Tag: Hong Kong

Hong Kong – The South China Morning Post (SCMP) announced the hiring of two senior executives for its advertising division. This decision is based on significant, double-digit year-over-year growth in advertising income, allowing companies to engage with the publication’s 35 million global audience. 

Lee Williamson will be based in Hong Kong as the Post’s executive director of Specialist Publications (SP). In this role, he will direct the Post’s Lifestyle Content Division and oversee the expansion of publications such as Style, 100 Top Tables, and XXIV.

He has experience in media executive and content strategist, Lee Williamson recently joined the Post after leaving Tatler Asia. Williamson offers his expertise from his position as founding editor and regional head of Tatler Gen.T, a community-focused content platform for young leaders in Asia.

Celine Asril has been appointed as the strategy director of Morning Studio (MS) at the SCMP, which is another significant appointment. In order to showcase MS’ creative marketing solutions, she works with the business team and leads the ideation hub. 

Asril has returned to the Post after working at FINN Partners in Singapore. She formerly worked as a content strategist at Morning Studio and TBWA. Asril will keep her headquarters in Singapore.

Speaking about his appointment, Williamson said, “I am thrilled to be joining the SCMP to lead its Lifestyle Content Division. My first priority is to build community and deeper engagement with the Post’s global audience around our lifestyle content. I see a lot of opportunities to elevate our portfolio of offerings and curate content informed by our audience’s preferences and needs.” 

Meanwhile, Kevin Huang, chief operating officer at the SCMP, said, “With Lee’s strong track record in journalism and community building and Celine’s deep expertise in content development and execution, I am confident they will bring fresh, innovative approaches to meet our affluent audience’s evolving needs and maximise ROI for our partners and brands.”

Speaking on her return, Asril expressed, “I cannot be more excited to return to the SCMP. I hope to leverage my broad experience working with multi-sector brands to help raise the bar for Morning Studio through data-driven, multi-platform strategies, building on the Post’s 120 years of brand equity.” 

Hong Kong – Chinese catering group Fulum Group Holdings has entered into a strategic cooperation agreement with Sunpark Holdings, an F&B corporation in Japan, to further expand its diversified F&B offerings.

In this new partnership, Fulum Group will introduce multiple of Sunpark’s F&B brands into the Hong Kong food scene. These brands are ‘Takagi Coffee’ that provides specialty coffee and pancakes; ‘Karubi Kazan’ that offers handcrafted barbeque meat rice bowls; and ‘Hachikian’ that specialises in chicken dishes.

The restaurants will be located in the city centre with high foot traffic to attract the younger generation.

With Sunpark already eyeing Hong Kong as its next destination for expansion, its partnership with Fulum will materialise this plan. Meanwhile, Fulum’s cooperation with Sunpark is expected to further diversify the group’s restaurant portfolio.

This strategic agreement is the result of an initiative organised by the Hong Kong Economic and Trade Office (Tokyo) and InvestHK. The Hong Kong F&B Mission aims to business match and network the F&B corporations in Hong Kong and Japan.

Samuel Yeung, CEO of the Fulum Group, said, “Hong Kong people have always favoured Japanese cuisine. Sunpark offers various specialty F&B brands and has decades of experience and insights of the industry, which is what Fulum is trying to achieve with our diversified restaurant mix. We are very excited about this strategic cooperation. Looking forward, we will continue to closely monitor latest trends and hope to introduce more of Sunpark’s brands in hopes of offering even more gourmet options in Hong Kong.

Ken Takagi, CEO of Sunpark, also shared, “Sunpark is committed to bring quality Japanese food at highest level of hospitality from Japan to the world, one store at a time. We are honoured to partner with a strong partner like Fulum Group. This cements our relationship as family.”

Meanwhile, Leo Tze, acting principal Hong Kong economic and trade representative for Tokyo, commented, “Today I am happy to witness the signing of the first deal resulting from this mission, namely this partnership agreement between Sunpark and Fulum. I wish them every success in their business in Hong Kong. I believe this would be the good start and hope to hear more good news amid ongoing partnership discussion of the participant companies.”

Also speaking on the partnership, Alpha Lau, director-general of investment promotion at Invest Hong Kong, said, “When foreign and local players work together, in a strategic partnership like that of Fulum and Sunpark, I believe the synergy will only mean even more opportunities and growth potential for both sides. This partnership is the result of our collaborated programme with colleagues at Tokyo ETO. Going forward, Invest Hong Kong will continue to work with ETOs around the world to assist more Mainland and foreign companies to set up their base in Hong Kong.”

