ThinkNoLimit Marketing Coaching

Seen this series of TVCs during the Christmas season ? There are like 4-5 versions featuring 洪金寶 playing different games with different people. It's just a simple demonstration to show that Wii is fun for all age groups. The campaign has caught the right timing of the festive season where people might buy it as gift for fun sharing during the holidays. Right product, right timing. I bet quite a bit of products should be sold with this campaign.

BRAND'S essence of chicken has launched a new TVC. Still remember the last campaign with Eason Chan in it ? If we put the two TVC side by side, you will see the new one is a disappointment. Why ? By the use of big celebrity like Eason Chan, certainly you will get fast spread awareness, create credibility and generate word of mouth. Yet when you can't afford the celebrity at later stage, all the magics will be gone at once. It's worth a second thought about using celebrities indeed. Somehow it's a road with no return. What you get is inconsistency at the end.

Tax paying season is around the corner. Presumably tax loan is quite a big market and many banks and financial institutions are spending big in communications. Wing Hang is a bank with low recall and awareness but you must be aware that it's quite committed to the tax loan market over the years. Each year it launches a new TVC with 鄭中基. When you see 鄭中基 at this time of the year, you would be reminded of Wing Hang for tax loan. That's the upside of using the same celebrity in a consistent manner over time. Yet you may run into the risk of having a serivce or a company too attached with a celebrity. Imagine if that celebrity is no longer used, due to budget or whatever reasons, all the association effects will be gone at once. It can be quite fragile.

Speaking of shampoos and shampoos specifically for men, Head & Shoulder has yet again launched a new formula, Strong Hair. It's said to protect you from dandruff as well as keep your hair strong. 甄子丹 is employed as the spokesperson. Although he may be the man role model and admired by the women who buy shampoos for their men, he doesn't really have the thick hair to sell strong hair... LOL ...

The storyline of this ad is a bit strange, isn't it ? The objective is to tell us Kee Wah is 70 years old and its mooncake has been in the life of HK people for so long. Scene of HK in the past are quite interesting but the problem rests on the role of 曾志偉. "咁遲嘅? 七十年啊" Does the ad try to play on time travel ? Maybe the ad could have been better without 曾志偉.

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.

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.

Credibility is the key to selecting celebrity for product endorsement. Sounds logical to pick someone who is a renowned chef and gourmet to endorse a health supplement for cholesterol control. Yet I really don't know why one would employ To To although he is a renowned chef and gourmet for sure. There are many others you can choose. Why choose an overweight celebrity who doesn't have a healthy image ? I just can't help scratching my head...

Maxim's seems to have identified a positioning to compete with Cafe De Coral and Fairwood. Homemade meals can be a good positioning potentially but the execution of the ad is rather poor. When we communicate a positioning, we need to spell out the benefit specifically. In this case, be it more healthy (rational) or sharing together (emotional) or both, tying in with the appeal of homemade meals. Also there should be reasons to believe. The obvious selling points may be less oil, no MSG, variety, value for money and so on. All these are missing in the ad while the appearance of Ah So is not adding value at all. She is over-exposed and consumers is confused with what she is endorsing : Towngas ? Park'n Shop ? Swanson's Chicken Broth ? Even I can't remember it right ...

Is this a well-known jockey ? Those who are not into horse racing may not know him (I don't, anyone ?). Does he suffer from nasal allergy as being a jockey ? Not really. At least it's not something we can relate with. Then why use a jockey ? Maybe the boss is fond of horse racing... or the boss bought it because the slogan , 羸番個鼻, 點只贏個馬鼻 sounds great...

When a celebrity gets well-known and popular, his or her appearance is everywhere, TV programs, events and advertising. It's Ah So this time round. The fact is that a celebrity is also a brand, a personal brand to be exact. Nevertheless, the trouble is there are ups and downs in the career of a celebrity. His or her popularity comes and goes fast like a shooting star. We had 張達明, 黃子華, 詹瑞文, 梁文韜 who appeared on TV all the time. Where are they now ? The entertainment industry is about exploitation. That's the downside of using celeberity -you attach your brand to a celebrity, you run the risk of sustainability.

