Why is this work relevant for Brand Experience & Activation ?

Reframing Hong Kong is the first campaign that target locals from Hong Kong Tourism Board (HKTB). The idea of the campaign is to encourage locals to show the world what Hong Kong can truly offer beyond the cliché tourist hot spots and shopping centers. HKTB believes locals know the best of the city. We therefore mobilized locals to reveal the most authentic side of the Hong Kong through their lens. From photo documentation to the final best 10 winner selection, HKTB enlist Hongkongers to experiences, involve and participated in this local project.

Background

Hong Kong – famous for its gourmet food and shopping, has been a popular destination for travellers around the world. With 26 million unique travelers, Hong Kong was the most visited city globally in 2017. Unfortunately, visitors tend to stick to the well-beaten path. After seeing the skyline and sampling Hong Kong’s most well-known restaurants and shopping malls, the majority of visitors don’t see a reason to stay any longer than it takes to tick off the top 10 attractions. We needed to drive awareness and visitation beyond the well-known shopping and eating centers to the less discovered side of a Hong Kong – the local experiences and locations that tourists normally pass, or don’t even know exist in the first place.

Describe the creative idea (20% of vote)

Travelers are both willing and keen to go deeper into destinations to find unique and authentic experiences; Their online behavior suggested that travel planning has become largely visual, with people curating their journeys through images and blurbs they find on travel sites and social media rather than spending extensive time reading in-depth reviews. The imagery related to Hong Kong often depicts the cliche sides of the city – skyscrapers, dim sum, shopping. Searching #HongKong on Instagram, however, reveals a completely different side of the city – one documented and curated by those who know the city best – Hong Kong locals. So why not turn to those who live and breathe the city, and ask them to show the world a truly authentic Hong Kong?

Describe the strategy (20% of vote)

Our target audience are inbound travelers from around the world - both first-timers and repeated visitors. They are a new generation of travelers to whom guidebook destinations are not enough. Surveys show that ‘Seeking Authentic Experiences’ has been ranked #2 as their travel motivation. They enjoy popular tourist spots as much as the unbeaten paths. These are the type of travelers that are willing to pay more for authentic, off-track travel experience as much as large-ticket indulgence in shopping malls. Hence, we turned the 7 million Hongkongers as the city’s photographers as we believed that no one knows the city better than locals. We enlist the locals to re-shoot the city’s imageries in a way that represents what they feel is the most authentic experience, and show the world the true colors of the city via news and tourism related platforms. Ultimately, enriching tourist’s travel experiences in Hong Kong.

Describe the execution (30% of vote)

With the best 10 imageries curated by locals, HKTB reached out the overseas target audiences (millennials and Gen Z) via partnership with global platforms: 1) Strategic content partnership with South China Morning Post The branded studio from SCMP were given a task to turn the local visions to brand voices leveraging on the locally curated imageries and give insights into unique ways to experiences Hong Kong 2) Earned partnership with Cathay Pacific (CX) The success of the campaign sparked the interest of the partnership from CX. The collaboration came with a mutual goal – to showcase the authentic local experiences of our city to the international travelers - leveraging on CX’s extensive global network and best 10 imageries. 3) Postcard distribution in 10 overseas market For the first time a truly authentic experiences make regular appearance as postcards in overseas trade shows, airport lounges and across travel related locations.

List the results (30% of vote)

1) Evidence we had gained support: The campaign was featured on travel sites and local organizations's social media, such as Tripadvisor (currently updating its image gallery with photos from the campaign); HK Tramway (distributed postcards and featured the campaign on their social media); Canon HK (reposted the KOL images from Reframing HK); and other featurings on social media 2) Tracked figures for SCMP branded content: Reaching 270k page views with HK, Philippines, Malaysia, USA, Singapore as top viewing markets in 1 month 3) Enriched Hong Kong’s photo library with #ReframingHK: #Reframinghk continues to receive images daily on Instagram. It amplified awareness in global markets that filled with local insights, enabled to experience HK in a new perspective.