5 agencies in Hong Kong acing content marketing

The power of content marketing is undeniable. Today marketers are exploring new ways of creating content that goes beyond just creating the 30 second TVCs and provide an added experience – be it through entertainment or education – for their consumers.

A report by market research firm Advertiser Perceptions found that more than half of advertisers using paid branded content say doing so is more critical than it was a year ago. More than a third of respondents (32%) increased spending on branded content. The study found that the top three reasons for using branded content are increase product consideration, drive sales and reach new target consumers.

Meanwhile, on the B2B front, Forrester found that firms risk losing 19% of their annual revenue when Millennials (ages 18 to 35) find their marketing content useless. With useful information disseminated via content marketing, brands can raise their credibility in the mind of consumers and potential clients.

In light of the rising importance of content marketing, we turned to our 2021 Agency of the Year Hong Kong results to find out who our judges thought were the five best social media agencies in Hong Kong. We've listed our top 5 winners alphabetically. Our list of agencies below won over our independent panel of high-calibre, client-side marketers not only by displaying the work they have done for clients, but also through their desire to nurture talent and create proprietary products for execution of world class campaigns.

3T6B

3T6B is an abbreviation of Sān Tóu Liù Bì (三頭六臂) (three heads and six arms), a Buddhist term that means the transcendental spirit of challenging one’s personal limits. A relatively new-kid-on-the-block, 3T6B was founded in 2019 as a technical creative agency specialising in brand experience, content marketing and digital solution. 

The agency believes in a deep understanding of current and emerging technologies, merging innovation in design and technology to craft in-house strong strategic concepts and creative stories. With digital experiences and expert data analysis, the agency touts its ability to offer a powerful immersive digital presence to brands.

Noticing that advertisers were shifting their marketing budget to focus on digital, 3T6B introduced its micro-marketing services by selecting brand-safe micro-influencers for social media marketing. Bolstering its content marketing service, It has also developed a digital content hub 《電笠 DL》bridging content creators from local, mainland China and Taiwan, and formed content partnerships with HKIFF and Eslite Bookstore. Its clients include Nike, Foot Locker, online brokerage platform Futu, Hong Kong Tourism Board. It also worked with DBS for its Hong Kong instalment of the “Portraits of Purpose” campaign, expanding it with a content strategy.

Initially launched with three employees, the agency keeps its ideas fresh by onboarding creatives in different fields from both conventional and new media, with a hiring rate of 2 additional headcounts per season. Permanent staff will be shifted to a new role regularly to learn different aspects of the work and explore new possibilities from different positions.

ANON

Founded in 2013 by ex-journalists, former Ogilvy & Mather ECDs Simon Handford and Sandy Chan, ANON focuses on advertising, branding, digital marketing, and social media marketing. ANON calls itself a “story-led brand agency”, offering integrated branding, brand events, production, social, content curation, and design, to name a few. 

The agency’s key clients include Swire Properties, Nike Hong Kong, Orbis Hong Kong and the Hong Kong Tourism Board. In 2020, it expanded its portfolio of clients by winning projects for brands such as Shangri-la, Cartier and Friso, to name a few. It also touted a win ratio of 100%, despite the turbulent year.

ANON constantly keeps the growth and development of its tight team of around 15 in check by prioritising communication. Staff members are offered quarterly appraisals in addition to fixed annual salary reviews. The agency also prides itself in having no strict layers or teams, fostering a strong family spirit. This translates to its collaborative approach when working with clients, preferring to go for project-based relationships that give both parties the freedom to continue working together.

Fimmick

Full-service digital marketing agency Fimmick has been around for over 12 years and is headquartered in Hong Kong. The agency provides customised integrated digital marketing, social media marketing, programmatic and automated online advertising, creative marketing campaigns, content marketing, video production, mobile first marketing, customer relationship management, and influencer marketing solutions.

The agency has worked with notable brands such as AIA, Nestle, Shiseido, ASUS, Samsung, Panasonic, Coca-Cola, 3M, DBS, Bossini, and many others.

Currently, its team has over 120 talents in Hong Kong with a majority of them being Millennials and Gen Z.  It also expanded its account servicing, content creative digital partnership and growth and CRM departments.

Mentors and job rotation schemes are also created to ensure that its talents are nurtured. Learning programmes and allowances are also provided by the agency to keep them abreast of industry trends. Fimmick often organises webinars, Weekly Learning Wednesdays and Digital Fridays for its staff to learn through teaching as well. Last year, it also enabled flexible working hours and remote working for its staff.

Hardchi Creative

Hardchi Creatives is a boutique agency specialising in creative and branding strategy, with a key client portfolio that comprises Sun Hong Kai Properties as well as TamJai Jeh Jeh and its mother company, Tamjai International. The agency offers integrated services that include key visual designing, digital strategising as well as production, employing a 360 branding and marketing strategy for TamJai’s major brand campaigns in 2020. 

Winning the pitches for the sales promotions of key malls under Sun Hong Kai Properties saw Hardchi handling more than 38 campaigns for shopping malls last year. Hardchi created more than 1000 point of sales materials (POSM) for various malls, including OOH, billboards, ad banners, digital pillars and many others.

The agency takes pride in its small but agile team led by industry professionals. Its small team structure allows its staff to be highly involved and gain extensive exposure, even providing training to its employees to cross-pollinate by learning the skill sets of the other teams.

KREW

Established in 2017, KREW recently developed a new content news hub Lifenews HK! with a big data interactive engine portal. The content hub aims to help develop content and launch impactful live broadcasts for clients with the help of a professional video production team. In addition to its digital, content and media and analytics services, KREW also handles ATL / BTL and event management.

Powered by its evolved analytic tool, KREWatch 2.0, the agency has upgraded its offerings in 2020 with features such as audience targeting mapping as well as keyword and hashtags data recommendation. The team advanced its proprietary analytic tool to cope with the rising online penetration and its big data support gave clients the confidence to pursue online marketing initiatives. 

Some of KREW’s clients include AIA, Sun Hong Kai, Towngas, ChinaChem, UPD HK and Wheelock. Over the past year, the agency has doubled its headcount to 35 full-time talents and turned the downtime faced by agencies in 2020 into an opportunity for growth. In addition to new hires, the agency also created a new financial news team. To ensure its teams are trained holistically, KREW conducts intensive cross-industrial training sessions all year-round. The team also has ambitions to expand its digital and social services to China and Macau in the near future.

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