Tag: East Asia

Hong Kong – Nantou City, the ancient city of Xin’an located at the center of Nanshan District in Shenzhen, has announced its complete brand overhaul, as part of its effort to build a cultural landmark in the Greater Bay Area (GBA).

Nantou City is positioned as the capital of Eastern Guangdong and the cultural origin of Hong Kong and Macau. It strives to be the melting pot of design, culture, and creative industries.

According to Nantou City, after Vanke, the town developer and city service provider, took over the renovation of the city, it has evolved into a landmark location embedded with four major parts – cultural and creative retails, trendy art experiences, and high-quality and innovative F&B, as well as cultural residencies.

The rebranding, which will be managed by creative brand agency Superunion, includes strategic brand, experience, and communications planning, alongside a total revamp of visual identity.

Nan Huang, the general manager of Shenzhen Nantou City’s Renovation Project, shared that their aim is to activate Nantou City, bringing out the best in both Chinese traditions and modern creativity, organic and sustainable development vitality to the town. 

“As we see the Greater Bay Area continue to thrive and develop, our goal is for Nantou City to retain its original architecture, which is reminiscent of Lingnan/Cantonese styles from the Ming and Qing dynasties but injects modern elements to build the city toward a young and collaborative melting pot,” said Huang.

Meanwhile, Maggie Chien, Superunion China’s business director, commented that it is both exciting and challenging to curate a brand strategy and positioning that addresses the delicate balance between maintaining the history and making it relevant for contemporary times, and the Vanke team has demonstrated astonishing execution and sensitivities in revamping the old city.

“We want to reveal that hidden charm of Shenzhen Nantou City and build an innovative and consistent visual system that communicates the city’s values. In our view, Nantou city is not just a historical landmark that you visit once, but a place that you want to come back to time and time again, to relax, to stay, and to grow with. Instead of commercializing, we want to build the city into a sustainable cultural center and integrate it with the local lifestyle,” said Chien.

The city’s new brand revamp is set to be revealed at the end of 2021.

Hong Kong – Harbour City, the premium shopping center in Hong Kong, has partnered with Disney and Pixar to launch a mega event ‘Pixar Fest’ developed through a new marketing strategy and with a new event format.

‘Pixar Fest’, which will run until 15 August 2021, aims to enhance the consumer experience, create noise, and maximize social shares.

Harbour City is taking the extra mile to introduce something innovative to the audience. Mainly, the mega event has taken full advantage of Harbour City’s layout, installing 12 photo spots at every corner across different zones and levels. For example, the 5.2 meters high Pixar Ball and Lamp has been installed at Ocean Terminal Deck, while enlarged versions of Pixar movie characters have been set up in the atrium.

Apart from taking pictures on-site with the movie characters’ statues, the mall has also leveraged the technology of AR to entice visitors. Harbour City has selected five AR checkpoints in the consideration of mall layout. By downloading the mobile app ‘Harbour Cityzen’ for free, customers can experience ‘AR Fun’ in the onsite installations.

Furthermore, in order to keep the customer-generated content and maximize organic shares, Harbour City has released weekly new surprises to customers, such as limited-edition souvenirs and exclusive products. 

And lastly, Harbour City has created a series of interactive activities, including an online game connecting the real and virtual world across offline and online platforms. The mall has also partnered with booking platform KLOOK for online pre-registration of Pixar’s movies and shorts, to promote the mega event to targeted audiences with its big data.

Hong Kong – HSBC’s mobile payment platform, PayMe, has just launched a new campaign, featuring today’s most popular actor and singer in Hong Kong, Keung To.

The new campaign, which was created in collaboration with creative agency Ogilvy, stems from PayMe’s pride in being the only e-wallet designed specifically for the people of Hong Kong.

Titled, ‘Hong Kong’s Wallet’, the ad centers around a music video showing Keung To in ‘PayMeow cat ears’, singing the catchy PayMe song that highlights the message ‘dine-shop-play anywhere, anytime’, and dancing with PayMeow, the brand’s chubby feline mascot, and his group of dancers.

Furthermore, the campaign includes a series of print and social executions, directing people to ‘PayMeow Spin and Win’ – the in-app game in PayMe that gives users a chance to receive rewards of up to HK$500 in their PayMe wallet and other prizes when they spend HK$100 or more at PayMe for Business merchants. It also includes a PayMeow dance challenge on Instagram with special giveaways signed by Keung To.

Jaslin Goh, HSBC’s head of marketing, CX, and design, said that PayMe has become a part of Hong Konger’s lives, where for instance, they often hear people say ‘pay me lar’ among friends, becoming the country’s wallet. 

“So we asked ourselves who’s best to collaborate with our adorable mascot PayMeow with the magic of bringing people together to enjoy the PayMe cashback promotion?” said Goh.

