Tag: Hong Kong

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.” 

Hong Kong – Game software and venture capital company Animoca Brands Corporation Limited, a company advancing digital property rights for gaming and the open metaverse, has announced that it has received binding commitments for a funding round totaling US$20m to accelerate its ‘Mocaverse’ project. 

Mocaverse is one of the company’s marquee projects that is building on Web3-native tooling to empower products in the gaming, culture, and entertainment verticals. 

With Mocaverse, users will be allowed to create their own digital identity, accrue reputation, earn and spend loyalty points, and use their digital identity to access the Mocaverse ecosystem, seeded by Animoca Brands’ 450+ portfolio companies and partner network with over 700 million addressable users. 

The new capital secured by Animoca Brands will be used to advance the Mocaverse project, including product development, facilitating Web3 adoption, and securing partnerships to expand the gaming, culture, and entertainment ecosystems of the company’s expanded portfolio of investments in Web3 companies and projects.

Among the plans for Mocaverse is the soon-to-launch Moca ID, a non-transferrable NFT collection designed to enable users to craft their on-chain identities and participate in the Mocaverse ecosystem. 

Moca ID holders will gain exclusive access to Mocaverse ecosystem experiences and will have the unique opportunity to earn loyalty points through active engagement. These loyalty points will power a permissionless and interoperable loyalty system that will be progressively decentralised to enable third-party adoption and integration of Moca ID, with the aim of advancing the accessibility and growth of Web3.

Animoca Brands was able to raise US$20m or approximately A$31.3m  via the issue of new ordinary shares at a price per share of A$4.50. As part of the raise, the company has also granted the investors in the round a free-attaching utility token warrant on a 1:1 dollar basis.

The funding round was led by CMCC Global, with other investors including Kingsway Capital, Liberty City Ventures, GameFi Ventures, Aleksander Larsen (founder of Sky Mavis), Gabby Dizon (founder of Yield Guild Games), institutional investors at Koda Capital, and others. Yat Siu, the executive chairman and co-founder of Animoca Brands, also participated in the round.

CMCC Global is one of Asia’s first venture capital companies focused solely on blockchain and Web3 investments. As a pioneer investor in the space, CMCC Global has an enviable record of investing early in leading projects such as Ethereum (ETH) at US$7, Solana (SOL) at US$0.20 and Cosmos (ATOM) at US$0.10.

Speaking on the funding raise, Yat Siu commented, “We are deeply honoured by investors’ support for Animoca Brands and its vision of decentralisation. The ongoing evolution of the Internet involves a shift from hierarchical power structures to autonomous ones, and the DAO-based approach of Mocaverse ensures that its community will be focused on driving innovation and collaboration across the broader Animoca Brands ecosystem.”

He added, “In addition to empowering users to participate in a vibrant community that generates new economic opportunities, Mocaverse will also serve as the digital identity, reputation, and loyalty system for other decentralised organisations.”

Meanwhile, Martin Baumann, co-founder of CMCC Global, said, “Having built a long-term relationship with Animoca Brands, we are thrilled to be leading this first round of funding into Mocaverse. The project will unify the unique portfolio of companies within the Animoca Brands umbrella and will become a portal for hundreds of millions of new users to access Web3 and metaverse ecosystems. At CMCC Global, we look to support innovative founders that are pushing the boundaries of our industry. Yat Siu has proved time and again his ability to lead Web3 in creative new directions, and we are excited to be supporting him and the Animoca Brands team once again as they venture into the Mocaverse.”

Hong Kong – KFC Hong Kong has unveiled a series of billboards throughout the city to promote the release of their newest product, the “FING FING Cajun Chips,” with the goal of capturing the curiosity of bystanders and causing them to shake their heads in wonderment to discover the product.

The marketing campaign makes engaging reference to the product’s name and defining characteristic (where “FING FING” stands for “shake” in Cantonese). Customers are urged to combine the chips and the Cajun seasoning sachet for an improved version of the Finger Lickin’ Good flavor and overall experience.

The billboards use a creative optical illusion that requires viewers to shake their heads in order to see a hidden message hidden within black lines. The simultaneous publication of other announcements about FING FING Cajun Chips in various press and media outlets throughout the city takes place at the same time as this strategy.

