OF HONG KONG VIBES AND MORE HOT AIR.

It’s not often that I listen to most people in the often very materialistic Hong Kong, especially when they start talking about things like how rich someone is and wealth, while I am lost in my thoughts about being a time traveller.

When, however, a Hong Kong born friend started going on and on and on about how Hong Kong has “no vibe”, and “What we can do?” it kinda stopped me in my tracks and made me think what he meant by “vibes”.

My friend says many odd and goofy things, but talking about “vibes” is not one of them.

It made me think about something I have been saying and writing about for over a decade: It’s how people make a city.

From the grand exodus of largely young foreigners who made it out of Hong Kong about six years ago with hardly any “refills” other than budget tour groups from Shenzhen, what “vibes” does this city have?

Right now, what was once known as “Asia’s world city” doesn’t have much of anything to give it an edge.

It makes me wonder if this edge were the people it attracted because of the international community that was already here, and who created the illusion of those “vibes” by giving Hong Kong the inspiration to be more than it was and an extremely attractive product.

What really is the brand personality of Hong Kong Version 2025?

How is this brand personality being marketed internationally- and when Shenzhen is not international?

IS there anything to market and does Hong Kong even have a USP?

From where I sit it cannot be waiting for the other slipper to drop like having a hot air balloon show crash land and Hong Kong makes world news for more hot air.

https://www.marketing-interactive.com/hk-hot-air-balloon-festival-organiser-apologises-for-cancelling-flying-experiences

Having worked with Dr Daniel Ng when with the ad agency DDB to launch McDonald’s in Hong Kong, helped launch STARTV, with my friend Norman Cheng run the Regional offices of Universal Music and EMI Music, work with the biggest Chinese music artists in the world and create hits for them plus create the Happy Wednesday brand for the HKJC, I am not exactly a marketing boffin.

What I see these days in Hong Kong are those with possibly a modicum of an idea of what a marketing person might be given a weighty title to be who they are more than likely not prepared to be and so become sucked into the vortex of The Peter Principle.

Why does this happen? A lack of talent and which often means filling in the gaps in an organisation chart with whoever and whatever is out there and hoping they work out.

Instead of selling aspiration as we once did, Hong Kong is selling something akin to perspiration, and where there should be some semblance of style, there’s nouveau riche tackiness.

The HKJC, for example, is again spending billions of dollars, this time on what appears to be something of a copy of its venue called Eight in its billion dollar relatively new Clubhouse and something for budget tourism groups largely from Shenzhen and a Selfie Generation.

Maybe this type of product is the right carrot to dangle in front of the class of tourism that is apparently thundering into Hong Kong?

Personally speaking, despite the usual song and dance by the HKJC is this really a good ‘look’ for Hong Kong and for the people of Hong Kong to see and buy into?

Have they perhaps got just a teeny weeny tired of it?

Does the city need hugely expensive and gauche turn offs without any of the empathy that Hong Kong’s chief executive is busy trying to foster and help close that growing gap between the Haves and the Have Nots.

There’s no time like the present to get to the business of making Hong Kong work and not more lofty plans that will take years to complete.

There’s no time for this bs.

There’s a need for something that must be ready to work by tomorrow- for Hong Kong, and not more things that are haphazard and hastily put together and where nothing is clear nor sustainable.

Remember all the promotional work for those “Night Vibes”?

And how have these been enhanced over the past couple of years?

Surely, it comes down to communicating and persuading as many people as possible with the power to bring about change using the right building blocks- and understanding from what we have learned while finding answers as to what is needed now.

Too deep?

Too often, especially in the past decade, leaders, in business and otherwise, have spoken in riddles with many words thrown together, but words that don’t have substance and no bottom lines.

I’m a simple man which doesn’t mean being a simpleton or politician, and I return to this lack of a “vibe” and latest ballooning hot air flop.

There’s that fabulous song by Gordon Lightfoot where he sings about “how the feeling is gone and you just can’t get it back”. 

What has gone from Hong Kong is gone forever.

What’s next must be something we can really believe in instead of being presented with just more and more stuff and more faked out happy snaps of the usual suspects whose race was run years ago.

We need honesty in our lives and also reality bytes in how we feel about our home that is Hong Kong and what we want this home to be.

Enough of the corporate con jobs.

Hong Kong has almost always been taken for ride by those who have zero emotional commitment and connection to this city other than seeing it as their personal piggy bank.

There’s no ROI in this.

At least start by getting rid of these bad vibes and hot air and show that we are taking a new and positive path without the need for irrelevant bells and whistles and kumbaya photo opps that have become some very expensive and embarrassing photo oops.

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