God knows the coals of the Hong Kong rebranding have been raked
over enough already. But, in general, it's been in the most superficial
way imaginable: there's a picture of a dragon and a three-word brand
line, and they cost a lot of money. What seems to have been lost amid
all the furore over the new brand icon is that there was also a
year-long research and brand development project, and there'll be brand
communication work well into the future.
In other words, the project has suffered from the same problems
rebrandings always do: it looks like a lot of money - HKdollars 9
million in this case - for a logo. People see the physical
manifestations of the brand, but not the work behind it. They see the
duck floating on the water, but not the furious thrashing of its legs
beneath the surface.
A holistic location brand isn't an easy thing to pull off. A city brand
needs to address several different audiences with several different
messages.
In these circumstances, you wouldn't expect the Hong Kong Government to
come up with anything devastatingly innovative - to a certain extent,
the brand has to be all things to all men.
It's a bit like trying to make a company's business and consumer brands
one and the same thing. On the other hand, you could see it as an
overarching corporate brand - a framework for more specific
communications. The brand's fortunes may rest on how much the Government
is prepared to invest in those communications - on how much it is
prepared to put into its advertising and PR efforts, both abroad and at
home.
So yes, it might look a bit like it's been designed by committee, yes,
the dragon is not a hugely original image, and yes, the brand line is
middle-of-the-road.
But at least the Hong Kong Government is making a sincere attempt to
formalise its communications programme and push out a consistent
message.
For that it should be applauded.
