Tag: Hong Kong

Hong Kong – To promote the growth of quick commerce in Hong Kong, delivery platform foodpanda has launched a 24/7 pandamart O2O concept store in the country, which is also its first O2O concept store in the Asia-Pacific region.

The said concept store specifically located at Sai Ying Pun district adopts an omnichannel retail strategy blended with online and offline channel integration.

The store contains a wide range of fresh and seasonal produced frozen foods and drinks. Moreover, customers can enjoy the “HOT PICKS” section which features the best-selling products every month to enhance their O2O shopping journey and brand experience.

In addition, customers can instantly place an order for desired products in the store using the foodpanda app and can pick up their order within 5-10 minutes.

Aside from Hong Kong, the concept store was also introduced in Singapore.

Ryan Lai, chief executive officer at foodpanda Hong Kong, said that they are looking forward for the positive impact of the concept store to support the growth of their wider ecosystem whilst enhancing the customer journey as it creates more immersive experiences for the customers.

“foodpanda has always been committed to supporting local brands, including the local agriculture community. We hope to leverage our influence to act as a bridge between consumers and local farms, thus promoting the importance and fostering the growth of local agriculture and aquaculture through the expansion of their retail channels,” Darren Luk, director of quick commerce at foodpanda, added.

This month, foodpanda has also launched ‘bekal by foodpanda’ in Malaysia with which users can now avail of halal food item deliveries.

Hong Kong – The South China Morning Post, the Hong Kong-headquartered global news company, unveils its all-new Style by SCMP, a rebrand of its flagship Style publication known for curated and insightful global luxury and lifestyle content through an Asian lens. 

Style by SCMP hails the advent of an inclusive luxury experience that values knowledge, access and connectivity, a dynamic perspective that moves away from purely symbolic representations of exclusivity and wealth, marking a new era of South China Morning Post’s role in the conversation on discerning and intelligent luxury. 

The revamped Style by SCMP also weaves responsible luxury, entrepreneurship, innovation, women leadership, wellness, and philanthropy topics into its coverage of the latest trends in fashion, watches and jewellery. 

“The slanted letter ‘l’ is evocative of the slash (/), which is prevalent across the creative community. This places the brand’s stake in a multi-hyphenate-driven milieu, and highlights the versatility of roles and viewpoints which make up today’s luxury market,” says Vincenzo La Torre, chief editor of Style by SCMP.

Kevin Huang, chief operating officer of South China Morning Post, also commented, “The South China Morning Post is dedicated to nurturing communities that bring together brands and influencers who are united by their pursuit of knowledge, wellbeing, betterment and fulfilment, where the affluent and influential can be the heroes and heroines of their own stories.”

Style by SCMP publishes ten issues a year and is distributed with the South China Morning Post, counting luxury hotels, hair salons, wellness spas, and airport lounges amongst its key distribution locations.

Singapore – As travel restrictions come to an end, Singapore-based creative design agency Sniper Digital was recently engaged by a Macau destination company to craft a campaign that would help bring back the excitement of Hong Kong residents to visit Macau again and experience its iconic landmarks and rich culture.

The campaign titled ‘Ola Hong Kong, Macau Awaits You’ showcases the unique cultural offerings and attractions in Macau whilst emphasizing its close relationship and shared history with Hong Kong.

Moreover, the campaign materials, associated with eye-catching vibrant colours, bold typography, and illustrations, featured Macau’s iconic landmarks such as Our Lady of Carmel Church and Taipa Village’s traditional shophouses, as well as the gastronomy, art, culture and lifestyle experiences. 

https://youtu.be/hVINRDzWwCg

To further entice the tourist, this campaign comes with promos including incentives and rewards, such as instant dining, shopping and lifestyle privileges and chances to enter a lucky draw to win a free night of luxury accommodation for their next visit. 

According to the agency, the campaign was embraced by both Hong Kong residents and wider travel industry. Majority of audiences shared their enthusiastic responses, with most commenting on the campaign’s effective and modern approach that helped to differentiate Macau from other nearby travel destinations. 

Sniper Digital is a newly opened creative design agency in Singapore that specialises in branding, graphic design, print media and digital marketing.

