5 boutique agencies making waves in Hong Kong

Boutique agencies - they are nimble, they are collaborative, and more often than not, they always have the top guys working on your account.

While in the past anyone with aspirations to go far in the ad world had to have a stint in the network, many young professionals are now finding that boutique agencies give them a lot more freedom to pursue their passions. Moreover, they have the opportunity to work alongside the top brass to learn more and do more. Silos are often less present in boutique firms due to the collaborative nature and culture of these firms.

Moreover, clients today also value the swift and quick nature of boutique agencies. Often they have a more hands on, flexible and personalised approach – and on the price front, they can be pretty competitive and attractive as well.

In light of the rising importance of boutique agencies, 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.

ANON

ANON was founded in 2013 by ex-journalists, and former Ogilvy & Mather ECDs Simon Handford and Sandy Chan. The two  directed their journalism expertise into communications and PR. With a focus on advertising, branding, digital marketing, and social media marketing, ANON calls itself a “story-led brand agency”. Its range of services include audience segmentation and analysis, strategy writing and scoping as well as creative services, among others.

The agency has worked with notable brands such as 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 17 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. 

Branding Records 

Hong Kong-based marketing agency, Branding Records takes pride in being an agile boutique agency, specialising in brand development, digital marketing and retail experience. In 2020, it utilised its size to be flexible, adaptable and ambitious, offering free branding support to businesses in the community as well as working with over 200 clients worldwide. 

Branding records maintained long-standing relationships with clients such as Asia Financial Holdings, Asia Pacific Leather Fair, Bluebell and East Asia Super League. The agency also brought on new clients such as Salvatore Ferragamo, Generali, and the Yew Chung Education Foundation amongst others, in addition to launching new brands and collaborating with startups and non-profits, such as Alfred, blüüm, Fusang, the Karen Leung Foundation, Sexy Crab and UniTrust.

To provide clients with a wider range of deliverables, the agency expanded its team to 14 in Hong Kong and five in Shanghai. The team also takes pride in bullet-proof digital marketing strategies, and is able to manage and optimise the engagement rate of client accounts with tailored content that excites, inspires and surprises, as well as make brands memorable.

frengers 

Born in 2017, frengers is an integrated creative agency aiming to connect brands, consumers and the community, turning them from strangers to friends. Observing the shift in behaviour of marketers, consumers and traditional agencies, frengers expanded its expertise to include up-and-coming categories, aside from those in the FMCG category which takes up about 80% of its clientele. Some of frengers’ key clients include whisper, Biore, Oral-B, Crest, A Drop of Life and Chow Tai Fook. The agency also onboarded about 15 new brands in 2020, such as insurance company Bowtie, trading platform Futubull’s parent company, as well as TransUnion HK.

Last year the agency kept itself busy by expanding its small team to 16 people, setting up a new business unit and forming a strategy and content team in addition to its creative and account servicing team. The agency also focused on its employees’ welfare by implementing a strict WFH policy that prohibited meetings and calls during the fixed lunch hours, as well as past 7.30 pm. The agency now has flexible working hours where the team has the option to WFH or work in-office outside regular hours to avoid getting in touch with the public during transportation. 

frengers also gives back to the community with its long time NGO partner, A Drop of Life, giving back to local society despite the cancellation of the annual fundraising campaign “Race for Water”, participating in two of its core initiatives in 2020. 

Hardchi Creatives 

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. 

WHAT IF

With teams in China, Hong Kong Macau, and Singapore, WHAT IF is an independent creative and events agency that believes in storytelling and consumers’ journey. In 2020, in line with the belief that events should be strategic and experiential rather than pretty production, the agency pushed itself to combine live and digital to create impactful consumer-centric experiences. Formerly a pure event agency, WHAT IF provided clients with “phy-gital” solutions, achieving a feat of over 25 event projects last year.    

The agency achieved two new key performances in 2020. They are namely embracing digital transformation, which integrated “phy-gital” solutions that can be fully integrated with online experiences, as well as expanding beyond Hong Kong to reach international agencies in other regions and developing its APAC services. 

With a lean team of nine, WHAT IF’s greatest resource lies in its staff members. The small agency also operates without the rigidity and hierarchy of a big setup. The whole staff was therefore involved in the agency’s transition to digital, living the company’s motto: “A vision for all, a development for each”.

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