Meanwhile, Buji Ng, the group creative director at Ogilvy, commented that Keung To is undoubtedly Hong Kong’s favorite singer who is making a strong influence in peoples’ lives.

“Therefore, we paired him up with PayMeow to make a music video debut, creating an unprecedented performance for our audience. More fascinating activities are coming up to engage everyone in town,” said Ng.

HSBC’s PayMe said that the campaign will be running until 30 September 2021.

Hong Kong – Global news company reporting on China and Asia, The South China Morning Post (SCMP), has launched today its new Global Subscription product to provide unparalleled intelligence and insights on China, tailored for enterprises and corporate organizations.

The new Group Subscription packages offer holistic solutions that combine comprehensive news reporting and industry insights, that illuminate global trends as the epicenter of global economic growth continues to shift towards Asia. 

Through SCMP’s new product, group subscribers can access all the latest news coverage on international trade, finance technology, geo-economic policies, as well as the environment, sustainability, and governance trends. Meanwhile, exclusive member benefits will include policy briefings, research and industry reports, access to flagship events and conferences, and invite-only conversations with a community of globally influential senior executives, China experts, and SCMP editors. 

Ang Jin, SCMP’s senior vice president, said that it is increasingly essential to understand nuances in global trends to keep ahead of the competition in a fast-changing environment.

“SCMP’s Group Subscriptions are designed for professionals to make well-informed decisions with customized news and industry intelligence and to help navigate complex economic, business, and political issues. As a product aligned to organizational needs, we believe it is an investment that will see invaluable benefits in return,” said Jin.

Just recently, SCMP has also launched a global brand campaign to communicate its ‘Understand China, Understand the World’ value proposition, demonstrating its mission to lead the global conversation about China. It aims to position itself as an important resource for readers looking to acquire a more complete understanding of global trends.

Hong Kong – The global convenience store chain, 7- Eleven, has pledged to donate 1,000 7-SELECT chicken legs for 40 consecutive weeks to be distributed to Hong Kongers in need, marking its important 40th year in the industry.

The new initiative, which is done in partnership with Food Angel – a local NGO, is part of 7-Eleven’s effort to be in the daily lives of Hongkongers. The donations will be delivered to recipients via Food Angel’s Community Centre, Community Food Assistance Service, and Automated Food Dispenser Service – an innovative initiative that allows for the flexible collection of chilled meals.

In addition, Food Angel will distribute the donations across its 180 charity partners. It is expected to help over 10,000 recipients including the elderly, low-income families, and people recovering from mental health problems, as well as cage home residents, and disabled people.

According to 7-Eleven, during the height of the pandemic last year, they have initiated several activities to help those most impacted by the outbreak. They have donated and delivered 70,000 food items to local neighborhoods and launched the ‘Charity Meal Voucher Program’, which raised over 550,000 vouchers to provide hot meals to disadvantaged people and low-income families. 

“Although the pandemic situation in Hong Kong is starting to stabilize this year, we remain committed to showing care and support to the most vulnerable in society,” said 7-Eleven.

Seoul, South Korea – The majority of brands are turning to the power of technology in an effort to attract more consumers as through its leverage brands are able to cook up out-of-the-box marketing campaigns, and one that’s been emerging as a trend lately are influencers – no not the human ones – but the highly resembling, and animated counterpart of the breathing face of the brand – the virtual influencers. A lot of countries are seeing their brands jump to the bandwagon, but here’s what’s hot as of the moment – Korea has just launched its first-ever virtual influencer through a campaign by Shinhan Life, the newly established insurance company in South Korea.

Being fresh to the market, Shinhan Life has launched its first brand campaign titled ‘Shinhan Life adds surprises to life’, unveiling ‘Oh Rozy’, the country’s virtual human.

Done in collaboration with advertising agency TBWA\Korea, the campaign aims to target the country’s Millenials and Gen Zs, who are reshaping the conventions of the financial investment markets. By featuring virtual human ‘Rozy’, the company seeks to break down the traditional codes applied to financial communications to appeal to the targeted audience, as Shinhan believes that this demographic is responsive to trends and they prioritize personal values including individuality and preference when choosing a brand or a product. 

‘Rozy’ is designed with 3D technology by analyzing the face and characteristics which Gen Z in Korea prefers the most. She currently has over 21,000 followers on Instagram and like ordinary influencers, uploads photos of her daily life and actively communicates with her fans via comments.

Throughout the brand film, ‘Rozy’ is dancing to the music in various locations including the forest, city, and subway with the message – “That surprising life begins when you meet Shinhan Life.”

According to Shinhan Life, the music used and Rozy’s dance moves were specially created for the campaign after analyzing the most popular music and dance content from the short video app TikTok for those in their 20s and 30s. 

