Chris Kyme: Postcard from Hong Kong
Chris Kyme continues his “Postcards from…” series and this time his topic is what has been seen and heard recently in Hong Kong…
As tempted as I am to give a brief summary of England’s brilliant victory in Spain, I feel I should stay on track and look at anything interesting going on in our industry, (but that Raheem Sterling goal was very cool no?).
I usually try to focus on one interesting topic for these pieces about Hong Kong, but this month I felt like covering a few things which have caught me ears and eyes for different reasons. Kicking off (oops there I go again – football!) with Tikitiki Bowling Bar. Now here’s a strange one. About the only magazine I read regularly these days is The Economist. Not because I want a weekly informative overview about what’s going on in the world in business, politics and current affairs, but because if I carry it around people might think I’m half intelligent (although I do think the publication seems to have some anti-China agenda going on, which sometimes is a little too apparent).
Anyway, looking at the magazine with an advertising hat on, it’s always baffled me why almost all of the advertising that appears in The Economist is so completely banal. Boring. Predictable. And considering the supposed intellectual level of the readership (okay excluding yours truly), unintelligent. Not just in The Economist but business publications in general. Why is that? Surely it should be a stage whereby the most brilliant, thought-provoking advertising should appear.
And it’s because of this that I was stunned by the appearance of an extremely unorthodox (to put it mildly) one page special for Rikitiki Bowling Bar in Hong Kong. This has to go down as one of the most bizarre media insertions in the history of bowling bar advertising. Here we have a global publication with a readership profile which could probably be described as influential opinion leaders, and in the middle of their weekly global news update you plonk an ad for an entertainment venue in Sai Kung, Hong Kong. Just in case members of the Norwegian parliament were considering going for a bowl and a beer next weekend.
Now, despite the fact that the ad itself looks as if it’s not going to get entered into Cannes, One Show or D&AD (unless there’s a category for ‘Best use of multicoloured typography), I do get it from a certain perspective. Targeting the corporates for their next fun-filled event or company offsite training day. I get that. But even so, I did nearly spray my coffee all over the sofa when I turned the page. Watch this space. I do intend to find out more on this. I might wander up to Sai Kung one weekend.
I take a lot of public transport in Hong Kong, and like lifelong adman am always always nosing around at the outdoor work that’s out there. You seldom see anything of note of course, not just in Hong Kong but anywhere these days (why the hell is that? What a brilliant stage for doing great work..). Most of it is predictable and dull and we become immune to it really. So it’s quite nice when you spot something which is mildly more interesting. And so this campaign for Old Town Coffee drink did catch my eye the other day. Okay, it’s likely not going to turning up in the shows, but what the hell. I just thought, this is something different. Someone has thought about this. The charming illustrations with a sloth, which I assume has been chosen due to its relevance to ‘chilling out’. The whole bus design is clean and uncluttered, they separated the English and Chinese versions too, whereas most campaigns in Hong Kong try to cram in the kitchen sink with both languages and every logo under the sun. I actually don’t know who did it, but credit to whoever it is.
Lastly, a plug. I recently reconnected with an old Hong Kong English copywriting mucker who has since absconded from these shores (that makes him an ex expat I guess), who was telling me what he’s been up to, which included a book. John Fuery worked here during the 80s and 90s ‘heydays’ and was a lovable big bear of a creative bugger, eventually becoming Hong Kong’s go-to freelancer for English copy. Now residing in Ireland, his book ‘Good morning Mr Sh*ttybottom’ is a merry romp through his years in the industry which took him from Coventry to the more exotic shores of Saudi Arabia, Hong Kong, Vietnam, Kenya, Bahrain and Dubai.
Now if you were to have a natter with any number of ruffians who might recall some of those fun-filled years of the Hong Kong scene, hilarious stories would soon emerge, we all have them to tell. And John’s fond but fuzzy memories are no exception, hence the title of the book, of which he recounts a classic case of lost in translation between Chinese and English in daily agency life. A quick peruse of the contents gave me an inkling of what to expect, and for sure it’s an entertaining read that will ring more than a few bells for anyone who has enjoyed a globetrotting career in this mad bad business. If you want to pick up a copy, here’s the link.
Chris Kyme is Co-founder and Creative Director at Kymechow, Hong Kong
Don’t miss the best of Asia’s creative and award news. Sign up for the free Campaign Brief Asia Daily email newsletter. It takes just 30 seconds. CLICK HERE.