Distinguished Marketer ; Joseph Wong
MAESTRO EDO DE WAART was relatively unknown in Hong Kong outside the classical fans circles before he joined the Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra as artistic director and chief conductor in late 2004, so the orchestra's head of marketing, Joseph Wong, set to work to make him a household name.
With only a limited marketing, advertising and promotional budget for each concert, the effort required a major sponsor to start with.
Mr Wong came up with a name for the inauguration that secured sponsorship from major developer Hang Lung Properties, which was at the time marketing a luxury residential project in West Kowloon that carried the same name in Chinese as De Waart's inaugural concerts.
Together with two other sponsors, the HKPO raised
HK$2 million to fund two inaugural concerts by the maestro in Hong Kong and one in Shanghai. The amount set a new record of the biggest sponsorship for a single HKPO concert project.
