Book review: Made in Hong Kong - a history of advertising
Subtitled "How Hong Kong advertising found its true creative voice", Made in Hong Kong is an ambitious attempt to recount the history of advertising in the city.
by Chris Kyme with Tommy Cheng
WE Press
Subtitled "How Hong Kong advertising found its true creative voice", Made in Hong Kong is an ambitious attempt to recount the history of advertising in the city.
Written by experienced Hong Kong ad people Chris Kyme and Tommy Cheng, it charts the evolution of the city's advertising from a time when it barely existed, through a phase of expatriate-led expansion when it leaned heavily on foreign ideas, to a time when an authentic local creative voice emerged. It's an interesting story, but not always told particularly well.
On the plus side, Made in Hong Kong is authoritative and well researched, with plentiful quotes from the main people, and a decent range of illustrative photos of ad campaigns. It's good at providing context in the industry within wider changes in Hong Kong society, and at analysing how and why the sector rose and fell.
It details how the fusion of local and Western talent began in the 1960s with the formation of Ling McCann, a joint venture between local agency Ling Advertising, owned by three Shanghainese brothers, and American giant McCann Erickson, which started hiring local people in more senior positions than anyone had before.