ThinkNoLimit Marketing Coaching

When Maxim's launched the Angel Cake, it wasn't supported by TV advertising and I just saw some print ads and outdoors. Surprisingly, it has been selling quite well. It's just a plan cream cake but I guess it wins with the pricing and the gimmick of DIY crispy sugar pieces. Now here comes the Devil Cake. Angel vs Devil, cream cake vs chocolate cake, it seems to be a logical extension. It should be another good selling item I bet. But just wondering what will come next after that ~

Pocari Sweat has a strong association with Japan as being a Japanese brand. It's also interesting to see Fanta being transformed into a brand with Japanese association with imported advertising and packaging. For the young, Japanese culture is what they aspire to. It could be the right thing to do as so far no softdrink is occupying this cultural positioning. It has recently launched a new Jelly pop and it seems the product is invented in Japan and the TVCs are produced in Japan too. Have you tried it ? You should if you haven't. It's a new taste experience.

After a series of TVCs featuring SMAP, Pocari Sweat seems to have gone back to the old young girl + blue sky + fun formula. There is nothing wrong with the SMAP series as the original positioning was kept consistent : hydration for summer time funs. Maybe SMAP is old and relevance is low with the younger generation. That's why it switches back to the old formula for projecting a younger energetic image. My only question. How does the VO by G.E.M. add value to the ad ?

When the first 安信兄弟 ad appeared, it did give the ad scene a stir. There is literally no product difference among all financial institutions that lend money to credit cardholders to pay up their bills. So a creative ad can help increase awareness and drive those in need to check out the company's services. Of course whether they can get the business would much depend on the service features and more importantly the interest rate. Creative advertising has a role to play in a market with no obvious product difference. The trouble is that when you started with a fairly creative ad, it's not easy to maintain creativeness in subsequent ads. There have been a few different versions of 安信兄弟. It gives me the feeling that they are getting more creative for creative sake.

Canon Selphy is positioned as a small and user-friendly photo printer for users who look for fun of photo sharing, rather than high quality prints. Primarily the target market is skewed towards females. You may not call this ad creative but it does bring out the warmth and fun of using this handy photo printer. A very relevant situation is picked as the demonstration. There has been a small boom of new born babies this year. So you must find the scene familiar . That's the merit of the ad.

This is a great ad, isn't it ? Anyone knows which agency did it ? Playing on the insight that ladies are fond of buying shoes at all times, it serves to call for action of visit to Harbour City with the support of more than 100 shoe shops. It's an enjoyable ad to watch too. You would appreciate the effort spent on the art direction and visual effects if you watch it closely. It must cost quite a bit but it really stands out from the recent boring ad scene.

Advertising Time ! We will be organizing this program on Sep 25. Check it out if you are interested or just let your friends know. Enrolment form can be found HERE .

WiFi everywhere, does it sounds like an interesting service ? It can connect up to 5 WiFi devices too. At the beginning, I was confused between this Pocket WiFi and the hotspot WiFi PCCW has been advertising about before. Have checked it out from the website . It seems the pocket Wifi thingy is like a wireless router that connects to the 3G or HSPA wireless network for sharing. This service is not too cheap. For unlimited usage, it costs you HK$328 a month with 24-month contract. I just wonder who will use this service and if you pay attention to the details, the highest connection speed is 7.2Mbps, to be shared with 5 devices. The actual speed also depends on the environment and network stability. So you can imagine the speed when it's really shared by 5 people.

What if you have HK$1 million ? That's a promotion held by a relatively new finance company in order to generate awareness. People can go to the website and write about how they will spend HK$1 million. Sun Finance will help the one who gets the highest number of votes to realize his dream. It's a simple idea. Those who won't participate into the promotion will get aware of the brand. Those who get onto the website and take part into the promotion will get to know more about the company. A good attempt but don't know if this is a effective promotion.

The message of the ad is simple : Construction Bank will help you realize your future plans. Why and how ? Because it's the 2nd largest bank in the world. (that's a new piece of information to most of us). That's always the problem with corporate advertising. It's not easy to get away from giving people the feeling of self-pleasing. Having said that the ad itself has a strong emotional appeal and the talents act quite well though.

A claim with proper support is an empty claim. Whenever we make a claim in our ad, we'd better think hard how we can give reasons for consumers to believe. It says having a Lasik operation can save you money as there is no more need to change contact lens regularly in the future. I scratch my head wondering if it is true. Could it be better supported with some calculation, some numbers maybe ?

