HK fastfood chain turns TVC into music video

The marketing offensive - 'See you at Cafe de Coral' - includes a television campaign, with the theme song spun off to create a three-minute video to deepen the campaign's effectiveness. The TVC stars Patrick Tang, Alex Fong, Rain Li, Miki Yeung and Theresa Fu. Market Catalyst created the campaign to convey the message that the brand has kept its image young over the course of its history. Market Catalyst chief operating officer Davie Mok said: "By leveraging the power of music and adopting it across different channels such as television, radio, karaoke bars and a series of public relations events, we've created multiple touch points with consumers at different levels, all building towards the same core message of the campaign."

Mok said the creative platform was developed to express the role of the restaurants as a popular rendezvous point for people as well as a place to eat. He added that in order to make the 35th anniversary relevant to people, a sales promotion programme was built into the campaign to strengthen brand loyalty by encouraging repeat purchases.

Leung said the chain was looking to break out of the price wars affecting the industry as a result of rampant competition and weak demand sparked by the Sars outbreak early this year. Cafe de Coral reported a turnover of HK$2.6 billion (US$334 million) for the year to March, virtually unchanged from the previous 12-month period. "We are facing keen rivalry in the market from a range of restaurant operators as well as Chinese tea houses. It is better to have a clear positioning to stand out in the crowd."