PPR Blog

Hong Kong Trader - The Facebook Buzz

PPR has a busy Social Media Department working with a broad cross section of clients – ranging from large corporate to local businesses.
 
Social Media Manager, KC Wong, and Technology & New Media Head, Mark Leeper recently talked to the HKTDC’s Hong Kong Trader about the pros and cons of social media marketing and how to build a cost-effective programme combining both online and offline activities. 

The Facebook Buzz 

Dressed CEO Chris Rork has built a following for his salad restaurant chain using Facebook   When American Chris Rork launched Dressed, his chain of salad restaurants, in Hong Kong, he turned to online social media to promote it. “We created a Facebook group called ‘I love Dressed Salads’ and got almost 400 members in the first three weeks,” recounts Mr Rork. “As a small company with a limited marketing budget, it was an effective way for us to communicate to a large group for free.” 3cm Media Ltd also uses Facebook to generate buzz. Publisher of Prestige Hong Kong and other luxury lifestyle magazines, 3cm Media maintains a community of nearly 1,000 fans on Facebook, sending them updates on new stories, photos and personalities featured in the monthly publication, and responding to their feedback. The two companies are among the growing ranks of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) turning to online social-networking media for cost-effective marketing. SMEs have countless choices of Internet tools, including social networking sites such as Facebook and MySpace, product blogs, online forums, customer reviews, user-generated content promotions, video sharing via YouTube or Tudou or, ideally, a combination of channels. According to a recent survey of marketing professionals by the Hong Kong Association of Interactive Marketing, 55 per cent of respondents regarded social media as the most trustworthy and influential media option, second only to television (57 per cent) and well ahead of print (41 per cent). And social media far outpaced all other channels in the survey for creating a relationship with target consumers. From Obama to Long Hair     Compelling content and soft selling works for social-media marketing, says KC Wong, Social Media Manager of Professional Public Relations Greater China    The use of social media is exploding worldwide. Companies often test TV commercials on YouTube. US President Barack Obama used Twitter during his election campaign, and American astronauts have tweeted reports back to earth. While Twitter has not yet taken off in Hong Kong, local political activist Leung Kwok Hung (aka Long Hair), among others, uses Facebook to promote himself. Internet users are increasingly using Facebook, MySpace or Xanga (a Chinese-language blogging community) as their homepage, making it a marketer’s dream space. And because social networkers post so much information about themselves and what they like to do, eat, wear, watch and listen to, the medium is a trove of marketing data. The e-marketer’s goal is to build a community of customers who become emotionally invested in a brand. That requires having a story to tell and a personality to flaunt. “It’s about interacting with their communities instead of just broadcasting their advertising,” says KC Wong, Social Media Manager of Professional Public Relations Greater China Ltd.

Ex-PPR Employee Stars in Oldest Rugby Match in the World

by Pat Foreman
Consultant, PPR Hong Kong

Former PPR employee Jamie Hood was part of the Cambridge University team that beat Oxford University in the 2009 Varsity Rugby match held at Twickenham in front of 30,000 fans on Thursday 10th December. Jamie, who left Hong Kong and PPR to study at the famous University in September 2009, scored the match winning try for the light blue and whites with a sensational individual effort shown in the video blog. The match between Cambridge and Oxford University is the longest running rugby fixture in the world, which was first held in 1872 and is played once a year.

PPR Go Pretty in Pink for Breast Cancer Awareness

by Pat Foreman
Consultant, PPR Hong Kong

PPR provided the Public Relations for the Hong Kong Football Club during their drive to support the Hong Kong Breast Cancer Foundation for the Breast Cancer Awareness Month of October.

PPR HK employee Pat Foreman, member of the rugby 1st XV at HKFC played and then attended the Charity Pink Ball, along with Jo Fargus (fellow PPR HK employee). The event itself raised close to HK$1 million, and PPR was proud to be involved in raising awareness for such a charitable cause.

Hong Kong Football Club 1stXV Rugby squad Pretty in Pink, wearing their Breast Cancer Awareness playing kit

PPR Helps Fashionable Watch Brand Solvil et Titus Carve Out Growing Mindshare Online

by KC Wong 
Social Media Manager, PPR Hong Kong

Tasked with building an Internet-based component for the Solvil et Titus thematic campaign Time is Love, PPR developed an eight week social media programme that engaged a young and affluent consumer audience.

