Telling it like it is turns potentially dreary New Territories' apartments into lifestyle homes to be coveted
IN A PROPERTY-CRAZED CITY like Hong Kong, anyone who lives here must have seen thousands of ads selling properties. Most tell you no more than how big they are, what perks you get and how it makes you feel like you are living anywhere else but Hong Kong.
But imagine an advertising campaign for a property development that mentions little about the flats. It also makes no attempt to fool you that the flats get wafted by Mediterranean breezes. In fact, it tells you straight that you will be living in Yuen Long - a district near the border that gets a bad rap for being far away, old and unattractive.
That was what 'YoHo Town - Transforming Residential Property into a Lifestyle Brand', a marketing campaign by Sun Hung Kai Real Estate Agency (SHKP), was about.
'In the campaign, we didn't mention anything such as sizes of the flats or what furnishing was included. That was not the main point. Rather, we were brand-building, and we wanted to promote happy living,' said Edgar Yang, marketing director of Sun Hung Kai Properties. 'YoHo represents a new life to the New Territories.'
YoHo Town is a 10-year mega town project, which means the developer will not wash its hands of you after you have signed the contract. Rather, the project is about building a brand that has sustainable value.
Another unconventional aspect of YoHo Town and its campaign is that instead of denying its location in an underdeveloped district, it states that in the next decade this is where the young and hip will want to be.