The 4th HK Digital Advertising Start-ups X Publishing (Writers) Promotion Support Scheme

Digital Advertising Design (for Publishing) Awards Ceremony and Sharing Session with Awardees

Annual Signature Project Nurturing New Generation of Digital Marketing Talent

HONG KONG, Sept. 19, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- The 4th HK Digital Advertising Start-up X Publishing (Writers) Promotion Support Scheme (the "Support Scheme") is organised 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 as the Lead Sponsor, to create collaboration and development opportunities for local digital advertising and publishing industries, and also promote reading among the general public.

In recognition of the outstanding campaigns created by the 12 selected teams under the current edition of the Support Scheme, the AIM held the Digital Advertising Design (for Publishing) Awards Ceremony and Sharing Session with Awardees on 22 August 2022, with Mr. Victor Tsang, Head of CreateHK as Guest of Honour. Other esteemed guests of the ceremony to present awards were Ms. Jersey Yuen, Assistant Head of CreateHK; Mr. Ralph Szeto, Chairman of the AIM; Mr. William So, Vice Chairman of Hong Kong Publishing Federation; along with representatives of the jury panel Prof. Mike Wong, Professor of Practice of The Chinese University of Hong Kong School of Journalism and Communication; and Mr. Ben Mak, Co-Publisher of D Mind Education.

Speaking at the ceremony, Mr. Victor Tsang, Head of CreateHK, congratulated the award-winning teams and thanked the AIM for successfully organising the Support Scheme for four years in a row. Furthermore, he showed appreciation for Hong Kong Publishing Federation and Hong Kong Publishing Professionals Society for garnering enthusiastic participation from the publishing industry in the Support Scheme as well as for the jury panel members and professional mentors who supported the Support Scheme.

Mr. Ralph Szeto, Chairman of the AIM, also congratulated all the award-winning teams, while expressing his gratitude to CreateHK for the sponsorship as well as to Hong Kong Publishing Federation and Hong Kong Publishing Professionals Society for their continued support. "Since its inception, the Support Scheme has been facilitating the digital advertising and publishing industries in Hong Kong to create more opportunities for collaboration, joint promotion and development. The Support Scheme has become an annual signature project for these two industries. The 12 digital advertising start-ups participating in  this edition of the Support Scheme have worked closely with the emerging writers with whom they have been paired, and have contributed much time and creativity to design these refreshing digital advertising campaigns. I hope that this Support Scheme will have CreateHK's continuous support for the digital advertising and publishing industries to inspire more creativity with brilliant works," remarked Mr. Szeto.

This edition's Support Scheme selected 12 local digital advertising start-up established within the last five years to pair up with 12 units of  local emerging local writers whose first publications came to the market within the past six years. Each selected digital advertising start-up received a maximum subsidy of HK$220,000 to design, produce and execute a digital advertising campaign to promote the designated book written by the writer in the team. In addition, the Support Scheme provided each team of digital advertising start-up and writer with professional mentors and training for the participating teams to spark their creativity with a view to elevating the standard of local digital advertisements.

Partnership Between Digital Advertising Start-Ups and Emerging Writers Yields Boundless Creativity

The 12 digital advertising campaigns delivered by the participating teams under this edition's Support Scheme were very well received. These campaigns alongside the 12 books featured in the campaigns were exhibited at the Hong Kong Book Fair 2022 in July and attracted a great number of book lovers. This not only successfully boosted the popularity of the emerging writers concerned but also promoted their designated books.

The digital advertising campaigns were also highly commended by this edition's jury panel of the Digital Advertising Design (for Publishing) Awards.

The jurors noted  the deep engagement with the writers and the in-depth understanding of the designated books by the digital advertising start-ups as demonstrated in these digital advertising campaigns. Furthermore, the jury panel recognised the high standard in the production and execution of these campaigns which succeeded in conveying the messages of the designated books and in turn enticed more recipients to read these books.

The 12 digital advertising campaigns created under this edition's Support Scheme reached nearly 10.14 million people, with nearly 1.64 million engagements, and nearly 8.35 million views. These impressive indicators showed that these 12 digital advertising campaigns successfully attracted massive internet users and precisely brought the messages of the designated books concerned to their target readers in creative and engaging ways. The campaigns also enabled readers and the online community to deeply and interactively exchange views with the emerging writers concerned.

At the Digital Advertising Design (for Publishing) Awards Ceremony and Sharing Session with Awardees held on 22 August 2022, this edition's Digital Advertising Design (for Publishing) Gold, Silver, and Merit Awards selected by the professional jury, as well as "My Favourite Digital Advertising Design (for Publishing) Award", which was voted by public on 8 July to 5 August 2022, were presented.

Below is a brief introduction to various Digital Advertising (for Publishing) Awards awardees:

Gold Award: "In Search of Cinematic Dream Worlds. Encounters with the Most Beautiful Female Characters" by Media Studio Hong Kong Limited

The Gold Award went to Media Studio Hong Kong Limited's campaign for "Star Portraits – Encounters with 90 Iconic Hong Kong Female Movie Characters"  (星塵画報──遇見90位香港電影女角色) written by Alex Chan and published by Extraordinary Publishing Company – "In Search of Cinematic Dream Worlds. Encounters with the Most Beautiful Female Characters". The campaign features three Hong Kong classic female roles in their iconic scenes – Yip Lam from "Beyond the Dream", Su Li Zhen from "In the Mood for Love", and Lau Piu Piu from "King of Comedy, all reenacted by renowned local actress Cecilia Choi who successfully brought these characters from the book into our world. It successfully raised the interest of Hong Kong's cinephiles and readers in this distinctive pictorial that is full of movie nostalgia.

