The Hong Kong government is increasingly using emotion, nostalgia
and humour in its ads, because people have become more sophisticated
compared with just a few years ago.
The Tracker Fund advertising by DDB and Triangle Pacific's Mandatory
Provident Fund campaign underline the change in creative and strategic
direction.
Both these campaigns have a nostalgic feel to them and attempt to goad
the public into action through emotional appeals.
The latest government campaign to break focuses on promoting greater
awareness of the need for Hong Kong people to protect their privacy.
The television, radio and MTR campaign for the Office of the Privacy
Commissioner for Personal Data uses humour to get across the message
that "when there is no privacy, there is no dignity".
A 30-second commercial, created by PMP Advertising, features a man being
stripped down to his underwear in the middle of Central during rush
hour, symbolically representing the fact that the victim's dignity is
robbed because of the misuse of his personal data, according to PMP
director/creative director, David Wong.
"The message to people is that if they believe their personal data is
being misused, they should lodge a complaint with the government," he
told MEDIA.
Mr Wong also said creative strategy differed from past government ads
because of an increasingly sophisticated public.
"Before, government ads just tell people, 'You must do this' or 'You
mustn't do that', but people these days don't want to be told what to
do.
"In order to get its message across, the government, therefore, has to
employ things like nostalgia or humour to make people sit up and think,"
he said.
The campaign comes at a time when name lists containing personal data
are being extracted for marketing campaigns without the knowledge or
approval of those listed.
PMP chief executive John Cohen said that unscrupulous marketers could
easily obtain people's personal personal information from the Lands and
Marriage registries and the Transport Department.
The worst violators of people's privacy are real estate firms, car
dealers and marriage services companies, he added.
