ThinkNoLimit Marketing Coaching

Sometimes we see ads with creative ideas but too bad executions are not helping to bring out the idea and communicate the message. "Changing for a new foot". The idea is there, which is quite attention grabbing visually. The computer re-touch can be done better of course but that's minor in a way. The stopping power of the ad relies on the key visual. Why use pale wooden colour which is also the same as the foot ? It can stand out better if a different colour background is used...

Here's an ad you won't miss. A bus is buried in a checker pattern background, which should get you curious to find out what it is about. The promotion mechanics and the ad execution tie well with invisibility, the unique selling point of the product. Although there may not be too many people interested to participate, the ad still reminds people about the goodness of the product. There is a 2+1 promotion offer tag-on too. Quite a good attempt to kill two birds with one stone.

Sometimes we see ads making use of the latest topical affairs or TV series to sell products, like this one that plays on the TV series, 謎. The idea may sound good as people can relate to the hot TV series and get the message quickly. The downside, however, is that this kind of ad has a rather short time span. When the topic is no longer hot or the TV series is done, the ad will become faddish pretty quickly.

According to the dictionary, a pet is "any domesticated or tamed animal that is kept as a companion and cared for affectionately". What is WD-40 ? A lubricant spray. What's the association between a doggie and WD-40 ? None, except some of us may keep both at home. "The master has WD-40 to guard the home. He has no need for me". Look, analogy is good if we can find the right one. A doggie is a thousand miles away from a lubricant. Just wonder who would approve such an ad...

It's a not a great ad but long time no see TV ads of electrical appliances. Why are there so few ? Electrical appliances like washing machine, vacuum cleaner and fridge are products with long purchase cycle where consumers don't replace them frequently, not until they break down and can't be fixed. A fridge can work for up to 10 years for e.g. Brands of electrical appliances wouldn't advertise too much as they know people won't rush to the stores to buy their product after seeing their ads. Yet advertising still has value in this case. It serves to keep top of mind brand awareness. In case your fridge breaks down, you may probably recall Hitachi better.

What is Next G ? It's a 3G UMTS mobile network trade-marked by Telstra in Australia, a major stakeholder of CSL. It's said that the speed can get up to 21Mbps and it's the fastest modile data network in the world. One2Free launches it with video on demand service broadcasting full versions of TVB dramas and movies. It sounds pretty attractive while price has come down quite a bit. Yet we are all quite skeptical about the speed stability and coverage. If a mobile operator can gain the trust on the network quality and word of mouth, it should be able to win more customers for mobile entertainment or other data services.

The old brands, like Perrier and Evian, in the bottled spring water category have been rather quiet over the years. So there may be room for new challengers. Crystal Geyser has been in the market for some time and it seems it is committed to taking a higher ground with a series of new TVCs. Perrier and Evian are French, which carry the aspirational images of the sources, the alps, the icebergs, the landscapes and so on. The question has become whether taste of the USA is good enough compete. USA is not known for "taste" per se but its cultural symbols like Disney, burger and rock n roll, maybe.

I have to admit I have certain prejudice about PCCW. Thanks to Mr. Richard Li, the reputation of the company has gone down the drain. The failed privatization and the lay-off have been generating too much negative publicity. Its business and marketing strategies also get it attacked by competitors in all directions. I still scratch my head why PCCW keeps investing on this Eye service. Now the second generation comes with a wireless touch screen for easy access to the contents owned by it like NOW TV and Moov Live. Everyone has a computer nowadays and netbook is getting popular. Why do we need mini touch screen monitor ? They can just open up subscription to these contents on the net...

We laugh when we hear this brand and see its ad. Have to agree that the ad is very cliche with Jacky Chan seen as the butt of the joke. 霸王 is also such an old styled name too. But guess what. The company is having IPO and will be listed in HK. It's not a laughing matter anymore. From hindsight, although the ad and brand name are lousy, it does fill in a market gap. While most other brands of shampoos are selling to women, there have been no brand tailored to the need of men who look for the prevention of hair loss and grey hair, at an affordable price. Backed up with Chinese herbal ingredients, it has been receiving quite good words of mouth that it really works too. Good positioning. Good product. That's how you beat the market. But of course, it would be even better to have a better brand name and ads.

Advances in technologies have made digital photography widespread in a very fast pace. The pace of penetration is even faster than mobile phone. It's not uncommon for people to own more than one digital cameras nowadays. DCs are now smaller, lighter and cheaper with a lot of different functions. There is another stream of development where people are trading up to DSLRs which allow more creativity and sophisticated pictures. In the past, DSLRs were expensive and perceived to be the gears of professional photographers or the toys of more mature male users who can afford it. Competition drives prices down. Starter's models of DSLR is sold at something HK$5,000-6,000 with lens and so more people can afford it. Who are the target consumers ? This ad has told you : younger users, aged 20-30, primarily females. It reflects what is going. If you go to those photography hot spots in HK, you will see more and more young ladies using DSLRs taking pictures. It's not a guy's toy a...

