What's in a name, asked the Bard. Plenty according to modern-day marketers who have created the 'brand' which impinges on every waking minute of our lives. From the box of cornflakes to start the day to the toothpaste we use at night, we are living in a branded world. This past week, we have had one of the most recognisable sporting brands in our midst - the All Blacks. But being Hong Kong, even the famous men in black have been able to traipse through crowded Causeway Bay in anonymity.
To find out if they were really obscure, we decided to do a survey, which we must point out was totally unscientific. A snap poll of the man on the street was undertaken to find out if Manchester United or the All Blacks were the more recognisable brand. Yes, we already knew the answer.
The ground rules for the poll were simple. We would buttonhole 10 people, all local Chinese. As you would expect, nine out of the 10 said Manchester United. The 10th, a woman, blushed and professed she had no knowledge of Man U. She was clutching a Ferragamo handbag, wore Gucci sunglasses, had on a pair of Calvin Klein jeans and teetered on what seemed to be Manolo Blahnik shoes. We should have asked her about her favourite Sex and the City episode rather than the All Blacks, which she thought was a new line of fashionwear.
Anyway, nine out of 10 knew about Manchester United, which goes to show what a powerful sporting brand they are. Only four people knew about the All Blacks. Before Richie McCaw and company sell their shares, let me hasten to add that finding four Chinese out of 10 who know about the All Blacks is a fabulous statistic. A 40 per cent strike rate in a city where rugby, nay sport, is still regarded as a waste of time and resources, is a magnificent response. So well done the All Blacks brand. And kudos to our visitors who leave us today.
The issue, however, is the importance of being recognised. If I had mentioned Jonah Lomu, I'm sure more people might have recognised the All Black brand. Big names help sell the brand. David Beckham is the classic example, along with Wayne Rooney. Last week, Richard Masters, the English Premier League's director of sales and marketing who was in town to announce details of Chelsea's visit to Hong Kong next summer for the Barclays Asia Trophy, hinted it would be major blow to the EPL if Rooney decided to switch to Serie A or La Liga.
Of course, that was all resolved with Rooney doing a U-turn and signing an extension to his contract, resulting in sighs of relief from the EPL and Manchester United, whose brands would have been badly affected.
The closest a Hong Kong athlete ever came to being a brand was Lee Lai-shan, who became one of the most recognisable faces in local sport after her windsurfing heroics at the Atlanta Olympics in 1996. It is a pity windsurfing is not a more spectator-friendly sport, otherwise she might have really gone places.
