[nickwillsher]

Does correct PR and Marketing Exist in Hong Kong? It does but it is hard to find.This article came about basically because of different happenings throughout the last 4 years that the site has been running.

This is not an article about any event in particular just about a general observation over quite a considerable amount of time and I was in the mood to speak out as things have not seemed to develop much in the music and entertainment industry since 1999 when I came back.

I have been on all different sides of the spectrum, as media, as event organisers, as consultants and as the event attendee. Over the whole time we have always seen a lack of correct marketing, promotions and planning of events in Hong Kong.

Event organisers should always research the artists who they plan to bring to Hong Kong and if the market is really suitable for them. On one occasion I was asked by a promoter who had already made the event public who should they bring? Of course I was shocked that they planned to put thousands into the event but had not actually planned the line-up until the last minute. People often think that if they have been to parties in the past then they think it is easy to also organise them, and of course they are completely wrong it takes a great deal of knowledge and understanding of how things really work. Every country is different as one promoter I know discovered when they tried to do the same as they did overseas in Hong Kong.


Great detail must be put into organising an event. The lead time (the time when the event is planned to the actual date) has to be analysed and structured. Airlines and hotels are a good example of managing Lead time, they have cheap deals and agent offers well in advance and then the price varies throughout the period, they also do promotions and other marketing and PR elements so that on the day the hotel or plane if full on the day. Because as people know if there is an empty seat the day after that is lost income.

On the side of PR and Marketing companies I believe that promoting events with the same cookie cutter methodology does not work. Each event has to be launched in their own unique way. I would like to mention some promoters in Hong Kong who did some excellent unique marketing but I want to keep this article general. But what I can say, directly targeting your market is the best way to get the people who would be interested in your event. Like a lot of my comments in this article they may be very obvious but you would be very surprised about how many people are not doing this. They think if let say 1 million people know about the event then at least a small proportion of them will go. I think this is not good enough especially matching the cost of the promotion to the result.

Knowing what you are promoting is also important. One event I went to in 2002 the PR Company asked me why I was so late and arriving for a DJ performance at 1am when the party started at 10pm. Of course I told her that dance parties don’t really start till 1am anyway and the headlining DJ normally comes on at 2am anyway, of course she replied that she had not actually done a dance music event before so did not know that. If I was the promoter I would have employed a company who was actually familiar with such events so that they know how to publicise it correctly for them.

Information is always crucial to an event. As everyone knows this is what people need to really understand and know what it is all about. If this information is misleading, incomplete or varies from place to place this can cause serious problems for the promoter, PR Company and anyone else who is involved. If an event is going to happen then as soon as it is confirmed (artists, venue, cost, time and date) a press release with all of the complete details must be released, and efficient and effectively presented updates throughout the lead time must be sent out. This will squash any rumours, guesses or wrong assumptions about an event that could jeopardize the end result.

Promotion is not just to lead up to event but also the management of after the event. I am sure each and every promoter would like their event to be remembered for years to come, this is something that they should really consider as this will then make sure that the event that they organise is even better than they thought it should be, that little bit extra in a production can go a long way.

I really could go on and on about the ways to do things right, but I won’t as this is something for the PR, Marketing and Promoters to learn for themselves. I am more than happy to be of assistance to anyone who asks, if you want to know what I was involved in before just think back to when over 9,000 people turned up at Kai Tak Airport for the Hong Kong Electronic Music Festival in 2001, and that was the first event I helped to market in Hong Kong.

Just wanted to share my thoughts with all of you, what do the rest of you think about the way events in HK are promoted?

[shri]

Nick,

Have you forwarded this article to our esteemed clowns at InvestHK?