Identity Crisis

Image designer Henry Steiner, the man who created the logos for HSBC, the Hong Kong Jockey Club and the banknotes of the Standard Chartered Bank, hit the nail on the head when he identified Hong Kong's image problems.

He called it branding buffoonery. His solution is simplicity itself: find one symbol to rally behind and stick with it. The current jumble of marketing attempts is disjointed and incoherent. Since the city was hit by the Asian economic crisis, Hong Kong has been in panic mode. Consider the slogans used so far:

· Wonders Never Cease

(Neither do the ad campaigns.)

· City of Life

(Whee. Wouldn't make me jump on a plane.)

· Asia's World City

(True. The world uses Hong Kong as a stopover on its way to other Asian destinations.)

· Hong Kong Will Take Your Breath Away

(Worst slogan ever. Came out just before SARS hit.)

· I love HK

(New York ripoff.)

· Live It, Love It.

(Leave it.)

There was also talk of calling Hong Kong the "Manhattan of Asia", which is embarrassing and stupid.

Steiner feels he'd be up to the task of creating a single symbol that Hong Kong could get behind and present to the world, but he believes the government would feel his fee would be too high.

As opposed to wasting more money on idiotic slogans?

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