AS IN THE Canto-pop business, so too is the business of tuition services. One man claims to be a 'heavenly king' among tutors, a reference to four leading Hong Kong pop singers of the late 90s. And in a recent promotion, a tutor appeared in a TV commercial as the hero from Chen Kaige's fantasy epic, The Promise. Today's tutors are increasingly being marketed as stars.
In a bid to lure students, tutorial chains including Beacon College, Modern Education and King's Glory Education Centre have adopted some unorthodox marketing strategies. Faces have been plastered across billboards, on buses and in newspapers and magazines - Simon Chiang's your man for biology, Dick Hui for maths, and economics students can look to Kevin Ko, or Ko Sir.
Hon Yat-sum, a form five student sitting for public exams at the end of the month, enrolled in a major tutorial chain after spotting ads of its star teachers on a bus. 'I chose those teachers because they look professional,' he says.
Beacon founders June Leung Ho-ki and Ng King-hong - better known as Richard Eng - were among the first to spot the potential of star power to boost the tuition business.
When they opened their first centre in Yuen Long 15 years ago, classes were made up mostly of friends and siblings of former students. Realising it wouldn't be viable long-term, Eng came up with the idea of making the teacher the focus of the promotional material. 'The teacher is more important than the school, so you should advertise the person,' he says. 'I majored in marketing, so I know promotion is very important.
'Then I thought, 'Why can't I be like a pop star?' Not in show business, but in the tutorial field.'