WHY DOES IT TAKE A TRAGEDY TO BRING US TOGETHER?
- Hans Ebert
- 37 minutes ago
- 7 min read
There’s an eerie silence around me these days of my own doing.
Maybe, I am wrong- hard to believe, I know- but even those I once loved and some with whom I lived are coming across being less than the sharpest tools in the shed.
I am also seeing an appalling lack of inspirational leaders in every industry and with most having mediocre leadership skills and which means being surrounded by subservient hires to do their bidding.
Something very important to our lives- creativity- has been lost in the wash or rinsed out.
The fires in Hong Kong this week have changed many of us forever.
For myself, I believe that to move forward, I must let go of the past and be suspicious of who and what I allow into my present.
As a writer, I write and my words take me to where I need to go at any particular time and address things on my mind because my inner self is talking to me about what can be done about subjects I know pretty well- like the world of entertainment and the importance of A&R skills.
I have said my piece about the fires in Hong Kong, about my utmost respect for the firefighters and other first responders, and about where an organisation like the Hong Kong Jockey Club’s Charities Trust fits in and how any financial donations made should come from the right place.
Though it’s good to hear that the races on Sunday will be held “behind closed doors” and with all turnover for this day going towards those affected by the fires, it still pales behind the HK$14 BILLION spent on the renovations made over a certain period of time that includes the constantly mentioned new Members carpark.
I’m putting this subject aside for the time being and moving to another space in time that again has to do with the HKJC.
It’s something not as mysterious as the Dead Sea Scrolls and who Keyser Soze might be, but what exactly is going on with “HKJC Entertainment” and is this going to be part of “The Road To The Hong Kong International Races”?
Other than one-time Korean superstar Rain who will be brought back from long ago and far away and years before K-Pop for an appearance at the racecourse in Shatin on the Sunday of the International Races next month, what about the rest of the entertainment fare.
And the costs for everything- including the Rain Man- are?
Perhaps the decision makers at the HKJC are slowly starting to realise that their idea of “entertainment” at the races is out of sync with the main attraction- the horse racing product?
Is there really a need for singers dressed like a Christmas tree with corny backup dancers and singing to a backing track while waving and smiling and making heart signs and sending all this gooey love to an audience of senior citizens on meds?
As for HKIR week, who and what might be the audience for the Sunday afternoon matinee and how relevant will Rain be to them?
If they bother to get up early enough, there will be the usual group of local senior citizens and the now budget tour groups from Shenzhen “augmented” by racing fans from Australia, Europe and perhaps Japan.
These are hardcore racing people from overseas and who will be at the racecourse for the four Group 1 international races. They’re also there to hopefully win.
As for the entertainment fare, especially on an afternoon- and to this very diverse audience- it’s something that has become something of de rigeur without, I believe, the work put in to see how necessary this is.
When attending HKIR day to watch world class horse racing, we would book a table for friends from overseas visiting Hong Kong, and never missed having any entertainment.
We were our best entertainment along with the fun and camaraderie of being together. If there was any entertainment, this happened after the races and during dinner followed by karaoke sessions that often lasted until the next day.
Those, of course, were different times in a very different Hong Kong that was almost thirty years younger than it is today.
The world has changed and many are still very much in a post pandemic malaise though we understand that we have to shake off this funk and get back to some semblance of normality.
As for the marriage of musical entertainment and sports, something like the Super Bowl Half Time Show works because it’s very much part of the entire experience.
Any sport with a break for lunch or tea has the time to accommodate entertainment.
Horse racing doesn’t have the luxury of this because apart from it very likely seen as an intrusion into something involving real ‘live’ horses, there’s the need for wagering on races every half hour.
For some reason, the above format works better in the evening when audiences are more ready to accept ‘live’ music, but this MUST be something that has gone through the necessary “due diligence” of good A&R.
It’s not just having someone perform “Happy” because the Club’s CEO likes the song and getting those present to clap along like a house without a roof.
Horse racing is a completely different beast to sports because no matter how hard it tries, it’s seen by a mainstream audience as gambling.
Whatever “entertainment” is fed into this current product personality must understand this and that it’s not about putting on a tinpot variety show.
It’s about something made up of different yet relevant parts, something I understood when creating Happy Wednesday which has become a brand for the Hong Kong Jockey Club.
It meant planning themed nights which helped create more opportunities to add things around the main act- horse racing.
Coming from a background of being a Director of Creative Services in advertising and then running two major music companies in the region including Japan has given me invaluable insight into customer needs- especially those of the younger people who walked in or grabbed a tram and met up at Happy Valley racecourse EVERY Wednesday night.
The racecourse was a convenient meeting place for these people who became REGULARS and used the 4-5 hours of Happy Wednesday as their starting point to a night out.
We gave these customers, the keys to the kingdom and became their friends. And they invited us into their world.
Other racing jurisdictions tried to bring out copycat versions of Happy Wednesday, but none had the sustainability of what we were doing in a city where everything was so close at hand.
When earlier this year recommending the Simon Fuller managed group called Now United to the CEO of the HKJC to perhaps perform during HKIR week- it was for this year’s HKIR week.
I hadn’t read this rather telling blog before from my supposed bon ami Winfried. The CEO of the Hong Kong Jockey Club appears to have had some memory loss as to how he met Simon Fuller.
As an ad guy, I had a roll out plan for Now United- but when seeing something become a complicated goulash in the hands of those I knew to be boffins, I was forced to bail.
I saw the oncoming train crash. I saw teams from Los Angeles and even actor-horse owner Aaron Kwok brought in for a cameo appearance.
I also saw massive egos getting ahead of themselves, but without a strategy in place to promote HKIR week and this city other than a “citywide reality show” to find the Hong Kong member for Now United.
But who was Now United to Hong Kong?
The promised “reality show”?
This was apparently held behind closed doors and where a winner was found.
Frankly, I see what’s been done to be a square peg trying to be squeezed into a round hole and some really sloppy marketing.
There was no pre-launch work, using Tai Kwun was barely visible, there were no signs of a strategic campaign and not much thought about the right music- music already familiar to the audience.
A special theme song about Hong Kong that wasn’t something with hackneyed horsey dance movements might have helped.
Some might see this as a very expensive wake-up call and something that goes way beyond horse racing.
It should have the Hong Kong Jockey Club and its Charities Trust re-looking at their roles in helping Hong Kong to move forward with or without the Hong Kong government.
All sides need new thinkers and those with a vision from overseas to help plot a new course for the city. If not, it will be the same old dance of going around in circles.
Better yet, bring Damon Albarn and Jamie Hewlett, the team behind Gorillaz to talk about their creative process.
The Hong Kong mindset is right now in shutdown mode. We who live here know that this city needs to make a comeback, where we prioritise looking at what lies ahead as positively as possible and do the best we can to make this happen.
This is truly about each of us coming together as one team and being united.
Born in Ceylon, Hans Ebert is an award winning advertising executive whose powerful campaign to gain the Right Of Abode in the United Kingdom for ethnic minorities in Hong Kong won Gold at the London Advertising Awards.
He also helped launch McDonald’s in Hong Kong, created the Happy Wednesday brand for the HKJC, was part of the team to launch STARTV and MTV in Asia plus ran the International divisions of Universal Music and EMI Music in Asia.
As a journalist, he has interviewed every iconic personalities from Billy Joel, legendary music producer Quincy Jones, and actor Peter Sellers to working on music for David Bowie, Robbie Williams and Gorillaz.
He also coined the term Canto Pop when writing for Billboard magazine.
He has a penchant for women who remind him of Diane Keaton.
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