Hong Kong – To showcase the benefits of California-grown citrus amongst Hong Kongers, Sunkist has turned to traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) teachings to showcase its benefits to the locals, amidst a growing number of people moving towards traditional health methods to balance their ‘qi’ (translated as ‘vital’) energy.

To do this, Sunkist has worked with Edelman Hong Kong to look into the opportunities of how citrus can help with their wellbeing, while preserving some of the region’s oldest TCM recipes. 

In this unexpected move away from the familiar stories of Vitamin C, the brand has created the Sunkist Citric Essence, a qi balancing formula, and launched a platform for people to share and preserve their own unique recipes, thereby educating Hong Kongers on the health benefits of the Sunkist Navel orange in the world of TCM.

Sunkist has also enlisted local Chinese Medicine practitioner Dr. Winson Poon, Master of Chinese Medicine from the Chinese University of Hong Kong, to develop this new elixir. 

Said concoction has been designed to battle a modern-day issue in Hong Kong: the ‘seasonal slump’, a weariness and lowering of energy caused by the city’s humidity and constant changes in pressure and temperature, as people move between the airconditioned indoors and the warm outdoors. The TCM-formula was released online as an open recipe for anyone to easily recreate and start enjoying the benefits of California-grown citrus at home.

John Koay, regional executive creative director at Edelman, said, “As we partner with Sunkist to celebrate its 130th anniversary, we are taking inspiration from generations-old traditional Chinese herbology and adding a California-grown orange twist to it – maximising the flavorful experience and health benefits our citrus brings to the table.”

He added, “We hope this modern formula gives consumers a new reason to explore the benefits of Traditional Chinese Therapy and the benefits of Sunkist’s California-grown citrus.”

Meanwhile, Dr. Poon commented, “Wellness is a big trend in Hong Kong, and Traditional Chinese Herbology should be at the center of this. Applying our ancient profession to more modern needs is a way to keep our profession relevant to young Hong Kongers.”

He added, “Oranges, when paired with the right ingredients, can regulate qi-flow to remove dampness from the body and aid digestion. Inspired by traditional folk wisdom and modernised Chinese medicinal knowledge, we are reimagining the California-grown orange, unlocking its full benefits for Hong Kongers to combat the hustle and bustle of the city.”

Taiwan – Global marketing and advertising agency dentsu has announced the establishment of a new ‘Greater North’ cluster that brings Mainland China and three of the regions in Asia into one structure, with a new leadership team and Jennifer Tang to spearhead as the CEO. 

The new Greater North cluster will merge dentsu’s markets in Mainland China, Hong Kong, Korea, and Taiwan to form one management structure.

With the new cluster, dentsu also announced the appointment of its visionary team of leaders from the agency’s respective markets who are expected to drive success and growth for the new cluster.

Tang, who is currently serving as dentsu Taiwan’s CEO, will take the helm as Greater North’s CEO. She is recognised for her transformative management approach, transforming the Taiwan business with her six-year visionary journey and making it among the strongest in the APAC region. 

She is known for her unwavering focus on integration, innovation, data, and technology, which enabled dentsu Taiwan to capitalise on high growth opportunities by expertly predicting and navigating the changing expectations of consumers and delivering competitive advantage for brands in the market.

Together with Tang, Joshua Wong from dentsu Taiwan will serve as the new cluster’s CFO. He is an innovative and strategic leader who brings a critical commercial lens to investments and operations. Having worked with Tang, he was part of Taiwan’s transformation journey to deliver some of the strongest results in the group.

Chu Yin Mak will remain as dentsu China’s CEO and dentsu APAC’s executive committee member. With 25 years of career experience, his mastery of the varied imaginative value delivery, technology, data, and ecosystem landscape, along with his ability to identify and take action on significant growth opportunities from evolving market conditions, is expected to bring a significant advantage to the group.

Also working with the new group is Simone Tam, who is now appointed CEO for the Greater Bay Area. Tam has been overseeing both Dentsu Creative and dentsu Hong Kong as CEO since 2021 and has been growing both over the course of her career. 

In her new role, she will capitalise on the huge potential of the Greater Bay Area, overseeing a geo-centric business unit comprising the hyper-growth territories of Hong Kong, the Guangdong Province, and Macao as the new CEO. 

Lastly, Donna Kim, dentsu Korea’s CEO, will also join the Greater North cluster’s leadership team. With 30 years of experience building successful domestic enterprises for large global MarComms businesses, she is expected to further drive growth for the group. Her deep level of industry knowledge and thorough understanding of building brands in and out of Korea bring a strong media perspective to the fore. 

