ThinkNoLimit Marketing Coaching

高清 has become the buzzword for everything in the market. This buzzword is kind of abused by marketers of AV products and non-AV products alike. There are 高清 skincare products and even the Ocean Park is running a 高清動物月 promotion. As a consumer, I'm lost about what it actually means by 高清. For whatever products/services claiming to be 高清, I don't know it will really offer real benefits/new experience or it's just a gimmick. Like PCCW says that you can watch its HD channels on your mobile phone. 高清 or 低清, does it matter ? The screen is only 2 inches big !

Advertising Time ! We will be organizing this program in Apr. Check it out if you are interested or just let your friends know. Enrolment form can be found HERE.

If you compare this Double Quarter TVC with the Spicy Chicken Burger TVC from my yesterday's post, you will find the styles of communication are very different. Apparently MCD is applying one brand identity to all stores and a different one to the specific 24-hours stores. is this the right thing to do ? It somehow violates the rule of consistency in brand building. Ok, you may say it has been that inconsistent for ages, why does it remain the most powerful brand in HK ? Well, while a brand takes decades to build, the brand value built up also takes ages to erode. Also, the erosion is not obvious if there is no consistent competitor in the market. In the past there was no MOS, Triple-O and so on. Now even Burger King has re-entered HK. Each of them has an unique and consistent positioning. Time will tell what will happen to MCD.

Both MCD and KFC are selling spicy chicken burger and these 2 TVCs are currently on air back to back. What a coincidence ! How does this happen ? No one knows and I don't want to speculate. Just at advertising level, MCD wins by far. The whole ad is clear at spelling out the goodness of the ingredients and Eason really adds value to it with a fun, vibrant and friendly personality. On the other hand, the FKC one is a flop. I wonder who it is trying to sell to with these images from the movie Top Gun, a movie from the 80's (1986 to be exact). Putting aside the reason for the clash with MCD, what would you do if you were the marketer in KFC after seeing the TVC of MCD ? Would you choose to go head-on and burn the media money to compete ? I would rather save the money for the next battle.

Every marketer is looking for new ways of communicating with consumers. Consumers are overloaded with advertising messages everywhere anytime in their daily lives. It's not easy to find ways to cut through the clutter. You are lucky if you have enough money to "shout" to them with a big media mix. The fact is not too many brands have that kind of monies. They tend to use some kind of disguised advertising like advertorial to "whisper" to consumers, advertising pretending to be editorial so that consumers will read. However, there are so many advertorials of all kinds and consumers are now smart enough to tell it's advertising. Then what's next ? Here is an interesting example of another kind of disguised advertising. Don't know if it will work as I find it rather hard-selling. Well, at least it's a new attempt.

I have been seeing these 2 TVCs of Lea Perrins a few times over the Easter. For years, the brand has been going for the strategy of usage extension : for dipping and cooking (點煮都得). While the strategy is logical and fair, using sexual connotation for communication is too much. Ok, these two TVCs can be considered creative and fun to watch. Yet it may be a turn-off for the target audience, i.e., the housewives. We take calculated risks when it comes to creatives. We need to think about what the target audience thinks. Ads like these will damage brand image that we should always strive to protect instead.

Happy Easter holiday. Daily posts resume on March 25 after the long weekend.

Hong Thai may be the first one to advertise about trips to the Olympics. The execution is a bore but it represents the most effective way of selling with segmentation in mind : different trips for different sport lovers. The whole selling premise is the reservation of tickets for the finals. I'm sure this ad would have worked much better if it put this appealing message more upfront. The message should be like " Olympics tickets to the final of your favourite sport are reserved for you". Strategy, message, execution.

