As Hong Kong kicks and bucks, stumbles and tries to reboot itself by its straps into somehow looking attractive to international tourists, some of us wonder just how “international” this audience is, and can’t help but wonder about the city’s current Brand Personality.
What is it?
A cash voucher? Another 3-5 or 5-8 year plan for something or another that means nothing much to the outside world or those in Hong Kong who have entered their sunset years?
Is it a dumping ground for seemingly endless almost irrelevant shows and exhibitions and lacklustre events that come and go wearing hush puppies and with little or no audience?
All this everything that’s nothing paints a rather confusing picture of something like The Lost City Of The Incas.
From the dribble of cookie clutter bibs and bobs and dim sum baskets seemingly thrown together by different committees for no rhyme nor reason for the past few years, it appears that the government is hoping for potluck or are holding citywide bai san ceremonies asking for some divine intervention.
The words “hackneyed” and “random” come to mind when thinking of fairly recent vapid advertising campaigns like “Hello Hong Kong”, “Thank You Hong Kong”, the white suited and pimped out “night vibes” which was defused at birth, and other flip flops.
Many of these flops came through a very rich young scion of Hong Kong society and his team of free riders who were quickly proven to be amateurs.
It’s now painfully obvious that those who used their services don’t understand how marketing works, are taken in by certain family surnames, don’t know what is effective and compelling advertising, and don’t know what they’re doing nor where to start. And so they continue to bumble their way through hoping no one notices.
This must be stopped for the sake of Hongkongkind!!!
What has been produced over the past couple of years makes the most puerile work of the now dismantled GIS- the Government Information Services- and the goings on behind mysterious HarbourFest farce in 2003 with all its different potholes- look like creative masterclasses.
Wherefore art thou, Creativity, and where are you hiding in Hong Kong these days?
Of course, there’s creativity and then there’s “creativity”.
What the Hong Kong government keeps churning out at the old sausage factory is the latter- montages of overused Hong Kong stock footage against some bland library music and a voice over that just prattles on. There’s then some kind of logo at the end and that’s it.
What did we see?
Who cares, right?
This is the other problem: The “Who Cares?” Mantra that’s become part of the Hong Kong “vibe”.
The problem with constantly chanting this is that it leads to believing that nothing matters and becomes dangerously and “infectiously negative”.
If nothing matters, what the hell are we bothering to do anything while still here?
Why not form a coconut cult in Sri Lanka with Scandinavian beauties?
Surely it’s the role of the government to sell a Happy Hong Kong to the world- not with smiley buttons and butterflies and models posing with cornball cheese whizz smiles- but something that’s going to stop people in their tracks and connect them to the message?
Yes, like Nike did all those years ago with the challenging and inspirational Just Do It campaign. And the United Colours Of Benetton. The Christmas commercial from Coca-Cola about teaching the world to sing in perfect harmony.
People make any city and there’a need for all of us Hongkongers to somehow start feeling proud of being Hongkongers again.
Too much has allowed for too much time to break and become splintered and where one has to wonder where the community spirit has disappeared.
What are we doing to help create a new Hong Kong for these extremely different and difficult post pandemic times?
Complaining? Networking? Busy asleep at the wheel?
How about trying to put Humpty Dumpty Hong Kong together again?
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