Marketing Strategies of Legco Election 2004

Members' Sharing:

"The talk inspired participants by showing them the magic of how simple yet insightful marketing theories can do for the Legco election."

"The time for dinner was a bit late, but the Q&A session's length was appropriate, though I didn't mind having a longer session."

"Next time we may analyse parties/individuals'ads/boards/wording. and see how these affect the overall image of the candidates and what each of them got."

------ Paul Lee, Project Manager of Academy of Management Consultancy
"The appearance of 3 Legco heavy weights demonstrated the importance of the marketing discipline in politics. Interestingly, politicians understand in general the concept of positioning..."

------ Michael Wong, Fellow of HKIM

Marketing Strategies of Legco Election 2004

We successfully organised a remarkable dinner, "Marketing Strategies for Legco Election 2004" on 26 October 2004. The Institute invited three legislative councilors - Hon Audrey Eu Yuet-mee, SC, JP, Hon Alan Leong Kah-kit, SC, Hon Leung Kwok-hung - and Mr Cheung Yin-tung, Chief Secretary of Democratic Party to share their strategies and tactics applied for the Legco election. Professor Leo Sin from the Marketing Department of the Chinese University of Hong Kong analysed the marketing tactics that were employed and could have been used in the election. Mr K M Yim, our Vice Chairman, hosted the forum.

Nil Strategy - the best strategy 無招勝有招

Hon Audrey Eu Yuet-mee, SC, JP, expressed that she did not adopt any strategy for the election except that "1+4=4" strategy for the alliance. She just devoted all her time and effort to the election. Most participants present at the dinner agreed that her 'nil strategy' is already the best strategy. Hon Eu further illustrated the difficulties in finding an identification colour for their group and explained her various effort to prepare for promotional materials. However, she had no regret as she already dedicated her very best in the short period.

My Success = my failure 我的成功 = 我的失敗

Hon Leung Kwok-hung shared his paradox of "my success equals to my failure" for winning the Legco election. He concluded that his success in the election will lead to a final failure. He further elaborated on how he allocated his very limited resources for the high impact. He believed in using detailed messages on his leaflet and, after all his devotion was his key to success. He revealed that he was the only one who put his mobile number on his leaflet and website for voters to get in touch with him directly.

Gimmicks 奇招

Mr Cheung Yin-ting, Chief Secretary of Democratic Party, represented the second generation of a Democratic Party to deliver his viewpoints. He explained the difficulties in getting media exposure, and the candidates of the party including Dr Hon Yeung Sum, Hon Albert Ho Chun-yan and him had worn swimsuit as one of the gimmicks they employed to get a wider exposure! He gave an in-depth analysis of the public perceptions amongst the main politic parties as well as what they could do under the limitations of their promotional budget.

Being True 真

Hon Alan Leong Kah-kit, SC, summarised his strategies in one Chinese character, '真', being true to the voters. In addition, he shared with us how he impressed voters by a precise slogan, "Professional and rational" to establish his own recognition in a direct and effective way. Hon Leung and his partner drafted a 100-day agenda to plan for the implementation of their marketing and promotional strategies.

Apply the marketing concepts

Professor Leo Sin vividly illustrated the micro and macro political environment in Hong Kong and various marketing strategies applied by various political parties. He applied the BCG Matrix on the situation of each candidate present and gained concensus from marketing professionals present at the dinner. Direction interviewed Professor Sin for an in-depth analysis and will report it in the next issue. So, don't miss the next issue!