COMMENT: Wake up Hong Kong, Shanghai is ready to grab your spotlight

If anyone said that Shanghai would need at least another decade to catch up with Hong Kong's economic might, tell them to wake up and smell the competition. It's going to be sooner than that. A lot sooner. The transformation is accelerating, and it's being helped by the continuing corporate exodus north as disposable income rises. While Hong Kong suffers a bad case of spending blues, China's consumers - especially younger ones - are keeping cash registers ringing. Urban dwellers are no less sophisticated than Hong Kong consumers. This is where difficulties lie. Research shows a bad case of advertising fatigue setting in. This may seem ludicrous given that Chinese television was nothing but bland fare on black and white sets 10 years ago. Admittedly, part of the blame lies with regulations requiring stations to run advertising in blocks between programmes. However, having seen some of the ads, there is another explanation why this has happened so quickly. Some of the advertising is good, even excellent, but the industry desperately needs to bring creative and other standards up. So it's heartening to see the industry's keen interest in self-improvement. The people of Shanghai are hungry for success - whether it's to restore the city to its pre-1949 glory days or to improve their standard of living or their craft. The recent AdAsia China Clio Creative Conference is a case in point. Hundreds of young creatives flocked to this event to listen to top regional and international CDs discuss how to develop effective and impactful advertising. And how they peppered speakers with questions: "When should humour be used, when shouldn't it be used?" "What are the different approaches to developing an image ad versus a tactical ad?" Other questions were more self-serving: "Does your agency have any vacancies and how can I apply?" to M&C Saatchi's chairman James Lowther. Sadly, with its never-ending series of operational glitches, the event failed to live up to the keen interest and lively minds of the audience. One speaker was so irked that he demanded a microphone to berate the organiser, saying the show was a poor advertisement for Shanghai and China. Judging by the wild cheers, fellow delegates obviously agreed with him. This was one of several outbursts. Such an incident would have been unimaginable some years ago when few Chinese wouldn think of questioning authority. Those days are long gone. China is on a fast track to becoming an economic superpower and its people won't be held back, even in things like brushing up their English language skills, something that Hong Kong seems uninterested in doing. Whatever Hong Kong's Chief Secretary Donald Tsang may say about Shanghai not being in competition with its southern sibling, Hong Kong has been served notice. Shanghai is on a drive to improve itself, including its marketing communication capabilities. And one more thing: Shanghai will not settle for second best. ahille@media.com.hk.

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