Sars crisis emptied bars but led to NDN advertising revolution

New Digital Noise is a textbook example of how a devastating crisis can be turned into a golden opportunity.

After graduating from the University of British Columbia in Canada, Andy Ann, winner of this year's Young Entrepreneur award, returned to Hong Kong, where he was snatched up by a prestigious 4A advertising agency. Within three months, he realised that the corporate life wasn't for him. As a result, he quit his job and went about setting up his own agency.

'I liked doing pitches and presentations, but I was only an account executive,' said Mr Ann, chief executive and managing director at New Digital Noise. 'I would have needed to wait another three to five years to get a promotion before I could start doing this. I wanted a more aggressive career path.'

With fire in his belly, Mr Ann rented a small office in 2002 and started picking up the phone. After spending the day making cold calls, he would head for Lan Kwai Fong, where he quickly became friends with staff at a host of food and beverage establishments.

'I used to party a lot,' he said. 'At the beginning, I just knew the staff. Slowly I started meeting the owners.'

One of the things that Mr Ann noticed as he prowled the clubs lining D'Aguilar and Wyndham streets was that most of them only promoted two things: alcohol and cigarettes. This made him wonder if there might be a market for the promotion of various other types of consumer goods.