Ads are meant to sell. Yet we need to be tasteful. "讓妳做一個令男人雙手握不住的女人", I bursted into laughter when I saw this line. It's can be treated as a joke in advertising. And I wonder what 楊思琦 thinks when see this ad. Does she agree she is a 令男人雙手握不住的女人 ?Sorry I just can't help laughing... If we ever have a joke book about ridiculous ads of HK, many of these beauty and slimming house ads should be in it.

The best a man can get. This tagline has been used by Gillette for ages. It's a brilliant tagline that spells out the leadership (and it is the leader in disposable razor) as well as its commitment to providing innovative products (although the 5+1 blade idea is "marginalized" as discussed in my previous post ). I showed this TVC to my students the other day. The first reaction was "wow! They are so rich". Of course P&G is rich but in fact it is an example of good practice of using celebrities : having the celebrities to actually demonstrate the use of the product. Sound so common sense, right ? The ironic thing is that it is missing in many ads out there ... So if you sell drinks, show drinking shots. If you sell pizzas, show the tasty bite. Don't be kidded by your agency that that's not cool.

Do they run out of celebrities or run out of money ? Maybe the mal-practices of these beauty centres have really scared off the first-line celebrities. Who is 馬國明 ? You just recognize his face but can never remember his name. Thanks to computer retouch, he turns out to be a very handsome guy all in a sudden. Talking about credibility ... As for Sau San Tong, I really wonder why it would use 樂基兒. She's famous and well-known alright but she is already very slim as a professional model. Talking about credibility again ...

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.

Health supplements are high margin products. That's why they can afford big advertising and celebrities. Like this Nu Pharm bilberry eye supplement, it is retailed at HK$600+ for a pack. Being organic and its French origin are the two unique selling points. However, it's just some concentrated bilberry juice after all and it's profiteering. Are consumers ignorant ? Would they be convinced that it is worth the money ? Health supplement is not medicine. It will not give you immediate effect. So the chance is that people may buy a pack or two to try and give up quickly because of high costs. So I expect this brand will only survive for a short time or remain very niche in the future. In a way it's a reflection of the short-term orientation of most health supplement marketers.

I'm putting this TVC for you to "investigate". Is it 林憶蓮 in the TVC ? I keep watch it many times. I guess it is 林憶蓮 but I can't be 100% sure. I 'm puzzled as I don't see her adding any value in the TVC selling pizza. Maybe it's not her at all. I'll leave it for your investigation.

I guess the soya milk market is on the rise. If we go to supermarkets, there are more brands and shelf spaces are expanded. If you want to have a share of this growing market, there is no magic. Clear and unique positioning. This Sunrise soya milk does have some potential. Produced in Canada, it is made from glacier water and non-genetically modified soy beans. It can be positioned as the high quality/high price brand of soya milk. In order to do that, its packaging design has to be upgraded. Its ad is rather down market too. It's quite a pity to see brands willingly invest on celebrity but ignore the need for creativity to convey a clear positioning.

This is a 4-page ad of Estee Lauder in Next Magazine. One page of teaser, then a double-page spread of testimonials and one page of product selling. That's a typical arrangement to achieve size and grab attention in magazine (given you have the money). One special thing is its use of real career women instead of models and actresses as the spokespersons. They look ordinary and they are not as pretty as the celebrities but they make the ad more credible. Estee Lauder is known as a brand for more mature ladies. There are bound to be so many affluent thirty-something career women out there working days and nights needing some replenishment to their skins. Given the target audience, using career women for testimonial should be more appealing and convincing than using pretty celebrities.

Pocari Sweat has launched a new TVC featuring SMAP (yes, they have been around for so long and they are still around !). Interesting to see that it doesn't use the former execution elements that have been used for a long time : young female Japanese stars, blue skies, outdoor funs and refreshing drinking shots. Although SMAP is a bit old for the younger generation Pocari used to appeal to, this new TVC should create some talkabouts. However, I wonder this brand can be sustained solely relying on new ad direction and new celebrities. This brand in a way lacks real newness to face with the fierce competition of the drink market. New products ? New packaging ? Maybe.