From the lady in the beautiful floral dress to asking, When did the world get so STUPID?
It was almost cinematic and something kinda reminiscent of Diane Lane in “Secretariat”.
And judging by the feedback received after writing about Hong Kong’s Romantic Warrior winning on the Standard Chartered sponsored race day last Sunday that segued from horse sense to the dress sense of the lovely Mary Huen, this might have somehow helped sow some new seeds not planted by Captain Obvious.
Watching the horse racing that afternoon on television and only intermittently, what
took my eye was the simple elegance of the floral print dress worn by someone I discovered later was Mary Huen, CEO, Standard Chartered for Hong Kong, Mainland China and North Asia. She stood out in one of those usually pedestrian presentation ceremonies that are uninteresting to everyone except for those onstage.
Life deals cards for a reason, and for me, I could tell that this very elegant looking lady had put thought into what she would wear for this race day that was being held outdoors and in the afternoon.
What interested me was that what she chose to wear what she did and which showed a sense of casual chic and an understanding of how to dress for the occasion.
Every sport needs a certain amount of style to make it attractive and commercially appealing enough to attract those business partners and sponsors like, well, Standard Chartered.
As a former “mad man” and adman with DDB who pretty much knows his way around sponsorship marketing and was very much part of the regional launch of STARTV, PCCW, McDonald’s in Hong Kong and created the Happy Wednesday brand for the HKJC, we always did our “due diligence” by knowing who from the client side would be attending presentations and who had the final approval. This would keep us wasting time and playing to the peanut gallery. But times change because everything around us is constantly changing…
Dress sense aside, away from that particular race day, and making the time to watch a couple of videos produced for Standard Chartered and others featuring Mary Huen, here is someone who appears knowledgeable and passionate about the product she manages, knows the need to change with the times and understands the importance of seeing these changes approaching before they roll over you.
What prompted me to deep dive down this particular rabbit hole was needing to find certain answers to some questions regarding banking and whether they could improve communications with customers and if any bank has a truly distinct brand personality.
Why would I bother with this? Put it down to an inquisitive mind and a few Don Draper moments in an ongoing journey of trial and error and discovery.
With my banking needs handled by my longtime Personal Assistant, I asked her what is the USP of the different banks and why she chose Citibank to look after my banking needs. Her reply was that “they’re all about the same”, especially their credit card promotions, at least in Hong Kong, and how “they all use” something that’s an anathema to me- those vacuous celebrity endorsements where I see zero ROI.
Aren’t banks meant to be smart and isn’t this why they’re looking after people’s finances?
Did my PA remember the advertising for any of these banks? No, she didn’t, but while looking for nothing in particular on YouTube, I found the commercial below for Standard Chartered, which, I am guessing, is for the Southeast Asia region and built around the bank’s global theme “Now is your time”. Another way to put it would be, Your time is now.
The commercial brought to mind the classic DDB “Bring out your best” campaign for Budweiser and some of the high calibre work once produced in Hong Kong for Solvil Et Titus.
It also made me wonder why all this dedication to creativity suddenly stopped and has been replaced by oddities like goofy oversized mascots jumping around like dopey clowns on crack.
What the hell happened to showing beautifully crafted advertising which sold aspirational values and tugged at the heart strings like Don Draper did when pitching “the carousel”?
While continuing to look at the subject of brands and marketing because of my ongoing commitment to creativity and holding the keys to my Garden Of Hope project with my imaginary friend Muzi, was seeing which businesses understand the ROI in piggybacking with those having Big Picture assets.
In today’s ever-changing world where truly original ideas appear to be in short supply, this might be what’s desperately in need of supporting things that offer Hope and Inspiration and the ability TO inspire
This is when what is still labelled “advertising” merges with real life and becomes one and offers a unique sensory experience.
This isn’t something that can be researched by McKinsey or created by following trends and algorithms and settling for numbers driven results that are often cobbled together to make KPIs come true.
I’ve seen this at work in one of the biggest organisations in Hong Kong and meeting KPIs is a very transparent con job that’s a leftover from even before those Covid and lockdown years.
Safety in numbers never works because it’s trite corporate speak with no food for the soul.
Perhaps, Now Is The Time for a business industry like banking to invest in an interactive young entrepreneurs club?
Why not be first out of the blocks with chutzpah that backs the right property and leads to having a generous palette of new opportunities from which to work?
Perhaps “Now is your time” could be Standard Chartered’s own “field of dreams” and be an investment in a new generation of game changers with no interest in artificial intelligence, but instead being all about keeping it real?
Circling back to Mary Huen and THAT dress, I believe, this return to style will do much for the image of horse racing- not in some superficial and nouveau riche way, but by
allowing things to happen organically.
It’s about setting an example and selling aspiration, something that has gone walkies in not only the marketing of horse racing, but pretty much everything else.
As in the ongoing game of life, it’s always about having fun forcing the chasing pack to play catch-up.
That’s what always separates the winners from the also rans.
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