FEATURES: StarEastNet ditches celebrity cachet to revamp brand name

In a bid to rescue flagging consumer and investor confidence before it goes for a public offering this month, Hong Kong marketing-cum-celebrity management organisation StarEastNet is striving to revamp its brand. Aided by its agency of record Lowe & Partners/Live, the HK$15 million (about US$2 million) above-the-line burst sees StarEastNet make a maverick move by dissasociating the corporate brand from its celebrity owners. The likes of co-founder Jackie Chan and the 150-plus stars StarEastNet represents were deliberately scrapped from the campaign after it was found that they were hampering brand recognition, according to Lowe & Partners MD Mateo Chien. "When you mentioned the name StarEastNet, consumers only thought of celebrities without knowing the context of the company. "Brand awareness was overwhelmed by individual stars," he said. He added: "They (the public) lacked the market perception of the brand in totality, so we opted to reposition it as a totally new brand of entertainment marketing". The resulting burst entitled "Make a wish. Make it come true" highlights the aspirational, emotional appeal of stars in a night sky. This stellar blanket is then depicted hand-in-hand with StarEastNet's own varied, but largely unknown, portfolio of services. These services include event management, sponsorship, consultancy, merchandising, licensing and helping stars build their image and celebrity cachet in the marketplace. "When people think of event marketing or promotion we wanted them to seriously consider StarEastNet as a conventional media avenue akin to print or TV," said Mr Chien. The revamp also extends to the StarEastNet website, www.StarEastNet.com, amid reports of plummeting hit rates only nine months after launch. Redesigning the site in-house, a sub-site for celebrity crooner Leon Lai also rolled out in May at www.leonstareastnet.com, although Mr Chien pointed out that as a celebrity sub-site it would not strictly adhere to the rebrand. Set for a three week June run, the 60-second TVC will be followed by a cut down 20-second version airing on TVB and ATV. The campaign is supported by a print burst running in the local press.

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