“As the brand ambassador, Oh Rozy has given Shinhan Life new and exciting ways to communicate and engage with Gen MZ, who are rising as the major consumer segment in the financial market,” said TBWA\Korea’s spokesperson.

The new campaign will be airing across TV, digital, and social.

Guangzhou, China – As complexities within the Chinese business landscape and the shift in consumer behavior toward e-commerce continues to increase, Nativex, the mobile-first advertising platform that helps brands drive sustainable growth through universal access to digital channels across the east and the west, has launched its revamped ‘XploreChina’ initiative – a one-stop mobile marketing solution.

‘XploreChina’ initiative is designed to help clients achieve success in the Chinese market, offering acquisition, monetization, and creative services at scale and across multiple verticals. It provides a wide range of transparent tools and solutions tailored to all lifecycle stages. 

Under the ‘XploreChina’ umbrella, Nativex offers three distinct solutions for brands including China Top Media, KOL Marketing, and Android Solutions, as well as customized marketing solutions for public relations, and social media, among others.

The China Top Media solution grants advertisers instant access to premium inventory across China’s closed mobile ecosystem through strategic partnerships with ByteDance, Tencent, Baidu, and Alibaba, as well as Kuaishou, while the Android solution provides clients with the required documentation for launching their app in China’s Android ecosystem. It also includes support for app management and monetization on China’s mainstream Android app stores.

And lastly, the KOL Marketing solution helps brands run successful influencer campaigns in China by connecting them with over 40,000 Chinese influencers and more than 200 Multi-Channel Networks, including XingTu (Douyin), Magnet (Kuaishou), and HuaHuo (Bilibili). 

According to Nativex, the country’s US$14.28T economy continues to present a broad range of business opportunities for companies, especially those from emerging markets such as SEA, but without a strong understanding of market characteristics and knowledge around consumer preferences, companies seeking to enter China may encounter difficulties in building brand awareness and engaging with local audiences. As a result, leveraging the expertise and connections of a partner such as Nativex will help brands across various industries scale quickly and effectively in China. 

Irene Yang, the managing director at Nativex, shared that breaking into the Chinese market can be incredibly complex for marketers who do not have boots on the ground or localized expertise to lean on, due to its unique media ecosystem that’s dominated by domestic tech giants and its fragmented mobile audience. 

“Here at XploreChina, our unrivaled understanding of the Chinese market and strong connections to China’s top media platforms allow us to make the transition into this unique media ecosystem for brands seamless and effective. As more brands look to break into China, we are able to guide marketers every step of the way,” said Yang. 

Nativex has also announced that as part of the ‘XploreChina’ rebrand, advertisers also have access to ‘Nativex XMP Media Buying’ tool, which allows companies to reach hundreds of millions of users across the country’s leading ad platforms such as Wechat, Douyin, and Bilibili, as well as Nativex’s in-house creative studio TopWorks, which offers premium creative services. 

In addition to XploreChina’s three distinct solutions, brands will also have access to public relations, search engine optimization, and social media services to ensure brands of all shapes and sizes have the right online presence in China’s massive mobile market.

Hong Kong – London-headquartered global digital out-of-home (OOH) marketplace, VIOOH, has partnered with outdoor advertising company JCDecaux, to expand to urban Hong Kong via JCDecaux Cityscape – its street furniture and bus shelter programmatic advertising inventory. 

JCDecaux Cityscape in Hong Kong has been operating Bus Shelter Advertising since 1993 and Tramcar Advertising for more than 10 years. With its Audience Intelligence Solution on the media assets, JCDecaux Cityscape is able to reach and interact with a broad group of mobile audiences every day.

Following the partnership, VIOOH would now be covering a quarter of the digital OOH market in Hong Kong across street furniture, trading across both guaranteed and non-guaranteed deals via JCDecaux. 

The affiliated data partners include Audience Management System for Street Furniture developed by JCDecaux, and OOH Planning and Measurement from audience and location intelligence company AdSquare, while integrated DSP partners include ad-tech firms Hivestack and The Trade Desk, as well as media agency Verizon Media.

VIOOH China’s CEO Ben Lin shared that VIOOH is pleased to offer advertisers the opportunity to benefit from more digital inventory at premium locations in Hong Kong.

“Our ambition is to change the conversation about out of home and to help accelerate transformation in outdoor advertising and we hope advertisers and media owners alike will maximize this new opportunity to thrive,” said Lin.

Meanwhile, Yoann El Jaouhari, the managing director of JCDecaux Cityscape, said that with this launch, their clients can enjoy unmatched flexibility, data-driven media planning, optimization, and retargeting capabilities, and data-triggered digital content across multiple prime districts in Hong Kong Island, namely Admiralty, Causeway Bay, and Central, as well as Wan Chai. 

