Global
Promotions

Where in Hong Kong did Cannes Film Festival Best Director award winner Wong Kar Wai shoot In the Mood for Love, an art film that achieved fame in France and internationally through its nomination for the prestigious Palme d’Or? And what in Hong Kong inspired Paris-born English writer W. Somerset Maugham to write The Painted Veil, which had been adapted three times into films starring such Hollywood sensations as Greta Garbo and Naomi Watts?

These questions about “Hong Kong Stories, Hong Kong People”, the theme of our French promotion throughout the year, were answered in the show “Invitation au Voyage” of French culture TV channel ARTE, with which we created three episodes to trace the footsteps of Wong and Maugham, and the evolution of Sai Ying Pun, an eclectic neighbourhood that was once the centre of a plague and is today a modernised district preserving vestiges of old Hong Kong. Through the show, we enticed French consumers to dive right into the mesmerising culture of Hong Kong.

Arts and culture aside, we promoted Hong Kong’s culinary excellence riding on the success of our participation in last year’s Lyon Street Food Festival. We highlighted Sham Shui Po, the district of our neighbourhood campaign this year, where French gourmets could savour Michelin-recommended egg waffles and other authentic street food.

Supplementing these promotions, we ran an advertising campaign featuring Old Town Central and Sham Shui Po stories on digital platforms and distributed interesting contents on social media.

The Bordeaux Wine Festival (Bordeaux fête le vin), with which the Hong Kong Wine & Dine Festival is closely associated, celebrated its 20th anniversary in June 2018.

To deepen our partnerships with wine merchants in France, Hong Kong’s largest wine trading partner, we hosted a cocktail reception and dinner during the Bordeaux Wine Festival. Prior to the cocktail reception, we signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Bordeaux Greats Events – Office de Tourisme et des Congrès de Bordeaux Métropole on further cooperation on wine and food tourism promotion. The ceremony was witnessed by HKSAR Chief Executive Mrs Carrie Lam and Deputy Mayor of Bordeaux Mr Stephan Delaux.

Taking the invaluable opportunity, we promoted the 2018 Hong Kong Wine & Dine Festival at the cocktail reception to encourage the participation of Bordeaux wine merchants. We also invited three Hong Kong Michelin-starred chefs to present their signature dishes at the event to indulge the guests with Hong Kong’s culinary excellence.

Germany is known for its cool music scene. In 2018, our Frankfurt office facilitated the production of the music video of German duo Die Lochis’ new song Superman in Hong Kong. In the music video, the twin brothers were seen hopping on the iconic tram, taking a helicopter ride above Victoria Harbour, and walking around some of Hong Kong’s hippest neighbourhoods. The video was released in November 2018 on Die Lochis’ YouTube channel, which was followed by 2.7 million fans. The video, together with pictures on the duo’s Instagram, Facebook and Twitter, projected the hip and trendy image of Hong Kong to German consumers, particularly the young segment.

In the market, we also provided social media contents related to our events, neighbourhood campaign and core experiences to our German trade partners, including airlines and tour operators, on a regular basis to sustain Hong Kong’s presence year-round.

In the UK, we established a year-long strategic media partnership with esteemed news brand The Guardian to arouse interest in neighbourhoods, including Old Town Central and Sham Shui Po, as well as Hong Kong’s mega events and core experiences, through sponsored and commissioned articles, feature galleries, and social media contents.

Meanwhile, we pitched and partnered with TV, print and online media during various promotional windows to target different consumer segments. For example, we leveraged some of the most read nationwide media, such as the BBC, The Independent and The Sunday Times to disseminate unique stories of Hong Kong neighbourhoods, and engaged sports magazines like Cyclist Magazine, Bike Radar and Cycling Plus to promote Hong Kong Cyclothon and Great Outdoors Hong Kong.

We continued to engage the travel trade, with a focus on the cruise tourism during the year in review, working with the UK-based Iglu Cruise and Planet Cruise to promote fly-cruise itineraries with at least two nights in Hong Kong.