Rob Gilby, CEO APAC at dentsu said, “Jennifer is a vocal advocate of co-creation and collaboration, and together with her leadership team will deliver new untapped growth opportunities for both our clients and our business. Bringing together these markets into one management structure with an integrated cluster strategy will enable each leader to spearhead an agenda that benefits all markets, delivering new innovation and client opportunities, improved speed to market, greater autonomy to deliver solutions, and economies of scale aligned to market needs.”

He added, “Jennifer needs no introduction; she has won a number of accolades for her own leadership and the culture she has overseen in the Taiwan business, while her teams have been recognised on the global stage, from Cannes Lions to Spikes, Clios, Madstars, and RECMA. She is a passionate advocate of B2B2S and dentsu’s impact on the communities it’s a part of, living the values that are fundamental to the way we do business.” 

Commenting on her appointment, Tang shared, “We’ve been given a significant opportunity to drive unprecedented scale and build our business around our clients and their needs, which is unique to dentsu and our model in market. The formation of this cluster ultimately drives greater opportunity for our clients, giving them frictionless access to a collaborative community of experts across marketing, consulting, and technology.”

“I am excited to work with the exceptional leaders in Joshua, Chun, Simone, and Donna, who bring significant expertise across a range of specialisms. Together we will drive new growth for brands and opportunities for our people by delivering new services and solutions that tackle our clients’ greatest challenges, fueling our growth and broadening the horizons for professional development within our teams,” she added. 

Hong Kong – Beverage company Vitasoy has unveiled its latest ‘For Me, For You, Vitasoy’ campaign that ignites the spirit of empathy and communal care in the new era. 

The campaign, done in collaboration with BBDO Greater China, features two short digital films that explore interpersonal relationships between a mother and a daughter and brothers as they offer support to encourage the other one to pursue their chosen path.

Vitasoy is highlighted in the film as a sign of their support, with it being given by their loved ones before they face another journey to their dreams. The new campaign takes a more holistic approach to celebrating the brand’s role in providing not only physical nourishment but also emotional well-being.

With this, Vitasoy underscores their decades-worth of commitment to nurturing the younger generation, providing them with nutrition, encouragement, and reassurance as they navigate their chosen career paths and traverse their personal journeys. 

The brand’s new campaign acknowledges the profound significance of today’s diverse and complex society, where individuals embark on their own distinctive journeys, encountering obstacles and pursuing their dreams.

As a way to amplify the message of the campaign, the brand also featured the iconic song ‘Stand By Me’ by Ben E. King, along with the captivating narratives in the short films. This is also Vitasoy’s way to pay homage to their Stand By Me campaign in the past.

The campaign is now available in the Hong Kong and China markets.

David Kim, group chief marketing and strategic business development officer of Vitasoy, said, “At Vitasoy, we believe that true care goes beyond just nutrition. Vitasoy’s latest campaign, in partnership with BBDO and renowned director David Tsui, beautifully merges the timeless essence of our iconic brand with fresh innovation.”

“This initiative is about celebrating young talents and unwavering support for dreams, which encapsulates Vitasoy’s deep-rooted commitment to cherishing its community and supporting the next generation for a future filled with promise and possibility,” he added.

Commenting on the campaign, Arthur Tsang, chief creative officer at BBDO Greater China, also said, “In an era saturated with formulaic commercials, it is truly invigorating to return to the art of storytelling and craft a brand video that transcends time.”

“While the settings may be contemporary, the emotions evoked are reminiscent of a comforting embrace from a dear old friend. Our aim was to revive the deep emotional connection of a brand that has woven itself into the very fabric of our community,” he added.

Hong Kong – Hongkong Land, a property investment, management, and development group, announced it has entered into a strategic partnership with American Express to create exclusive privileges and luxury lifestyle experiences for its cardmembers in Hong Kong. 

In this new partnership, American Express Cardmembers in the most premium segment will have access to unique privileges at the luxury shopping destination LANDMARK in Hong Kong. 

Included in the luxury offerings are a series of specially curated experiential engagements involving luxury fashion, watches and jewellery, arts and lifestyle, and international fine dining. The partnership will also draw on the premium amenities of Hongkong Land’s market-leading regional hospitality and loyalty programme, BESPOKE.

The partnership between American Express and a commercial property landlord in Hong Kong underscores the commitment of both companies to delivering exceptional experiences to their customers. It also aligns with the shared vision of Central in Hong Kong as a leading international luxury shopping destination and business centre.

