Celebrating 5^th Anniversary of the Cross-Industry Event: Nurturing Local Digital Advertising Talents

HONG KONG, July 17, 2023 /PRNewswire/ — The 5^th HK Digital Advertising Start-up X Publishing (Writers) Promotion Support Scheme (the “Support Scheme”) is organized by the Hong Kong Association of Interactive Marketing (“AIM”), with support from Create Hong Kong (“CreateHK”) of the Government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, to generate opportunities for the two sectors to collaborate, while also cultivating a culture of reading among the general public. The Support Scheme was held in 2018 for the first time, and is celebrating its fifth anniversary this year.

In recognition of this year’s outstanding campaigns created by the 11 selected teams, the AIM held the Digital Advertising Design (for Publishing) Awards Ceremony and Sharing Session with Awardees today, and invited guest-of-honour Mr. Victor Tsang, Head of CreateHK; and esteemed guests Mr. Francis Fong, Founding Chairman of the AIM; Mr. William So, Vice Chairman of Hong Kong Publishing Federation; Mr. Stanley Chow, Executive Committee Member of the AIM; Ms. Candy L. C. Tam, MH, Veteran Advertising Executive & Founder of Growing in Reading (NPO); and Prof. Mike Wong, Professor of Practice of The Chinese University of Hong Kong School of Journalism and Communication to present the awards.

Head of CreateHK Mr. Victor Tsang congratulated the award-winning teams at the ceremony and extended his congratulations to the AIM for successfully organizing the Support Scheme for its fifth anniversary. He also thanked Hong Kong Publishing Federation and Hong Kong Publishing Professionals Society for once again encouraging and garnering enthusiastic participation from the publishing industry and thanked the support from jury panel members along with professional mentors.

Founding Chairman of the AIM Mr. Francis Fong congratulated all the award-winning teams and expressed his gratitude for the continuous sponsorship from CreateHK over the past five years. He also extended his appreciation to Hong Kong Publishing Federation and Hong Kong Publishing Professionals Society for their ongoing support. He stated, “In the blink of an eye, the Support Scheme has already held five editions. We are delighted to see outstanding performances from the participating digital advertising start-ups in each edition, as well as their brilliant collaboration with emerging writers and publishers. The Support Scheme has become an annual signature event that successfully promotes collaboration and development between the digital advertising and publishing industries. The performance of the participating digital advertising start-up and emerging writer teams in this edition has once again been pleasantly surprising. They have delivered creatively strong and well-executed digital advertising works, showcasing their determination to innovate and explore new ideas, new approaches, and new media, rather than simply following in the footsteps of others. We look forward to the Support Scheme continuing for the next five years, nurturing more talent in those two industries in Hong Kong.”

This year’s 11 participating teams delivered exceptional digital advertising campaigns that were highly praised by the jury panel of Digital Advertising Design (for Publishing) Awards. The jury panel expressed that some of the digital advertising works explored new media and forms of expression beyond videos. It was evident that digital advertising start-ups aimed to stay on top of the latest trends and seek new directions, refusing to be satisfied with existing models. In terms of execution, the jury pane also noticed that many digital advertising staryt-ups demonstrated exceptional attention to detail in their designs, compositions, visuals, and more, showcasing a high level of quality and thoughtfulness. Furthermore, each digital advertising campaign effectively conveyed the content and ideas of the designated books, indicating the active involvement of emerging writers in the creative process and achieving seamless cross-disciplinary communication and collaboration.

The 11 digital advertising campaigns created under this year’s Support Scheme reached nearly 17 million people, with over 2.5 million engagements, and nearly 8.5 million views. These impressive indicators show that the 11 digital advertising campaigns successfully attracted a large number of internet users and spread the messages of the designated books to their target audiences in fresh and engaging ways. The campaigns also enabled readers and the online community to interact with the authors in a more meaningful way. The 11 digital advertising campaigns will be exhibited alongside the 11 related books at a booth in the Hong Kong Book Fair 2023 in July, to reach out and interact with a large number of book lovers.

At today’s Digital Advertising Design (for Publishing) Awards Ceremony and Sharing Session with Awardees, the professional jury selected Digital Advertising Design (for Publishing) Gold, Silver, and Merit Awards were given out. The My Favourite Digital Advertising Design (for Publishing) Award, which was decided by a public vote held from 1 to 30 June, was also awarded.

Below is a brief introduction to this year’s Digital Advertising (for Publishing) Award recipients:

Gold Award & My Favourite Digital Advertising Design (for Publishing) Award
“Seven Million Rooms” by Nine Nine Digital

The Gold Award & decided by a public vote, the Digital Advertising Award (for Publishing) Award went to Nine Nine Digital’s campaign “Seven Million Rooms”, created for the picture book “My Forbidden Room” illustrated by Nalok.Lok and published by Lokrazy Plus Design. The team took inspiration from the content of the picture book and created a unique space in Metaverse, recreating the rooms in which the main character of the book hides her sad experiences and memories. Readers could “enter” their own rooms and carefully place their own sadness and regrets. Author Nalok.Lok collaborated with singer Melody Wu, song producer S.W.F., and lyricist GingerLemonCola to create an impressionistic song titled “The Room at the End”, which was accompanied by visuals from the picture book and made into a music video. The entire advertising campaign extended and developed the author’s picture book world, allowing the audience to experience its unique artistic concept and atmosphere in an immersive manner, thereby increasing their interest in reading the original picture book.

