With temperatures in Hong Kong starting to soar, local advertising campaigns for deodorant products rose in April to more than triple the amount spent a year earlier.
Media-monitoring firm admanGo yesterday reported total advertising spending in the city grew 18 per cent to a new April record of HK$2.81 billion, from HK$2.38 billion the previous year. The growth came on the back of summer campaigns for deodorants, beverages and travel services, as well as targeted marketing by Citibank, LG Electronics and Cheung Kong (Holdings).
The top-spending deodorant brands last month included Lynx, Rexona and Dove from British-Dutch consumer goods giant Unilever, Enchanteur from Singapore-based Wipro Unza, Playboy, Nivea, and Kiehl's from French group L'Oreal.
Spending for their body-odour campaigns totalled a record HK$4.09 million last month, compared with HK$1.08 million a year ago, led by the HK$2.72 million spent to support the launch of Lynx in Hong Kong.
'Both Lynx and Rexona spent more than 90 per cent of their ad budgets in campaigns on [various] television channels,' said Jennifer Ma, director of sales and marketing at admanGo. 'This means marketers still believe that TV is the preferred medium to introduce a new brand.'
Deodorants are listed under the toiletries and household advertising sector, where spending last month increased 5 per cent year on year to HK$167.26 million.