I saw the video below from a tweet by Drew Coffman.
It made me smile.
I couldn’t take my eyes off it. The slice of life realness and the varied reactions of diners are fascinating.
The GoPro image was taken by Vlogger Tkyosam, an American living in Tokyo who captures his adventures on camera.
But apparently not everyone is a fan. Sushiro, the sushi chain featured in in this clip, has banned photography in their restaurants and claim they will prosecute offenders.
Some have claimed there’s a gulf in terms of etiquette between East and West. I’m not sure if cultural differences are a major factor here. Apparently most of the negative reactions have been about privacy and food safety. They sound like pretty universal concerns to me.
Sometimes, it’s harder for people to recognise similarities because they are more concerned about finding differences.
IDENTITY Communications might be the intelligent multicultural marketing agency, but our team also has heart. As Hong Kong’s neon lights fade, Brenda Leung, IDENTITY’s Insights Manager reflects on her childhood memories of the Pearl of the Orient.
One of my most vivid childhood memories is of evenings at Victoria Peak, Hong Kong Island with my family. Hong Kong at night is breathtaking. Looking down to Victoria Harbour, all my attention was captured by the vibrant, warm and inviting hue of Hong Kong’s iconic neon lights – glowing and blinking on skyscrapers that reflected on the harbour. It is this view that leaves a lasting impression for the 27m overnight tourists who visit Hong Kong every year. It is this view that gives Hong Kong its nickname of the “Pearl of the Orient”.
Walking through the city of Hong Kong, the city’s lights are spectacular. Neon’s brilliant blaze has always been used by businesses to attract customers. Big neon light boards are found on the façade of commercial buildings, department stores, shopping centres, restaurants, clubs, with those colourful lights shining, sparkling and twinkling into people’s eyes. It is a city that embraces neon. I have no idea who made those neon lights and how they are made, but they are definitely the representative of the dynamic, bustling, fast pacing and never stopping lifestyle of Hong Kong. There is so much ambient light that you can even read a book at 2am if you sit by the window of an apartment in Mongkok, Tsimshatsui or Wanchai.
The neon lights in Hong Kong also mark the beginning of the fun of its exciting nightlife, where retailers open until midnight and restaurants until the early hours of the morning. Other than the nickname of “Pearl of the Orient”, Hong Kong is also known as “Shoppers’ Paradise” because the shops stay open until late, with the purpose of entertaining the residents and tourists alike. When you have finished a movie at 1am, you can still make your way to a nice eatery where you can stuff your belly to recharge for the next day. Hong Kong is truly a city that never gets dark or comes to a stop.
Light is an important part in celebrations in Hong Kong. Occasions or festivals like Chinese New Year, Hong Kong Establishment Day and Chinese National Day are times to celebrate with fireworks. Breathtaking fireworks glow over the Harbour with crowds of people lining the harbour on both sides to witness the spectacular display.
I read that recently, Hong Kong has shifted from neon lights to LED for cost effectiveness, safety and other technical reasons (watch the video above for the full explanation). That’s a shame, neon lights can be handcrafted to create different shapes and unique characters. When compared with LED, neons are brighter, glow with a larger variety of colours to help sign boards stand out.
Whatever happens to the lights of Hong Kong, in my heart nothing will stop the vitality of the city I love. In my heart, Hong Kong will still always be a city of energy and intense lights, and its sparkle is eternally vibrant.
IDENTITY Communications, the intelligent multicultural marketing agency takes a quick look at the cultural diversity in these electorates.
July 28 is when voters in five federal electorates go to the polls in what’s being billed as “Super Saturday”. We’re staying away from the politics, but we can give you an idea of the cultural diversity of these seats that are in play.
Actually, in terms of cultural diversity at least, they’re not that diverse. This is particularly true for Mayo and Braddon where 91% of residents speak English at home, followed by Longman (88%), Fremantle (74%) and Perth (67%).
Italian speakers are shaping up as the largest cultural group in particularly in the West; Fremantle and Perth. Mandarin is second when you combine all five electorates, followed by Vietnamese.
Go for it, play with our table below and sort and search to your heart’s content!
