BRANDishing your wealth. Monday, September 14, 2009

“Artistic, wise, and enjoys a good life.”

That was the market segment my marketing professor asked to create 2 print ads for Abosolut Vodka.

Putting it simply, creating an Abosolut ad for “Apple-users”.
Just create an ad for the people who always brandish their Macbook’s in campus, posting their “Iphone-taken” photos on Facebook. Simple.

My local teammates stared at me with goo-goo eyes; “Who are Apple-users” is written all over their face. No locals in CityU campus carry Macbooks in campus. No Iphone’s, no Ipods. Mindblown.

Hong Kong teens, however, do know their stuff. I saw a couple at Stanley beach, wearing Silly Thing caps, Mastermind X Japan T-shirts, sporting Y-3 sneakers. If you still have doubts, go here: http://www.style-tips.com/hunting/.

Purchasing branded street-wear feels like pasting money on to your clothes. And it is.

Not everyone can afford to cough out $4000HKD per month to spend on clothes and accessories. A large portion of “normal” teens get their fix in Mong Kok or in Tsim Sha Tsui, getting unbranded items that look just as good.

“No $ lah,” my friend told me through MSN. The locals I talked to were very open to confess when something is too expensive to them. Be it food, fashion, or even opting out to buy textbooks.

Going frugal, however, does not mean appearing in lecture halls wearing pyjamas (like a certain Singaporean university). Stepping into City U alone feels like stepping into a Hip-hop dance performance. Hong Kong people tend to be very picky in how they are dressed.

The attractiveness of street-fashion is that it is easy to pick up. You can pick up cheaper alternatives, and how you look relies greatly on your own fashion sense. Not how fashion designer Mr. X in Milan deciding how you should look. And it is also easy to “top-up” with branded T-shirts and accessories.

Some say it is the availability of the boutiques in Hong Kong. Others say it is the close proximity to South Korea, Taiwan, and Japan: the “top hip areas” of Asia. Some even might attribute it to the “rebel” factor that Hong Kong teens have in their blood.

A definite factor would be the established street-fashion publications in Hong Kong. “Milk” is the one of the top magazines for anything hip in Hong Kong. It showcases the latest street wear, the most “IN” events, electronic products, and even toys. Most HK teens grew up reading these, wanting to be dressed like the next most hip thing. Advertorials done right.

Is this truly the impact of the media? Or could it just be the coincidence of taste and brand presence?

Diudiudiu~Diudiudiu! Monday, September 07, 2009

Tell this to SMU students: “Diu” is a word for “F#$k” in Cantonese.

Tell this to Hong Kong students: “Diu diu diu” is a ice-breaker game played at orientation camps. Students will shout “Diudiudiu!” and point at each other, like transmitting a signal.

Same words. Different meaning. The funny thing is that both sides are most probably equally shocked.

First week in City University of HK. And it has been a very big change in environment for me. I start to see things that I don’t usually see in Singapore, realize things that I have not thought of in Singapore.Yeah, it’s damn weird that a Hong-Kee is going back to HK for exchange. But having grown up in Singapore for almost 19 years, I think I can almost be a full-blooded 波仔 (Bo-Zai). Yeah, that’s what they call us now. Sing-gee was too mild for their revenge.

First thing you realize when you step into Hong Kong is that there are a lot of people. There is quite a lot of land occupied by the hills, so the actual urban area is very small. Think Singapore: having a huge mountain that spans across Clementi to Bedok, Yishun to Orchard. Then push all those HDB’s and malls to the edges of the island. That’s how dense it is.

In fact, like my Singaporean friends pointed out: Mong Kok on a normal WEEKDAY feels like Orchard road during Christmas. Imagine Mong Kok on Christmas. Hohoho…the crowd gets so bad that they shut off some of the MTR exits just to divert traffic, you need to be in the “traffic jam” in the MTR station at least 5 minutes before breathing slightly better air.

On air, I took a whiff of actual healthy air during my trip to The Peak with my Singaporean friends. We then regrettably took the tram down back to Central, not sure when we would breathe with such ease again. HK is a place where metro-PSI ranges 110-140 on average. In Singapore, at least the haze is burnt wood, dust, and some carbon. In Hong Kong, it is pure pollutants, fresh from the factories in Shen Zhen.

Talking about China. This a wierd fact we found in Hong Kong. Speaking English in Hong Kong earns you better respect and service, then if you were to converse in Chinese/Mandrin/Putonghua. The staff might not get a single word you speak in English, but if you provide further explanation using Mandrin, you will still get better service than if you were to start the conversation with Mandrin. It seems that you have to “declare” that you are not a Mainlander before given better customer service. My guess is that they had many nasty experiences ever since the floodgates opened to Mainland tourists, marching down during the Golden Week.

Walking is like a prerequisite course you need to take before going to Hong Kong. Everywhere you go, a good portion of your time is spent walking. Buses are charged flat rate, and taxis are a killer. My Hong Kong blood in me gave me the strength to endure a food-trail across Central. I can’t say the same for my Singaporean friends.

Food portions in Hong Kong are HUGE: plenty of rice or plenty of “carbo’s”. Girls might get squeamish at the first thought of eating such huge portions, but after a day of walking around Hong Kong, they submit to it.