Facebook was used to create an online community around the Time is Love theme, encouraging more than 35,000 netizens to visit an instant quiz, and achieving a 22% participation rate, with a further 12,000 viewing related online forums and discussion threads.

This highly effective digital campaign ensured significantly increased brand awareness and product interest among a hard-to-reach target group.

Digital Marketing Survey

What Kind of Agency is Best Suited for an Online World?

by Mark Leeper
Account Director, PPR Hong Kong

Today, the range of opportunities online must surely mean that no communications professional can overlook the potential of the web.

Blogs, e-books, viral marketing initiatives, RSS feeds, podcasts, web conferences and e-newsletters are just some of the tools available to reach out to customers and other audiences.

It is simply no longer sufficient to run a regular advertising schedule and manage a PR programme in the local press.

But as opportunities multiply, so do your choices of a marketing partner – and you probably already have agencies to manage Advertising, PR, Direct Marketing and Website Development.

Do you need an entirely new breed of agency to manage your online activities – can you turn to one of your existing partners to handle this evolving communications arena?

Well, Advertising Agencies are frequently well-resourced and many of them are adding online divisions. If you have an Ad agency that is already providing you with a solid communications strategy beyond traditional media, your current partner may be able to help meet your online requirements.

Website Developers know the Internet and understand the nature of the evolving family of online tools. However, their focus is more on technical capability than on interpreting business needs.

Direct Marketing agencies have a depth of knowledge when it comes to talking with customers - experience that is clearly relevant in an online environment – but they tend to be more comfortable executing instructions than devising a comprehensive communications strategy.

As for Public Relations – well you could argue that an organization that spends its time talking to the media is less relevant in an online world of direct communication. However, a broader interpretation of PR targets many audiences, through a variety of communications channels. And a well-managed agency will take a strategic approach to communications – focusing on understanding a client’s business needs before implementing a carefully designed plan.

In a world increasingly influenced by the Internet, your choice of agency type is much less clear. My recommendation would be to look for the right balance of services that your business requires. Chose a partner based on their strategic approach, their people and their openness to adopting and using online tools to meet your business needs. Good luck!

Good Apples amongst Bad Ones

by Chin-Lee Tan
Senior Account Director, PPR Singapore

烂苹果中还有好苹果 

(2009-06-12)

陈进利 

尽管龙筹股最近频频凸槌，但烂苹果中仍然隐藏着不少的好苹果。在我多年的工作经验中，就曾经和素质很不错的龙筹股公司合作。 

在这里就以一家零售业公司为案例。该公司在上市时的公关工作做得相当成功。公司业绩也亮丽, 可是公司股价却一直表现不甚理想。负责公司对投资者沟通的董事经理和执行董事，认为公司的投资亮点似乎还没有被发掘，决定寻求援助。 

投资者关系顾问在听取两人的汇报，了解公司的需求后，根据公司的业务为公司定下主要投资讯息和投资目标，也重新调整了上市后一直沿用的介绍公司短片。因为，投资者对公司已经有所认识，短片应该更明确和精准的点出公司的投资亮点。公司管理层也同时被告知，分析师和基金经理更看重的是一家有发展前景和拥有肯说真话管理层的公司。 

当时正发生中国航油事件，投资者对龙筹股的诚信度已受到一定的影响。但是，公司管理层并没有气馁，诚恳和用心的进行一家又一家的拜访，与分析师及基金经理交流和沟通。听取投资者的意见，也不时改善宣传资料内容。 

甚至于分析师和基金经理向公司索取在中国国内数百家分店的地址，管理层也能在一天内便把有关资料整理好，让投资者看到公司的工作效率。另外，该公司也邀请分析师和基金经理到中国的工厂参观，让他们亲身体验公司的作业。 

公司的董事经理和执行董事在和分析师与基金经理会面时，也不夸大行业和公司的一些数据，据实以报。 

经过两年的努力，公司的股票获得分析师和基金经理和市场的信任，股价涨了三倍。与此同时，在吸取投资者关系顾问的经验后，公司也培养了内部的投资者关系团队。 

不同行业，有不同的投资者关系做法。这里有另外一个案例：一家从事电子部件设计的公司，公司没有固定资产，由于公司的资产主要是从事软件设计和人才，一般上，投资者对缺乏固定资产的公司，兴趣不大。投资者关系的策略当然有所改变。 

