No one leads the Internet wave in Hong Kong more than Yahoo! Hong Kong. It reaches 84% of the Hong Kong Internet population with over 2.2 million active users every month (Nielsen//Netratings, Oct 2004). Today, 71% of Hong Kong population are already online (Nielsen//Netratings, Oct 2004. HKSAR Census & Statistic).

As the dominant leader in online media, Yahoo! HK promotes the benefits of online media to advertisers and marketers who aim to reach consumers in a creative, cost-effective way.

Locally and worldwide, internet marketing is the media of the future, and it's a perfect match for the media of today. Yahoo! HK has the highest audience reach in the market. With Yahoo! HK proprietary technology, it creates effective targeting solutions (e.g. demographic targeting and behaviour targeting) that assist marketers to reach specific groups of customers. Internet marketing offers companies a high level of interactivity and flexibility, and viewership records which enable marketers to achieve marketing objectives.

Yahoo! HK held seminars over the past year to show companies how they can integrate internet marketing with existing television and print advertising to add new power to their campaigns.

With a theme of "Netting Customers with Internet Marketing", Yahoo! HK shared their secrets for catching different groups of affluent customers in the ocean of online media. In three seminars this year, they showed companies how to use the Internet to market to high-spenders, female consumers and teens.

The culmination of these seminars was the Online Creative Summit. This conference focused on creative solutions, to the many challenges faced by today's marketers who are looking for ways to introduce online media into their traditional media plans.
Online Creative shines as the latest advertising trend

Asia's first "Online Creative Summit" was held in Hong Kong on 2 December 2004. Its goal was to show people responsible for creative, account servicing and media planning in international advertising agencies how to captivate online users with creative solutions. Four guest speakers presented the latest and best online creative from the US, Asia and Hong Kong to show online creative is now a key element in any successful integrated campaign and how online can engage consumers that traditional media cannot do.

As Sean Rach, Chairman of HK4As Interactive Committee, noted, "Online advertising is one of the key components in an integrated marketing campaign. Its flexibility available today allows marketers to create campaigns that not only reach their desired market but also allows for unique interactions between the brand and its customers and prospects." Rob Martin Murphy, Executive Creative Director of Euro RSCG Worldwide, Singapore/Malaysia said, "Online is a great way to engage consumers with brands as long as the work is based around strong ideas, is intuitive and treats consumers with intelligence. Otherwise, like average advertising in any other media, it will just become wallpaper." Jonathan Wong from Yahoo! HK offered his own advertising experience to reinforce the practical business benefits of integrating online media, while Markus Barnikel, Senior Manager, International Sales Development of Yahoo! US, promised, "Yahoo! will continue to focus on integrated marketing solutions to assist marketers to achieve cross-media optimization."
New technologies offer new opportunities

Yahoo! HK Creative Solutions offers two major technologies which add interest and impact to internet marketing: streaming capability and interactive capability.

Streaming capability allows movies and commercials to be seen as they are downloaded. Besides higher quality and speedier viewing, streaming offers a variety of presentation modes. For the advertiser, online streaming reduces the cost of production and allows them to go far beyond the time they can use on television. Instead of 10-,15- or 30-second commercials, there is no time limit for web broadcasts, allowing bigger, more impressive and more informative messages to be presented — or even a series of video clips for greater impact and attention-holding power.

The other technology that works well for both viewers and marketers is interactive capability, an effective way for marketers to engage consumers, involve them with the brand, and learn more about consumer needs and desires. Companies can find out what their target market is thinking through questionnaires and reward people for their time with coupon redemptions, interactive games and more.

For example, Yahoo! HK assisted McDonald in developing and launching its new "Fresh Choices Menu" with an interactive online advertising campaign promoting a variety of new food choices. An interactive game was designed for each food category so people can learn about the new products in an engaging way. This interactivity enabled McDonald's to build brand involvement that the company could never achieve through traditional media.

One of the big advantages of internet marketing is that all results are measurable. Detailed information on browse rates enable marketers to evaluate the effectiveness of campaigns and modify their marketing strategies for optimal results. Marketing pioneers are already using this creative solutions to give their audiences a visual and informational experience that is just not possible on television.

As consumers move away from their dependence on print and television media to spend more time online, savvy marketers are moving with them to augment their current promotional activities with online presentations that are fast to create, fun to use and informative for both sides.

Hong Kong people are increasingly turning to the Internet to search for product information and best values. Smart companies are reaching them by making internet marketing an important part of their integrated marketing solution. Their messages reach receptive people with detailed information and a richer viewing experience than traditional media — for substantially less money and potentially much greater returns.
Online is where consumers and brands meet

According to the findings of a survey conducted by the Public Opinion Programme, the University of Hong Kong and Yahoo! HK, 58% of people surveyed believe the Internet is faster and more efficient than television and print media in providing information on products and services.

Typical comments from focus group participants were: "Product information on the Internet is more complete than that on traditional media" and "If I see an advertisement for a particular brand on the Internet, I'll pay more attention to it than on other media."

The survey also found that the success of internet marketing is not limited to the number of times an advertisement is clicked. What is more significant is the increase in the fame of a brand and its ability to attract the attention of customers. Even people who do not click on online advertisements pay attention to them.

The same research showed that the time interviewees spend on the Internet every day (2:06 hours) is nearly the same as the time they spend on television (2:09 hours), and much more than time they spend on radio, newspapers and magazines.
Internet marketing is essential in a media mix

Alfred Tsoi, General Manager of Yahoo! HK, said that he saw internet marketing as an increasingly important part of every marketing plan, especially given how much time people were spending on the Internet searching for product and service information.

"As an online market leader, we believe it is our mission to share the latest online knowledge with agencies and marketers in Hong Kong, and to bring them the latest online trends," he said. "Online creative is more than just banner ad or icon. It has the flexibility, interactivity and advance streaming technology to provide a wide range of multimedia marketing solutions to a wide range of target audiences."

Mr. Tsoi summed up the future of online this way: "In the coming year, we recognize a clear opportunity to demonstrate our leadership and expertise by introducing even more powerful and innovative marketing solutions to the industry. We believe the effectiveness of Internet marketing will in return enable the medium to become an essential component to advertisers' marketing mix. The level of user engagement across the Yahoo! Hong Kong network in return will also enable us to deliver deeper value for our advertisers."