August 27th, 2012
问候 (Nǐ haǒ) from the intersection of Jinbao Street, Huaihai, Canton and Orchard Roads.
As an agency, we’ve been reaching Asia for quite some time now – and we don’t just mean eating our way through Hong Kong. The Asian luxury market is on the rise and is only getting stronger (it’s slated to grow to $91 billion by 2020, according to Omni Ventures/HSBC). Clients from Pollaro to Sotheby’s to NYU are increasingly developing programs targeted to the region, with our creative department developing targeted content and our media team driving strategic placements.
As a build on this work and an indication of commitment to this growing region, we’re excited and proud to announce that we’ve just opened up our official on-the-ground presence in Hong Kong. Welcome Debbie Ong. Debbie was good enough to chat with us (time zones be damned!), so here goes:
Sharpthink: Debbie, welcome aboard. There is lots of talk about growth and change in the Asian luxury market – what do you think has been the biggest shift so far, and where you think it’s going?
Debbie: These days whenever we talk about Asia, we zero in on China. However, China is not the only market in Asia, though the biggest contributor to luxury spending. Other markets in Asia are continuing to grow at a steady pace like Vietnam, Philippines, and Indonesia. Asians have no hesitation of displaying their wealth as this has been embedded in the Asian culture. And as the new-rich are getting younger, the demand for brands will just be bigger.
Brands are also starting to see the potential of the smaller emerging markets and have been putting more efforts to develop their brand position to gain an early foothold.
My money is on building brand efforts in the smaller emerging markets as they are exposed to fewer brands.
Sharpthink: How is the media landscape being impacted by the changing market? How are you staying ahead of the trends?
Debbie: The introduction of the smart phone and tablet not only changed our way of mobility but altered our lifestyle habits. Print has suffered while mobile advertising revenue has increased, with changing formats happening very frequently. Good quality print stays, while the questionable ones are weeded out.
The good thing about the explosion of mobile technology is traceable footprint that allow us to identify our users better.
Attention span is also shorter and the challenge is to produce more innovative and relevant messages to capture that first second attention.
Online and Print publishers became more valuable sources of information with how they are fighting back the competition. They are often good lessons learn to how we can adopt to our strategies.
Sharpthink: What are the favoured media vehicles by UHNWI (ultra high net worth individuals)? Is print still dominate or has online taken over?
Debbie: While online provides up-to-date information when the Ultra-Rich is on the move, print continues to provide in-depth study to a relevant topic they are interested in.
Instead of pondering on either format, focus should be staying relevant delivering different messages for online, print and mobile.
Sharpthink: What role do you see Social Media playing in the luxury space moving forward?
Debbie: With digital media evolving every day, Social Media is more relevant than before. Consumers are getting more mobile and involved to make an informed purchase; Social Media plays the important influencing role. It has become a reliable platform with valuable contributions from the interested community, hence brands need to be more relevant and being able to communicate with their consumers directly, and openly.
Sharpthink.com: Talk to us about mobile and tablet penetration with this audience.
Debbie: The mobile and tablet offers a solution you can take away on the go in a very compactable and light format. This however cannot replace the laptop where you actually do your serious work. There are numerous surveys that show the privileged group of audience uses the mobile technology to conduct quick search, online banking and other leisure activities taking away 9 hours weekly on the smartphone, while 12 hours away on the tablet.
During these precious hours they spent on their gadgets, there is a very specific task to perform and content marketing needs to be more precise than ever.
((Thanks to Inkelv1122 for the Image))