Online lending startup pumps HK$5m to make presence

A newcomer to Hong Kong's online lending market, WeLend has partnered with creative agency Bones Communications to launch its biggest branding initiative yet, targeting Hong Kong's materialistic youth.Without a brick-and-mortar presence, creating an impression is a big task for the one-year-old online lender, as Marky Lo, creative partner at Bones Communications, told Marketing."The creative strategy aims to target the young with their practical needs."The campaign leads with two TVCs, one targeted to male and the other to female, featuring two of the biggest desires among local men and women that can be costly - men collecting shoes and women's wedding dreams - to bring greater relevance to younger audiences.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JTL0eQH7dEQhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9AlLHZXQD7cThe TVCs have incorporated a number of trending conversations, Lo said. "For instance, the shoes idea in the male version is taken from local celeb Helen To-Yu-Fung when she famously said she owns 1000 shoes at home."Apart from TV ads, this one-month campaign spans print, digital, social media as well as outdoor execution inducing tram body ads, bus shelter and interior bus ads, which costs at least HK$5 million. Street events will follow."The total online money lending concept is new to Hong Kong, although it's already very popular in USA and in China; and WeLend is the first of its kind in town," Lo said."People show concerns over insufficient credibility of the new company as they are still relatively unfamiliar with what they do."The yellow mascot comes as a solution to it."The mascot is designed to create a friendly image for the brand and bring the company closer to consumer," he added.The campaign runs until July.Credits:Client: WeLendCreative: Bones CommunicationsMedia: OMD Hong Kong