first came across this brand because of its sponges and scrubbing pads. Brite implies brightness when consumers use its sponges and scrubbing pads for cleaning in the kitchen. Now that the same brand is used for Aloe Vera coated gloves that protect and nourish your hands. Is it the right thing to do ? I say it's marginal.

All of these 3 ads come from the same series from a mortgage company. They are funny and entertaining. But they are more like sitcoms trying to make people laugh than selling mortgage. Agency people like producing this kind of "clever" ads. Who doesn't like a good laugh after all ? Look, clever ads still have to send a selling message. These are probably the kind of ad we see in creative award ad shows. For pure entertainment. Enjoy.

嫡護霜 - another difficult product to sell. What's it for ? Just by the brand name, no one would be able to tell. It's from 無比膏 and it's smart to have 無比膏 as the mother brand endorsing it to help tell us what it is for. 無比膏 has a strong franchise in anti-itch ointment and this 嫡護霜 is an anti-itch ointment specific for the "sensitive" part of the body. The endorsement branding approach works for it. As for the ad, yes it's indirect and implicit. Do we have a better idea ? I don't ...

"Mixing & matching" : combination of different things to represent a message. We may say this ad is not too creative but no one would disagree it does serve the purpose. A straightforward message and a simple creative that doesn't cost an arm and leg. It's much better than many ads that are creative for creative sake. The cliche : "if it doesn't sell, it's not creative".

賭錢有冬蔭功送 ? That was what I thought when I saw this ad. In fact it promotes flying via Macau to Thailand. The selling points are the low price tag at HK$960 up for hotel + ferry tickets + flight tickets, visiting two places at the price of one and convenient one-stop check-in at Shun Tak Centre. But what is the most motivating factor ? I think it's still the attractive price. I wonder why the ad doesn't say it upfront. One may argue that the ad can be boring with a straight price promotion announcement. But let's be practical. A good ad serves to sell and motivates purchases.

In recent years, one of the most successful campaigns is the 益達曬駱駝 campaign. It has managed to expand the originally stagnant market of chewing gums in a big way. A catchy Chinese translation of the ingredient name, Xylitol - 曬駱駝 plus a single minded message of dental health benefit are the two winning elements. In order to expand the market even more, there are brand extensions, following the route of toothpastes in a way. This Extra White is one of them. Back to the ad, it uses facial mask as analogy which is not new. But the problem is that the white key visual is on a white background. The key visual hardly stands out and it looks even worse subject to the printing/paper quality.

Two brands. Two ads. One same message : The printer can produce close-to-real images. The creative ideas are pretty much the same too but which one is stronger ? How do we judge ? We judge by relevance and association. Catching a butterfly in the office is not a situation or something you would associate with in real life. How about a crying baby looking for his mother ? It is definitely a situation that happens in real life all the time. So Brother wins. Any objection ?

I scratched my head when I looked at this ad, making me lose more hair. A picture is worth a thousand words. What does the key visual tell us ? Straightaway I thought it was talking about stopping hair loss. But when I read the headline and body copies, it is more about promoting hair growth and the USP of the gel is 不易滴漏 . Guess a wrong creative is taken. Let's not take anything that is potentially confusing. Consumers are not that smart after all.

"修身堂 helps you to stay young forever" is the key message of this ad. What are the support to this claim ? 殿堂級幕後精英 at different age ranges are the live demos of the miraculous results. They all look young, slim and pretty in the ad. But is it credible ? Not quite. You can tell the ad is done with a lot of computer retouch. Consumers are not that easy to kid nowadays.

A "kill two birds with one stone" idea. First it leverages on the use of biodegradable plastic bag to project the company as a good corporate citizen. Second, it takes the environment-friendly initiative as an excuse to do a consumer promotion giving away rice-cookers. I can understand the logic and intent but I don't get what 方力申 has to do with the message strategy. He's sitting there alright but he's not adding any value either. Maybe without him, the ad can be done more creatively.

