The headlines MMHK Jan/Feb

1 TV enters new era of mobility

Mobile TVB has opened a new page for broadcasting in Hong Kong, launching its on-demand and mobile TV service MyTV in partnership with local mobile carrier CSL.

MyTV, a TV viewing format available for mobile phones and personal computers, will offer a wide variety of genres namely drama, food, travel, news and finance, entertainment, lifestyle and kids programming.  

The partnership with CSL will see the mobile service offered on the One2Free and 1010 brands featuring integrated services like "Video-on-Demand", "i-Information", "My Playlist" and "Programme Sharing" to accommodate individual preferences.

Online and via mobile phones, these integrated services will allow viewers to personalise their programming choices, as well as pause and fast forward live TV. Online TVB will generate revenue through selling TVC-style commercials around the content. CSL will charge mobile users a monthly fee of HK$30.

Aenil Premji, chief marketing officer at CSL, said the on-demand service is more than just "catch up TV", adding it was more of a complimentary offering to tradition media.

"I think mobile has now come of age where the quality of the service and the experience of the whole device is coming together. It's a much more compelling experience for the consumer," he said.

Ivy Wong, TVB COO, said the broadcast group has a "big vision" for taking its content online.

"TVB owns so many things, it's just a matter of making this a real business," she said.

Wong added that despite the huge growth on TV online, traditional TV viewing habit would continue to expand.

"Some people still believe online is a competitor of TV. For me I don't see online as the future of TV, but as a complimentary service. TV is not a dying business, it's just a matter of peoples lifestyle changes."

 

2 Adidas PR eyes Blink

PR Adidas Hong Kong will consider retaining Blink Events & PR Consultants for PR duties after the agency landed the contract to run its guerrilla marketing campaign for the Standard Chartered Marathon.

Blink, an independent PR agency established last year by Brenda Wong, former account director of sports marketing group Octagon Hong Kong, is likely to become adidas' sole PR agency after winning the adiZero, adiPure and soccer campaigns in recent months.

But Blink said the agency is still in the early stage of discussions with adidas and a contract was yet to be signed.

Adidas used the Standard Chartered Marathon event to promote its adiZero collection throughout the race, inviting the public to donate used shoes for charity purpose. New Balance is the official sportswear brand of the Standard Chartered Marathon.

AdiZero's print ad created by TBWA has been rolled out, with media buying and planning from Carat.

 

3 Rollercoaster year for ad spend in 2008

Advertising Strong spending around the Olympic Games pushed ad spend in 2008 up 12% to HK$24.6 billion, but a post-Games slowdown saw negative growth in November.

Data from Admango shows the months leading up to the Olympic Games were the strongest with April recording the highest ad growth at 23%.

After the economic crisis unfolded and the fall of Lehman Brothers, clients' ad spend nosedived 12.6% to 5.84%. November recorded the first month of negative growth and despite a supposed peak season in December, ad spend increased to just 5.9%.

The top three highest spending industries for 2008 were banking, pharmaceuticals and toiletries. The top three advertisers for the year were HSBC, McDonald's and GSK.

 

4 Brands turn to elite sports

Sponsorship Major Chinese and international brands are turning to Olympic sports start for sponsorship and brand endorsement opportunities.

Mazda has signed an agreement with Olympic swimming star Michael Phelps to help launch the Mazda 6 in Mainland China. As brand ambassador, Phelps will exclusively endorse the marque in a series of TV, newspaper, magazine and outdoor ads.

In a move to globalise its brand, Chinese sportswear Anta has also signed an endorsement contract with Jelena Jankovic to launch a series of products such as footwear, apparel and accessories named for Anta.

Ding Shizhong, chairman & CEO for Anta Sports said Jankovic's tenacious performance on the court embodies the brands "Keep Moving" spirit and brings the brand to another level.

Dan Mintz, chief executive for DMG Entertainment which secured the Phelps deal, said China is increasingly looking to elite personalities to endorse domestic and international brands.

"This is just the first of a number of high-profile partnerships that DMG Entertainment is negotiating that will open a new chapter in China's advertising industry," he said.

 

5 Shell inks Top Gear sponsorship deal

Sponsorship Global energy group Shell will test a live advertising performance as part of its three-year sponsorship of the hugely successful Top Gear Live events, due to hit Hong Kong in mid-February.

Shell will use the sponsorship to promote its Shell V-Power, with the V-Power logo to be integrated into the international Top Gear Live event logo and all signage and marketing materials promoting the show.

The Top Gear Live has also secured Virgin Atlantic, Grand Hyatt Hotel and Commercial Radio Hong Kong as key sponsors. The live event now boasts a global audience of more than 300,000 people.

As part of the Shell deal, visitors will be exposed to a live advertising sequence, created by the producers of Top Gear Live & Shell V-Power, prior to the main Top Gear Live performance.

