Top 5 companies in HK acing social media

Using social media daily is common for most of us in Hong Kong. According to the Digital 2022 Global Overview Report co-conducted by We Are Social and Hootsuite, there were 4.62 billion social media users around the world as of January 2022, representing year-on-year growth of more than 10% compared to January 2021. There were 424 million new social media users worldwide in the past year alone. The number of social media users is equivalent to more than 58% of the world’s total population. 

In Hong Kong specifically, there are about 6.44 million social media users as of 2021, representing approximately 85.6% of the population. Around 44.2% of users aged between 16 and 64 in Hong Kong use social media for brand research and 34.3% in the same age group use it for work. 

In light of the prevalence of social media, we turned to our Marketing Excellence Awards Hong Kong 2021 results to find out who our judges thought were the five best brands in Hong Kong that leveraged social media as part of their marketing campaigns. We've listed our top 5 winners alphabetically. Our list of brands 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 the execution of world-class campaigns.

DBS Bank (Hong Kong)

DBS Bank (Hong Kong)'s campaign "DBS Live Fresh: Dancing Light" was aimed at driving awareness and customer engagement, spurring Gen Zs to sign up for its Live Fresh credit card, The bank said the credit card market in the city consisted of a lot of rewards. As other banks emphasised rewards and points, DBS Bank (Hong Kong) took a fresh approach as it hoped to become part of a cultural conversation to truly engage with its target audience and connect with them at an emotional level.

The bank said it believed that the credit card should work seamlessly in every part of its target audience's experience. So it came up with a first-of-its-kind light dance competition “DBS Dancing Light”, providing an online platform to encourage its audience to really “live fresh” and dance to their beat. Dancing was special to our target audience.

To further elevate this idea, DBS Bank (Hong Kong) teamed up MIRROR's member Lokman Yeung and renowned local choreographer Alison to create a series of content through its “DBS Dancing Light” dance competition. The campaign contained multiple online touchpoints and content, including Facebook and Instagram posts and videos.

lululemon

The brand's campaign "Feel Closer to Your Run" was aimed at localising its brand image, telling Hongkongers that lululemon is a brand that understands its local audiences. It also hopes to raise awareness of its running offerings, improving product credibility and trial beyond yoga. 

Apart from focusing on the features of its products, lululemon emphasised runners' feelings to echo its brand vision of encouraging the audience to achieve holistic well-being. The brand featured four groups of Hong Kong, including couples, white-collar workers, parents, and run crew founders, to represent its audience. Lululemon spread their stories on social to bring the brand closer to people's lives. 

The brand also published its campaign video on its social platforms, in addition to the external platforms related to sports. To generate more publicity, the brand also invited runners to share their run, such as distance, pace and other micro moments, on social to encourage their family and friends to run. Lastly, lululemon also introduced products via videos, offering them more information about the products and their functionality.

Ocean Park Hong Kong

Aimed at conveying educational and conservation messages regularly and encouraging the public to preserve nature, Ocean Park Hong Kong has launched a campaign to stay connected with the audience. The park produced a variety of engaging content for different social media platforms under two main content pillars, namely “animals and nature” and “virtual park experience". 

A series of short videos showcasing a wide spectrum of animals were produced to allow the audience to understand their daily lives and the park's efforts. To further amuse the audience, the park also leveraged social media to allow the audience to witness the birth and growth of newborn animals, such as members of the penguin, otter, and monkey families.

Apart from the animals, the park also produced educational videos for kids to enjoy and learn. Children can learn from games, handcrafts and exercises about nature and conservation. A series of Facebook posts were also created to help drive traffic to the park's YouTube channel.

Moreover, the park has also produced some time-lapse videos, telling the hidden beauty of the park. A unique virtual ride experience and entertainment programmes were included too. 

TamJai SamGor

TamJai SamGor's campaign "A Taste of Memories" leveraged the biggest dilemma among Hongkongers right now: staying or leaving the city. The brand created a story centred on memories. The brand said, " While the environment could be different, the bonds between people will never change."

MIRROR's Ian Chan was the main character of the campaign video. He went to TamJai SamGor to have rice noodles when he was a student. When returning to Hong Kong after living abroad for several years, he decided to visit the store again and a bowl of rice noodles recalled his memories of the good old days.

The video was launched online and aired on ViuTV, in addition to OOH touchpoints. User-generated Instagram filters, animations, YouTube videos and creative posts can be found online. TamJai SamGor further sustained the momentum by inviting its fans to share their "Taste of Memories’ by tagging their friends, as well as paying tribute and interacting with other local Hong Kong brands that contributed to our collective memories. User-generated Instagram filters, comic animation, YouTube videos and creative posts can be seen online. 

Moreover, the video attracted over 3.2 million video views, more than 30k engagements and over 5,000 organic shares across platforms. It also accumulated close to 10 million impressions across all digital channels. 

TamJai Yunnan Mixian

TamJai SamGor's sister brand TamJai Yunnan Mixian rolled out a campaign that resonated well with consumers last year. The Tamjai x Master 7 Mother’s Day Special campaign was aimed at building a positive brand image and increasing awareness of Tamjai Yunnan Mixian’s new signature dishes. Through the campaign, the brand also wanted to reinforce its down-to-earth local roots.

As such, Master 7 was chosen as she resonated well with Hongkongers, having starred in viuTV’s programmes. Alluding to its own brand reputation, Tamjai decided to turn Master 7 into a waitress who boasted a similar accent (thanks to her overseas experience) to that of Tamjai Yunnan Mixian’s waitresses. Tamjai Yunnan Mixian waitresses were well known for their accents. Tamjai Yunnan Mixian then launched a three-part campaign with the first part being the job interview. In the first part, Master 7 showcased her ability to be a team member of the brand, adding funny quotes, brand characteristics and the new product information. After which, the business also conducted two events for media and influencers before Master 7 went to a Tamjai Yunnan Mixian store to act as a waitress for a day, which created tons of buzz for the brand.

The brand said in a post that after receiving more than 5,000 likes on Facebook, it would invite Master 7 to be a waitress for one day. Eventually, Master 7 participated in the offline event at the Central flagship store which further generated more publicity for the brand. 

(Photo courtesy:123rf)

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