You just won't appreciate what is happening in this TVC if you are not a Cable TV viewer. The story is associated with the TV show 一粒鐘真人蘇 on Cable TV. In this show, 蘇絲黃 goes to audience's homes to try their home cooking. Funny that this ad is aired on TVB. If you pay attention, you would easily find this ad trying to appeal to the price-conscious, less affluent consumers : the old flat, the private label products in the cupboards and HK$30 per meal for the whole family. I wonder how many of them can afford Cable TV in their homes. It costs HK$200+ to subscribe to Cable TV a month. That costs the same as almost a week of food for the whole family ! Do they have Cable TV ? High chance that the story is not too relevant to this group of consumers. I just don't really understand why Park'n Shop tries to appeal to this group of consumers. With all the rental and staff costs on the rise, shouldn't it trade up to get more businesses from the more affluent consumers ?

Following the post of yesterday. With its first TVC launch, it's obvious that LV has changed its advertising strategy. Also recently I read that LV has painted a ferry too. It's not a bad idea if it's not LV. In the past, it didn't advertise in "mass" media. It used to carefully cultivate a celebrity following and use famous models, actresses and celebrity in its marketing campaigns with print ads in selected magazines and billboards in high-end districts. This was how it built its premium image. Mass media can reach more people and uplift brand awareness. However, they may dilute the exclusivity image needed for a premium fashion brand. More exposures, more sales ? Sometimes it works the other way round.

This should be the first TVC of LV. I saw it on Cable TV or Pearl, I can't remember. Here is the full version for your enjoyment. It's quite a good image ad but the platform is so similar to Samsonite - Life's a journey . It's not an apple-to-apple comparison between as Samsonite may not have that kind of money to produce such an ad. Samsonite is always a brand of luggage and travel products. On the other hand, LV was a renowned trunks and luggage retailer back in the 19th century. Yet, it has already evolved into a luxury fashion brand. Does it want to use this ad to remind us of the fact that it has a long heritage in premium leather luggage ?

1 MOMENT 1 NESCAFE. It's the new tagline of Nescafe. Sometimes we need new tagline for our brand to give consumers a fresh feeling. Taking Nescafe as the example, although tagline is changed from time to time, its positioning never changes. That is, relaxing enjoyment - consistency is the key to brand building. The intention of this TVC is to reinforce its positioning and maintain brand saliency. It consists of 2 x 5-second enjoyment segments. Simple and direct and it works. One comment though. Having both segments with lady consumption, would it felt to be too feminine ? It may be better with a guy consumption in one of the segments. Or is it trying to sell more coffee to women ?

Technology has the power to change consumer behaviour. Internet breeds new brands that provide better solution to our lives. Classified Post was the market leader in premium job advertising. 米報, we call it. I suspect jobsdb.com is now the leader in job advertising. Providing various helpful functions for employers and job-seekers, it wins with technologies. The battlefield is Internet but funny that Classified Post is still advertising about the "hard copy". As for the ad itself, playing on superstition is not a compelling idea. Yet the whole execution is a flop. I bet it intends to save a bit of money. It's a 15-second ad and it's just to short to build the drama. The production looks too cheap to target premium job seekers. And worse still, the idiotic act of the leading actor is alienating premium job-seekers.

One of my students in FMCG said Doll is bought by Nissin (the owner of 出前一丁). Is that true ? Did Nissin just buy Doll instant noodles or everything under the brand name of Doll ? Doll as a brand is the first instant noodle in Hong Kong but it's no longer the market leader and it was overtaken by 出前一丁 ages ago. Why it happened ? From the hindsight, I would blame it on brand extension. Doll is no longer an instant noodle but a brand of frozen Dim Sum in the minds of the consumers. It's no going to be easy to revitalize this brand in the instant noodle market. It takes real new news about the brand. "Made in HK" ??? 出前一丁 is also made in HK ! So what ?

Speaking of horrible images in ads, I guess you are aware of the latest Coke Zero TVC featuring animated eyeball and tongues. (the above is the English version from the UK). Again is it cute or horrible ? I heard that it's not quite well-received in HK and some people complain. One may argue that people don't appreciate this kind of western sense of humour. Cultural difference, we call it. But how come HK people have turned so conservative ? HK was used to be a melting pot of different cultures, an open international city ... Anyway, if we evaluate this ad with its intended message, same taste, zero calorie, it's a brilliant ad with these eyeball and tongues arguing with each other as the idea.