Digital Advertising Campaign – “Seven Million Rooms”: https://www.digiad.hk/pf/5/nineninedigital/

Silver Award:
“Probably the Most Challenging Book to be Made in the World” by THIS IS MY PRODUCTION HOUSE LIMITED &
“Hong Kong Comics Will Never Die” by Mediators Rock Limited

Two teams received this year’s Silver Award. The first one went to THIS IS MY PRODUCTION HOUSE LIMITED for their campaign titled “Probably the Most Challenging Book to be Made in the World”, created for the publication of “Botanical Illustrated Guide to Hong Kong Native Plants” written by David T. W. Lau, Man-Ching Li, Hiu-Yan Wong, Tin-Hang Wong and published by the Chinese University of Hong Kong Press. The campaign successfully transformed a science book into an engaging experience, using Vlog videos, social media, and guessing games to lead the audience through the work of botanical illustrators. From venturing into the forest, taking photos, collecting plants, preparing specimens to drawing on paper, the campaign showcased the lesser-known and intricate process behind the creation of a science book, offering a fresh perspective on the original publication.

Digital Advertising Campaign – “Probably the Most Challenging Book to be Made in the World”: https://www.digiad.hk/pf/5/thisismyproductionhouselimited/

The second Silver Award went to Mediators Rock Limited’s campaign “Hong Kong Comics Will Never Die”, created for the book “Seeing Hong Kong Comics: The Past and Future” written by Thomas Choi and published by Extraordinary Publishing Company. The campaign invited several local comic artists, including Jerry Cho, Wah Kee, Pen So, Sam Tse and Man Tsang, to not only share their experiences but also contribute their artistic skills. They created a micro-movie that was filled with the passion and vitality of local comics, breathing new life into the notion that “Hong Kong comics will never die”. Through the micro-movie, the audience could truly experience why Hong Kong comics will continue to thrive, dispelling the outdated notion and leaving a lasting impression of their resilience.

Digital Advertising Campaign – “Hong Kong Comics Will Never Die”: https://www.digiad.hk/pf/5/mediatorsrocklimited/

Merit Award:
“Public Markets in Hong Kong: Constructing Everyday Aesthetics” by OUTOFOFFICE &
“Know How to Deal with People” by Plate Creations Limited

There are two Merit Award recipients this year. The first one went to OUTOFOFFICE’s campaign “Public Markets in Hong Kong: Constructing Everyday Aesthetics”, created for the book “Everyday Architecture in Context: Public Markets in Hong Kong (1842–1981)” written by Carmen C. M. Tsui and published by the Chinese University of Hong Kong Press. The book aims to introduce readers to the architectural history of public markets in Hong Kong, allowing them to rediscover the markets and explore the urban memories and aesthetics of everyday life within them. The campaign presented the beauty of public markets from a unique visual perspective, showcasing the picturesque scenes found throughout, enabling the viewers to appreciate different public markets and the stories they have to tell.

Digital Advertising Campaign – “Public Markets in Hong Kong: Constructing Everyday Aesthetics”: https://www.digiad.hk/pf/5/outofoffice/

The second Merit Award went to Plate Creations Limited’s campaign “Know How to Deal with People”, created for the book “Rethinking the manner of dealing with people: The Autobiography of Public Relations Man B.C. Lo.” written by B.C. Lo. and published by Enrich publishing Limited. In addition to showcasing selected scenes from the book through short videos and social media, the campaign also narrated the author’s personal “bomb-defusing” stories as the PR guru of multinational corporations over the years. Moreover, a series of short videos were specially produced to impart “know-how secrets” to the audience. Workplace people will undoubtedly resonate with these videos, thereby enhancing their interest in reading the original book.

Digital Advertising Campaign – “Know How to Deal with People”: https://www.digiad.hk/pf/5/platecreationslimited/

The above award-winning digital advertising campaigns and other participating teams’ campaigns can be viewed for free on the Support Scheme’s official website and Facebook page.

For more details about the Support Scheme, please visit:
The Support Scheme’s official website:     www.digiad.hk
The Support Scheme’s Facebook page:    www.facebook.com/AdxPub

Organiser: The Hong Kong Association of Interactive Marketing
Lead Sponsor: Create Hong Kong of the Government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region

Disclaimer: The Government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region provides funding support to the project only, and does not otherwise take part in the project. Any opinions, findings, conclusions or recommendations expressed in these materials/events (or by members of the project team) are those of the project organisers only and do not reflect the views of the Government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, the Culture, Sports and Tourism Bureau, Create Hong Kong, the CreateSmart Initiative Secretariat or the CreateSmart Initiative Vetting Committee.

The 5^thHK Digital Advertising Start-up X Publishing (Writers) Promotion Support Scheme Digital Advertising Design (for Publishing) Award Recipients

The 11 teams of digital advertising start-ups and emerging local writers participating in the 5^th Support Scheme are listed in alphabetical order according to the names of the digital advertising start-ups: