Bank of China splashes out on confidence vote for HK

HONG KONG: The Bank of China (BOC) is running a major television

campaign, reinforcing its commitment and optimism towards the city

despite the worsening economy.

The series of three TV spots was launched as the BOC announced a merger

with nine sister units - the largest corporate consolidation in Hong

Kong's history - to create the second-largest bank in the city after

HSBC.

The campaign was developed by Saatchi & Saatchi after the agency took

the corporate image account from Grey in a recent pitch, which focused

on creative and strategic recommendations to position BOC as a leading

and contemporary banking institution. The media account also moved from

MediaCom to Zenith Media. However, Grey, which had been BOC's agency of

record for about five years, and MediaCom have retained the bank's

credit card assignment.

Saatchi's Hong Kong chief executive officer Laurie Kwong said: "BOC is

an established, reliable and trustworthy institution. But we're going a

step further to make people aware that it is also dynamic and

contemporary."

The TVCs also attempt to restore people's confidence in Hong Kong by

encouraging them to think positive.

One execution shows 10,000 chefs and a voiceover asks, "Is there room

for another one?" The camera zooms in on of the chefs, who answers: "I

need to create my specialty." In the same way, one in 14,000 graduates

says, "I'm more passionate than any of them", while an athlete comments,

"I only need to be 0.01 second faster to beat the world record."

The final voiceover adds: "Opportunity is everywhere. For us, it's Hong

Kong" and the tagline, "Make every day an opportunity."

The campaign differs from most other bank advertising, which tends to

focus on product offering. Francis Wee, Saatchi's Hong Kong executive

creative director, said: "It's about helping people cope with the tough

times; make them see the positive side of life."