Tailoring your creative to specific multicultural audiences will deliver a 100% increase in engagement, says Thang Ngo. Marketers need to see the value in true bespoke multicultural creative to capture the attention of their entire audience.
Almost five million Australians speak a language other than English at home, according to the 2016 Census – up 20% from five years ago!
Brands looking for new growth opportunities are increasingly eyeing their multicultural marketing potential. But when the ‘rubber hits the road’, marketers and their agencies rightly devote time and resources to getting the media schedules right but often default to running their ‘mainstream’ creative assets when clearly bespoke creative would be considerably more effective.
How effective you may ask? We are seeing a 100% increase in engagement in some instances when culturally relevant creative work is introduced.
Advertising basics recognise the complementary contribution of media and creative in an effective campaign. But at the first creative development hurdle for their multicultural campaign, advertisers are often signing off on less effectiveness by running mainstream creativity.
Many clients think it’s too hard or costly to develop bespoke in-language creative for their brands, overwhelmingly opting to translate their existing ‘mainstream’ creative. I am sure that instinctively clients know that a lack of relevant creative reduces the performance of their campaigns.
Their media schedule might provide great reach and cost effectiveness, but the creative could turn the audience off.
Of course, one size does not fit all. Budget, timing and other factors come in to play in the real world. Here are some considerations that might help focus more attention to multicultural creative development:
Budget – If the marketing budget is limited, it might not be feasible to invest in bespoke creative because it might take a disproportionate share of the budget.
Timing – In-language creative often takes longer to produce, sourcing the right talent from a limited pool and translation lead time might complicate your logistics.
Creative capacity – There isn’t the breadth of creative and production talent compared to mainstream, so this may impact on the quality of the message you are crafting.
Collaboration – Consider if your current creative agency could work with a cultural consultant during creative concept and development.
Face to camera – If it’s just a voiceover, then consider re-voicing the commercial.
Customise static assets – TV production requires a larger budget, but if you’re doing a print advert that has talent, consider shooting the mainstream material with a mix of talent or shooting talent that’s from a relevant community for your campaign.
Product benefit – Particularly in the beauty category, a well-known culturally relevant talent may be the inspiration for this audience, so maybe subtitling is all that’s needed. However, if the benefits of a beauty product might be better demonstrated on someone with a skin tone similar to your target audience, the talent choice may not be appropriate.
Your brand – If you are a major multinational, and you’re investing a significant budget in media, is there an expectation that you should develop tailored creative for the target community?
Brand sentiment benefits – In an environment where creative is almost always translated from mainstream, consider the significant uplift in positive brand sentiment from investing in bespoke creative.
ROI – Brands that appreciate and focus on tailoring their creative to multicultural audiences will reap the benefit of a little extra investment. It’s advertising 101.
Ignore the importance of multicultural creative development at your own peril.
Thang Ngo is managing director at Identity Communications.
Well it’s not. Some you you might have heard of Songkran in Thailand. If you haven’t then you really, really should look at the video below. It’s too fun for words.
What’s Songkran? Songkran is a three day festival which celebrates Thai New Year which starts on 13 April 2018. April is the hottest month of the year so not surprisingly water features prominently. But it’s not (just) about getting wet and wild, when Thais throw water at you it’s not because they don’t like you and want to wet your best tourist clothes. The idea is to wash away back luck from the previous year so you can start the new year fresh.
But it’s just not Thais who celebrate new year at this time. Khmer, Lao and Tamil communities celebrate their new year at during this time also.
Where can you celebrate in Sydney?
Leumeah’s Wat Pa Buddharangsee in Sydney’s south west hosts one of the biggest Thai New Year celebrations in Sydney (above), with food stalls, opportunity to make offerings to monks and of course, it all ends with one big water fight – make sure you dress for fun.
Wat Phrayortkeo Dhammayanaram, Edensor Park (above) is where you should go for a delicious Lao new year. The food is soooo good.
If you want to celebrate with Sydney’s Khmer community, why to visit the Wat Khemarangsarm in Bonnyrigg.
So what are you waiting for? Let’s celebrate the New Year all over again.