Some people comment that this TVC is horrible with the play of monster/ghostly images. I think it's quite cute. Cute and horrible, there is a fine line but it has definitely generated some talkabouts. Thanks once again to 王維基, we can see some interesting and different ads in the boring ad scene. It seems like everything HKBB is quite committed to head-on with PCCW. Last time I talked about the Netvigator HD decoder promotion saying that it's not attractive at a price of HK990. Now HKBB offers the same for free. I checked out the HKBB's offer on its website . I must say it's much more attractive than the offer of Netvigator as the lowest commitment is just HK$48 x 24 months with the IDD0030 300-minute/month plan. I'm not advertising for them but it's worth considering it.

Does this credit card promotion of Standard Chartered look familiar ? The strategy is very much like the HSBC 全城最紅 offers where it ties with popular chains to offer great discounts. Remember the 50% off discount with Esprit and the 40% off discount with The Commercial Press ? HSBC heavily advertises these offers in order to build "the best credit card in town" image as well as generate usage revenues. Looks like SCB is going for the same route. Is it committed to doing this and launching different big offers over time ? Or is it just an one-off ? Let's see. And let's keep an eye on whether and how HSBC will react.

HK people love new excitements, try new things and welcome new changes. It's our culture. Most HK consumers are brand switchers. That's why we see brands come and go so fast like shotting stars and it's not easy to sustain a brand in HK. As we all know, one way to sustain an established brand is new innovative product launch. Like Pizza Hut, it focuses on pizza and it has a continuous flow of new pizzas over time. Well some of these pizzas might not be well-received by consumers but they work to add excitements for an established brand like Pizza Hut. On the contrary, however, Maxim's MX has no unique brand identity against other fast food chains like Cafe De Coral and Fairwood. To many consumers, Maxim's MX is a just another fast food chain. Over the past few months, we see frequent new menu launches from Maxim's MX. Some are really me-too with Cafe De Coral and Fairwood. After its brand revamp, it seems still looking for an unique positioning to focus on. The ...

Speaking of product life cycle, bottled green tea is another case worth discussing. Like the starts of many product or service categories, it takes a brand to start investing heavily in marketing communications to uplift awareness and communicate about the new benefits. In the case of bottled green tea, it was 道地. The success of the leading brand will attract more brands to go into the new market and together they grow the category. However, growth will not last forever and the whole category will eventually mature and then decline. Bottled green tea is in its mature, if not declining, stage. Will bottled green tea diminish altogether over time ? Unlikely. I guess it will still be a key category in the overall beverage market. And 道地, the first mover, will remain as the market leader in this shrinking category. Lately Wing Wah has launched bottled green tea too. It's quite a strange move to me. It's not only late but also Wing Wah as a brand has no credential in teas. It is in...

A follow-up post about the MP3 market. Last time we talked about Sony Walkman MP3 . Here comes the iPOD. I recently received two promotional e-DMs of iPOD. First one (above) is a price promotion for iPOD Shuffle. HK$370 is a really attractive price, isn't it ? The second one (below) promotes iPOD as corporate gift for clients and employees. The intention of these initiatives is obvious : milking sales out of the declining MP3 market. How many years MP3 has been around ? About 10 years if I'm not wrong. First launched in 2001, the history of the iPOD brand is even shorter than that. The chance is iPOD as a brand will diminish in the the minds of consumers with the decline of the category. It's going to be interesting to see how Steve Jobs will deal with this decline. Let's keep our eyes open.

How would you choose if you were a woman ? It's such a provocative headline. I would say it's not a good ad. The message is clear with all these marsh mellow, banana and cucumber analogies. In one of my previous posts , I said I'm not for prescription drug advertising. Well we are in marketing and business is business. There is no need to be hypocritical about it, one would argue. Yes, prescription drug advertising is legal but it's up to companies to decide whether to do it or not. After all, it's about corporate values and social responsibilities ...