ThinkNoLimit Marketing Coaching

Ask yourself as a FB user or a user of any social media : under what circumstances would you share a page, a video or any news ? Either you find it useful or funny for others to enjoy. So in this case, if you don't find the HKET page useful, you just won't share it. Would such lucky draw boost the number of people sharing the page ? Some people may be attracted but I suspect most of us won't really bother. Try paying people to become a fan of your page ? You will need to pay more. LOL

Will you be more inclined to support the 2012 constitutional package after watching this ad ? It just provokes more criticisms. Advocacy advertising is an two-edge sword and it's not easy to handle. When done badly, it would only work against you. Advertising is considered not so credible and using advertising to advocate an issue would easily attract more rejections and cynicism. Our government should learn more from the political advertising in countries like the US and the UK . They have one common characteristic, that is, emotional appeal.

When I saw this ad, I said to myself I must be getting old and dumb. I didn't understand this clever ad. It's selling non-stick pan alright but there is a creative idea which I found it hard to understand. I tried look at it closely, turn it upside down and even flipped a few pages of the magazine to look for follow-up explanation, presumably it's a teaser. None... I managed to figure it out after spending some more time on it... know what it's about ?

If you take MTR recently, you may have seen this ad in MTR lightboxes. It's like a launch ad for a new free job/career magazine called fuel published by Classified Post. It's distributed free every Friday. Free job/career magazine is nothing new under the sun. I just wonder how it is different from others or how it can break through the same old same old like the ad says. Tried to find out more from the Classified Post webiste . It doesn't look too much like a breakthrough in any sense. Is it ad over-claiming ? Let's grab a copy on Friday and judge.

Photo hunt ad is commonly used to grab readers' attention, increase involvement and make them remember the message. This Fedex tries to play with photo hunt to talk about the difference between two of its services, one cheaper and one more expensive. The ad seems to work to get people read the ad yet it can be done better to connect the play of the two photos with the message.

Just came across this TVC on YouTube. Who would have posted such this ad ? Someone in the government you bet. YouTube is about sharing. People would only share something worth sharing. It's not funny, not creative and not obscene. Would you share this ad ? Nowadays advertisers upload their TVC onto YouTube as a standard act and hope they would be shared and viewed as a free medium. Yet it boils down to whether your ad is creative in the first place. The swine flu vaccination campaign is another learning about advertising. The government has been airing this ad quite heavily for a while. It fails to jet up the number of people taking it. Why ? Because there have been negative publicities about the safety of it. It shows PR is more credible. If the government is to push any policy, it will have to improve the PR initiatives, not advertising. Yet looking at then increasing number of public affair ads in recent years, it doesn't quite understand the power of PR.

Advertorial is an advertisement in the disguise of editorial. It's difficult to be done well. Most advertorials can be easily identified to be long-copy ads where no one will read them. Here is a good example we can learn from. First the layout should look similar to that of the editorials of the magazine you place your advertorial in. Second, you need a headline that doesn't look like an ad headline. Finally, branding is important but you will need to be subtle. Readers will turn away if you place big product shots, big logos in the advertorial. The key is to attract people to read. Branding or mention of your brand can be added near the end of the advertorial.

This TVC must have been "inspired" by the Transformer movie. You may say it's not so creative but at least it's conveying the no paper jam positioning. In fact our rational mind tells us that this positioning is not believable. If your photocopier is old and lacks maintenance, all brands of paper will jam anyway. Double A is no exception. Nevertheless, advertising would wash your brain when repeated many times and perception is reality. Your photocopier still jams with Double A as you would expect. You still prefer it as you may believe it jams more with other brands.

Call me old school again. It always gets on my nerves when I see ads that portray the users as idiots. Tempo is one brand with ads doing that all the time. I fell from my chair when I saw this launch ad of its boxed tissues. It's bad taste. The cable TV one below is milder but it seems copied from some overseas ads. One may argue they are ok so long as they are fun to watch and grab attention. I would say there are always better ways to be funny and attention grabbing and it doesn't have to portray users as idiots.

It seems the quality of TVC on TVB are going down. Is it because there are fewer advertisers advertising on TVB ? And the advertising airtime has become more affordable ? This kind of ads could only be seen on ATV in the past. It's very creative to have 八兩金 as the spokesperson for a mould production company ! If there is no subtitle, you just won't get what he says. And who's this ad talking to ? It's not relevant to most of us ....

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 ~

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 ?

Speaking of the shift in media consumption, I just remember a video shared by one friend. It's funny but very true. Enjoy and have a good weekend.

This ad serves two purposes. It's image building for the two watch models supposedly, by attaching a statement to each model to represent two opposing attitudes. It also tries to increase involvement by lining up a poll at a website : http://www.timeislove.com.hk/ In the website, you can vote, leave your point of view and create your own avatar. Is this a good initiative ? Well, there may not be too many people interested in the poll but it's alright. It can just be taken as an image ad.

Cancer Fund has launched a campaign to increase the awareness of prostate cancer. The theme is "don't let you father live in the toilet". It's a quite powerful idea with the exaggerated representation of the problem. The TVC (below) is interesting to watch with 林雪's acting. Let's compare the impact when the idea is applied in print and TV/AV media. It fits AV media better, right ? Yet, the idea needs the suspense and acting for people to appreciate it. Length of the ad is also important to bring out the idea too. The TVC below is a one-minute version. There is another 30-second version where you will find it short to figure out what's going on. The conclusion is that the idea is quite expensive in terms of media budget if we air it on TV. Maybe more effort can be directed to encourage online viewership which is free.

The prime objective of any corporate communications initiative is to establish favourable reputation with the public. HKJC is in gaming business which is prone to corporate image problems and public criticism. Its image risk increases since it has been allowed to advertise in the broadcast media on a regulated basis so that it can combat against its competitors, illegal bookmakers. It has become a balancing act between revenue and image protection. In recent years, HKJC has therefore increase effort on trumpeting about its values to the society. It supports numerous charitable organizations, subsidizes public facilities and creates job opportunities directly and indirectly. In fact, some of the corporate communications inititaives are quite good. We can learn from them and steal some ideas.

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.

This is a fun ad for your enjoyment. I must say it's a good attempt ! If you fire people and don't want to get revenge, you should use genuine softwares. If you find your boss replacing pirated softwares with genuine ones, you would know he has planned to fire someone. It also reminds you to dig out some misconducts of your company and disclose them in case you are fired. Isn't it a great ad ? I think Microsoft should adapt it.