DIARY: Rant

All the tea in China won't be enough payment to get me to operate an agency in Hong Kong these days. Here's why: Budgets are stagnating due to both short-term macro-economic weaknesses and questions about Hong Kong's long-term relevance given China's rising power. The result: a dog-eat-dog, fight-to-the-death and inter-agency competitiveness that works against the formation of a sustainable business model. Salaries and cost structures are out of whack versus China and Singapore benchmarks, leading to other cities' emergence as multinational hubs on agency, production and client sides. Companies operating in Hong Kong are increasingly adopting a short-term tactical business model. This shift away from brand building robs the industry of intellectual capital and, hence, negotiating clout with clients. For a decade or more, the best and brightest young professionals eschewed the industry altogether. And, more recently, some of the most far-sighted and savvy thinkers are migrating north of the border. Clearly, this is not a pretty picture. What's even more discouraging is that Hong Kong boasts natural advantages which, if harnessed, could trigger a renaissance within the industry. Its worldliness, an instinctive insight into the psychology of not only Chinese but pan-Asian cultures, its technological savvy, its incredible drive and resourcefulness and a blossoming creative culture that extends well beyond advertising (check out the new diversity in Hong Kong-produced films). So what should and can be done? Well, of course, there's no magic answer. We're not assembling an Ikea coffee table. But a few long-term remedies are readily apparent: recruit world-class managing directors from anywhere. These men and women, however, must be strategically-driven advertising people, not prisoners of the bottom line. If their contributions are self-apparent, they will overcome the "but-my-client-only-conducts meetings-in-Cantonese" charade; integrate mainland and local agency operations - and mindsets - through cross-pollination of staff, consolidation of balance sheets and legitimate managerial integration. Whoever you are, and whatever you want to get off your chest, send your rants to rant@media.com.hk, and we'll print them anonymously.

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