Opinion | Hong Kong needs to rethink its branding – it can’t be a hub of everything

At a Legislative Council subcommittee meeting late last month, Undersecretary for Education Jeff Sze Chun-fai shared a video touting Hong Kong as “an education hub and a cradle of talent”, which came in for very harsh criticism. What was so offensive about this three-minute reel? One charge was that it’s misleading in suggesting that all students in the city are entitled to 12 years of public education.

Perhaps what really annoyed lawmakers is that after about 10 seconds, the video digresses from education to quickly showcase the city’s tourism appeal, ranging from natural scenery to dining. While these are things that draw people to Hong Kong, should they have a place in promotional material intended for prospective students? Surely we should let snooker superstar Ronnie O’Sullivan, the latest coup for the city’s Quality Migrant Admission Scheme, tell the world what a convenient location Hong Kong is for trail running instead.

What the video lacks is focus. The messaging is confusing because it seems to be meant for too wide an audience. Lawmaker Executive Council convenor Regina Ip Lau Suk-yee hit the nail on the head when she called the video “generic and mundane”. Instead, such material “should focus on Hong Kong’s tertiary education and introduce our first-class research universities”, she said.

Sze took the criticism gracefully, promising to review the video in light of the planned “Study in Hong Kong” brand.

But, to be fair to Sze, development of the brand had come up only recently, during the latest policy address by Chief Executive John Lee Ka-chiu. The video, made long before this, had been shown at an overseas education fair back in March. As for “Study in Hong Kong”, turning what is essentially an information portal into a brand will require a lot more than a good video.