Ambitious Hong Kong club Kitchee are claiming a first for the local game today, as Cable TV's News 2 Channel starts screening their advert promoting Sunday's first division match against Buler Rangers at Hong Kong Stadium.
'I believe September 30 should go down in history,' declared Kitchee chief executive Ken Ng Kin. 'It's the first time a local club has bought time on TV to promote a local game.'
The club, who through this summer's exhibition matches against AC Milan and Newcastle United have made a rapid impression on the local professional game after only one season back in the first division, have bought 27 spots as part of a broader marketing campaign.
That campaign, which Ng claims has a budget totalling hundreds of thousands of dollars, is perhaps of greater significance as it represents the first concerted effort to halt the seemingly endless decline in attendances since Asia's first professional league peaked in the mid 1980s.
'If nobody does what we're doing the game is doomed. We can't be sure we can save it, but we're going to give it the best try we can,' declared Ng, a former referee who is president of computer firm EDPS Systems and also owns Newfair, who specialise in construction for conferences and exhibitions.
'The game needs selling and we're selling it. If it doesn't succeed at first we'll keep trying. I come from the IT industry where, if you spend $1 on developing software, a minimum of $1 more needs to be spent on marketing. It's no different for football.'
Ng readily concedes that not all of the strands of the club's drive will work. A slogan of 'Fighting with zest, Kitchee's the best!' for instance, might have looked clumsy even back in the days when footballs had laces. Equally the club's new mascot, a bluebird named 'Kitchai' (chai being a diminutive in Cantonese), gained a less-than-favourable response from the club's new-found supporters.