Alexander Li, chief retail officer at Hongkong Land, said, “We are delighted to launch this innovative partnership with American Express, a brand that aligns with LANDMARK’s passion for bringing luxury experiences in fashion, dining, art, and culture to discerning customers.”

He added, “I am confident that, together, we will elevate client experiences to a level unmatched anywhere on the global stage. In turn, this will reinforce LANDMARK and Hong Kong as one of the world’s most sophisticated and desirable locations to visit, shop, and dine.”

Walter Liu, head of Asia Region at American Express, also shared, “We are always looking for ways to create new value and bring premium experiences to American Express Cardmembers. Drawing on the renowned heritage of American Express and Hongkong Land in providing exceptional services and experiences, our closer collaboration will open the door to new prestigious perks and lifestyle services for our premium customers.”

“This is a well-timed partnership as international visitor numbers to Hong Kong continue to climb and consumption activity among high-end consumers gathers pace,” he concluded.

Hong Kong – Pizza Hut in Hong Kong has teamed up with the popular manga and anime franchise Spy x Family in a bid to bolster the brand’s offerings and loyalty in the Hong Kong market.

It is worth noting that the campaign launch also coincided with the ongoing airing of Spy x Family’s second season, which premiered on October 7.

According to Pizza Hut, the campaign collaboration was aimed at using Spy x Family’s popularity to raise awareness of the membership program of Pizza Hut (Hut Rewards) and engage the consumers via different channels, including offline (instore), online (social media) and digital (mobile app and web) to drive interest, membership enrolment and traffic.

Moreover, the collaboration aims to create a unique and exciting dining experience for the consumers with the time-limited store décor, specially designed premiums and pizza boxes.

Pizza Hut also notes that this collaboration aims to appeal to the mass and younger segment of consumers and a range of specially designed time-limited premiums to highlight the exclusiveness and value of being a Hut Rewards member. This, in turn, will help motivate target consumers, drive membership enrolment, and increase traffic and sales in the long run.

Exclusive merchandising will be also released, including stickers, canvas bag, plush pillow, and aroma diffuser. Moreover, select 11 stores in Hong Kong will be turned into Spy x Family-themed stores. In it, the locations are adorned with themed decorations, featuring various Instagrammable photo spots and character standees. Customers can enjoy Pizza Hut’s delicious food while posing for memorable photos with Anya, the franchise’s most popular character.

Renee Chan, director of customer experience and marketing at Pizza Hut Hong Kong, said, “We are delighted to partner with Spy x Family to launch this campaign as we continue to engage the consumers and our Hut Rewards members with exclusive offers. The campaign will bring more exciting and rewarding moments to our diners, with unique elements tailored for both takeaway and dine-in. The market response has been very encouraging, and we look forward to seeing great results from the collaboration and bringing more exciting surprises to our loyal customers in the future.”

Hong Kong – Performance marketing agency NP Digital has made new senior hires, with Gary Cheung appointed as general manager for Hong Kong and Taiwan and Melissa Cheng as country manager for Malaysia, to fuel enterprise growth across its APAC markets.

The new hires will lead the expansion of NP Digital in their respective countries, collaborating closely with the agency’s APAC team, made up of recent hires Manuel Denoual, general manager of NP Digital Singapore, and Kris Casey, senior SEO lead.

In his new role as general manager for Hong Kong and Taiwan, Cheung brings with him over 15 years of performance marketing agency experience, unique skills, and valuable regional and global expertise to NP Digital. He has worked with APAC’s key growth sectors and has served previous roles at Publicis Media, SearchGuru, and iProspect.

Cheung’s extensive experience in digital performance marketing, coupled with his in-depth knowledge of Asia’s marketing landscape, will be valuable in leading the expansion of the agency.

On the other hand, Cheng, in her appointment as country manager, brings with her an extensive background in paid media expertise, having worked at ADA, AdColony, and Yahoo. Malaysia. She has a strong data analytics background relevant to NP Digital’s data-driven APAC clients.

The new hires will report to Dan Kalinski, the managing director of NP Digital for APAC.

Commenting on the new hires, Kalinski said, “In the rapidly evolving digital marketing landscape, NP Digital is dedicated to reshaping success metrics, prioritising outcomes that drive profitability and scalability over vanity metrics. The addition of Gary and Melissa underscores our commitment to the APAC region. Gary’s extensive regional and global experience and Melissa’s media expertise align perfectly with our mission to deliver unparalleled results for our clients in Asia. They are poised to lead NP Digital’s expansion and innovation in the region in tandem with our strong APAC team.”

