ThinkNoLimit Marketing Coaching

Slimming and beauty house business is so competitive and it's not easy for a company to really make profit in face of price competition. In the case of Angel Face, it diversifies into men's grooming business. I have never been and I think I will not be one of the customers. (although it seems targeting people at my age). So I wonder whether the market is big. Anyway, it seems Angel Face has done the right thing in branding. Angel Face is a good name for beauty house for ladies and should not be extended to cover men's grooming. Hence, it has come up with another brand, Mankei, endorsed by the mother brand for a quality assurance. Smart enough.

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 ...

If you are a reader of this blog for more than a year, you would be aware that I didn't talk too much about Halloween promotions this year. In fact there wasn't much to talk about. The marketing scene during Halloween was almost the same as last year : everyone did a Halloween promotion of some kind and it's getting like Chinese New Year - everyone has to say 恭喜發財. There were promotions that tied really well with Halloween, like the Krispy Kreme one above. On the other extreme however, I wonder what are in the head of some marketers when they do some Halloween promotions like the one below. 想減肥做隻蜘蛛精嗎 ? 嚟大家歸瘦join 呢個Halloween offer 啦! 死未?!

Want to get tanned and slim at the same time ? Here is an innovative product you may consider. 太陽溶脂 (should it be 熔 instead of 溶?) - a 2-in-1 concept that is easy to understand. Believe it or not, it's up to you. My fair guess is that people will give it a try. Even if it doesn't really slim you up, it's still a tanning lotion and there is not too much to lose. But for goodness sake, hope these products would not get too popular. Imagine, hundreds of fat bodies, in bikinis, lying on the beach, hoping to melt fat under the sun ... like pig roasting in public ... what a horrifying scene ...

見到D瘦身產品廣告, 又忍唔住寫中文, 今次仲越作越離譜, 唔止, 係離奇, 呢隻嘢話可以reset大腦肥胖記憶, 瘦身唔駛節食! 哈, 唔知大腦肥胖記憶喺邊處? 究竟喺左腦定係右腦? 我淨係知道食D嘢落肚, 只會痾番出嚟, 乜會上腦ga咩? 唔通係K仔? 作都作得科學化D, 每盒HK$538, 信者得救!

Slimming has become a fad. How do those slimming houses strive to get more business ? Some are already diversifying into the cosmetic surgery business. Here is another way : beauty schooling. I reckon it's quite a logical move. Slimming is about image transformation, getting the wows from people around you. Beauty course should be able to attract people who have the same mentality and want to turn around their image. This will also open up opprtunities to cross-sell other beauty-related products and services. Not a bad idea at all.

What is advertorial ? An advertising that pretends to be an editorial. It's not an easy way of advertising at all. You need even more creativity in writing to make it work. Otherwise, it is just a long copy ad that no one would want to read. In this case, the headline is a good disguise to start with : a health warning from Department of Health (even with its logo !). But when you read on, it's an "obvious" advertising. The competitive comparison, users' testimonials and professional endorsement are all within our expectation of a typical slimming product ad. Let's not be that hard-selling in advertorial. Advertorial is about using information and stories that are of interest to the readers like editorials to soft-sell our products.

Masami, a brand of underwear and pantyhose that cannot only shape you up but also make you slimmer. According to university research, the pressurized massage action is proven to reduce fat ... it slims you up while you walk ! As the ad says, it's magical. In order to make it more believable, it also stresses that all of them are 100% manufactured in Japan. You are kidding me if Japanese don't kid consumers. In fact, they are very innovative in coming up with gimmicky products claiming various functions : 遠紅外線內衣, 備長炭煮飯, 磁力按摩 ... it's up to you to believe it.

Speaking of dying category, here is an ad from 減肥堂 and it shows how people struggle in a category that has already lost its credibility. The ad tries to ride on the negative news about the malpractice of other sliming houses in order to promote their quality image. There are ISO quality shields, good package price and celebrity endorsement in the ad. They may be proper business people with integrity. But will a single ad like this turn around the negative image ? Probably not. The ad with a re-touched celebrity image just makes them look like any other slimming houses.

任你食, 任你減 ! The slimming house market is flooded with this kind of over-claims. Who would still believe that these days ? There are no more silly consumers on earth would believe such a fallacy. I'm sure that the slimming house market has shrunk a lot. Ironically it is the marketers who kill the category. There are definitely consumer demands for weight control and if everyone played by ethics and professionalism, there would be positive and healthy market. Now that the category has been killed. It's sad and it's particularly sad for those practitioners who really provide professional services and advices on proper exercises and dietary control for weight management. They are also drowned in the muddy water.

"修身堂 helps you to stay young forever" is the key message of this ad. What are the support to this claim ? 殿堂級幕後精英 at different age ranges are the live demos of the miraculous results. They all look young, slim and pretty in the ad. But is it credible ? Not quite. You can tell the ad is done with a lot of computer retouch. Consumers are not that easy to kid nowadays.

Don't pretend. You are just old enough to know this brand, the pioneer in 減肥茶. Produced in Switzerland, it has been around for 30+ years. What happened to this brand ? It remains a known but dated brand. It's pity when a known brand with high brand equity doesn't not progress with time and stay up to day. Look at its packaging and advertising. It still looks very 80's. If it had been more aggressive, it would be the one of the leading brands in the slimming and herbal/flower arenas. Things are bit too late now.

How much do we believe in the miracle of slimming products nowadays ? Over the past few years, we have seen the pheomonal growth of slimming products but now this product category has become a fad. I suspect some of the products do assist in weight control provided that they are used in conjunction with good balanced diets and hardship of exercises. However, the market has been flooded with too many false/over claims and I would say in a way this category has been killed by marketers. Consumers' skepticism about slimming products is growing and do you think people will believe something that will slim you up in 24 hours ?

What do we call this type of creative ? "All you can paste !" Many advertisers just treat an ad as a noticeboard and paste whatever messages they want to put onto every inch of the space. In order to highlight the messages, words in different typefaces, colours and treatments are used. Worse still the font sizes of the body copies are so small that you may think they are testing your eye-sight. As a reader, would you really read them or just by-pass it ?

I can't say this is a very creative ad but it's definitely an on-brief ad. "You can achieve a slimmer figure faster" is the key message. Why ? "Reductil helps you eat less" What is the creative idea ? It's "before and after". "In the past you ate a dozens plates of Sushi (I guess) and now you only eat 3-4 plates and get full". How do we do it better executionally ? I'll leave it to your imagination.

"Our dietitians stand by you !" But is the dietitian standing a little bit too close to the client ? 專業, 貼心 , I agree. His chest is really sticking tight to her chest ! This is what they mean by "貼心". It's an ad that generates a lot of imagination for those who want to lose weight ...

This ad is funny. There must be a creative intent but I don't get it. Is it "I want one-to-one and there is no need for man" ? Will someone tell me please ? At the same time, are you aware of the logo at the top left hand corner ? Logo design and its placement are as important as having a good creative idea.