Campaigns' sweet smell of success
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.
The beverage sector boosted its advertising spending 41 per cent year on year to HK$160.88 million, a new record last month from HK$113.87 million a year earlier, due largely to campaigns for vitamin and energy drinks.
Coca-Cola, which sells its famous soft drink and a range of beverages in Hong Kong, grew its advertising spending 158 per cent year on year to HK$20 million last month.
It was the fifth top-spending brand last month, behind market leader Citibank, Wyeth, LG Electronics and Samsung Electronics.
According to admanGo, the travel and tourism sector raised advertising spending 42 per cent year on year to HK$114.99 million in time for Easter. Hong Kong Disneyland was this sector's top spender after shelling out HK$10 million for campaigns to mark its fifth anniversary.
Citibank's ad spending climbed 63 per cent year on year to HK$23.81 million last month with a sharpened focus on campaigns for its credit card debt consolidation business. It also sat atop the banking and investment services category, which lifted total spending 34 per cent year on year to a market-leading HK$302.14 million.
Advertising spending for Korean firm LG swelled 1,067 per cent year on year to HK$21.11 million last month. Nearly half of that amount was spent on promoting its Optimus 2X P990 smartphone.
Cheung Kong, ranked seventh among the city's top advertisers last month, increased spending 77 per cent year on year to HK$19.71 million.
