By CONNIE LING
Staff Reporter of THE WALL STREET
JOURNAL
THE ADAGE, "there's no such thing as bad publicity," has just won another convert in Hong Kong. A series of provocative ads that were banned in the city's subway system helped start-up Mandarin Communications make an even bigger splash this week when it launched its cellular-phone network.
Mandarin's ad campaign, which ran for two weeks before the network's Sept. 21 launch, featured a series of suggestive statements, including "You look like you haven't had it in weeks," "The average man thinks about it 20 times a day" and "How come you never get it on a Friday?" The tone didn't sit well with everyone. Mass Transit Railway Corp., which runs the city's subway system, called the messages "indecent" and "inappropriate" and pulled them from its stations and trains.
"Our intention had always been to create controversy," says Maria Orzel, the company's marketing director. "But we didn't anticipate being banned."
She says Mandarin had already paid for the advertising space, and lost about HK$400,000 (US$51,680) when the ads were pulled. The company hasn't heard from MTR officials and doesn't know if it will get any of its money back, Ms. Orzel says. The MTR wouldn't comment on the matter.
However, the ban made local news headlines and gave Mandarin a great deal of free publicity right before its launch. It also inspired the company to come up with a new ad. "These ads were banned by the MTR," said the new ads, which appeared in most of Hong Kong's major newspapers. "Find out why on Sept. 21."
All the trouble seems to have paid off. On its first day of business, the company's hotline received close to 5,000 phone calls inquiring about the service, says Craig Ehrlich, Mandarin's managing director. Although the company doesn't have any sales figures yet, its five retail outlets throughout Hong Kong have also been packed with curious consumers since its launch.
"We will continue to use a similar approach," Ms. Orzel says. But the controversy element will be played down, she says. "We won't purposely create controversy or offend people," she adds. Instead, she says, consumers can expect to see more "fun ads" from the company.
FUN ADS also are popping up in some unusual places. Picture, for instance, an ad for an integrated circuit targeted at schoolchildren.
Circuits and transistors can be fun. At least, that's the message two U.S. technology companies aim to convey in new Asian campaigns. Intel Corp. and Motorola Inc. hope to get more ordinary consumers -- and not just businesses or technicians -- to use their products, or the gadgets made with their products.
To that end, computer-chip pacesetter Intel is promoting its latest Pentium II microprocessor with spots heavy on disco music and cheery people in colorful suits.
"The image is very playful and fun," says Deborah Conrad, Intel's brand marketing director for Asia outside Japan. She figures the campaign will help make the Intel brand more friendly and accessible to consumers in Asia. The campaign is focused on markets where computers are less widespread, such as China, India, Taiwan, Thailand, Vietnam and Pakistan, Ms. Conrad says.
The chip maker's new multimillion-dollar campaign features characters, dubbed Bunny People, in the space-suit-like outfits worn by workers in chip-factory clean rooms. But instead of the traditional white, these suits are in bright colors such as yellow and pink. In the ads, the Bunny People dance to disco music in a futuristic van that was designed by the same people who designed Batman's car in the hit movies.
Separately, Motorola is another high-tech company attempting to humanize its image in Asia. The maker of computer chips and telecommunications equipment will in October begin airing a TV commercial in Hong Kong, Taiwan and China starring Chinese pop queen Faye Wong. The spot is directed by Wong Kar-wai, the Hong Kong filmmaker who won the Best Director award at this year's Cannes Film Festival for the movie "Happy Together."
"Many end users perceive Motorola as a high-tech company," says Byron Kwan, Motorola's senior marketing executive in Hong Kong. "But we want to promote our products as consumer products" for the mass market, he says. Ms. Wong and other characters in the commercial will be seen sporting the company's mobile phones.
Although Motorola has in the past aired a number of ads for its products in the region, this will be the company's first image campaign in Asia, says Mr. Kwan. He wouldn't reveal how much the company is spending on the commercial, but hinted it's several million U.S. dollars.