这家公司拥有一名出色的财务总监，他虽然是新加坡籍，却常驻中国。他认为只有贴近“风土民情”才能更好的掌控公司一切财务。有这样一位肯作出牺牲的财务人才，公司的投资者关系工作当然事半功倍。因为财务总监对公司了如指掌，投资者要求的数据就在弹指之间。这只股票也就深获分析师和基金经理的爱戴。他本身就是公司的亮点之一，环视龙筹股，愿意常驻中国的财务总监毕竟少见。

经过多年的投资者关系经验后，这家公司也成立了内部的投资者关系部门，为投资者提供更好的交流管道。 

最近，股市又见好转，也许是这些好苹果（基本面好和现金流雄厚的龙筹股）表现的大好机会。

（作者为投资者关系顾问）

Online Version: http://www.zaobao.com/finance/pages2/comment090612.shtml

Resolving the S-Chip Conundrum on the Singapore Bourse

by Chin-Lee Tan
Senior Account Director, PPR Singapore

As Asia's second largest-listed stockmarket, Singapore has attracted numerous mainland Chinese companies looking for investment capital to back their international expansion plans. A number of these companies - locally known as S-Chips - have faced financial and regulatory issues in recent months, mainly due to poor governance.

Now the remaining 100 or so Singapore-listed Chinese companies risk guilt by association.  A loss of confidence among investors is difficult to handle at the best of times, but potentially disasterous in a tough economic climate.

So what can S-Chips do to better manage their reputation?

In my view, every S-chip needs to undertake a careful audit of activities and do some genuine soul searching to establish whether the company has complied fully with regulatory requirements for accurate and fair disclosure.

If the answer is yes, how can the facts of this compliance be effectively communicated to improve overall investor confidence? If no, how can lasting improvements be made - and what will it take to convince investors that the company sincerely intends to reform its approach?

Only by taking these steps can investor confidence in S-chips be mended and ultimately fully restored. Let me illustrate this point with two examples:

New Technology Serves to Strengthen Old Priorities

by Mark Leeper
Account Director, PPR Hong Kong

By now you will have realized that PPR Greater China has a new website featuring the first few pages of a new company Blog. About time - you might think - surely there is no room today for an old fashioned PR company that fails to optimize its use of the Internet? And naturally I would have to agree with you. But fortunately for my career prospects in the new role of Account Director - New Media for PPR, the company has long since moved beyond traditonal Public Relations.

Thanks to an established in-house web-development capability, PPR has designed and implemented customised online tools that help organizations as diverse as Calvin Klein, CPA Australia and WWF to reach out to their varied audiences and learn more than ever before about their needs and interests.

Internet-based tools like ROPA, a proprietary online survey platform, provide the insight that enables companies to establish cohesive strategies on which truly effective communications programmes can be built. Needless to say, such programmes combine both online and offline activities more effectively than ever before.

So let me finish with a question for you: when was the last time you asked your customers what they want from your company? Perhaps now's the time to give it a try.

SGX-Listed Guangzhao Announces Appointment of PPR Investor Relations Specialist as Independent Director

SGX Mainboard-listed Guangzhao Industrial Forest Biotechnology Group Limited, a leading producer of fast-growing plantlets including poplar, Oriental Fir, tropical fruits and Jatropha Curcas, announced today that it has appointed a new executive director and three independent directors with effect from 25th April 2009.

Mr Oh Yong Hui, who has worked for LabOne Singapore Pte Ltd, Expressway Logistics Pte Ltd and JL Supply Chain International Pte Ltd as Chief Financial Officer, was appointed Executive Director. Prior to these appointments, Mr Oh was Sales Team Manager from 2002 to 2008 at direct selling company WBG Network (Singapore) Pte Ltd and he was one of the key personnel who spearheaded WBG’s expansion into Malaysia, Indonesia and Thailand. Mr Oh graduated with a Bachelor degree in accounting from Nanyang Technological University in 1998.

The three independent directors are Mr Tang Chi Loong, Mr Foo Teck Leong and Mr Tan Chin Lee.

Mr Tang Chi Loong, is a practising lawyer with over 13 years of experience. He is currently a partner at law firm Hin Tat Augustine and Partners and has been an Independent Director of Singapore-listed HLN Tech Ltd since 2006. Mr Tang graduated from the National University of Singapore with a Bachelor of Laws in 1994.