Digital Advertising & Publishing Industries' Annual Crossover Event

Launch Ceremony of The 5^th "HK Digital Advertising Start-ups X Publishing (Writers) Promotion Support Scheme"

Unveiling 12 Selected Teams of Local Digital Advertising Start-ups & Emerging Writers

HONG KONG, March 8, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- In the era of online media and e-commerce, digital advertising has become one of the most prominent promoting tools and is utilized in various industries. The publishing industry in Hong Kong is also embracing this trend, trying to use more digital advertising to promote printed books. Nowadays, the promotion of publications has gone beyond the traditional framework, as new ways are being explored to expand the readership and to promote the reading culture.

The Hong Kong Digital Advertising Start-ups X Publishing (Writers) Promotion Support Scheme (the "Support Scheme"), organized by Hong Kong Association of Interactive Marketing ("HKAIM"), with support from Create Hong Kong ("CreateHK") of the Government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region ("HKSAR Government") as the lead sponsor, aims to nurture local digital advertising start-ups since its launch in 2019. The Support Scheme provides subsidy, training and supports to local digital advertising start-ups which will promote local emerging writers and their designated books through digital advertising. At the same time, more local emerging writers and their publishers will have the opportunity to explore and utilize digital advertising, so that there will be more cross-sectoral collaboration and development possibilities between the digital advertising industry and the publishing industry.

Entering its 5^th edition in 2023, the Support Scheme received overwhelming response to its call for applications which was ended in late 2022, with 71 digital advertising start-ups and 47 emerging writers. The HKAIM has selected among the applicants and paired up 12 teams, each comprises a digital advertising start-up and an emerging writer. The designated books of applied emerging writers cover a wide range of topics, which included music, fine arts, architecture, culture, popular science, history, picture book, working life, and more. The diversity would stimulate more creativities from the digital advertising start-ups as they plan the related campaigns.

The HKAIM successfully kicked off the 5^th Support Scheme with a Launch Ceremony at Seminar Hall, Xiqu Centre on 21 February. Mrs. Lowell Cho, Assistant Head of CreateHK, was invited to be the Guest of Honor. Along with her, Chairman of the HKAIM Mr. Ralph Szeto and Chairman of Hong Kong Publishing Federation Dr. Elvin Lee launched this year's Support Scheme by announcing the 12 participating teams. (Full list below)

Mrs. Lowell Cho, Assistant Head of CreateHK, thanked the HKAIM in her speech for its effort on organizing the 5^th Support Scheme and she congratulated all the selected digital advertising start-ups and emerging local writers.

Each digital advertising start-up will receive a subsidy of up to HK$240,000 to design, plan and execute a digital advertising campaign for the designated book of the matched emerging writer over a three-month supporting period. In addition, the HKAIM will provide training by industry experts, helping them to improve the creative concept and execution of their digital advertising campaigns. The Support Scheme not only creates an opportunity for the digital advertising and publishing industries to collaborate, it also promotes Chinese books through viral digital campaigns and cultivates a more robust reading culture.

In addition, the HKAIM will be promoting the participating digital advertising startups and emerging writers along with the selected books through a wide range of promotion channels including the Support Scheme's official website, internet, social media, etc. For the 12 digital advertising projects created under last year's (the 4^th) Support Scheme, the campaigns reached nearly 10.14 million people, with nearly 1.64 million engagements, and nearly 8.35 million views, successfully bringing attention to the selected books by the emerging writers, and delivering accurate messages from the books to the target audience, creating more opportunities for readers and emerging writers to interact and communicate. The HKAIM is hopeful that this year's Support Scheme will achieve similarly stellar results.

The HKAIM will also host a booth at Hong Kong Book Fair 2023 in July to exhibit the 12 digital advertising campaigns and the designated books. The Digital Advertising Design (for Publishing) Awards Competition and Presentation Ceremony is tentatively scheduled for July to recognize the best digital advertising campaign among the 12 as determined by industry experts. The "My Favourite Digital Advertising (for Publishing) Award" as determined by public voting will also be presented at the ceremony. The Presentation Ceremony will highlight the digital advertising campaigns as well as recognize the efforts of the participating teams.

The HKAIM will post regular updates about the Support Scheme and the 12 teams on our 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

The 12 selected pairs of digital advertising start-ups and emerging writers for the 5^th Support Scheme are listed in alphabetical order (according to Start-up) as follows:

Download Photos here: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1qN4o1XhkAeP5ueD6OcUnf1X209CyjHBb 

Organizer: 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 organizers 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.