ThinkNoLimit Marketing Coaching

This is quite an interesting corporate communication initiative. Employee Stock Ownership Plan (ESOP) is not new and many companies have this sort of plans for their employees. Yet, I haven't seen any really advertise about it. The objectives are obvious : attracting talents while projecting itself as a good employer. The ad doesn't mention the details of the actual plan but it does say about everyone, regardless of length of service and grade, can enjoy this plan. That's the unique selling point could have been more upfront as the key message in the ad.

If I'm not wrong, Smartone Vodafone is more into selling own "house brand" phones compared with other operators. Does house brand work for telcos, like supermarkets ? House brands in supermarkets usually target consumers who look for price rather than quality. If we apply the same thinking, house brand phones should be cheaper than "branded" ones and targets those who don't really look for sophistcated functions. These customers are at the lower end of the market, ususally older (aged 50+), wanting a phone as a phone with basic functions. Here are some house brand phones sold on TV functions and affordable prices. Will they sell ?

I remember I talked about Lenscrafters' acquisition of The Optical Shop before. I have checked my previous posts and it was one and a half years ago. At that time, I was wondering they were keeping the Chinese name, 高登眼鏡. Maybe such transition had been planned. In the whole acquisition, Lenscrafters had bought the infrastructure of The Optical Shop per se, not the brand name. If the positionings of Lenscrafters ad The Optical Shop are different, I guess I would skip this re-branding exercise. I would buy the infrastructure and launch the new brand, Lenscrafters, straightaway. Re-branding is usually considered a safer route but we can't avoid leaving an image baggage of the old brand in the minds of the consumers.

Thought it was a new TVC of Cathay Pacific or some corporate advertising of a financial institution. Surprise, surprise, it's the HK Institute of Education - HKIED. 教育要教大理想, no one would disagree with that but the ad doesn't tell anything special about HKIED. Education is a big market but if any of these education institutes really want to win a good share of it, its marketing will need to be improved. Easier said than done as most of these institutes did not have marketing function like commercial organizations before. Recruiting marketers can solve part of the problem but it also takes certain change of mindset in the management. People running these institutes are scholars and academics. It's not easy for them adopt marketing thinking.

Quality is about consumer perception and perception is reality. Perception is more feeling than science. Building a perception is the job of every marketer. Like Rejoice is talking about smooth hair, what is smooth hair in the first place ? Your definition could be different from mine. That's how advertising comes into the play : using visual cues to educate consumers what smooth means so that consumers can feel it. To increase credibility, we offer samples for consumers to try or even provide money back guarantee. At the end, is it true that Rejoice makes your hair smoother than other shampoos ? No one knows and consumers are not able to tell anyway. A good initiative of Rejoice but why don't they put it up on TV ? It deserves bigger backups to build that smoothness perception.

Thanks our reader Irene for her contribution. I was speechless when I watched this. If it were aired in HK, what would happen ? A good piece for sharing at the weekend and welcome your contributions too.

Critics believe that advertising has the power to shape social trends and the way people think and act while advertising professionals believe advertising mirrors values rather than sets them. Which argument is true ? Both are true. Look at this TVC of Pedisure. While we know balanced diet is important for children, many of them are picky eaters. What do we do ? It takes patience, time and training to adjust their behaviours. That's the proper way. Got no time and want a quick easy way out ? Here is Pedisure. If a problem can be solved with money, it's no longer a problem at all. That's exactly the value of Hong Kong people at large. This ad is trying to sell the product as a quick fix for time-starved parents who are unwilling to take the hard way to teach their children. It does have consumer insights and is a reflection of the reality. On the other hand, however, since parents can solve their problems the easy way, they no longer need to learn the hard way t

A TVC about balance transfer again. The competition of balance transfer is so keen that every financial institution is trying to share a spoonful of this business. Promise, UA, Prime Credit and this Citifinancial ... you name it. All of them have put up advertising before. On one hand, when everyone is advertising about almost the same thing, it takes real creativity to cut through. On the other, however, good creative ideas are getting exhausted as most of them have been used before. I don't want to be over-critical but I guess this TVC runs into such problem. A chemistry analogy ! I don't dare to say it's not a creative attempt. But isn't the association a bit too distant ? If an arena is so overcrowded with competition, we need think about whether we want to be in at all. Either your proposition is unique and better or you have a lot of money to advertise. Otherwise your chance of winning a meaningful share is slim.

I'm not a classic music fan. Neither am I trying to advertise for this concert. I pick this up as it's a case of brand stretching and dilution. Compared with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra or New York Philharmonic, it doesn't have the same history and international fame and is considered a second or third class orchestra by real classical music lovers. However, it does have some aspirational value of class and prestige to the general public as being a classical music ensemble. This kind of cross-over with pop singers would definitely help finance the orchestra but in the long run, it will lose its brand value and become just another adorning element in pop music concerts.

Advertising is everywhere. Standard Chartered has invented this means of coupon distribution with ATM for some years. Have you ever tried ? Baically, you can choose to recieve some discount coupons from the sponsors after your transaction with the machines. I guess Standard Chartered makes use of this as a loyalty value added service to its customers and tries to generate some advertising revenues at the same time. Good thinking but the fact is that it's more like a rubbish generating machine. I tried it lately and it gave me 3 coupons inlcuding a slimming house offer, a tutorial school discount and a restaurant discount. None is of any use to me. We use the right media to contact the right auidence to contact the right audience at the right place and the right time. It represents a lot of wastage and it's just not qualified as a good medium for advertisers other than banking and financial related products.

