Comments on: Learning from Langham Hotels Social Media Experience

By: charles Webber

charles Webber — Wed, 17 Jun 2009 02:01:10 +0000

Langham hotel in HK,
What an insult to the local people, customers , guests and of course EMPLOYEES.
Understand where you are living ,working and making a salary, do not look down on other CULTURES and PEOPLE.
A very poor performance of a HK based hotel company.

Who is RESPONSIBLE???? Did the top brass of LANGHAM approved this Videos????

By: Langham vids removed from Youtube - The Dark Side - the other side of Hong Kong

Langham vids removed from Youtube - The Dark Side - the other side of Hong Kong — Tue, 16 Jun 2009 17:03:29 +0000

[...] trade website reported about their gigantic screw up. That’s in addition to other sites/blogs here, here and here. But do not despair, oh students of viral marketing/sensation seekers/angry [...]

By: creative freelance

creative freelance — Sat, 13 Jun 2009 13:14:07 +0000

Good publicity or bad publicity translates into bad advertising or good advertising. For a big spending advertiser it means boom or bust. Good advertising does one thing that bad advertising can’t: make your consumer feel good about the service or product. Bad advertising destroys your business. Bad advertising can be due to one of the obvious reasons 1). bad art direction 2).bad copywriting; 3). an ignorant, pushy client 4). an arrogant, tight client who think they can art direct and copywrite 4). misinformed marketing strategy.

By: AG

AG — Thu, 11 Jun 2009 13:45:37 +0000

I think it was a good campaign, they reached the objective of “viral” people are talking about it, but… it was the other direction than they have anticipated.

By: PY

PY — Wed, 03 Jun 2009 12:45:12 +0000

you are right – the problem was in the planning and more specifically in the staffing. Honestly if marketers were not a bunch of expats who after being in Hong Kong for years still cannot say more than two words of Cantonese, this would never have been a problem.

If the hotel wants to make money on old colonial style and appeal to foreigners by stepping on locals toes that’s fine but I fear this is increasingly a losing proposition.

Hire some Chinese for heaven’s sake.

By: creative freelance

creative freelance — Wed, 03 Jun 2009 05:19:41 +0000

Terrible execution! Like watching a government service tv spot with a tacky sound track from a spy chase movie. What a missed opportunity to do some great creative work. The creatives (client) should be shot for not having the common sense to know what good taste is – even if planning says otherwise. The client was brave enough to go with something mould breaking but was also guilty of poor taste and judgement. Having watched the viral, the intention to be funny was admirable. Having lived in Hong Kong for 5 years, I am quite sure there are other ways it could’ve been expressed – it was a perfect missed opportunity! What annoys me the most, is seeing the Langham brand being labled as a white oasis when it should be a hotel for anyone who can afford their rates! What’s wrong with clients these days? Low budget doesn’t mean you have to look for the cheapest creative option and forsake professional standards.

By: Mat Harrison

Mat Harrison — Fri, 29 May 2009 06:10:46 +0000

I think the whole campaign whether intentionally or unintetionally portrays Langham/Eaton hotels positively at the expense of the local culture, customs trully Stink ! Yes, they are daring to be different and maybe some aspects of their videos are stereotypically funny but to promote Langham/Eaton at the expense the local culture is damnright racist even if there are bigots claiming this to be remotely accurate. As a local expat, I can only say shame on Langham & Eaton hotels and their either racist or moronic management team – and for Great Eagle holdings. There are many other hotel choices I will switch my dining business to in Hong Kong and rightly so !

By: worldtraveller

worldtraveller — Thu, 28 May 2009 05:08:33 +0000

I think this is just what happens when the “expat” class is running things without local advisors. I travel to experience local customs and traditions and am appalled at the way other Americans and Europeans look down at other cultures.

By: Fili An

Fili An — Wed, 27 May 2009 05:16:31 +0000

Somehow, I missed out on the whole fuss. Very interesting. Since I’m part of that group I’ll allow myself to generalize and stereotype – I think this continues the point of expats HK/China/Taiwan generally lacking cultural sensitivity and/or cultural intelligence. I strongly support anything that would help raise awareness against that.

Thanks for the quick summary.

By: Dwayne

Dwayne — Wed, 27 May 2009 00:26:11 +0000

Good response Elmer sane as usual!

I think this really shows a great aspect of social media, which is it’s ability to drive accountability in ways that traditional marketing and comms can’t. It put the onus of responsibility on creators as much as clients. Can you blame the agency alone? I don’t think so. And I think that’s a great thing for both parties.