Yellow Page has redesigned its portal. There are various kinds of information, including latest news, entertainment, map and traffic information, travel information as well as property information. All information in the portal is relevant to our daily life for sure but doesn't it sound like Yahoo and Google ? It's quite me too. What is Yellow Pages ? Originally it is a physical copy of directory for companies to post contacts and ads to attract businesses. Since the birth of the Internet , it has a lesser role to play in our life. We are now used to searching for information on the net and Yahoo and Google dominate this market. How should Yellow Pages do to compete with them in terms of positioning ? There is no easy answer. I leave it to you to think about it.

The promotion mechanics of this ParknShop Money Back promotion is a copycat of credit card promotions where every Money Back card holder is given a target spending amount and if you achieve that, you will get 10x points. The objective is of course to increase consumer share of spending with ParknShop . 羊毛出自羊身上. If you are a rational consumer, you can imagine the point benefits should come from the prices of the products you pay. So the question is : how can they offer the claimed lowest prices at the same time ?

Seems smartphone with touch screen is the current trend of mobile phones. Such trend is created by iPhone. Other brands have been launching mobile phones with touch screens stressing on user-friendliness and intuitive user interface. While iPhone is still the phone everyone aspires to have, its price remains stiff. There is a market gap for smartphones that are not as powerful as iPhone or HTC but are sold at a lower price. This is exactly how Samsung Anycall Jet is positioned. Sold at HK$3,000+ and targeting the young, it should have some potential.

A new version of Vita Lemon Tea TVC is on now. There is no more 尹光 in this one. How disappointing. It would be more fun if there were some carry-on "storyline" between MC Jin and 尹光. The ad looks like a combination of a cut-down version of the previous one and a tag-on to sell the Ceylon variant of VLT. There are two messages in this ad talking about two variants : right unique taste for the original variant and superior aroma and taste for the Ceylon variant. Would consumers be aware of these two different messages ? I bet not. Most of them would think it's the same ad as the previous one. Only marketers are aware of the difference ...

Environmental friendliness is not easy to become a culutral trend in HK. HK people like hotpot in all seasons. Having it during the hot summer time isn't too green, is it ? For fastfood restaurant chains, they push hotpot because they can sell it as a higher price menu item. Their restaurants are not so filled at night anyway and hotpot can let customers enjoy their dinner longer. Back to this ad. 黄祖藍 and 泳兒 are more like the successors of 杜汶澤. It's not a bad idea as they share some similar personalities that can be transferred to the brand.

If you pay attention to ads, you can really learn some good consumer psychology. This ad is just about spending with Octopus and get cash rebates. But you listen carefully to the monologue VO, you will learn something. Particularly, the line "人有我有唔緊要, 人有我冇就唔得啦". Isn't that human nature ? Shopping is associated with satisfaction of desire. What is desire ? I remember someone say that desire appears when you see others having something you don't have. That's exactly what the VO says.

Come to think of it. It's not easy to advertise TV sets on TV. The trouble is you can't do good demonstration how great the sound system is, how clear and fine the pictures are and so on. If your TV set is worn and old, you won't be able to appreciate any difference. If your TV set is new, you may be able to appreciate the differences, which means you don't need to change it. Kind of embarrassing . Maybe we can focus more on call-to-action in TV set advertising. That is, asking people to check it out at the stores themselves .

Both ads are are from Regaine . The one above is the latest and the one below is from 2-3 years ago. Which one do you like better ? I like the older one better. The latest one lacks creativity in a sense that it just puts the category motivator right at the face, i.e. regaining confidence and attraction to women. On the other hand, the one below simply use a male lion, a fierce and hairy, to draw an association with confidence. It's more subtle and easy to understand at the same time. What's more, it has strong visual impact and more attention grabbing power.

Congratulations to the one who came up with this promotion. It has been receiving very favourable response. Maybe it's because the glass is given away free upon super-sizing value meal. I bet Coke must have sponsored all or part of the cost of the glasses but it's a win-win definitely. McDonald's can drive some additional revenues on one hand (without using the boring Hello Kitty this time round). Coke can promote the classic cola brand image on the other. Heard that some colours have run out of stocks already. Have you got one yet ?

Ads of mooncakes have started appearing. In the past, mooncake ads used to be about family reunion and sharing with the beloved. In this ad, mooncake has become more like a comfort food for pampering oneself. Particularly, the target audience is those hardworking single ladies. It's a social phenomenon that there are more and more women remaining single in HK and the ad is just a reflection of the reality. I bet there will be more products advertising to this group.