Mannings TVC with Lau Ching Wan shows beauty as a hard-earned asset

Andrew Lee, founder of Metta Communications, said that Manning’s healthcare business and marketing is very strong, but the retailer is also carrying a wide scope of head-to-toe skincare products. The new campaign aims to highlight and strengthen its branding in the beauty category with well-known brands such as L’Oreal, Olay, Neutrogena and Beauty Diary (我的美麗日記).

In explaining to Campaign Asia-Pacific the creative background of the campaign, Lee said that Hong Kong women are often criticised for being picky, demanding and troublesome, but these criticisms are unjustified. The lifestyle in Hong Kong means that most women see beauty, their career, and confidence as all hard-earned. The ad campaign aims to show that Mannings truly understands this aspect of women's lives.

The 30-second TVC shows Lau and his girlfriend, Lee Chae Won (李彩媛),  a model and TV host from South Korea, sharing their busy daily schedules, which include a beauty regime, exercise regime and sometimes a high tea with friends. Lau, who plays the role of the supportive and understanding boyfriend, keeps up with the hard work and 'hardships' in order that they may stay healthy, drop-dead gorgeous and in top form. 

Athen Chung, director of sales and marketing at Mannings, said that the campaign is particularly memorable because Lau has hardly done any commercials, let alone for beauty brands, so that helps to make him stand out in the category.

She reckons the new Mannings campaign is a breakthrough, as many other cosmetic ads tend to focus on just the external beauty of the models, failing to address all the hard work that goes behind their efforts. 

One female media agency head in Hong Kong reacted positively to the ad for its great consumer insights. “This is my life too,” she joked, “I saw it a number of times and paid attention to it. Lau Ching-wan's acting is sweet and cute too, it shows good casting. In fact, I actually went to Mannings yesterday after seeing the ad because I realised the promotion included a 15 per cent discount for two or more haircare products."

The Metta team has been working on the Mannings’ account for seven years. Starcom is the media agency. The first burst of the campaign will see the TVC, OOH, print and POSM featured over the summer months.

Mannings has more than 300 stores in Hong Kong and Macau and launched its 40th anniversary campaign in January.

Credits:

Metta team: Andrew Lee, Silent Wong, Matt Tse, Siu Hung
Mannings team: Athen Chung, Esther Chow
Key talents: Sean Lau (劉青雲), Lee Chae Won (李彩媛) from Korea
Exposure TV, print, OOH, POSM