Hong Kong Adwatch: McDonald's scores over other higher-spending brands

Bigger media budgets are no guarantee that your ads will be remembered by TV viewers. Amy White reports. Despite heavy spending by pharmaceutical and health brands, the recently-launched 'I'm lovin' it!' McDonald's campaign, with its latest 'Amazing value menu' TVC, remained at the top spot for with a viewer recall of 96 per cent in Media's Adwatch poll. "The interaction of food products within fun 'i-stories' enhances the message. Together with the 'I'm lovin' it' background music, the stylistic art direction makes the campaign more impactful and memorable," said Jodie Cheung, senior marketing manager, McDonald's, Hong Kong.

by | 05/07/2004

According to Nielsen Media Research, the bulk of McDonald's advertising spend, HK$78.4 million (US$10 million), was on TV advertising in the first quarter, compared to $8.6 million on all other media such as radio, print and outdoor. In spite of significantly higher spending by Hutchison for 3G, that brand scored noticeably lower in 13th place.

Pharmaceutical and health brands GlaxoSmithKline, Advance Pharmaceutical and Coltalin GP all closely followed in the top 10 positions in the poll.

Fortune Pharmacal has remained in the top 10 for the last month, suggesting that there continue to be fears about bird flu and a potential Sars comeback, with health issues remaining a high priority for consumers.

Some of the lower-scoring spots include Hang Seng Bank, Visa and HSBC, the latter reaching 15th in the chart with 81 per cent recall. Irene Ho at Lowe Worldwide, the creative agency handling the account, said recent budget cuts meant advertising on TV was kept to a minimum. "The campaign was more focused on point-of-sale materials, direct mailing and in-branch support, as these are equally effective media," said Ho.