Big Deal Langham

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  1. #1

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    Big Deal Langham

    Hotel group axes the local touch that misfired

    An online marketing campaign to promote business at an international luxury hotel chain by satirising locals in Hong Kong has angered the tourism trade and prompted a stream of critical comments online.

    Launched several weeks ago by Langham Hotels as part of its "Big Deal" campaign to lure overseas visitors to Hong Kong, the four video shorts show confused and overwhelmed westerners in Hong Kong.

    They appear lost, are being harassed by fake-watch sellers, or end up with food such as chicken feet congee in a dai pai dong. The videos, which were supposed to be cheeky, humorous and satirical, backfired after many viewers found them offensive. They were pulled after just the first two shorts appeared. The last video was supposed to dispel the misconceptions portrayed in the first three episodes.

    "The videos do not reflect real life in Hong Kong. Other aspects should be used to promote Hong Kong to visitors," a Tourism Board spokesman said.

    Bloggers were even more critical, quickly dubbing the videos "Avoid dirty locals: stay at a Langham hotel".

    One of the comments read: "Langham Place: where white people go to pretend they're not surrounded by filthy Chinese. Is that about right?"

    Produced by Prosperity (SEHK: 0803, announcements, news) Research, which specialises in online marketing, the videos received mixed reviews in Hong Kong when they were shown to focus groups.

    A hotel group representative said: "We test-marketed it in Australia and Europe and the videos didn't go down too badly."

    Langham's vice-president of sales and marketing, Bob van den Oord, said: "The `Big Deal' was designed to attract overseas tourists to Hong Kong in these difficult times. It was never our intention to cast Hong Kong in a negative light. We are sorry that the satirical tone of the videos was misunderstood in some circles. We have learned a valuable lesson in communicating sensitively in a social marketing environment."

    watch em b4 they take em down




  2. #2

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    You can understand why the tourist board didn't like em - far too realistic!


  3. #3

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    i didn't get it - unless their message is that gweilos should to hole themselves inside the hotel and not venture outside.

    if that was the message however, metropark beat them to it . guests where quarantined for 7 days due to the swine flu.


  4. #4

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    Apart from anything else they're just so amateur! They look like they were made by a 12 yr old.

    Strange to think that at some point some decision makers sat round a table saying "yeah, those are really good - let's go with them"


  5. #5

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    People that buys into this crap and stays at The Langham will be in for a cultural shock more then chicken feet in congee... The local red light district is less then 2 streets away!!


  6. #6

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    Catquack whoever that is on youtube says it best:

    "The only positive thing I can say about this video is that it doesn't discriminate -- it insults everyone. It is insulting to the rather unappetizing/unkept western tourists one sees walking around Kowloon (as demonstrated in this video) and it insults Hong Kong's rather colourful local cuisine. This video optimizes bad taste."

    I didn't believe this was true at first but I found this by the actress:

    I Confess: I Truly Don’t Like Eating Chicken’s Feet | Spotlight on Marketing

    I think Langham should have thought this out better. Satire is never a good thing when done like this.


  7. #7

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    I heard they were the brainchild of Chip Tsao. These Hong Kong people they just don't understand satire


  8. #8

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    Think this just shows how oversensitive HKers are. If people were a bit more mature and self-confident, they wouldn't care.

    I've heard so many times that British food is vile and that the English are a bunch of eye-contact-avoiding, repressed neurotics, but it doesn't bother me in the least. The criticism isn't personal, and anyway I'm big enough to take it.

    Sometimes HK people seem to be just waiting to take offence.


  9. #9

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    Quote Originally Posted by Sigga:
    eye-contact-avoiding, repressed neurotic
    If it says that on your name card, I would be honoured to meet you face to face, or even cheek by jowl to exchange cards.

  10. #10

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    Quote Originally Posted by Bungle:
    Apart from anything else they're just so amateur! They look like they were made by a 12 yr old.
    Or by ATV

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