Digital Advertising Campaign – "In Search of Cinematic Dream Worlds. Encounters with the Most Beautiful Female Characters": 

https://www.digiad.hk/pf/4/mediastudiohongkonglimitedx星塵画報遇見90位香港電影女角色/

Silver Award: 3omehow Studio's "Absent Witness: The Adorable Tenant" Gets Everyone Guessing Who Did It

The Silver Award went to the campaign "Absent Witness: The Adorable Tenant", which was created by 3omehow Studio for Robyn Ho's "Absent Witness II – Forensic Psychiatry's Past, Present, and Future", published by Crystal Window Books. Highlight of the campaign is a microfilm that depicted a case from the book which was about a boy who suddenly died when celebrating his 5th birthday, leaving four suspects and three eyewitnesses who all have their own stories revealed after two rounds of interrogation…The campaign successfully created an intriguing case, and leveraged social media to get people involved in the search for evidence to find the culprit, drawing people into the captivating world of forensic psychiatry and the original book "Absent Witness II – Forensic Psychiatry's Past, Present, and Future".

Digital Advertising Campaign – "Absent Witness: The Adorable Tenant": https://www.digiad.hk/pf/4/3omehowstudiox不在場證人ii法醫精神科的過去現在與未來/

Merit Award (1): 8EGGS STUDIO Explores the Multiverse of History with "There's More Than One Way to Write History; There's At Least 101!"

Three digital advertising campaigns were presented with Merit Awards. The first one went to "There's More Than One Way to Write History; There's At Least 101!" created by 8EGGS Studio for "More Than One Way: Issues and Approaches in East Asian Studies" written by  Mao Sheng and published by The Chinese University of Hong Kong Press. The campaign recruited members under the name of #101 Book Club  (#101讀書會)  on social media, collaborated with a Hong Kong renowned organisation that promotes philosophy and a YouTuber to create a series of podcasts about little known aspects of history, etc. It developed many topics from the book which is already interesting and easy-to-read, successfully bringing "More Than One Way: Issues and Approaches in East Asian Studies" and Mao Sheng to more history lovers.

Digital Advertising Campaign – "There's More Than One Way to Write History; There's At Least 101!":

https://www.digiad.hk/pf/4/8eggsstudiox歷史不止一種寫法十篇書評裏的歷史學景觀/

Merit Award (2): "Invisible Limits" – Oneshot Concept's Tuen Mun-Tsuen Wan 10K Challenge

The second Merit Award went to Oneshot Concept Limited's campaign "Invisible Limits" for Leung Siu Wai's and Titus Yu's "#SeeYourLimit" (你要走多遠), published by Sino United Electronic Publishing Ltd. As part of the campaign, a 10K running challenge from Tuen Mun to Tsuen Wan was organised and documented for the participating athletes, KOLs, and other public who were challenged to experience the obstacles faced by blind runner Leung Siu Wai, the protagonist of the book, and witness his exceptional ability and determination as well as close partnership with his running guide in the run. Through a series of videos posted on social media, viewers were able to understand how blind persons and their running guides overcome limitations. The campaign inspired people to rethink and work towards transcending their own limits.

Digital Advertising Campaign – "Invisible Limits":

https://www.digiad.hk/pf/4/oneshotconceptlimitedx你要走多遠/

Merit Award (3): Think Pig Limited Brings a Philosophy Book Down to Earth with "Simplifying Qu Qiubai's World of Ideas"

The last Merit Award  went to "Simplifying Qu Qiubai's World of Ideas" created by Think Pig Limited for Cheung Lik Kwan's "Qu Qiubai and Transcultural Modernity", published by The Chinese University of Hong Kong Press. Aside from using a short video to introduce Qu Qiubai's thinking, Think Pig created a series of word riddles for playing on social media under the campaign, which successfully brought "Qu Qiubai and Transcultural Modernity" to a broader audience, by making the difficult philosophical ideas in the book simple enough for the average Joe to understand.

Digital Advertising Campaign – "Simplifying Qu Qiubai's World of Ideas":

https://www.digiad.hk/pf/4/thinkpiglimitedx瞿秋白與跨文化現代性/

My Favourite Digital Advertising Design (for Publishing) Award: Buddha's Protein Entertainment Limited Selects the Best Salesperson in "So This is What Life is Like in Japan: The Best Salesperson Casting X Oki-Family"

Decided by public votes, the Digital Advertising Award (for Publishing) Award went to Buddha's Protein Entertainment Limited's digital advertising campaign "So This is What Life is Like in Japan: The Best Salesperson Casting X Oki-Family" for "So This is What Life in Japan is Like?! A Hong Konger Dives Deep Into Japanese Culture" written by Oki-Family and published by Crystal Window Books. The campaign filmed a make-believe casting call to select "The Best Salesperson" for a virtualin-depth tour of Japan so as to promote the book concerned in multiple angles. In a refreshing and entertaining way that was very popular with the public, the campaign managed to convey the book's essence.

Digital Advertising Campaign – "So This is What Life in Japan is Like: The Best Salesperson Casting X Oki-Family":

https://www.digiad.hk/pf/4/buddhasproteinentertainmentlimitedx日本生活原來如此在地香港人的潛文化體驗課/

The above award-winning digital advertising campaigns and other campaigns created under the 4^th Support Scheme can be reviewed 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.

4th HK Digital Advertising Start-up X Publishing (Writers) Promotion Support Scheme –Winners of Digital Advertising Design (for Publishing) Awards

4th HK Digital Advertising Start-up X Publishing (Writers) Promotion Support Scheme –

12 participating teams (listed in alphabetical order of the English names of the digital advertising start-ups as follows):