Pokemon craze spreads to MTR

The Mass Transit Railway (MTR) has scored a hit by zeroing-in on the global craze for the Japanese cartoon series Pokemon in its current tactical advertising campaign. The campaign, headlined "Catch the MTR, Find the Pokemon", aimed to enrich the experience and excitement of the underground ride on one of Hong Kong's largest transportation networks. Six Pokemon characters can be redeemed in a six-week long campaign period supported by television, print and outdoor advertising, as well as point of sales and public relations activities. FCB Hong Kong managing director Margaret Kennedy said the campaign has enhanced the atmosphere of the transport network, with the Pokemon characters decorating the stations and trains. Bringing the Pokemon characters on board for the campaign involved a strict agreement with the Japanese cartoonist as any use of the character image must be originally drawn and produced in Japan. The television campaign, entitled "mysterious creatures", featured strange beings appearing in MTR stations, with everyone wanting to get a hold of them. "We wanted to create a feeling of excitement," said FCB executive creative director Ronnie Wong. The creative idea tapped into people's understanding of the Pokemon characteristics, he added. The word "find" rather than "catch" was used in the tagline of the campaign, as Mr Wong said the concept had to be relevant to the Pokemon's legend, which dictated that the characters could not be caught. Altogether, 500,000 Pokemon premium soft toys would be given away, and Ms Kennedy said the market reaction and noise level was stronger than originally expected. The first Pokemon premium characters were fully redeemed by the third day of the week, according to Ms Kennedy. Asked if the MTR would take on similar campaigns in the future, Ms Kennedy said the promotional direction would depend on the MTR's overall plan for the second half of the year. Pokemon was described as the right choice for the campaign since the characters themselves were well known through television cartoon programmes.

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