Peter Millward never would have guessed his iron stomach would end up being a career asset. In 1990, a colleague at a local music-production company, Eddie Chung, took him out for yum cha, and a great friendship was born.
'He fed me cow intestines, and I really liked it,' says the fortysomething former Londoner of Chung. 'We became friends.'
In 1997, the two formed their own music production company, Drum Music, which since then has worked on TV commercials for at least 2,000 companies.
They invested their money in a digital sound studio in Causeway Bay. Working with all the big advertising agencies in Hong Kong, Millward and Chung brought in top session musicians to play and sing their jingles.
A year ago they hired two composers, Eugene Pao and Clement Fung. 'You name a brand in Asia - we've done it,' says Millward, citing most of McDonald's spots in China, as well as Coca-Cola.
Hongkongers may remember a tune Drum Music came up with for the Pacific Place mall several years ago, featuring the lyrics, Have you seen the man in black? / Walking down the railroad track / Have you seen the way he's looking at you? / Have you heard the question - do you know what to do? 'It got played a lot,' Millward says. 'It drove people crazy.'
Now that they're established in Hong Kong, the partners hope to open a branch in Shanghai in the next six months, to take advantage of China's growing advertising market. 'They're all slowly increasing their ad spending,' says Millward. 'People can afford to buy televisions. The government is slowly relaxing what can be in advertisements.'