Archive for October, 2005
October 28th, 2005 by Eshin
Ever since McD’s changed it’s slogan from “Everytime a Good Time” to “I’m lovin it”, it’s been a downhill slide for the Golden Arches. In a crass, let’s throw away the rule book, they’ve shipped in celebrities (in HK at least) to help sell their crap - Kelly Chen and Eason Chan to name but two. Celebrity endorsements for cheap, nasty (but delicious) junk food? I’m surprised that these celebrities even signed on for it given the blow it would be to their images. Well, hat’s off to Kelly Chen who wins the award for looking so fake in her enjoyment of the Big M.
The latest is Eason Chan. Not much of a fan (but apparently goes down a treat with the ladies over here), he appears in the latest McD’s promotional activities. Get this… you get teleported to a McD’s music zone where everyone is partying away reminiscent of an MTV’s Spring Break segment.
Yeah, right.
Anyone who’s been to a HK music event knows that it’s about as lively as washing your socks. When you look in-store at McD’s, take a look at the folks standing around and dancing on the tray mat illustration. They’re dancing alright but wait… what’s that… they’re all holding McD’s cups and burgers. This is definitely the party I want to be at… McShakes flying all over the place and the waft of grease mixing in with my date’s Issey Miyake. Oh right, I’m not the demographic… those pimply teenagers do go to parties like that and even if they don’t, they are too stupid to pick up on this gaff.
I await the arrival of a completely healthy menu into HK. Right now, the food is crap and I like it that way. But the signs of pretention are showing and before long, McD’s Hong Kong will be completely full of themselves. Bring back Ronald with his artificial colours and cheesy grin… it represents your food so well… why be ashamed of it?
October 28th, 2005 by Eshin
Perhaps it was a little stupid. Perhaps it was the fever working itself through my brain over lunch. But in any case, when you tell a prospective employer that you don’t really believe in quantitative data, you’ve pretty much shot yourself in the foot. The problem is that brand planning relies so much on consumer data that it’s easy for the job to become a matter of numbers and statistics, rather than qualitative data.
I still don’t believe in quantitative data. I mean, as a brand planner, who the hell really cares about how many hours that you spend watching TV…. or how many times you check your mail online? Does it really make for better branding understanding this data? Perhaps it does… but then one has to think back to the Apple “1984″ TVC and realize that it was shown only once during the SuperBowl.
Once. No product shot even.
Those Apple guys must have been crazy.
October 28th, 2005 by Eshin
Had a discussion with another blogger (you know who you are) about this great myth of mixes. There is this strange notion floating around the Asian community that a pairing of Asian and Caucasian seems to produce these eye-candy boys and girls. Would you believe, some girls (and their families) seem to condone dating a white guy simply on the off-chance that the mating shenanigans will produce the envy of their tenament block.
The situation is compounded by advertisers (whitening is in, so too are Eurasian models) and the fact that in some rare cases mixes are in fact hot…
[image:305:c]
Michelle Reis….
[image:304:c]
Amerie (Korean mix)…
Having said that… I know plenty of mixes that really aren’t that pretty at all… and the mix between Caucasian and Asian features just really goes all wrong.
Am I trying to make a racist point? Perhaps, but picking your future husband or wife on the basis that you “might” produce better looking children is a little fucked up. I did know a girl once that would only date white guys because she believed the myth so wholeheartedly.
If yer ugly and/or your spouse is ugly, don’t expect racial miracles. I’d point you in the direction of some examples, but that would just be cruel.
October 28th, 2005 by Eshin
I sometimes wonder why I am out of work over here and why I can’t get a job. I’m qualified for most of these jobs that float around the job websites but the language requirement seems to let me down. Looking at the state of advertising in Hong Kong, it’s sometimes atrocious. Short-termist, attention grabbing, crap.
My pet hate at the moment is the Harbour Green TVC by Sun Hung Kai. Ceo Living? Apparently, you need to be an ugly, ageing, white guy surrounded by beautiful, hot, young Chinese women. Yep, not a single guy graced the pools in the shots they showed. And not a single Chinese guy among them either. Perhaps I’m not the demographic audience but I just feel that the creative talent behind this are perpetuating this myth that only white folk become CEO’s and Chinese women have nothing better to do than to hang off the gravy train and chill at the pool. I’m sure it was part of the concept… oh wait, there was no concept… showing off the place with highly stylized footage isn’t exactly demonstrating “CEO Living”. Yeah, jerk-off CEO’s will be sitting in the CNN lounge with the lights down watching Christine Tan give them their latest fix. Oh, wait… they might actually be on concept.
My favourite brand at the moment? DBS Black. It gets you thinking on so many levels.
“Have you ever heard the sound of black?”
Enter the sound of a Ferrari engine. Class. Talk about using the TV to provide an innovative sensory appeal.
The other TVC with where you find black is almost poetic but not overly stylized (or perhaps more appropriately stylized) like the Harbour Green tat. It reminds me a little of the Guinness TVC’s in the UK. Thing is, it gets you to think. “Beluga eggs would fade into oblivion without it”…. Without black, the prestige wouldn’t even exist maybe? A suggestion, but one that bears thinking about. The writing simply suggests that without black a number of prestige icons wouldn’t be the same without it… can you do without DBS Black? Love it, and want to shake the copy writer’s hand on that one.
October 27th, 2005 by Eshin
So friggin sick today. Not sure it was the best thing in the world to drag myself out of bed for an interview, regardless of how much I needed that interview. Didn’t look like it would pan out so I guess I’m just kicking myself not cancelling it.
I guess it’s the culmination of stress building up over the last two months, and in particular, this past week, that’s got me laid low in bed these last two days. Doubt it’s the bird flu, but if my fever doesn’t break tomorrow, I’ll have to get it looked at. Really can’t afford this loss in time.