 

6 Omnicom starts 09 with China acquisition

Agencies Omnicom-owned brand and research consultancy Hall & Partners has taken a major stake in Shanghai-based research company Jigsaw International for an undisclosed sum.

Hall & Partners, part of Omnicom's Diversified Agency Services, said the Jigsaw acquisition will enable the company to launch into the forefront of research in Greater China and establish a center of excellence for the Asia-Pacific region. The acquisition price and the size of the acquisition were not disclosed.

Vanella Jackson, chief executive officer of Hall & Partners, said Jigsaw has built a strong reputation in Asia for outstanding work and excellent strategic advice.

Jigsaw International was founded in 1999 and works with a number of multinational and Chinese companies on communications, brand and product development.

 

7 Impact Asia doubles Asian footprint

PR Impact Asia has expanded its regional footprint, launching additional offices in Beijing and Singapore.

Susan Field and Sarah Woodhouse will oversee regional management under the titles of CEO and MD respectively.

The Beijing office opened in December with Singapore scheduled to open in early January. In 2008 the Hong Kong-based agency saw its profits more that double off the back of expanded relationships with Mandarin Oriental Hotel Group and Chic Outlet Shopping.

 

8 Nielsen to test online effectiveness

Online As the call for a trusted online measurement tool grows, Nielsen, in partnership with Australia's Interactive Advertising Bureau, has launched a service called Online Advertising Effectiveness.

Online Advertising Effectiveness service will look beyond click-through rates to include brand awareness, execution diagnostics and purchase intention. The use of the cookie technology also helps isolate the communications impact to online channels alone.

The Nielsen Media Index shows year-on-year online usage continues to grow at healthy rates up from 53% in 2007 to 60% in 2008.

Yet spending on online advertising has experienced a relatively stable growth, according to Joseph Kam, commercial director of Nielsen Online for Hong Kong and Taiwan.

 

9 GCM unveils new advertising platform

OOH Outdoor advertising company Great China Media will partner with the People's Daily newspaper to install 27 "stratosphere displays", a new type of outdoor advertising, in nine major cities across China.

Inno-Tech Holdings acquired 23% of Great China Media last December and the group won exclusive rights to distribute and operate the stratosphere display units in China from LM Production in the UK in 2007.

The first stratosphere display will be installed in Guangzhou early this year and discussions are underway to install a stratosphere in the Shanghai Expo in 2010.

Robert Wong, deputy chairman of Inno-Tech, said the launch of stratosphere displays will be used to replace LED billboards, which have caused light pollution in China.

 

10 iClick strikes first partnership deal

Digital Newly established digital agency iClick Interactive has formed a partnership with search marketing group Efficient Frontier as it expands into the Asian market.

iClick was founded on 1 January by the former director of search marketing at Yahoo! Hong Kong, Sammy Hsieh.

Under the collaboration, iClick will provide online marketers with optimisation tools on behalf of Efficient Frontier.

Hsieh, now a director of iClick Interactive, said the current economic turmoil has fueled the usage of search engine marketing and marked it as one of the few advertising strategies to thrive in a downturn.

 

11 CitySuper dives into social media

Specialty retailer CitySuper made its first foray into online advertising, using the MSN-Windows Live platform to promote itself as the ultimate lifestyle shopping destination.

The group has launched a City Blogger page on Windows Live covering four separate categories; CityEating, CityCooking, OpenWine and LifeStyle.

The campaign was developed by Pixel Media and Microsoft Advertising in a bid to engage its current and potential customers in a newer way. Pixel Media is the exclusive sales representative for Microsoft Advertising and the campaign marks CitySuper's first use of the online medium for advertising.

The blog will act as a supplement of its official site to provide additional and more casual information to the CitySuper community.

Bonnie Chow, marketing manager at CitySuper, said City Blogger would be an important channel to deliver value and vision of the CitySuper brand to customers.

Winky Chan, managing director of Pixel Media, added that social media and blogging had grown tremendously over the past two years and had already hit the critical mass.

"More advertisers utilize community and blog platform to engage with their audiences," she said.

 

12 FT.com breaks 1m barrier

Media The Financial Times has secured more than 1 million registered users to the FT.com, with its relaxed access to the site helping to boost numbers.

FT.com said customer acquisition rates have soared since the launch of its access model in October 2007; which allows blogs, news aggregators and other websites to access FT.com content more freely. The model works by allowing users access to up to three articles a month for free, followed by a ‘light' registration period. To access more than 10 articles a month readers must subscribe.

Rob Grimshaw, FT.com managing director, said the FT is now in a real position of strength online.

"The number of registered users is significant as information on the FT's targetable users is particularly compelling for advertisers," he said.