Leon Lai’s viral sensation marks the rise of digital advertising in Hong Kong
Hong Kong companies are using stars in their online ads as digital advertising in one of the world’s most connected cities threatens to overtake advertising on traditional media
Canto-pop star Leon Lai-ming’s deft crisis-handling last month, when he had to cancel the first of his comeback concerts at the Central harbourfront, couldn’t have come at a better time for Nestle marketing manager Kim Lam Ka-ki.
It was as if the company had hit the jackpot, says Lam, who was in charge of its instant coffee ad campaign.
The company had filmed a commercial for their Nescafe brand with Leon Lai that was scheduled for a month-long run on the Facebook platform. Released just after Lai became an accidental hero (praised for having better PR skills than Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying), the clip quickly went viral.
It has racked up more than four million views, making it the most-watched advert to be made in Hong Kong.
“The deal with Lai was finalised in March. It’s our first collaboration with him. Because we are doing an online campaign, we have to find a celebrity who is social-media savvy. Many celebrities have a big presence on Facebook and Instagram, but they don’t have Lai’s charm,” Lam says. (The singer has been dubbed the King of Golden Phrases because of his penchant for enigmatic comments.)
“We did research on the public response to his [social media] posts and found they had 99.4 per cent “like” and only 0.6 per cent “dislike”. For an online campaign to succeed, it’s important to find someone with few haters.”
