Campaign Connect Hong Kong, a one-day industry forum organised by Campaign Asia-Pacific, is underway in the SAR.
100+ marketing executives from across sectors have gathered to discuss emerging technologies, evolving consumer behaviour and demographic changes in Hong Kong and its impact on brand strategy. Throughout the day, conversations will focus on how marketers can adapt to an increasingly fragmented media landscape, the rise of AI-powered discovery, and the evolving expectations of digitally native audiences.
The conference opened with a keynote from Neil Patel, co-founder of NP Digital, who examined how online discovery is changing in the age of AI. Patel discussed the mechanics behind zero-click search, the rapid growth of voice and visual search, and the expanding role of platform-driven recommendations in shaping how consumers find products and information.
Below are highlights from the day.
‘Where did the click go?’
Keynote session with Neil Patel, co-founder of NP Digital
“My son is four years old. He loves buying products from Alexa. I didn’t know he was spending thousands and thousands of dollars ordering from Alexa. We never told him he could. He just figured it out.
If he wants chocolate and I say there’s no more candy in the house, he’ll just say, ‘Alexa, order me chocolate,’ and it shows up the next day. Then I’m like, who ordered this package? And it’s under my name.
But the point is: you don’t need a click to gain a transaction anymore. The click is disappearing.
41% of Google searches now end without a click. On mobile, the zero-click rate is 77%. That’s kind of crazy.”
‘Most people just bounce because they already got the answer’
“Google released something you all know about: AI overviews. And when someone sees an AI overview, the outcomes shift.
Most people just bounce because they get the answer right away. Only 18% people click on an external website and about 17% stay on Google, around 23.9% perform another search.
So yes, we’re getting fewer clicks. But we’re also seeing higher revenue per visit. A lot of the traffic you lost wasn’t traffic that was going to make you money anyway.
When you look at things like generative engine optimisation or answer engine optimisation, where you optimise to appear in ChatGPT, Perplexity, Claude or Gemini, something interesting happens. It doesn’t drive a lot of traffic. After 12 months, one company saw just 0.36% of traffic from ChatGPT but 5.82% of total sales.
We’ve never seen a higher-converting marketing channel. Optimising for ChatGPT, Perplexity or Claude is five times higher converting than anything else. It even beats email and SMS.”
‘Quality outperforms volume’
“In today’s world, what’s winning is less noise and sharper moves. Quality outperforms volume.
A lot of people are using AI to produce huge amounts of content and a lot of that content is garbage. It’s mediocre. We call it AI slop. You either produce really good stuff, or don’t waste your time producing anything at all.”
‘The next generation already thinks typing is archaic’
“We all grew up with text-based searching. You opened your laptop, typed something in and searched. But now we’re seeing AI search, voice search and conversational search.
When I type a search, my four-year-old son will literally tell me I’m doing it wrong. He’ll say, ‘You’re looking at the wrong source, ask Siri or Alexa.’
To him, typing is archaic. The new generation already thinks that.
The future is going to be voice and even visual search.
Voice search is climbing quickly and will eventually become the default. Kids are growing up with voice devices, so it feels natural to them. Visual search is also exploding, and Google Lens searches have grown 1,900%. And one in five of those searches has commercial intent. Someone is trying to buy something.
That’s powerful. And it’s traffic you need to go after.”
Driving results with limited budgets and resources
Panel with Reiko Kwok, chief marketing officer, Exinity and Justin Bonnett, regional head of marketing, JLL. Moderated by Gigi Cheung, founder & CEO, Rainbow Team Consultancy; Former VP for Brand Partnership, K11 (NWD).
When resources are tight, how can marketers maximise impact without overextending their teams? This was the key theme of the panel.
Cheung opened with an observation that set the tone. “For smaller and mid-sized teams, integration across multiple channels is about focus, knowing which platforms actually drive results, not just activity.” She acknowledged the ongoing temptation to chase “the next shiny tool,” reminding marketers to prioritise measurable impact over novelty.
Justin highlighted the importance of strategic discipline. “I always go back to what’s worked,” he said. “If a creative asset continues to perform, we keep using it. It’s about doing more with less.” His approach includes in-housing market research using AI and taking a data-driven view of channel effectiveness, even switching off underperforming ones to measure true impact.
He also emphasised the long-term value of brand investment, despite budget pressures. “There are no shortcuts,” Justin said. “You won’t see instant results, but a strong brand delivers stronger ROI over time. That’s what helps you weather performance pressures.”
Reiko highlighted the challenges of managing an abundance of marketing tools. “Companies often invest in too many platforms that don’t integrate or get fully used,” she said. “Efficiency isn’t about having more tools, it’s about streamlining the process.”
On agency relationships, Reiko stressed that external partners must bring tangible strategic value, especially when helping brands expand into new markets. Collaboration between sales and marketing was another priority. “Marketing brings in the leads, but sales converts them. We have to work closely to ensure the quality of leads aligns with business goals.”
The panelists agreed that retention and personalisation, especially for high-value customers, should remain a focus even when budgets tighten. As Reiko summed up, “B2B or B2C, it’s the same principle. Understand your customer and deliver value.”
Source: Campaign Asia-Pacific