Rosanna Law and Order and an alien in Hong Kong
Writing this has taken so many twists and turns that there must be a reason for them.
What originally were my thoughts on the exclusive interview that appeared on the front page of the South China Morning Post yesterday with Rosanna Law Shuk-pui, Hong Kong’s Secretary for tourism, culture and sports, has morphed into something completely different- though not completely.
In her interview, Ms Law talked about the competitive nature of the tourism industry and how Hong Kong had to work “bigger, better” to keep up with being seen as an attractive travel destination.
Competition? Well, every industry faces competition and this brought back memories of working on the McDonald’s business with the remarkable Dr Daniel Ng.
Despite the failure of Burger King in Hong Kong and being told that Chinese people only liked to eat rice, Daniel, someone who was a close friend and with whom I even created a product called “The World Of English Music”, had the foresight to purchase the McDonald’s franchise for Hong Kong and China, and was constantly asked who his competition was with his reply never wavering: “Everyone”, he would say. “Every product that consumers are buying is our competition, because these could be our customers”.
He was so full of life and an inspirational leader to whom rules were there to be broken. He was fearless. Maybe he knew his time on earth was numbered? I miss him dearly.
When thinking back to Daniel Ng and his views on so many things including competition, somewhat puzzling was this quote attributed to Ms Law from her interview with the SCMP: “If Hong Kong hopes that our neighbouring cities and competitors can stand still or that we (do not) move ahead and still maintain our position, I think that is unrealistic”.
Personally speaking, I think it’s rather odd to think that any city or country would just be sitting there waiting for things to happen.
As for the rest of the interview, mentioned were all kinds of everything heard many times before, which meant cutting through a corporate narrative that made pretty boring reading.
Missing for me was how the Hong Kong government through the leadership of Rosanna Law was going to inspire and motivate all the different businesses in the city to be more than they are.
I mention this because knowing some of these businesses, they have no idea what more is needed from them as their businesses have pretty much stalled and with everything appearing to be in a holding pattern.
If this is the case, what’s going to make the clouds go away and the sun to shine?
With her multi-tiered role, one would hope that Rosanna Law has the answers to lead Hong Kong towards positive changes in order to move forward now and not wait another few more years for- well, who knows what?
Surely, first and foremost, it’s about truly understanding the wants and needs of today’s travellers and what this means when it comes to marketing and advertising a destination like Hong Kong 2026?
Unlike competing for eyeballs, there must be proof in the sago pudding that things are actually going to work. It cannot only be about algorithmic numbers that can easily be manipulated so Key Performance Indicators are met.
Another thing is that bigger doesn’t necessarily mean better and better doesn’t necessarily mean bigger.
This fixation that the Hong Kong government seemingly has with the word “mega” just might be leading many down a garden path where the soil is infertile and nothing grows.
Here’s an idea for advertising tourism for Ms Law to consider and that I am extremely confident will generate global interest and free publicity and be something very different to more singing and dancing celebrities prancing around the city: An alien arrives in Hong Kong and goes on a magical journey of discovery and with everything they meet and see in the city shown as their POV- point of view.
There’s an entire marketing programme built around this idea that includes a story, original music, and is something with huge merchandise potential.
Of course, there’s no such thing as a free lunch, especially at a time when breakthrough ideas creativity are very much in short supply.
The PS to all this is something I find karmic and ironic: Decades ago, when Canto Pop pioneer Sam Hui was still recording in English, he covered a song called “A Spaceman Came Travelling” which was originally recorded by Chris de Burgh.
I was just out of school and had just started writing my own songs. Sam recorded the first of these- “April Lady”. About a year later and while writing for the American trade publication Billboard, I had coined the term Canto Pop-Rock to describe the new sound Sam was bringing to Cantonese music.
Aliens and a space man who comes travelling to Hong Kong?
These things and ideas and the sudden interest in extraterrestrial beings said to be around us and spaceships seen by many happen for a reason. There’s nothing spooky about any of this. It’s EXHILARATING!!!
An idea like this for Hong Kong and in sync with this renewed interest in space travel and the unknown as building blocks to build tourism around?
Daniel Ng would not have hesitated.
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