If you join NOW TV, you can buy a 2-in-1 HD decoder for the free (TVB and ATV) and NOW HD channels at discounted price HK$990. As a marketer, this promotion makes a lot of sense while catching the HD hype and probably the decoder is a self-liquidating redemption item sold at HK$990. The standalone NOW TV decoder (the one without HD) represents a pure cost item. Good thinking but would it be a real attraction for people to join NOW TV ? Probably not. Most consumers are still having a wait-and-see attitude towards HD TV knowing that the infrastructure is not too ready. Consumers are also smart enough to wait for the prices to come down before they consider different alternatives. For this NOW TV HD decoder, it may be something in the consideration, if it's free !

One of my friends sent this to me. It's good for sharig. Heard too many people wanting to work in advertising. Yes, it is an aspirational industry ... provided that you haven't worked in it before. I have to tell you that the story of this short video is very true and it happens everywhere everyday. Fancy working in advertising ? Think again.

Extra White brightens up your teeth. That's the single-minded message and benefit of it. It's qualified as a good ad with such a single-minded message. One method of creative process is free association. It's about the search for a surprising association with the product benefit that is simple and would grab audience's attention. In this ad, bright white teeth and waking up a rooster are pulled together : that's how an creartive idea is formed. Tell you what, I have seen an ad selling teeth whitening chewing gum with a very similar idea : a bright light is flashing from a lighthouse at a distance. This bright light in fact comes from the teeth of a couple romancing in it. Is it from india or elsewhere ? I don't remember. Great minds think alike ... really ?

In one of my previous posts, I talked about the 「幾乎有阿媽咁好」TVC of 鴻福堂, commenting that there is a lack of support. Just recently I found a vertical half page ad saying that it has won some awards of recognition for owning the original formulations of 8 Chinese herbal teas. There are so many Chinese herbal teas in the market and authenticity is certainly an edge over competition. Just don't know why it stays so subtle with a half page print ad. Such credential can be leveraged to make a bigger campaign for the brand. It also has the potential to get connected back with the 幾乎有阿媽咁好 claim, acting as the support. In marketing communications, we think integration.

It's Valentine's Day tomorrow. Someone said this day was "invented" by marketers and business people , an excuse for consumers to spend money. In a way, I tend to believe that. It's a product of consumerism and everyone is kind of obliged to spend some money on this special day. Take a look at this TVC of HSBC. Although it's not directly related to the Valentine's Day, it is aired around this time to remind you to spend subliminally : More Care. Spend More. If you look closely the amounts the talents are signing off, you would know what I mean by subliminal. HSBC is ready to extend your credit limit too ! So let's express our loves by spending more !

Standard Chartered Marathon will be on again this Sunday. It has become one of the biggest sports event in Hong Kong and participation grows year after year. It's a successful case of event marketing where Standard Chartered is able to make use of this event to uplift its brand awareness and leverage on it for promotions. The fact is that Standard Chartered has been sponsoring the event for more than 10 years. Unlike soccer and basketball, Marathon is not a spectator sport and it wasn't too popular at all back 10 years ago. If you were the corporate communication/marketing manager, would you recommend such sponsorship ? Probably not but someone in Standard Chartered did. 人棄我取, that's the name of the game if you want to own something unique. However, uniqueness doesn't warrant growth in popularity. With a bit of luck, SARS struck in 2003. Health consiciousness of HK people has been uplifted and there are more people participating in sports. Compared with ot

There are several things about this print ad worth discussing. It has no key visual per se but a provocative headline. It still caught the eyes among other ads with a clean and tidy execution. The ads says Holiday Inn is a worry-free, caring hotel for business travelers. In the past business travelers are stereotyped as males aged 30 something, probably in dark suits. The fact is that women are raising in the business world. Targeting women business travelers, this ad is a reflection of the change. Yes women nowadays need to balance between career and family. However, it's funny that there is a story writing competition for them to submit stories about the challenges they have encountered at work. Aren't they just too busy to participate ?

Have a great holiday. Daily post resumes on Feb 11.

The weather is cold and there are some tactical ads appearing on TV, trying to capture some seasonal sales during the cold weather. This is one of them. It's just fun to see to this 利工民 TVC re-appear. How old is this TVC ? It must be 30+ year old. 羊毛內衣 is a dying category and it remains with the older generation. There are simply so many alternatives in the market for consumers to choose nowadays. This old brand is fading in consumers' minds with the category too. In fact, 利工民 is a good brand name, an association with our labourer-oriented society in the past. Society changes and so does the market. New brands come and old brands go. Some brands would just remain in our 集體回憶.

There are Classic, Gold, Platinum and even black cards. What is Titanium ? Supposedly, it's a card in-between Gold and Platinum in terms of credit limit. That is, it's an "intermediate" alternative for those who can't upgrade from Gold to Platinum because of lower income level. By Classic, Gold and Platinum, it's about segmentation as we all know. The issue is on whether there is a segment existing between Gold and Platinum. If Platinum is the "ultimate" card consumers want as an identity symbol, will they apply for Titanium while admitting that they are not rich enough to get Platinum ? It's also funny how Manhattan launches this card too. Priority booking and discounts for concerts are used to be the most advertised benefits of its credit cards anyway. This new Titanium is of no difference. So what's the point ?

It's a pretty strange promotion for CNY. The promotion offer is quite attractive. However, is KFC a kind of top of mind food for CNY ? It should be 盆菜, right ? KFC is more western and perceived to be a party food for western festivals like Christmas, new year and maybe Easter. I wonder why Aeon doesn't tie up with 盆菜 for promotion. CNY is about family gathering and KFC not really the kind of food for that. Guess this promotion was scheduled to be launched in Christmas but delayed somehow. Or the promotion schedule of KFC is so full with other bigger credit cards that it can only slot in Aeon for CNY ?