Hong Kong – To make it easier for riders on the platform to plan their travels and have a ‘stress-free ride’ to and from the Hong Kong International Airport, Uber has announced the launch of its new feature, ‘Uber Travel’, along with its ‘Peace of Mind with Reserve’ campaign that offers trip promotions and travel amenities.

The new feature and campaign will help travellers from planning their trip, reserving a ride to the airport, to getting a complimentary travel kit including an eye mask and traveller sim card. 

With Uber Travel, Hong Kong travellers can plan on ground transportation ahead of important occasions. It will also enable riders to see all of their travel itineraries, such as flights, hotels and rides, all in one button.

In partnership with AwardWallet, Uber Travel also offers riders the option to manually import

and organise hotels, flights, and restaurant reservations into a single itinerary view. With this and Uber’s ride reservation feature Uber Reserve, the platform promises a ‘more reliable and stress-free ride experience.’

“We want every Uber trip experience to be comfortable and effortless. To celebrate the strong comeback of international travel and the government’s ‘Happy Hong Kong’ Campaign, we are offering travelers and our platform’s riders with trip promotions to try Uber Reserve – a feature that allows riders to book a ride through the app for up to 30 days ahead,” said Estyn Chung, general manager of Uber Hong Kong.

Chung added, “Whether at home town or overseas, Uber wants to make sure every trip of our riders is being well taken care of, and they can always count on the comfortable familiarity of an Uber experience.”

This follows Uber’s launch of Journey Ads in Australia, its first advertising option that is targeted for purchase-minded riders.

Hong Kong – Hong Kong’s association for public relations and communications professionals, PRHK, has announced the launch of its 2023 PR Young Lions Competition. The competition is open to young professionals in Hong Kong aged 30 and below.

The competition will select a winning team of two to represent Hong Kong at the Global Young Lions Competition which will take place during the Cannes International Festival of Creativity in June. This will be the first competition to take place in person at Cannes in 3 years. 

PR Young Lions Competition will occur from 14 to 15 April this year. The format will follow that of the global Young Lions competition, where entrants will be asked to devise a campaign in response to a brief in 24 hours using their creative and strategic thinking. 

The competition brief will be set in partnership with a local NGO to be revealed at the competition. Criteria include creativity (40%), strategy and insight (30%), tactics and execution (20%), and relevance to the brief (10%)

The winning team will be granted their Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity experience that includes sponsorship on travel, accommodations and passes in-person in June 2023.

Previously, the association launched a 27-page toolkit to help promote work-life balance amongst industry teams.

Hong Kong – The Marketing Society, a global community for marketers, has announced new leadership appointments for Hong Kong which include Natalie Truong as its chair and Hina Wainwright being the new vice chair. The appointments aim to accelerate marketing leadership in the city and across the Asia-Pacific region upon entering the post-pandemic era. 

In their new roles, Truong and Wainwright will lead the society in Hong Kong by curating programme of events, conducting trainings, and mentoring marketing leaders and teams which is aimed to be a step for them to perform well for brands, business, partners and wider society.

They will be working with the non-executive board which includes Edward Bell, general brand manager at Cathay Pacific Airways; Nellie Chan, director of customer solutions at Google; Karl Gregory, head of digital channel, sales and customer engagement at HSBC Asia; Kiri Sinclair, founder and CEO at communications agency Sinclair; Seraphina Wong, co-founder and CMO at Women Workplace Index; and environmental service The ESG Consortium.

Truong brings with her experience in leading B2C and B2B organisations from various industries including professional services, financial services, superannuation and telecommunications across Australia, New Zealand and Asia whilst Wainwright also carries with her leadership experience working at global organisations in Asia from various industries including marketing services, life sciences, engineering and the arts.

Whilst serving the organisation, Truong is simultaneously the current chief marketing officer and partner at consulting firm Mercer. Meanwhile, Wainwright is concurrently with independent marketing service adm Group, similarly holding a chief marketing officer position.

Darren Chuckry, outgoing chair of the society said that it is an honour to serve the society in Hong Kong, knowing that they became connected with inspirational marketers.

