Since April 2020, Publicis Groupe has been conducting an online survey across 16 Asian markets, including Hong Kong, to decode the level of concern and the impact on consumption intent and media behaviour due to the pandemic.

The report shows that Hong Kongers' worries around COVID are decreasing as the city continues to successfully keep COVID at bay. However, concerns around mental health are growing and physical health takes front stage as a key priority. 

We spoke to Caterina Camerata, Head of Strategy Greater China at Starcom, a part of Publicis, who shared more insights where opportunities lie for comms strategies. 

The report shows that Hong Kong is embracing e-commerce, how can brands improve e-commerce brand communication strategy to appeal to customers?
Given the growth of social and online video content usage during the pandemic, brands have great opportunities to support Hong Kongers' transition to e-commerce leveraging the power of communities and content to provide more incentive and minimise the risk to try this new channel. This is also a great opportunity for smaller brands who don’t have an in-store presence to launch in market, in a more agile way - and targeting to the market’s early adopter.
  
The report shows that people are now less willing to pay for things like subscriptions to digital paid content - why is that and what can brands do to mitigate this?
This is a factor of people still being cautious around their personal financial situation, and therefore keener to cut corners in what they perceive as content that doesn’t add special value to them, or that they can substitute with free content. Brands playing in that space will have to work harder to drive value, experiences that are harder to replace and replicate for their users, while at the same time creating a sense of FOMO for those who can’t access these.

For more insights, read the full report here.