CC Tang is Chief Creative Officer for Greater China at Havas Worldwide in Hong Kong.

Nakamichi

VO (Back translation):

Not every bird is a song bird.

Similarly, not every sound equipment is hi-fi (high fidelity).

Only those who can deliver the true essence of music.

To capture the real essence of music, it has to be Nakamichi.

Nakamichi car stereo system, the real song bird.

Cognac used to be sold as premium drink, a status symbol.

We did something else. Closer to the heart of Hong Kong people.

It is a print ad for Hennessy VSOP.

The platform is “Nothing is certain, apart from the real pleasure of a Hennessy VSOP.”

It’s created and run during the drought season when we had water supply restriction/rationing. Everyone was anticipating whether water supply would be restricted.

The ad features 3 shots of the reservoir. Different levels of storage.

The captions from left to right are…

Restricted. — Not restricted. — Restricted or not?

In Cantonese, “restrict” also means “to comply”, reflecting the uncertainty about the future of Hong Kong before 1997.

The tagline is the theme, “Nothing is certain, apart from the real pleasure of a Hennessy VSOP.”

Also for Hennessy.

Deng Xiao Peng’s famous promise to the people of Hong Kong before 1997 was: “Horse racing will remain. Night club/dances will remain.” To hint that nothing will change after 1997.

This ad was created before night horse racing was resumed after the season break.

The visual is the date/calendar for the commencement of horse racing season.

The caption says…”Night horse racing remains?”

The tagline again “Nothing is certain, apart from the real pleasure of a Hennessy VSOP.”

The mind and mood of Hong Kong then was touched and reflected by this ad.

Same platform, different ad for Hennessy VSOP.

The stock market was turbulent prior to [the handover in] 1997. The world was wondering what would happen to Hong Kong.

This ad is a Heng Sang Index chart reflecting the market.

When Chris Patten said something, the index went up.

When Lu Ping, then the Director of the Hong Kong and Macau Affairs Office of the State Council of PRC, said something, the index went down.

Depicting the uncertainty of Hong Kong again.

The visual is the chart. Inside which captions from left to right…

Chris Patten speaks. – Lu Ping speaks. – Chris Patten speaks. – Nothing is certain, apart from the real pleasure of a Hennessy VSOP.

When we won Motorola in 1999/2000 at Ogilvy, the branding team decided to rename Motorola mobile as MOTO. The intention was to make the brand a lifestyle brand with a catchier name. So that it would become a buddy. But the problem with China was that nobody could pronounce MOTO.

The creative was very simple: make MOTO synonymous with Motorola. And use MOTO as an expression of life’s various moments. For joy, for greeting, for excitement, for fun and whatnot.

The end result was this MOTO anthem. The first in the world for Motorola to be called as MOTO on broadcast. Run in China; created by the China team.

TVC for Hutchison Global Crossing

It is all about dedication. Hutchison Global Crossing painstaking took time and effect to build the optical fiber network to connect Hong Kong with the world. The TVC is vignettes of deeds that need dedication to accomplish.

The supers and VO back translation as follows…

1/ The ceiling of the Sistine Chapel took Michelangelo a life time to complete.

2/ The new airport of Hong Kong took 8 years of planning to build.

3/ Your sweater took 11,600 steps to be knitted with love.

4/ The rural postman carried on to deliver mails for you throughout the 12 years of service.

5/ The Tsing Ma Bridge took five years to build.

6/ Your academic achievement took 18 years to complete.

7/ Rice fields needed 4 months of work before harvest.

8/ 0 to thousands and thousands of miles of promise.

9/ Second to second, minute to minute of hard work.

VO: Only efforts put in the past can bring you the fruitful result of the present. Hutchison Global Crossing has been trying its best to build the optical fiber networks underground and undersea, so that we can enjoy our new seamless life today.