'Hello Hong Kong' a missed opportunity, say HK adland creatives

Hong Kong's latest global promotional campaign "Hello Hong Kong" has created buzz in the city as it looks to give away 500,000 air tickets to overseas visitors and 80,000 tickets to HongKongers.

Apart from the mass ticket giveaway, the campaign also invited local celebrities to take part including Aaron Kwok, Sammi Cheng, and Kelly Chen, as well as business leaders, foreign artist such as Korean singer Rain and Hong Kong Super Fans, showcasing the city’s array of new experiences and saying hello to tourists and calling on them to come visit.  

The campaign was launched to lure in over 1.5m tourists, accounting for 10% of passenger flow from March to September, said Hong Kong International Airport CEO Fred Lam. The giveaway is part of the HK$1bn global promotional campaign "Hello Hong Kong". 

Despite going all out to lure tourists to the city, many industry players questioned whether the campaign could effectively highlight the city's uniqueness, by incorporating special characteristics and vibe of the city as it enters the post-pandemic era. Let's take a look at what some creatives leads MARKETING-INTERACTIVE reached out to think about this campaign. 

Tiffany Lau, associate creative director, Branding Records

Needless to say, it has been a challenging few years for Hong Kong and many industries. Seeing the launch of the ‘Hello Hong Kong’ campaign was like a stamp of approval from peers alike that we need to get Hong Kong back to normality, although, the execution lacks authenticity.

Whilst the strategic move of giving away more than 500,000 flight tickets that sure is enticing, it wasn’t clear who the campaign itself was targeting.

With influencer and celebrity marketing rapidly changing throughout the years, we are now at a point where marketing is hyper-niche with a need for brands to humanise, understand and create reliability for their audiences.

As the campaign showcases the unique diverse scenery of Hong Kong, the use of local stars like Aaron Kwok, Kelly Chen, etc. shows there may be some discordance between the self and actual brand perception, especially with a mass overseas audience.

Jason Cheung , chief creative/marketing/brand experience for live events, interior renovations and new technology, CS J Creative 

It’s an interesting one. The overall campaign is a an ambitious one. The intentions are good. Anything free always attracts attention to the public.

I think people are more interested in how to apply for the free plane tickets. However, does this work to attract an overseas audience to want to come and visit Hong Kong?  With this in mind I agree that the promotional videos could have been better developed.

It’s a bit too cliche and very safe.  A chance to do something more memorable and creative to really reflect Hong Kong contrasting and dynamic nature was missed.

Especially as this is the first impression of the campaign which is always the most important to brand Hong Kong. However we should see how the rest of it pan out.

Hong Kong is a unique place with brilliant transport links and a unique culture nowhere in the world has this unusual visual, audio and sensory contrast vibrant nature in such close proximity. It’s magic! Hopefully as the campaign progress the team can learn and go on to reflect this to entice the world back to Hong Kong.

Tracy Lui, strategy director, Havas Media Hong Kong

What better way to grab attention for a travel destination than to offer a free trip? But while the incentive is captivating, I find that there was a missed opportunity with the communication. This is the first time Hong Kong is communicating with international travellers since the start of the pandemic and a lot has changed – from what Hong Kong is today, to what travellers look for. Yet, a familiar execution of showing the various iconic locations in Hong Kong through the lens of Hong Kong celebrities dismisses the differentiation needed in today’s competitive travel landscape. What is the hook that gets people to recall; what is the emotion that gets people to take action?

It’s still early to say, but I hope to see more communications about what makes Hong Kong special for travellers, because there is so much more to share.

Chris Kyme, co-founder and creative director, Kymechow

Let me give you an analogy. There is a famous, high-end brand, which is in decline image wise, and has unfair perception issues. However, the product is not only still good, but is continually improving in quality. So how do the brand owners turn around the image problem and get people buying the product again? They embark on a promotional campaign, with lots of free giveaways.

They make a video with the CEO talking about how great the product is and urging people to buy it, and a fun promotional video with celebrities singing and dancing (i.e. not very high end). Would this solve the brand image problems? Well, that’s what just happened with “Hello Hong Kong”.

This challenge needs a longer-term strategy to change perception issues and make Hong Kong a desirable destination again. It’s not a quick fix.

Joseph Mok, executive creative director, Narrow Door 

Hong Kong has changed dramatically after three years of lockdowns. It is a good attempt to use a simple idea ‘Hello Hong Kong’ with dynamic execution to feature the new discoveries and opportunities for visitors coming to Hong Kong.

But I expect the ‘Hello’ to come in a more refreshing, exciting and unexpected way.

The proposition “Welcome to a world of new discoveries” could be enhanced if there were a stronger focus and powerful depiction of new attractions, mixing with the local and historic streets to wow the tourists. With many younger stars rising in the entertainment scene, the choice of celebrities taking part in the campaign can be bolder by showcasing both familiar and fresh faces.

Rather than using one video to feature all attractions, the campaign may create multiple versions of ‘Hellos’ to highlight the rich mixes of cultures in Hong Kong, pitching to different groups of audiences around the world.

Tony Hon, executive creative director, Turn Creative 

The campaign is not a true reflection of Hong Kong. Indeed, Hong Kong has much more charm, substance, and depth. Of course, I embrace local cultures, but the point is that the local Hong Kong culture is a hundred times bigger than Hong Kong milk tea (港式奶茶), Stone Slab Street (石板街), and Victoria harbour. The campaign doesn't answer the real problem strategically.

Why are fewer people coming? What's the current issue with Hong Kong's image? There is so much waiting to be answered. But we don't see it in the campaign.

In addition, the overall style is dated and stereotyped. Finally, we don't see the production value and quality. There are so many things that I don't understand. Is it about the budget? Or approval procedures? Or the tender process? I know that criticising is easy, but I think Hong Kong deserves a better campaign. No offense, and with all the respect.

Judd Christie, managing director & former ECD, Uniplan HK 

The campaign and the associated ticket giveaway will play a role in assisting with putting Hong Kong back on people’s minds across the region. I am sure that once visitors get a renewed sense of Hong Kong and see what is on offer and share these experiences on social this will help towards creating a more positive impression for Hong Kong. However, I do feel this was somewhat of a missed opportunity.

To me the “Hello Hong Kong” slogan is not strong enough to stand out.

The best slogans are the ones that give an insight into the culture of a place, they reveal something of a place's unique personality, or landscape - they tell a story that reveals itself, subtly or not so subtly. The Hello Hong Kong slogan is at best a reminder to the world that we are still here, there is nothing else under the surface of this line, nothing quirky, nothing that captures the humour or achievements of Hong Kong.

It fails to capture the confidence, personality or uniqueness of this city. It misses that extra layer of storytelling and authenticity, that could have created a deeper narrative.

This campaign needs to make a statement that will capture a potential visitors curiosity or help to fill them with a sense of wonder, inspiring them to make Hong Kong their next destination. I tend to think this campaign just reminds somebody who already loves the place that we are open again, but maybe as a first step into rebuilding our cities brand that can be seen as a safe and worthy start. But I think we should aim for more than that, with a playful local language such as Cantonese I would have liked to have seen a slogan that incorporated or captured some of this attitude and humour. 

The campaign could then have re-enforced this message with strong storytelling that truly captured the personality of Hong Kong providing some of that same sense of excitement and energy many of us felt when we arrived in this city for the first time.

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