Chris Kyme’s Postcard from Hong Kong: In search of Hong Kong (yet again)

Chris Kyme (pictured above) continues his ‘Postcard from Hong Kong’ series, following this week’s 4As event.

Years ago I had a feature in Campaign Brief Asia on the back of a presentation I gave at Cannes ‘In search of Hong Kong’ about how Hong Kong advertising had found its true creative voice. That story eventually turned into a book (after more than a few bottles of wine) and meanwhile a lot happened in Hong Kong as you may have heard.

Fast forward a couple of decades and I find myself rubbing shoulders with the young and not so young at the first of a new series of Hong Kong 4As ‘Happy Ad Hour’ sessions. And why not? We don’t seem to have that community spirit in the local creative industry anymore and it’s high time we did and who better than play host than the local 4As when it comes to starting a conversation about improving local creativity in advertising.

Thrown right in the deep end I was invited to be the first to pipe up on the subject (no, really?) and without wishing to drone on about the usual “whatever happened to great work?” tired old whine, I set off to clarify a few things. One was, while we see one or two Hong Kong agencies piling up the gongs every year around the region and global scene, these do tend to usually be derived from ‘agency initiative work’. So first question was, why is there such a significant gap in quality between those campaigns and that which we see around us every day?

There’s nothing wrong with agencies going after glory with concocted projects, but it’s of little or no interest to anyone but those involved (and their award-luvvy buddies). I’m much more concerned about the image of the industry, speaking as someone who grew up on a diet of great advertising which fed into my desire to want to be someone doing it.

The mainstream advertising which the general public get exposed to via all channels.

When the general output is wallpapery boring dross, then that’s how the industry is viewed. So why should clients respect us? And why would talented young people want to get into the industry. What are we missing here?

So I lit this fire and it sparked off some interesting debate. I was absolutely so impressed to see a stellar turn out from some of the Hong Kong agencies’ bright young things, who took an interest and chipped in with their views. It was a healthy session all in all and some of the comments as to why most advertising is what it is (not just in Hong Kong by the way, I have a feeling this is a universal issue) were to do with:
“Clients cutting budgets”,
“The industry is so different today”,
“We need better client relationships”
“KPIs and technology rule”
“Clients just want KOLs and celebrities”

All relevant for sure but I am still convinced there is a need for better training. Let’s start with clients. How to understand and appreciate better creativity in terms of delivering ROI? I do think better and more respectful mutual relationships between agencies and clients is key. If the trust is there, it leads to better work. I also think agency people today need better training in selling in good ideas to clients. Ideas which are brave and different don’t sell themselves. By nature the more unusual and therefore ‘risky’ work is likely to make clients uncomfortable investing in it, and therefore a lot of handholding and convincing is needed to reassure why ideas can be more effective (provided you’re being honest).

Anyway, who cares what I think? I asked Onie Chu, HK4As 4xecutive Director, who hosted and ran the show with her usual colourful banter, so why the nice gathering? She explained.

“I was once asked: is there a creative community in HK? Thinking about it, we have many private groups, but not necessarily a ‘community’ for the industry. Therefore, I think the best thing is to leverage our Happy Ad Hours. We do usually randomly organise Happy Hours for our agency people, friends and partners.”

So I get it and it’s a great idea. The industry needs to get together and talk and air opinions and who wants to turn down the chance for that over a few glasses of wine? But surely we can have objectives for the good of the industry beyond just some nice chatter? Yes says Onie. “On top of networking, we give it a purpose every time, and that’s why we call it Happy Ad Hour. This time, we started with the creatives, we have different generations coming together to chat about creativity. We will not only carry on with the creative discussions, but also bring in other communities including strategists, planners, media etc. HK4As is always the hub for the industry.”

With the local Kam Fan awards show looming, among others, this is a great way to start the year. In recent years it has been noted that Hong Kong creativity, apart from a few selected efforts, has taken a bit of a back seat across Asia, and we should be looking to amend that. It can only come from leadership, and the 4As has to play that role. Onie acknowledges this. “We have big trust in all our agencies and talents. And they all excel in their own right. But as an industry body, we hope to help energise the ecosystem, especially for the young talents to get involved. The Kam Fan Awards serves as a calibration of the whole year’s creativity, and it’s kind of like a race till the final stop that we celebrate. But we hope it’s not a lonely race, we seek ongoing engagements, sharing and interaction throughout the journey”.

Well I for one really appreciated the occasion, the frank open discussions, and also I hope it can be the beginning of some sort of creative movement to improve the quality of work and find a unique Hong Kong style. So here we are, in search of Hong Kong again.

Pictured: Kitty Lun, Tan Khiang, Stanley Wong, Eric Wong and Onie Chu.