Hong Kong Neighbourhood - West Kowloon
West Kowloon is where old meets new. Leveraging the world-class, state-of-the-art cultural infrastructure commissioned in the West Kowloon Cultural District (WKCD), the HKTB launched a brand-new promotion “West Kowloon” under the “Hong Kong Neighbourhoods” campaign in September 2021, reinventing the neighbourhood of WKCD, Jordan and Yau Ma Tei into an up-and-coming cultural destination with world-class art offerings, vibrant street life and traditional heritage.
Although travellers were yet to return in person, “West Kowloon Neighbourhood” aimed not only to showcase Hong Kong’s new art and cultural experiences globally to motivate visitors to come to Hong Kong when travel resumes, but also to entice the local community in the area to savour the experience first and rekindle their enthusiasm for the art-life aura in the area, which would in turn encourage them to share their experience with friends and families outside Hong Kong and prepare them for being a good host when visitors return, while helping businesses in the community to plan ahead.
The story of the reinvented West Kowloon and the HKTB’s efforts in connecting the neighbourhood with tourism and local community has won the campaign international awards, including the Grand Award in Marketing of the Pacific Asia Travel Awards (PATA) Grand Awards 2022 and a Silver Award in the “Special Events: Community Involvement” in the Galaxy Awards 2022, as well as leading local industry award such as Excellence Social Goods in Campaign Awards of 2022 HKMA Awards for Marketing Excellence.
Create Modern Traditions
The HKTB put together a series of new, in-depth experiential tourism products from arts and cultural perspectives to “Create Modern Traditions”. With the rich history and diverse heritage preserved by the community in West Kowloon, the HKTB bridged local elements of the bustling communities of Yau Ma Tei and Jordan and the artistic lure of WKCD in the promotion through the works of local art talents in a series of thematic visuals and a storytelling brand film.
Exploring with Local Insiders
To further deepen the cultural experiences, the HKTB curated five thematic itineraries focusing on historic architecture, traditional craftsmanship, world-class cultural offerings, urban arts in the neighbourhood and local flavours, featuring not only attractive locations but also local personalities who preserved the traditional heritage and craftsmanship in the neighbourhood. More than 50 artsy and cultural locations and shops were covered in the five routes and were made available to the public in an interactive, on-demand online e-guidebook which could be retrieved anytime, everywhere.
International Art Collaboration – FriendsWithYou
Alongside the rejuvenated local experiences, the “West Kowloon” promotion also collaborated with international pop art duo FriendsWithYou – Samuel Borkson (Florida, USA) and Arturo Sandoval III (Cuba) – to bring into the neighbourhood an impactful art exchange with cheerful characters.
To inject loving and energetic vibes to the West Kowloon community, the artists created 12 mega-sized inflatable art installations for an outdoor exhibition at the Art Park of WKCD between 23 September and 6 October 2021 to create a fun-filled space next to the scenic Victoria Harbour that the public can enjoy. In addition, the HKTB also partnered with the Hong Kong Space Museum, an iconic attraction at Tsim Sha Tsui, to decorate the landmark with the signature FriendsWithYou smile on its well-recognised bun-shaped dome, which is visible to the public from afar, spreading positivity to the neighbourhood.
In addition to the local audience, the HKTB also created a series of online flash mob videos and AR interactive experiences with the happy characters to allow global audiences to embark on a virtual journey across Hong Kong and its world-beating attractions. The videos also highlighted the incredible diversity of artistic elements in West Kowloon and encouraging worldwide viewers to explore Hong Kong from an artistic and cultural perspective.
West Kowloon Beyond Hong Kong
Since the launch of the programme, “West Kowloon” has amassed attention not only from the local public, but also from outside Hong Kong. More than 2,500 media reports were generated around the world.
New Taste of Hong Kong from the Neighbourhoods
On top of the local campaign, the HKTB also gave the world a taste of the reinvented “West Kowloon” through global publicity campaign. A Taiwan-based French actor Fabio Grangeon visited some of the Hong Kong Super Fans in town to check out the new experiences of Hong Kong as he explored the city for a potential home in Asia. The cast travelled from West Kowloon to Sai Kung and Central in TLC’s two-part travel programme New Taste of Hong Kong, talking to owners of traditional soybean product shop Liu Ma Kee, Michelin-starred VEA Chef Vicky Cheng, Antonio Lai, mixologist of World’s Top 50 Bar Quinary, as well as other local and expat artists in Hong Kong, to get a unique and exclusive look at the creative and culinary scene of the neighbourhood and Hong Kong.
Viral on Social
To present the reinvented excitement for Mainland visitors with a view to encouraging them to rediscover the neighbourhood when travel resumes, the HKTB ran a series of social media campaign on Mainland platforms. The social media posts and videos reached an audience of 48.1 million in various Mainland markets.
Bridging the Experience with DIY
In North Asia, the HKTB connected with trade partners, major media organisations and Hong Kong Super Fans through exclusive virtual tours to inform them about Hong Kong’s state-of-the-art world class arts and cultural infrastructure in South Korea. To deepen their experience with Hong Kong’s signature neon signs, the HKTB shared a DIY kit to influencers for them to make and own their own West Kowloon Neon Sign. The experience was well loved by the influencers and their sharing reached a total of 6.1 million among South Korean readers and their network.
Touring with Juan
The HKTB collaborated Filipino actor Richard Juan, one of HKTB’s Hong Kong Super Fans who has not been in Hong Kong for years. Juan visited West Kowloon with a virtual tour guide to see, hear and feel like he was in West Kowloon in person. Juan published a vlog on the West Kowloon tour on his social media platform, which went viral and reached 2.84 million readers. The video successfully drew media attention, with other media reports raising the awareness of West Kowloon in the Philippines.
Online-Offline Exposure
The HKTB also launched a wave of release in the market, including media partnerships and collaboration with local influencers to demonstrate the new attractions and modern-mixes-tradition, and gourmet highlights in the neighbourhood. In addition to traditional media, the HKTB also live-streamed the stories on LINE, one of Taiwan’s most used instant messaging app, which attracted an overwhelming viewership of 250,000 visits from consumers at large.
Captivating the Public with Quizzes
The HKTB also strived to amplify the West Kowloon experience in long-haul markets. In the UK, Hong Kong Super Fans Derry Ainsworth, a Hong Kong-based British photographer, created a series of photos published on a creative Instagram channel CP Collectives, which has a wide audience base in the UK. Along the photos published, a competition was launched, in which entrants could discover their most preferred West Kowloon itinerary through a simple quiz and get the chance to win a prize. A total of 9,000 entries were recorded.
Deepening the Bond with Local Community & Stakeholders
With a view to strengthening the connection between the revamped West Kowloon experience and the local community, the HKTB engaged a wide spectrum of stakeholders and younger members of the community through a series of experience walking tours and educational activities. Media representatives, tourism industry members, political parties and official authorities, academics, expats and various local communities such as university students, teachers’ associations and school principals, and the West Kowloon Communities were invited to the tours. The walking tours visited humble local businesses where these traditional cultures were preserved with direct sharing from the shop owners, facilitating exchanges between the keepers of the heritage and the community at large. More than 1,000 stakeholders participated in the experience walks in person during the campaign period.
Media representatives, tourism industry members, political parties and official authorities, academics, expats and various local communities such as university students, teachers’ associations and school principals, and the West Kowloon Communities were invited to the tours. The walking tours visited humble local businesses where these traditional cultures were preserved with direct sharing from the shop owners, facilitating exchanges between the keepers of the heritage and the community at large. More than 1,000 stakeholders participated in the experience walks in person during the campaign period.