Sophie Devonshire, chief executive officer at The Marketing Society, added, “As we look towards exciting times ahead, we are delighted to have two formidable marketing leaders at the helm. Natalie and Hina each have a wealth of rich experience, and are ready to steer new energy into our community.”

Founded in 1959, The Marketing Society is a non-profit organisation that builds community of marketing leaders around the world, with its hubs in England, Scotland, Hong Kong, Singapore, United Arab Emirates and New York.

Hong Kong – GroupM’s agency EssenceMediacom has announced new appointments for its Hong Kong office, namely Silas Ho as managing director and Anthony Lau as managing partner. Ho was previously the head of digital for the agency, while Lau formerly held the position of head of strategy at Mediacom HK.

Reporting to both EssenceMediacom APAC CEO Rupert McPetrie and GroupM Hong Kong CEO Alice Chow, Ho will draw the roadmap for the new agency in the market. Ho began his career as an integrated planner, and evolved into a digital specialist in data, digital technology and performance marketing.

Speaking on his appointment, he said, “It is my honour to lead the EssenceMediacom Hong Kong office and serve the employees. It is time to change the way we see and handle advertising and marketing, as the way to effective communications is evolving rapidly every day.” 

He added, “We aim to help marketers build a comprehensive data ecosystem to facilitate business decisions and communicate more effectively with their audiences. Also leveraging Essence’s industry-leading know-how, the leadership team and I are committed to bringing breakthrough thinking and services to our clients with a data and analytics-led approach.”

Meanwhile Lau will report to Ho and will focus on formulating EssenceMediacom’s business development strategy, while continuing to oversee its strategic output in Hong Kong. With over 10 years of experience at creative and media agencies, Lau will be working with Ho to strengthen EssenceMediacom’s data and analytics offering to clients in the area of strategic application.

Speaking on his new role, Lau said, “Building EssenceMediacom is by far the most exciting project I have ever been involved in. While we are part of a global media agency, in Hong Kong, we also represent a brand new agency concept that is for and by digital natives. We strive for breakthrough thinking not bound by conventional marketing mindsets or planning philosophies to deliver business growth for our clients.” 

He added, “To achieve this, our people-first mentality has never been so important. We are committed to empowering our employees to shape the agency for the next generation, creating a platform for them to learn, flourish and be inspired.”

EssenceMediacom APAC CEO Rupert McPetrie said, “Congratulations to both Silas and Anthony on their richly deserved promotions. At EssenceMediacom, our people are the heart of our breakthrough mission, and we are committed to building an agency that supports employees and creates opportunity for all. Our culture of continuous learning means our people are always growing and pushing the boundaries of what is possible for our clients.” 

He added, “With such strong homegrown talent and capabilities, I am confident that EssenceMediacom Hong Kong will create and deliver the marketing breakthroughs that brands need to grow and succeed, and set a transformative pace in the industry.”

Lastly, GroupM Hong Kong CEO Alice Chow, commented, “Silas and Anthony are two of the brightest stars in GroupM. They epitomise how modern agency leadership should be – hungry for new ideas with an eagerness to achieve the impossible with their respective expertise. Their ability to uncover opportunities not seen by many will enable them to elevate EssenceMediacom to a totally new stage.”

Hong Kong – Taking overtime at the workplace is sometimes inevitable, most especially now that the work-from-home set up has blurred the lines between work and rest – this practice can be a challenge for most. PRHK, an industry organisation for public relations and communications professionals in Hong Kong, has come up with a solution to this problem by launching a toolkit called ‘Working Smarter for the Future’ which aims to help industry leaders and working teams to practice better workflow processes and combat overtime. 

Initiated by the next-gen sub-committee of PRHK, the 27-page toolkit gives ample recommendations on planning tools, policy updates, and working tips that industry leaders can use to facilitate a healthy working environment amongst team members, whilst making the work-life balance possible. Meanwhile, resource planning and additional support are also presented for individuals and working teams.

The committee that initiated the toolkit includes Karolis Adomaitis of Fleishman Hillard, Carol Yeung of Golin, Penn Leung and Jesa Amparo of Creative Consulting Group and Sara Cheung of Edelman. 