It an uphill battle for EPS to fight against credit cards. Credit card is a big business in a consumerism society like Hong Kong. Commission is only a small part of their earnings while real incomes in fact come from interest charges. They have the money to advertise and promote, giving us loads of reasons to "pre-spend" our money. Merchant offers and discounts, installation plans, bonus points and so on. All of these make us use credit cards more. It's not easy for EPS to fight back. When do we use EPS ? Only when we need to pay a surcharge for using credit card like at those mobile phone shops in Mongkok. In this TVC, it attempts to use emotional appeal of "back to basics", 反璞歸真. I think it does provoke our thoughts and induce some emotional response. However, in reality, all of us are still addicted to using credit cards. It's a good ad and a good try. But it's a long road for EPS indeed.

Just finished the Brand Management program where we touched on positioning and brand/product architecture. Here is an example to share. 念慈菴 has come up with 4 products where each product is clearly positioned to help in different stage of cold & flu. It is a very sound strategy of positioning by use and application. All of us who have suffered from cold and flu before, there are really different stage : first throat is itchy and you feel "it's coming", then heavy coughing and runny nose and then it lingers for a while until we recover. In this strategy, what more can be considered ? I think I would go for range branding and come up with a range brand name to tie all these SKUs up to communicate the range as a comprehensive and scientific Chinese medicine for different stage of cold and flu. Speaking of the ad, the idea of using 不倒翁 to depict 頭重腳輕 is there. However, in terms of execution, would it be better to use a real person in the key visual instead of illustration...

New invention. No more need for laxative when you suffer from constipation. Here is a foam for external use to solve your problem. All you need to do is rub it on your belly, like magic. If you read the body copies, it sounds even more incredible : 薄膜震動科技 that generates 500 vibrations per second, penetrates through your skin to promote bowel movement, blah blah blah ! 講到咁大, 真係信不信由你 !

You must have seen this funny ad on TV. It doesn't look like a very expensive production but it simply stands out with the 鄭少秋's old song. The idea also taps on a realistic consumer insight : all your friends turn away when you need to borrow money. And it plays with a contrast : PrimeCredit is your "brother" to lend a helping hand when you are in need. The choice of the 鄭少秋's old song is good one as the lyrics do help to bring out the message. Although it's a kind of down-to-earth production but I think it's a remarkable one.

"So where the bloody hell are you ?" is the end line of the TVC by Australian Tourism Board. When I first saw it, it did surprise me, wondering how it could pass censorship without at least some debates. Whether it is rude, it depends on how you take it : 你喺邊X度 ? or 你死咗去邊度 ？ In the UK, this ad was once banned and quite a bit of controversies were created around it. Is "bloody hell" still considered expletive in modern English. It doesn't matter. It does manage to create talk-abouts and wins publicity. It's just bloody great !

Just watched the 4 shows of "The Art of Commercials" at the Arts Centre. Some are great but some are creative for creative sake. UK ads are funny and have an unique sense of humour. Thai advertising is catching up too. Here is an example, thanks to a friend who sent it to me. Next time when you are in Thailand, don't just do shopping and spa. Check out their TV ads and language isn't a barrier for really good ones.

睇好戲影靚相, this big headline caught my attention but when I read on, I scratched my head. Everything is in fact in the body copies : buy Warner Brothers videos and you will get a discounted price at HK$500 for a so called "Venture拍攝之旅". What does it mean ? What is Venture ? I scratched my head. So I searched the net : Venture is a family portrait photography studio. If you are not as 八卦 as I am, I bet you would never know. This is a case where joint promotion is wrongly taken as a tool to build awareness for a new brand. There are always better alternatives.

煉奶 is a very out-dated product category. When refrigeration was not common, 煉奶 had a place in our daily life as a cheap, convenient substitute for fresh milk. Now that milk products are widely distributed and everyone has a refrigerator at home, 煉奶 has become a companion with bread and toast : 奶油多 and 奶醬多. And here comes a new product idea : 花生味煉奶 in a tube for toast/bread spreading. It brings a 茶餐廳 food into home and I guess kids will love it. . It's great to see a MNC like Nestle willing to make attempts to tap on a local culture. In many companies, "Think global. Act local" is a just a plaque mounted on the wall.