Hong Kong remains a distinct market but also a key bridge to Greater China
For decades, Hong Kong was the creative nerve centre of Greater China. It was where regional marketing strategies were written, approved and dispatched to the mainland. No longer. Today, marketing budgets, senior leadership and P&Ls have decisively migrated north. But Hong Kong has not become irrele
By Lavender Au
For decades, Hong Kong was the creative nerve centre of Greater China. It was where regional marketing strategies were written, approved and dispatched to the mainland. No longer. Today, marketing budgets, senior leadership and P&Ls have decisively migrated north. But Hong Kong has not become irrelevant. Instead, its role has evolved from an overarching command centre to a specialised testing ground for brands navigating the region’s increasing complexities.
From headquarters to specialist hub
When Rudi Leung began his advertising career with Ogilvy’s Greater China team in the 1990s, many multinational clients were based in Hong Kong. At the time, regional strategies were often developed in the city before then being adapted for mainland China, Taiwan and other markets.
That model is redundant. “China is no longer simply one market within a Greater China plan,” says Leung, now founder of creative agency Hungry Digital. “For many brands, it has become a marketing operating system in its own right.”
Today most of Leung’s clients are companies based in Hong Kong such as HSBC, Standard Chartered and Bank of China (Hong Kong), all targeting Hong Kong-based consumers. His agency generally does not take on any purely mainland-focused marketing campaigns.
Part of the reason, he says, is that China itself is highly fragmented. Cities such as Shenzhen, Guangzhou and Hong Kong may be geographically close, but each requires a distinct approach. Brands must also navigate the business infrastructures and consumer ecosystems that have formed around Chinese platforms such as RedNote, Douyin and WeChat.
“A campaign in China might begin with product seeding on RedNote, gain momentum through Douyin content, and ultimately convert through live-streams, shops or WeChat mini-programs,” Leung says.
The pay-to-play reality
If Leung’s experience reflects the view from within the advertising industry, Jules Shah’s offers a complementary perspective from the brand side. Founder of brand and sales consultancy Jules & Co, Shah has worked with the likes of luxury French candlemaker Trudon and British fragrance brand Perfumer H.
Entering China can also be expensive. According to Shah, many brands operating in mainland China reinvest as much as 30 per cent of revenue back into marketing, compared to 9.4 per cent in the US, according to a 2025 CMO Survey. “It’s a pay-to-play market,” says Shah. “To get market share in the digital space takes a long time.”
By contrast, Hong Kong offers a less fragmented online environment. “People are not spread across so many platforms,” she says.
Shah recalls that in 2008, Hong Kong and Singapore served as primary entry points for international brands entering Asia, with Chinese consumers frequently travelling to both cities. That role has diminished, but most international brands she works with still maintain dedicated Hong Kong budgets.
Perfumer H, for example, first opened a flagship store in Hong Kong, building awareness organically through digital platforms and opening a physical store in Shanghai only later.
Structural advantages that endure
Beyond tactical considerations of platform fragmentation and marketing spend, Hong Kong retains structural and legal advantages that remain genuinely irreplaceable. For Elisa Harca, co-founder of the China-headquartered marketing agency Red Ant Asia, these benefits are difficult to duplicate.
“The city’s legal framework, tax environment, HR infrastructure and business culture offer something that simply can’t be replicated across the border,” Harca says. She considers it “strategic due diligence” for any brand serious about Greater China to maintain a Hong Kong entity alongside a wholly foreign-owned enterprise (WFOE) on the mainland.
Red Ant Asia, which has worked with brands including Moncler, Creed and Charlotte Tilbury, has its full-time team in Shanghai. Harca divides her time between there and Red Ant’s Hong Kong office.
Since the pandemic, she has seen Hong Kong regain its role as a test bed and entry point for brands wanting a foothold in Greater China.
There are two reasons why. The first is a growing appetite for Asian-born brands. Given Hong Kong’s “international profile and cultural legibility”, she considers it “exceptionally well-positioned” to act as a soft introduction to China.
The second is the geographic proximity and cultural affinity that Hong Kong brands have with mainland consumers. She has seen an increasing willingness in Hong Kong to engage on mainland terms “on the right platforms, in the right tone, through the right voices”.
The city as a laboratory
Hong Kong’s long-standing strengths remain intact. The city remains highly active in finance, banking, insurance and luxury goods, particularly as brands target “new Hongkongers” – including recent arrivals from the mainland and younger demographics – and inbound mainland consumers.
Leung’s agency Hungry Digital treats this first group as a distinct audience in its marketing strategies. “Hong Kong is where many brands learn how to become international,” he says.
Hong Kong may no longer be the trendsetter it once was during its Cantopop and cinematic heyday, but it is often where trends are stress-tested. That goes for brands looking to enter China and also mainland brands hoping to reach a wider audience.
“Hong Kong people absorb things quickly, but they also reject things quickly,” Leung says. “If something feels too fake, too polished or too ‘campaign-ish’, people here can smell it from across Victoria Harbour.”