Speaking about the advertisement, Ms. Janet Lau, marketing director of KFC Hong Kong, said, “Our mission for this product is to get the whole of Hong Kong in the FING FING spirit and what better way to get the ball rolling than with the ads.” 

“It’s a simple way to connect the ads with the product incorporating the fun spirit of our brand,” Lau added. 

Meanwhile, John Koay, regional executive creative director of Edelman Hong Kong, said, “We want to get as many eyeballs on the new FING FING Cajun Chips launch as we possibly can – and playing with the product identity felt like the perfect way to do this in a playful and engaging way.” 

Hong Kong – Global media agency iProspect Hong Kong has been appointed by KFC, Pizza Hut and PHD, the food brands under Jardine Restaurant Group as their official media partner to spearhead their communication strategies.

The agency’s appointment comes as KFC, Pizza Hut, and PHD continue to stand by their shared objective of strengthening their e-commerce, dine-in, and takeaway businesses. 

The household food brands aim to grow their e-commerce effectively as an answer to the need to transform and evolve with time and current trends. 

iProspect will offer a comprehensive communication strategy that can seamlessly connect top, middle, and lower funnel initiatives to unlock the full potential of media investments and deliver tangible online and offline business results.

With their resources, they are expected to solve the brands’ common challenge of reinforcing connections from upper to lower funnels as a way to optimize media efficiency and ultimately reflect on their return on investment (ROI). 

Wai-Chung Au, managing director of media business at iProspect Hong Kong, said, “We are proud to become the trusted media partner for the three iconic names. We look forward to working with them and achieving their vision effectively.”

Commenting on the appointment, Renee Chan, customer experience and marketing director at Pizza Hut and PHD, also said, “We are excited to work with iProspect Hong Kong. iProspect has demonstrated a strong strategic point of view that helped to realize our vision and business goals, not to mention proactively providing solutions and recommendations that go beyond our scope and helped to innovate and optimize our effectiveness.”

Janet Lau, marketing director at KFC, further shared,  “We are looking forward to working with iProspect Hong Kong to optimize our e-commerce business. In this era of constant change and transformation, we need to tighten up our O2O communication strategy to offer truly seamless experience for consumers constantly. We believe iProspect can offer the solution to us.”

Hong Kong – TBWA\Hong Kong has been appointed by biomass utilisation compani EcoCeres as its agency partner. The wiin coincides with the launch of the agency’s specialty unit PLEX, a suite of B2B-focused services, and solidifies its commitment to driving transformative, innovative, and disruptive solutions in the sustainability sector.

TBWA assembled a team of experts between Hong Kong, Europe, and Australia for the partnership. TBWA\Hong Kong will lead the development of brand strategy and design system, while European partners will bring category knowledge and insights, turbocharging the partnership with their deep understanding of the industry, while Sustain by TBWA, headquartered out of Melbourne, expertise in sustainability ensures the overarching strategy is tightly aligned with sustainable practices.

By combining TBWA’s strategic and creative approach with EcoCeres’ ground breaking technologies, the collaboration aims to redefine industry perceptions and promote the adoption of sustainable practices.

Philip Siu, CEO of EcoCeres, said, “EcoCeres’ unique proposition lies in our innovative approach to exploring how the future advanced biorefinery should look like. We are pioneering the conversion of biomass into renewable products to help the world attain carbon neutrality.”

He added, “This partnership will leverage TBWA’s deep knowledge and expertise in the B2B space and sustainability territory, helping EcoCeres to communicate our value proposition with clarity and impact. Together, EcoCeres and TBWA are poised to make a real difference.”

Meanwhile, Jerome Ooi, chief creative experience officer at TBWA\Hong Kong, commented, “The partnership between TBWA and EcoCeres, is an exciting one, and we’re confident this transformative journey will unlock new possibilities, paving the way for advancements in sustainable solutions.” 

He added, “Our partnership also presents an opportunity to further draw on PLEX, our B2B-focused expertise and creative capabilities to develop a compelling brand strategy and corporate identity, which truly reflects EcoCeres’ pioneering work in sustainable solutions. With a shared commitment to transformation and innovation, TBWA\Hong Kong and EcoCeres are poised to redefine the boundaries of what is possible and inspire others to embrace sustainability as a core driver of progress.”