DOUGH BROS: CANTO POPPIN’ GOOOOOOOD!!!
- Hans Ebert
- 11 minutes ago
- 2 min read
It’s all in the packaging, and, at least for me and some of my friends, there’s something about the Dough Bros brand in Hong Kong that draws people in- those who might be considered the “right crowd”.
It’s been a very long time since Hong Kong has had what some might consider a “cool and cost effective” brand even if selling only pizzas and donuts.
Having worked on the McDonald’s brand for over twenty years when in advertising, and being in Hong Kong to see the opening of its first outlet in Paterson Street, one learned much about branding, marketing, strategic thinking and the difference between promotions and PR.
Extremely key was knowing one’s primary and secondary markets, how one size doesn’t fit all and the dangers of mixed messaging in a bilingual city.
For me, McDonald’s, and working and learning about life and the way forward from a visionary like Keith Reinhard, my mentor in advertising, and the brilliant Chairman of McDonald’s Hong Kong and China in Daniel Ng, was the best school of advertising and marketing one could have attended.
Working with these professionals took away the guesswork and what I see too often today- gremlins flailing in the dark with no idea of what is effective marketing, and instead, caught up in predictability and what they believe advertising should look like because of something seen somewhere.
The result: Not much originality and another expensive exercise in failure.
These are early days for Dough Bros in Hong Kong, and from its packaging in every use of the word to the clever use of online marketing and advertising, here’s what’s very probably, the coolest brand in the city.
Not everyone is drawn to be seen in six star hotels and Michelin star restaurants as this might look rather faux and superficial to some.
Different strokes for different folks and all that.
If, however, in the mood for a damn good pizza and a very juicy chocolate donut, whatever it is that the Dough Bros are doing with their marketing is working.
Will this current popularity be sustainable?
Who knows what the future might hold, and how consumer demands might change?
For right here and now, and with so many startups and some bigly fall downs, Dough Bros is working by somehow attracting a younger, and more internationalised local crowd than seen in a restaurant or takeaway outlet in Hong Kong in a very long time.
It’s kinda what the launch of McDonald’s was in the Hong Kong that I remember.
This augurs well for the future of a rather old school city that exists today and in dire need of a Wake Up Call for a generation wanting something new and young and fresh to take them away from the doldrums of dullness, dullards and TikTok predictability and vapidity.
How the Dough Bros brand does in Hong Kong just might be what’s needed to attract the next wave of young entrepreneurs- those with something new to offer the right customer group even as quickly as tomorrow.
No one has time for another song and dance with no one leading and everyone aimlessly going around and around in circles and failing before even getting to the starting gates.
Comments