Chris Kyme: Postcard from Hong Kong

In Hong Kong Advertising, life is many things says Chris Kyme in his latest Postcard from Hong Kong.

Many years ago there was a slogan used for the Hong Kong Tourism Board which said ‘City of Life’. Now I’ve always felt that this was an apt summary of this amazing city, which is not only vibrant and bustling at all hours, but is also such a diverse and fascinating blend of different lifestyles and cultures.

Life moves on however, and since then, Hong Kong has abandoned its tagline to adopt newer ones more relevant to its tourism strategy of recent years. Such as ‘City of baby formula’ and ‘City of lots of jewellery shops’.

Nonetheless, it seems that the Hong Kong advertising industry, encouraged by some very supportive clients, has taken the lead to ensure that Hong Kong’s reputation as the ‘City of Life’ remains intact.

So in recent times we’ve had ad campaigns brilliantly founded on different interpretations as to what life is all about. There has been ‘Life is beautiful’ for a high-end mall (where your bank account has to be beautiful to shop), ‘Life is like sushi’ for a chain of Japanese restaurants (this one I’m still trying to figure out because when I wake up full of the joys of summer, raw fish is not the first thing that springs to mind when grasping for descriptive expressions to sum it all up), and lately a poster for a well known soft drinks brand which claims that ‘Life is sparkling’. Which on certain days, like when you’ve just got a new job or won a pitch, then yes. You can buy into. Although I hazard a guess that if you were to do some dipstick research among the often glum looking hardworking public on any given day, words like beautiful and sparkling might not get the vote. Life’s a bitch, maybe.

And then this week I caught yet another, ‘Life is a carnival’ states a well known local property company. And I’m glad to know that because a bit of carnival spirit has been missing from the streets of late, given how crappy the weather has been.

Anyway. I’m looking forward to see what other surprising interpretations we are going to get as this current trend in copywriting shows no signs of abating, and can be said to be closely related to ‘The Art Of..’.

Many critics of Hong Kong have always held that it lacks a strong sense of art and culture, and I beg to differ. Over the years we’ve had ‘The art of living’, ‘The art of shopping’, ‘The art of dining’ and ‘The art of art festivals.

In fact, if you look closely, art is everywhere in the city of life.

Chris Kyme is chief executive officer at Kymechow, Hong Kong.

Read Chris’ first Postcard from Hong Kong.