Hong Kong – In a bid to promote its recently-launched Octopus Mastercard offering to teens in Hong Kong, smart card company Octopus has tapped local virtual YouTubers or VTubers to promote it in a 4-week long campaign through engaging video content by these VTubers, who amass an accumulated subscriber base of almost 100,000 people. 

The campaign has enlisted four popular VTubers, Mya, Rumi Ikisaragi, Tsukishima Cross and Hasuki Aoi, all creators of engaging video content for the teen target audience.

Conceptualised alongside DDB Group Hong Kong, the campaign promotes the ability to use the card for any and all online purchases, connecting with target consumers in the digital world they are so accustomed to, yet can have a hard time spending in.

The agency notes that while using VTubers as a marketing channel is not entirely new, never before has a campaign so comprehensively included curated VTuber livestream content, tailormade merchandise and ecommerce offers. 

Each VTuber will introduce and promote the Octopus Mastercard via their weekly live streams, directing them to online shopping platform Flying Milktea, where exclusive products will be available for Octopus Mastercard users, as well as 10% discount on all other purchases.

Rita Li, sales and marketing director at Octopus Hong Kong, said, “Hong Kong teens have grown up with Octopus and Octopus Mastercard will enable another online payment option for them.  We are excited to be offering this prepaid Mastercard for Gen-Z users as they gain increasing financial independence through their teens.” 

Meanwhile, Felix Fong, head of digital at DDB Group Hong Kong, commented, “It is always exciting to take brands to new digital environments, and we knew that for both this audience and this product we needed to be online. It was important to find a way to show them the benefits of this virtual card, without encroaching too much on their time, space or enjoyment. I think partnering with the VTubers and Flying Milktea felt a really new and interesting proposition and yet, a natural fit for all.” 

Brands integrating VTubers into their campaign are not new, with global brands such as Kelloggs, Crunchyroll, and Netfix all having their own VTubers. In Asia, airasia has launched its own VTuber project called Project Kavvaii.

Singapore – Cathay has rolled out a new campaign called ‘Feels Good to Move’, which is part of the airline’s rollout of its new premium travel lifestyle brand, and celebrates passion for travel as a way of living under their master brand and simplifying the way their customers interact with them.

Created by Publicis Groupe Hong Kong, the ‘Feels Good To Move’ campaign consists of a diverse content system where each touchpoint is fuelled by energetic and playful observations about how much humans love moving – this very fact is the reason for being for the entire travel lifestyle industry globally. 

It kicks off with a film that explores how good it feels to move in all situations in life, big and small, set to a cover of Junior Senior’s classic track ‘Move Your Feet’ and directed by Pierre Dupaquier from We Are From LA.

For Cathay, the new campaign represents much more than airline travel but rather represents their evolution into a premium travel lifestyle brand consisting of a host of complementary categories – flights, holidays, shopping, dining, wellness and payment.

Moreover, the ‘Feels Good to Move’ campaign celebrates humanity’s innate urge to move, starting from someone’s very first heartbeat, and every piece of content is an irresistible call to get moving.

Ronald Lam, chief executive officer at Cathay, said, “This month of September marks 77 years since the Cathay story first began with a single Douglas DC-3 aircraft nicknamed ‘Betsy’ and a drive to connect the world and its people. As the habits and needs of our customers have changed over the years, so too have we.”

He added, “Our evolution into Cathay marks an exciting new chapter in our history, and reflects our renewed focus on the customer and our determination to fulfil our vision of becoming one of the world’s greatest service brands.”

Meanwhile, Edward Bell, general manager of brand, insights and marketing communications at Cathay, commented, “This campaign goes straight to the heart of why Cathay exists as a premium travel lifestyle brand – a brand that aims to enable us to live the premium travel lifestyle, every day. Since our beginnings, Cathay has always been about forward progress. Restlessness is in our DNA. This campaign is a celebration of how good it feels to move.”

Natalie Lam, chief creative officer at Publicis Groupe APAC, said, “We’re all born with a restless urge to move, never truly staying still even if we’re supposed to. Rolling around in our mother’s belly, restlessly waiting for class to be over, those moments where it feels good to shake a little in a yoga class, just because staying completely still is against human instincts. Thinking about the next move in life, or dreaming of the next trip, when you’re still enjoying the current one. This urge to move is exactly why we travel, how we make progress, and why a world-class brand like Cathay exists in the first place, and keeps progressing — to facilitate humanity’s urge to move forward.”

She added, “This global brand campaign is an amazing opportunity to defy the category clichés of beautiful destinations and travelers, and look back into the very reason why humans want to move — simply because it feels good. We are very excited to bring a new way of looking at airline creativity together with our brave clients at Cathay.”