“Our advanced ecosystem of data and digital solutions will help us accompany the brands to leverage the power of digital programmatic OOH, smartly optimize their advertising strategy, and keep improving the return on their ad spend in Hong Kong with JCDecaux,” said El Jaouhari.

According to VIOOH’s recent State of the Nation report, about 84% of Hong Kong advertisers claim they have bought, planned, or placed OOH programmatically in the last 12 months, above social media. Almost 94% expect to increase their investment in programmatic OOH in the next 18 months, indicating that programmatic OOH, considered to offer benefits for both brand-led and performance-led campaigns, is well utilized in the market.

In Hong Kong, programmatic investment in OOH in the last 12 months is the media channel that ranks highest, with 80% on social media, 80% on digital video, and 70% on digital audio following closely behind. About 76% of all Hong Kong media executives either agree or strongly agree that programmatic OOH is a clear part of their programmatic and digital strategy, with a greater number 82% agreeing programmatic OOH provides excellent value for money.

VIOOH said that more digital OOH inventory is due to be announced later this year.

Hong Kong – The pandemic has prompted countries around the world to introduce travel restrictions and containment measures. However, these implementations cannot stop eager travelers to resume planning their travel preparations. 

A new range of credit cards by Standard Chartered, Cathay, and Mastercard has been launched to enable travelers to earn more prestigious privileges and enjoy a higher level of banking and travel experiences offered by the new credit card series.

A multi-platform campaign has been developed by TBWA\Hong Kong in support of the new card series – ‘Standard Chartered Cathay Mastercard Credit Cards’.

The theme of the campaign centers around ‘Get Ready for New Heights’, the over one-minute ad features famous South Korean actor Song Joong-Ki, and renowned Hong Kong lyricist Wyman Wong. It captures the actor explaining the card series’ many offers and privileges through various ads, encouraging the lyricist to plan his future banking and travel experiences.

The three new cards in the series are ‘Standard Chartered Cathay Mastercard Credit Card’, ‘Standard Chartered Cathay Mastercard Credit Card – Priority Banking’, and ‘Standard Chartered Cathay Mastercard Credit Card – Priority Private’, which recognize different banking segments. The card series replaces the existing ‘Standard Chartered Asia Miles Mastercard Credit Card’.

Cardholders can still earn Asia Miles directly by using banking services only from Standard Chartered, while Priority Banking and Priority Private cardholders can also enjoy complimentary Cathay Pacific Business Class Lounge access, priority check-in and boarding services, or limited Marco Polo Club Silver or Gold membership during the promotional period.

“With the pandemic delaying travel plans and creating a growing sense of wanderlust, the campaign invites people to get a head-start on their travel preparations with an elevated card experience to earn miles faster and more easily than ever,” said Terence Ling, the head of strategy at TBWA\Hong Kong.

Meanwhile, TBWA\Hong Kong’s Managing Director Jan Cho commented that they wanted to tap into the booming popularity of K-dramas, and use the allure of Korea as a travel destination.

“However, due to pandemic travel restrictions, overseas filming was no longer possible, and forced us to quickly adapt to a new way of working. I’m very proud of our team, and the production team in Korea, for working remotely and cohesively to bring this campaign to life,” said Cho.

Developed together with media support by Carat Hong Kong and iProspect Hong Kong, the campaign includes TVC, out-of-home, and print, as well as online, and social media.

Tokyo, Japan – Advertising network Grey Group in Tokyo, Japan has announced the promotion of Masanori Tagaya, former executive creative director, to now assume the role of chief creative officer.

Tagaya first joined Grey Japan in 2002 as a TVC producer and copywriter and rose through the ranks to be named creative director in 2012 and executive creative director in 2019. He worked on multiple brand campaigns for P&G, Febreze, and Pantene, as well as Lenor, and Pringles, among others. 

Commenting on his promotion, Tagaya said that he finds it to be an extraordinary opportunity to dive in, creating work that represents different styles, and enjoying the ride along with the team,

“Consumer insights have changed. Our work styles have changed. We have arrived at an age where companies and brands must be meaningful in the market and be meaningful in society,” said Tagaya.

Meanwhile, Yukiko Ochiai, the CEO and president of Grey Tokyo, shared that Tagaya has proven himself to be an excellent creative leader who delivers creatively celebrated work that helps the clients’ business grow. 

“Our world has changed, and with that, our consumers’ habits have changed. I am confident Masa will accelerate Grey Tokyo’s ability to develop ground-breaking work that is truly ‘famously effective’ in our new world, which will continue to drive growth for our clients,” said Ochiai.

In March this year, Grey Group in China has also announced the appointment of Sharlene Wu as the new CEO, with the aim to build better connections with Chinese Grey clients. Wu was tasked to drive the agency’s overall strategic vision and growth plan.