INSTANT NEWSPAPER RECYCLER

TitleINSTANT NEWSPAPER RECYCLER
BrandSUNG HUNG KAI PROPERTIES
Product / ServiceENVIRONMENTAL
CategoryA02. Corporate Responsibility
EntrantSAATCHI & SAATCHI CHINA Hong Kong, HONG KONG
Entrant Company SAATCHI & SAATCHI CHINA Hong Kong, HONG KONG
Advertising Agency SAATCHI & SAATCHI CHINA Hong Kong, HONG KONG

Credits

Name Company Position
Carol Lam Saatchi/Saatchi Chief Creative Officer
Kenneth Foo Saatchi/Saatchi Senior Art Director
Adeline Siow Saatchi/Saatchi Senior Copywriter
Jin Pan Saatchi/Saatchi Senior Copywriter
Alexis Chiu Saatchi/Saatchi Managing Director
Emile Cheung Saatchi/Saatchi Senior Account Executive
Arion Yau Saatchi/Saatchi Intergrated Director
Pelie Kwok Saatchi/Saatchi Head Of Creative Service
Lavin Lau Saatchi/Saatchi Delivery Support
Sheena Pang Saatchi/Saatchi Delivery Support
Clement Shaw Saatchi/Saatchi Lead Content Producer
Rebecca Liu Saatchi/Saatchi Pr Director
Kris Xiao Saatchi/Saatchi Pr Assistant
Joshua Wong Laundromatte/Hong Kong Director/Video Production

The Campaign

SHK East Point City, one of Hong Kong’s top environmentally-friendly shopping malls, briefed us on the need to spread public awareness of their green philosophy. While they were expecting a simple print advertisement, we decided to put on a twist on this message by giving people the chance to experience for themselves how fun recycling could be for themselves. Our strategy was thus, more show and less tell. We set up The Instant Newspaper Recycler, a human-powered machine that recycled old newspapers into new wrapping paper by silk-screening gorgeous, seasonally-appropriate prints on them. They were designed with symbols of prosperity and fortune on them, along with a line that wrapped up the whole campaign by encouraging people to be more environmentally-conscious. And we did not just spread the message to customers and their friends and family on those two days, but news of the machine spread on social networks and both local and international news organisations. We gained mentions in over 70 publications, with an estimated HK$1.5 million worth of free coverage and over 3 million page views, helping to cement SHK East Point City’s strong and creative environmental stance.

The Brief

The target audience for our communications were families with children who lived in close proximity to the mall, whose visits to the mall had gone through a gradual decline over the months due to strong competition from new shopping malls. Research has shown that younger families, especially in Hong Kong, tend to show stronger support for green brands, and SHK East Point City wanted this point to be its strong differentiating factor when compared to other malls.

Results

Over the two days that the Instant Newspaper Recycler was set up, we gave out 3600 pieces of new wrapping paper to consumers both young and old. The result was a 35% increase in consumer traffic, which drove mall sales traffic to a high over the weekend promotional period. The event was then covered extensively on social media and widely shared on Facebook and Twitter, appearing on over 76 online news outlets, which helped sustain its positive impact and reach out to more people. It eventually resulted in an average of HK$1.5 million earned media and over 3,000,000 page views. Over 90% of the people surveyed also mentioned they would be more environmentally-conscious, and expressed positive support for SHK East Point City.

Execution

The Instant Newspaper Recycler was set up in SHK East Point City from January 25-26, 2014. Social network and on-site promotion helped to spread the event to SHK East Point’s target audience. Over these two days, we gave out 3600 pieces of new wrapping paper to consumers both young and old. The result was a 35% increase in consumer traffic, which drove mall sales traffic to a high over the weekend promotional period. The event was then covered extensively on social media and widely shared on Facebook and Twitter, appearing on over 76 online news outlets, which helped sustain its positive impact and reach out to more people. It eventually resulted in an average of HK$1.5 million earned media and over 3,000,000 page views. Over 90% of the people surveyed also mentioned they would be more environmentally-conscious, and expressed positive support for SHK East Point City.

The Situation

SHK East Point City is one of Hong Kong’s top environmentally-friendly malls. They have made efforts to be green in their daily operations, but not many people know about their strong green philosophy, and do not see them as very different from other shopping malls. As a consequence, SHK East Point City has suffered a gradual decline in foot traffic due to increased competition from new malls.

The Strategy

The PR Strategy was to set up the ambient stunt in the form of The Instant Newspaper Recycler. This machine allowed people to experience SHK East Point City’s green message in a whole new fun and entertaining way, and drove consumer participation and time spent in the shopping mall up by 35%. By giving away old newspapers that had been turned into new wrapping paper on the spot, SHK East Point City clearly and cleverly managed to differentiate itself from the rest of the competition who gave away the expected ‘fresh’ new wrapping papers. In so doing, it created a strong environmental message that was linked to its brand, and was highly covered on both social networks and news organisations. The result was the brand and its message appeared on over 70 sites and had an estimated HK$1.5 million worth of free press.