An ethnic minority in Hong Kong remembers…
- Hans Ebert
- 10 minutes ago
- 3 min read
From the upcoming book “An ethnic minority in Hong Kong remembers…”
Who knows why we dream and what they mean and where they come from and whether someone or alien beings are sending you messages that you are meant to unravel?
Last night, after a very long time, I really deep dived into dreamland or that land that exists within us and we only hear through The Silence.
There I was watching the races from Happy Valley, pretty bored, astral travelling and posting goofy messages on the soulless Facebook online platform when I told Ada that I needed to be lost and found in The Silence of transcendental meditation.
Once there, I deep dived and was suddenly back in the world of advertising and working with copywriters and creative directors as one tremendously inspired team.
We were working to win at some international awards show with something that was hopefully going to be meaningful and exciting and inspiring and not some fluff guided by those dangling carrots of greed.
When I returned to the abnormality of today’s quasi normal, I thought about how much pride we had in the work we created to enter international advertising awards shows like the Clios in New York, the Cannes Gold Lion, the London Advertising Awards and the Kam Fan Awards.
I remember how much we respected the brilliant award winning design work of Henry Steiner- work that gave Hong Kong a brand personality.
I remember the pioneers in advertising in Hong Kong- Malcolm Glenn, Peter Thompson, James Wong, Philip Tse, Eunice Lam and those early production houses like AdPower and all the doors opened for so many of us by Charles Wang and his Salon Films.
There really should be a Charles Wang Award. It’s still not too late.
We dreamed big with those who we had things in common- Stasch, Clarke, Don, David, the incomparable “black rat” who was the late Tony Morias and who gave Hong Kong the Post Production House, and later Videopost, and all the parties he hosted for the advertising industry.
How did we repay him? We never did. Did we make the time to visit him when he needed it? We didn’t. Shame on us.
We might not have liked everyone, but looking back, this angst somehow made us more competitive and determined to win. And these wins made up our portfolios, which, in turn, opened new doors of opportunity for us and brave new worlds we never knew existed before.
Today?
Today, I often feel boxed in and without the camaraderie, creativity and inspiration to break free from the monotony of formulaic thinking and where the technology is the idea and everyone is a “digital creator”, “influencer”, “KOL” and are in “marketing”.
No, they’re not. Many are shameless fakirs caught up in a network of empty talk that travels nowhere.
As Bob Dylan said all those years ago, “You’re invisible now, you have no secrets to conceal”, and later reminded us that “He who ain’t busy being born is busy dyin’”.
Governments should understand all this and realise that inspiration doesn’t come with a price tag.
Not everyone is for sale.
Nor does the ability to create things that are relevant come from committee decisions and kowtowing to get jobs from those with some vague idea of what they want- but not what they need.
This, however, is what happens when boffins are put in charge or are voted in and our present and futures are in the hands of those who can only lead entire countries over the precipice.
No one seems to care because we have forgotten something else that Bob Dylan said: “Don’t follow leaders and watch your parking meters”.
We need to really start doing, because we’re not done yet, and nor do we have the time to wait for Quinn The Eskimo to get here before we can jump for joy.
Au contraire.
Being creative and creating is often the happiest and most beautiful and inspiring, and fulfilling process that we can experience and do for ourselves, because it’s medicine for the soul, and no one can tell you what to do.
The times they are a changing, but surely, each of us must be part of this change, because we are the world is not just some cheesy cornball song.
It’s our present and future and we must always OWN it- lock, stock and two smoking barrels!
Copyright ©️ Hans Ebert 2025
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