The said toolkit is also an answer to PRHK’s latest research data which revealed that the top three causes of overtime are tight deadlines and last-minute requests, lack of manpower, and various meetings. The same survey also showed that 75% of respondents from the industry perceive overtime as normal with another 70% having experienced physical or mental health issues, considering overtime as a factor.

Carol Yeung, co-chair of the PRHK’s next gen sub-committee said, “The launch of our ‘Working Smarter for the Future’ toolkit is another step in moving towards making work-life balance a reality for Hong Kong PR and communications professionals. We especially want the profession to overcome its inertia on the issue of unreasonable overtime.” 

Meanwhile, Carbo Yu, chairperson of PRHK added, “PRHK’s mission is to represent, champion, promote and grow the PR and communications profession in Hong Kong. This project has achieved just that, gaining significant positive response from professionals across the industry. PRHK will continue to be an enabler for working smarter as we help people navigate Hong Kong’s dynamic communications landscape.”

With the toolkit launch, PRHK said it commits to delivering more resources such as conducting workshops to help in drawing boundaries, managing hybrid work, and time management. 

Hong Kong – Kevin Huang, formerly the managing director for Hong Kong at Carousell, has been appointed by the South China Morning Post (SCMP) as its newest chief operating officer. In his new role, Huang will be leading the media company’s advertising and marketing solutions unit.

He brings with him over 25 years of experience from Hong Kong and the APAC region. Amongst his many career achievements is a persistent track record of spearheading digital, mobile, and advertising businesses through high growth and profitability. 

During his stint at Carousell, Huang has driven the development of the overall business strategy whilst overseeing its operations, marketing, branding, and community engagement. 

He was also previously the head of Birdie Mobile, a local digital-only mobile operator and was the CEO of co-founded adtech Pixels between 2002 and 2018. 

Speaking on his new role, he said, “I am honoured and excited to join the South China Morning Post, a premier English news source on Hong Kong, China and Asia affairs for readers worldwide, and a trusted content and marketing solutions partner for business enterprises across the APAC region. In my new role, I look forward to deepening SCMP’s relationships with prospective and existing partners across industries.” 

Huang added, “Building on The Post’s loyal following from a worldwide audience base, I also look forward to scaling the award-winning content studio and advancing the ad tech stack at SCMP as part of the Post’s full suite marketing and branding solutions offering.”

Meanwhile, Catherine So, who was appointed as the chief executive officer for SCMP in 2022, commented, “Kevin brings with him a wealth of strategic, commercial and operational expertise, as well as an extensive local and regional network across industries. His appointment underscores our ambitions to further scale our tech capabilities to offer innovative marketing solutions to our partners. I am confident Kevin’s skill sets will help take us to new heights as we embark on the next phase of our tech-forward strategy.”

Hong Kong – Financial services company HSBC has launched an augmented reality (AR) campaign alongside Wunderman Thompson Hong Kong to empower Hongkongers to move towards their goals this new year and open up a world of opportunity.

The campaign depicts a virtual wishing tree that carries the wishes of seven million Hongkongers. The wish-making tradition was gamified together with a lucky draw to incentivise city-wide participation. This is all supported by a full suite of product offers including payment, account opening, and investments, amongst others.

Hongkongers can participate by pointing their phone towards the HSBC Main Building, selecting the seed that befits their wish and tossing it towards the building to add their ‘blossom’ to the ‘HSBC Wishing Tree for 7,000,000.’ 

Participants are then prompted to register for the Lucky Draw with a total prize pool of $1,230,000 RewardCash.

“Each seed of the Wishing Tree for 7,000,000 is a visual representation of the wishes that people make, which then blossoms into an auspicious flower to symbolise how their dreams would come true with the support of HSBC. The words of blessings were creatively crafted to be witty and culturally relevant to engage with local audience in an entertaining and resonating way,” HSBC explained in a press statement.

HSBC also recently launched a campaign alongside MSL Hong Kong, which turned Hong Kong into an ‘open canvas’, coinciding with the launch of HSBC’s Metaverse Gallery, targeted at giving local emerging artists more exposure.