There was a bridal show at the jockey club last Sunday. It's said to be the first bridal show held at the jockey club ever. There are quite a few bridal shows throughout the year and usually they are held at the convention centre. The ad doesn't say anything really special about the show and I don't know how it would attract people to go there, rather than those bigger scale ones at the convention centre. Why HKJC would get into organizing bridal shows ? I can only guess it's trying to get more revenues from organizing wedding events and banquets. It could be of potential if it manages to think of something special with its unique setting of the racecourse and the prestigious status of the clubhouse and F&B outlets.

The whole category of slimming supplements seems dead. Consumers have got smarter. They know weight management is all about diets and workouts after trying so many types of these things that don't work. Shelf spaces for the category have shrunk while some brands are gone and some are struggling to survive. It seems there is only Fancl that is still advertising big money in it. The trouble is that using celebrity endorsement is a faddish way of increasing credibility. If the product doesn't work as what consumers expect for the price they pay, it will still die.

What is the winning formula for residential property advertising ? First you need a fancy name : Lake Silver in English and 銀湖天峰 in Chinese. (I'm sure any taxi driver wouldn't know where you want to go just by telling the name of it). Second, pick a high class music, if classical is not high class enough, you can consider an opera song. Then you need to shoot some aspirational scenarios, some Greek islands or landscapes in Europe perhaps. And most importantly, you need to highlight the luxurious clubhouse in the ad (for most people, clubhouse is something nice to have but seldom used). Onto how to catch people's attention ? Easy. If 30 seconds is not good enough, make it a 60 seconds or longer ! Here you go. We are proud to present Lake Silver !

What is "Cash is King" ? You can apply different meanings to it. We usually hear it when the equity market is turbulent and it means it's safer to hold onto the cash. Also in running a business, it is about the importance of cash flow. It's interesting to see how UA uses this saying in its advertising. People say advertising may shape the cultural and social values of a society and marketers have certain ethical responsibilities for the things they do. It's up to you whether you want to bend the meaning of a saying to "educate" people to borrow money. The fact is cash is not king when you are in debt.

There are some things money can't buy. For everything else there's MasterCard. This platform has got a good emotional appeal but just that the tagline is a bit too long. "MasterCard can buy you the priceless joy and experience", that's what it' trying to say. So it makes perfect sense to tie it with travel spending and launch a sub-brand card tailored specifically for travel - World MasterCard . Yet I find this ad is not relevant to everyone indeed. It's not for everyone. Just count the spending in the 3 scenarios... HK$1 million is spent in just 30 seconds, LOL ... yes, yes, ad should aspire... but isn't it too far-fetched ?

A follow-up from the Whisper ad we talked about last time. Usually sanitary towels and baby napkin are selling the same thing : no leakage. In the previous ad of Whisper, it uses a rational analogy of roller coaster while this Huggies ad uses a more emotional appeal of care and joy with baby. In fact decision on whether to use rational or emotional appeal is the starting point of creative ideation . Which way is better ? It depends but one consideration is the product life cycle. Rational appeal can be used at the introduction stage and we can gradually move to emotional appeal to solidify the brand in consumer's heart.

Analogy is a common creative idea to convey product benefit. It's often used in the ads of HK as it's easy for consumers to understand and for clients to buy. The key to this way of representation is choosing the right analogy that make consumers think a bit and get the message. Using roller-coaster ride as analogy in this case, Whisper manages to communicate the product benefit quite well. Quite a good example. P.S. Will be going away from Jun 4 - 8. Daily post will resume on the 9th. Stay tuned.

Isotonic/sport drink market has been quiet for some time. I suspect this specific category has been shrinking given there are many choice for packaged drinks like bottled teas and herbal drinks. Pocari Sweat should be the leader who keep investing advertising. On the product side, however, Pocari is still the same Pocari without key new product launches. That leaves some room for new challengers who spots the weakness. Pity that the launch ad is kind of a typical sport drink ad. If it is to steal share from Pocari, it could make use of a comparative approach to highlight the low calories benefit more.

PCCW is getting hit from all directions. Now Smartone is also getting into the home broadband service with its HSPA wireless broadband. A bit pity that the ad sells on the style and look of the machine and price. How about coverage, stability and speed ? These are the concerns of most customers for them to switch from PCCW. PCCW has run into serious corporate reputation problem due to the failed privatization. If other opeartors work harder, I'm sure they will steal more businesses from it over time. And it's actually happening. CTI has just announced its interim results and growth is reported.