Chris Kyme’s Postcard from Hong Kong: Are you up for the Kam Funs?

Chris Kyme (pictured above) continues his ‘Postcard from Hong Kong’ series. For better or worse, I’ve had a longstanding relationship with the Kam Fan Awards in Hong Kong.

For those less familiar with the show, the name Kam Fan means ‘Golden Junk’, and it’s still the most important showcase of Hong Kong creativity here, and the only one still respected on the global creative stage due to the simple fact that it continues to invite top notch creative judges from around the world.

That wasn’t always the case back in the day. My first brush with it was, not long after arriving here fresh from the UK, I’d spent months honing and refining a major TV campaign for a milk client at Leo Burnett, which by all accounts among people with good judgement was “a sure fire winner”.

Then, just as it was about to run, and would still qualify for entry, had the plug pulled on it by the company CEO at the last minute, who wanted the agency to go back to “something more traditional” (which I refused to get involved in).

So livid was I, so frustrated, frothing at the mouth and gobsmacked, I vowed to jump out of a window unless they run it, and eventually eschewed the show on the night, instead acquainting myself with the establishments of Wanchai for some serious creative soul searching (went out and got shitfaced in other words).

Since then, I’ve enjoyed a love hate relationship with the event over the years.

I’ve been co-Chairman of the jury several times, along with respected industry leaders such as Kitty Lun and the late and much loved Jimmy Lam.

I’ve performed comedy onstage, including in full drag (didn’t take much persuading to be honest), been guest MC on a few occasions, and along the way, picked up a few gongs too (from every one of the few agencies I have worked at I might add, including my current one).

The Kam Fans to me is like a recurring dream. It keeps coming back.

These days not least because current Executive Director Onie Chu (pictured below) is so infectiously passionate about her baby that you can’t help but give her all the support she needs.

So I am. I popped in to see Onie recently for a catch up and find out what’s in store with the coming show in March.

This year sees the 41st year of the show. According to Onie “We are very close to finalising the jury, a few of them need a bit more time to confirm their schedules. But so far, we can already say out loud that we will have Stephen Roger, Group Creative Director, Droga5 Dublin; Ashish Chakvavarty, Managing Partner and Chief Creative Officer of Garage Worldwide, and Maan Bautista, Executive Creative Director of VML Manila, forming part of the Creative Jury!!!!”

And there are new categories this year. One is Hong Kong Unlimited, open to any work that was conceptualised and created in Hong Kong, but ran outside of Hong Kong, and a category for Creative B2B.

And then our conversation turned to clients. Onie expressed the need to see more bravery from clients, driving or allowing agencies to challenge status quo.

I’d second that (mind you, it’s a point that only counts in the cases where the entries involve work actually SEEN by clients).

But given that last year there were quite a few winners from big name clients getting their two minutes of fame up on stage, we live in hope that this might have inspired some marketing folks to want to champion better creative work with a view to having their campaigns stand out a bit more.

So here’s a bit of a quick client-focused contenders roundup for this year, based on my own personal bit of sniffing around:

HSBC
From the Hongkong Bank Foundation, the charity arm of HSBC, and Food Angel the “Be My Playmate” campaign by Saatchi & Saatchi, which introduced a three-in-one physical game-set to spotlight the issue of loneliness among the elderly in Hong Kong. Also, the HSBC One+ membership programme, which offers enhanced digital financial tools, exclusive offers, and rewards to support young affluent customers.

Cathay Pacific
This is a client synonymous with award-winning campaigns over the years and they continue to inspire their agency folks at Publicis to produce the goods. This year we’ll see entries such as the Cathay Homecoming – the low altitude fly past that re-enacted the Kai Tak Landing held during the Hong Kong Rugby Sevens, and the AI-driven Cathay Cargo campaign, among others, both from Leo Burnett.

McDonalds
From their agency DDBBO….sorry I mean BBDO…last year’s 50th anniversary campaign ‘Back to the Beginning’, which included a long form nostalgic film starring Nicholas Tse, and an immersive exhibition at West Kowloon Cultural District.

PCW (Preface Coffee & Wine)
Preface will be entering their campaign with creative Stephen Chung of BYFA (Before You Find an Agency consultancy under Bees Group) as their marketing consultant for this innovative AI-focused coffee chain, which used provocative and playful copy lines in outdoor sites including on taxis.

Lee Kum Kee ‘Forever Flavors’
From Dentsu Hong Kong, a campaign which is a joint project between Lee Kum Kee and UNESCO to create “a living archive of unforgettable flavors”.

The entry deadline is Friday Jan 30th, and actual final final deadline is Feb 6th. So, still time to get in there people.

As I’ll likely show up on the night of March 17th, I’m anticipating that I’ll get an award as the only living fossil in the Hong Kong ad industry before they cart me off and put me as an exhibit in the M+ Museum. Ah well.

Here’s to the Kam Fans.

Read Chris Kyme’s recent Postcard’s from Hong Kong below:
Over qualified or over the hill?
Mind the (creative) gap
With a Sydney visitor
Christopher Lee, an inspiration to young Hong Kong hopefuls
From Tan Khiang to Tea Khiang