HK commercials prove hit
COMMERCIALS created in Hong Kong earned top awards recently at industry shows in New York and Hong Kong.
Cathay Pacific's 'Heart of Asia' campaign by McCann-Erickson Hong Kong won the Gold Medallion in the tourism and travel category at the first Advertising and Marketing Effectiveness Awards in New York.
'Heart of Asia', launched in September 1994, was a major 'brand re-staging' campaign.
It was praised by judges for its Asian perspective and 'unique, relevant positioning vis-a-vis its competition'.
McCann-Erickson's creative director, James Lau, said it took a special environment to create the Cathay campaign.
'Two key ingredients are a good product and good client,' he said.
At the ATV 1995 Television Commercial Awards held recently in Hong Kong, Canto pop diva Faye Wong (above) was voted 'Most Popular Female Celebrity in a TV Commercial' for her appearance in Virgin Atlantic's 'Extraordinary' campaign.
Virgin's regional general manager, Mark Siladi, said he knew little about the singer's popularity when the campaign was launched last year.
'I was new to Hong Kong and knew little about local music. The creative talents of our advertising agency [Thompson Megacom] combined with Faye's style set the pace of our successful and popular campaign,' he said.
Hutchison Paging's bomb disposal advertisement, featuring singer Leon Lai, was voted 'Best Commercial', while singer Emil Chow captured 'Most Popular Male Celebrity' and 'Outstanding Commercial Score' for the TSL Jewellery Company ads.
