Chris Kyme’s Post

Here's a great tourism attraction in Hong kong which will also appeal to many local residents too. Local Creative Director Michael Cheung has worked with Tai Kwun in Central to create a fascinating tribute to much loved past Hong kong popular culture icons and revisit the cherished memories of Hong Kong. From the vibrant Kowloon Walled City, and the community spirit of public housing corridors, to the warm atmosphere of cha chaan tengs, the joy of coming home for dinner after school or work, and the shared family moments of watching TV dramas such as the show "Enjoy Yourself Tonight." An era before iPhones, Facebook, and Instagram, when lives were intertwined with the music of the times, with a tribute to two legendary composers and lyricists. This is not just a nostalgic trip down memory lane, but a celebration of the present and a vision for the future. The exhibition and experience will run until September, step into the past.

Excellent piece by Andreas Krasser, CEO of DDB Hong Kong. Hope it forces the local industry to take a good hard look at itself.

Much has been written and said in criticism of the recent Hong Kong tourism campaign efforts recently. A part of that has been because of the poor execution and production values of the work. I personally feel that Hong Kong is home to some world class creative talents, so why aren’t they being utilised to promote the city to the outside world (I mean obviously they’re not)? Is it possible to have local flavours produced in a world class way? The answer is yes, and for proof of that, look no further than this excellent new film for the Cultural and Creative Industries Development Agency (CCIDA – formerly Create HK) conceived and shot by celebrated local artist and filmmaker Stanley Wong (AKA Anothermountainman 又一山人). Although only in Chinese right now (local audience) the message is to promote better creativity in Hong Kong. Uniquely Hong Kong in mood and style, this is how Hong Kong should be presenting itself. With pride, with confidence, with style. HKTB are you listening? https://lnkd.in/g_-hGj-R

What are the qualities that make a good creative director? Sometimes the most brilliant individual creative talents do not necessarily rise up to that role. Because it’s about leadership. About leading by example, as well as inspiring others and managing people.   When I’ve been asked in the past of people I know who have been shining examples of this, it’s easy enough to cite great advertising heroes. But one less obvious example who comes to my mind is George Clinton, the legendary funk pioneer.   Coming from a background in the 1950s, where he ran a barbershop with doo-wop singing as a neat side business, his musical talents soon became his main focus with his band The Parliaments. This morphed into Parliament, who, following in the footsteps of artists like James Brown and Sly Stone, basically reinvented the funk music genre in the 1970s.   But the George Clinton empire didn’t stop there. At one point he was overseeing the creative output of about 5 different bands, each with its own strong brand identity and music style, made up with, pretty much the same stable of musicians and vocalists all interacting with each other on various songs and albums.   Funkadelic, Bootsys Rubber Band, Parlet, The Brides of Funkenstein, they were all under the guidance and leadership of Clinton, who oversaw their output, managing egos along the way (sound familiar?).   This was not just for fun. Clinton had a strong business brain and knew how to maximise the potential of each idea, sometimes creating new bands to navigate complicated music label contract restrictions. He also knew talent when he saw it, seeking out some of the best musicians of the day to join his ‘Mothership’.  All the while continuing to create and evolve. Always the creative leader. (He invented rap before it even existed on tracks like Chocolate City and P-Funk.)   I was always inspired by him growing up and as I explored my own career in advertising, which eventually led to the role of creative director. And, while I’m no musician, I do explore the qualities that make a great creative director, as well as what the role entails, with my AdCademy workshop ‘Creating the Creative Directors’, hoping to inspire future leaders. Here’s the link to the site if you want to know more: www.kcadacad.com

It was a thoroughly lively discussion at the Marketing Society's event on the state of creativity in Hong Kong. As a panellist, one of the things I pointed out, to this particular audience, was that producing more creative (and effective) work was not the sole responsibility of agencies. Clients must want, must demand, better work. For that to happen there needs to be a push for better awareness of what that means. What do great advertising and online communications campaigns look like? What are the benchmarks and possibilities? Only then can those paying for it, and those producing it, begin to strive to raise the bar and stop accepting, and wasting precious money on, boring, typical, celebrity and happy happy consumer-ridden campaigns. And through that, help to improve the image of the industry so that future generations might actually want to be a part of it,

From copywriter to songwriter. It's not everyone who gets the chance to say they've written a hit song, but I can now confidentially say I've written a hiT Record. Sometime last year, I was invited by my good friend Tom Donald, who writes, performs and produces great soul, jazz, blues and rock tracks for his own online label hiT Records out of San Francisco, to come up some lyrics for an idea he had. So I did, having dabbled in bits and pieces of poetry over the years as we all do. Thinking that's as far as it would go, I went back to my day job. Meanwhile, Tom began exploring melodies..and taking my lumpen clay of some words, and shaping them into some sort of semblance of a song. Before I knew it (and with more crafting through his own musical talents than I can dare imagine) he had gathered some extremely talented people from his musicians community, and hey presto - it's a song, superbly sung with the gritty voice of vocalist Glenn Walters. Having been involved in the creation of music for advertising over the years, it was fascinating to see how an actual song gets produced. So have a listen, here it is up on You Tube. I was intrigued to be a part of the process, and I think the end result lay much more with Tom's professional musical talents than me being the next Paul Simon (I wish) but I feel honoured to have played a part in its creative development. It's called Send her back.

The newly launched Hong Hong Tourism Board campaign is asking Hong Kongers to be more welcoming. Brings to mind this campaign done in Singapore in the 1980s. Excellent work from the great Neil French at Batey Ads, the agency which created 'Singapore Girl, you're a great way to fly'..

I've always thought that, with much practice, and many years of experience, I'd become pretty good at presenting and selling in creative work to clients. Good work doesn't just sell itself (boring, predictable work does..in case you want an easy life). It takes skill, trust, honesty, confidence and belief. As well as fierce desire and not to mention a few crafty tricks. But recently I've had a couple of cases whereby I've failed. And in one case in particular, after seeing what eventually did run, I realised why. It was because the client team I was presenting to, did not have marketing experience. They did not have the confidence to sign off on a single minded decision for a campaign theme that I 100% believed was right for their brief. They were frightened to make that call. I couldn't figure out what the problem was at the time. I thought it was me. Then I saw something they ended up with, which was a kitchen-sink-of-a-poster, patching together a few individual thoughts to make up a headline. Of sorts. And even though we got paid, I hate failure. I hate letting clients down. So even I am still learning how to get ideas past clients of all types, all levels of experience. I also realised this is a good topic for training. So with AdCademy I've created a presentation and workshop on 'Selling creativity'. which I hope might be of interest to younger agency folks, and also, perhaps, to some in marketing jobs.  Here’s the link to the site if you want to know more: www.kcadacad.com

I’ve done a fair amount of product and company naming in my time. It can lead you down all sorts of absurd paths. But I can’t imagine the brainstorming sessions that took place to arrive at this for a retail fashion chain. “We something that refers to theatre.. or to stardom." "Oh and also recreation. Play. Lifestyle is important." " Yes and who does our audience aspire to be? A king? A lord. God even?". They see themselves as God." "Okay, so what we have then is, it should be for play-loving Gods who are theatrical..who love the stage.. " "Hey, I've got it.."