Chris Kyme’s Postcard from Hong Kong: Back to abnormal

Chris Kyme (pictured above) continues his ‘Postcard from Hong Kong’ series. This time he delves into a TBWA campaign that proudly promotes the fact that Hong Kong has never been normal.

Much has been written and said about the demise of Hong Kong in recent times, usually by people who don’t live here, or who once did, and are seeking to justify their reasons for leaving. Ah well. It’s all pretty bemusing to those of us who are still beavering away in this city of ups and downs and ongoing craziness. I can’t count how many times I’ve had to insist to friends or relatives overseas that we’re not living in North Korea and yes we are fine and life is fine. It’s good. It’s as sane as Hong Kong could be given what it’s been through over the years. And always the question “Is Hong Kong back to normal?’.

So, how delighted (not to mention a tad jealous) I was then when a new campaign recently emerged from TBWA Hong Kong based on the single simple premise that Hong Kong was never normal. And it’s so true. This crazy nutty city that is at once East meets West and East reinventing itself, where ancient old traditions and crafts coexist with unstoppable modernity at every corner and brilliant affordable (and less affordable)food can be found on every street. It’s a great idea and the kind of open, honest approach that the Hong Kong Tourism Board might well take heed of. Instead of cheery campaigns full of fake sunny smiles and celebrities, why not be honest – and proud – about who we are and why.

Curious to know more, I caught up with Joanne Lao, CEO of TBWA Greater China, and Terence Ling, Chief Strategy and Innovation Officer. So how did this all come about?

“For some time, it’s been obvious that the morale of Hong Kong people has not been at its best, exacerbated by the negative news headlines that Hong Kong had become too accustomed to. The business climate continued to be extremely challenging for many.

Then earlier this year, one of our strategists Annika posted a personal opinion piece about Hong Kong on LinkedIn (I remember this and recall it was really well received and was very entertaining – Chris). From the response, it was obvious that many felt that the narrative of Hong Kong was inauthentic compared to reality. This was an internal trigger, creating a huge desire to not accept the status quo.

As a creative company that has had a home in Hong Kong for more than 28 years, we felt compelled to use our creativity to start something that could share a fresh yet authentic perspective, restoking the pride HongKongers deserve to have.

This decision led to the start of an agency-wide team to crack this, and hopefully pull off something that could bring positive impact.”

I have to say, I have long felt Hong Hong’s image needed a new strategy to counter overseas negative perceptions, which to me, as with any brand with an image problem, you needed to get back to the basics. To “interrogate the brand until it confessed to its strengths” (can’t remember who said that but it wasn’t me). And TBWA did exactly that.

“At the beginning, we developed a few different strategic angles. At the time, one of the directions was “Hong Kong, Anything But Normal”. This direction got a lot of traction with the team, and with refinement, turned into “Hong Kong Never Normal”.

It was based on two insights. Firstly, while things may have changed in the last five years, the honest truth is that Hong Kong has never been normal in the first place; from the way it was born, to its upbringing, to the eccentric character it has developed into – how could HK ever be described as normal?

The most interesting, bizarre yet relatable idiosyncracies are all over the city. It has one of the world’s highest density of people and Rolls-Royce cars at the same time. It has the one of the world’s most beautiful country parks, as well as the world’s most spectacular harbour lined by award-winning sky-scrapers — within 30 minutes of each other. The length of a queue for a pair of limited-edition sneakers worth HK$3,000, is the same length of the queue for a bowl of tomato macaroni soup from a dai pai dong worth HK$30, in the same area, during the same lunch hour. The list just goes on and on and it’s across all parts of life — extraordinary stories across our culture, lifestyle, places, people and even brands.

Secondly, “Hong Kong Never Normal” answered a question that gets asked too frequently: “Is Hong Kong back to normal?”. This immediately resonated with many people that we talked to who either travel abroad frequently or who had recently visited Hong Kong.

Hong Kong Never Normal” has turned into a platform that celebrates the creative, entreprenuerial and resilient spirit that makes this city what it is. And after careful Chinese exploration we found “非常港” which means both “very Hong Kong” and “extraordinary Hong Kong”. Perfect to reflect the spirt that takes pride in embracing the never normal. The strategy and the creative idea were one. It was beautifully simple.”

I love the fact that it also works in Chinese and a slightly different way. Over the years I’ve seen various iterations of ‘only in Hong Kong’, stuff we live with and witness and roll our eyes at that could only be found here. And like many here who have seen it unfold (it’s been met with universal praise) the question comes up – who’s behind it? Is it a paid client project or what? Joanne and Terence were pretty upfront about this.

“At this stage, this is a non-profit initiative and a passion-project by TBWA. We went out to find likeminded big and small brands, and individuals with roots in Hong Kong who shared our passion and perspective. We sought partners for two purposes. Firstly to create scale, and secondly, to share their never normal stories with pride and confidence. While some provided financial support, we also had sponsorship-in-kind, media support, referrals from partners to other like-minded parties, and extensive combined efforts to create stories worth sharing. Along the way, our partners have also shared feedback and ideas to make the initiative even stronger. All our financial support has been used to cover third party costs such as production. We were very fortunate to receive media exposure from our official media partner — South China Morning Post, as well as OOH media partners and brand partners with strong media platforms. Additionally, influencers who have supported the campaign have joined us because they love the idea, not as commercial transactions. This is a 100% private sector initiative and we’ve had to make the most out of a very small budget to make this happen.”

The other question I had was, is this something Hong Kong Tourism should be getting behind and had they been approached? “To clarify, this is not intended to be a tourism drive. Our goal is pride and our target is HongKongers. It’s great if they shared the content to their friends elsewhere as well, but that would be a by-product. Out of courtesy, we did inform relevant government parties but we did not seek any funding nor any support from them. Again, this is a grass-roots initiative all within the private sector: our partners, our influencers and ourselves, all voluntarily.”

So when its launch has all died down a bit, I’m then wondering what the main objectives are. Where does it go next, is it something which will grow and evolve?

We see “Hong Kong Never Normal” as more than a campaign. It’s a platform that’s just getting started with this launch phase that you’re seeing. We’re planning to do further collaborate with our newly formed community of brands, influencers and creators. The platform has the potential to do much more and we certainly welcome more likeminded partners to reach out and join us with their ideas. While our goal has been to target locals as the priority, from the feedback we have received so far, it could have the potential to resonate with a more global audience as it’s a narrative that tells a story of what makes Hong Kong so unique.”

As someone who has lived and worked here for more years than I would honestly like to confess to, I love it. I’d love to see it grow into more and it’s got so much potential. It got me thinking about all of my own experiences in the city. I remember once in my early years of living here, I had been out at night and lost my keys somehow and couldn’t get back into my apartment. Knowing I had a cleaning lady come on Saturday mornings, I did the next best thing and sought a bench in the nearby park to kip on until morning. I woke up at dawn, looked around with blurry eyes, to see myself surrounded by groups of locals, young and old, all peacefully engaging in beautiful Tai Chi movements, with some playing soothing Chinese music. It was surreal and my first thought emerging from my slumber was “Where am I?”

As the campaign says, Hong Kong has never been normal.

View the campaign here, or learn more about the campaign on Instagram here.