The different brands’ characteristics of The China Paint Manufacturing Company and the founding of Flower ...
The China Paint Manufacturing Company tailored different product types to fit with the needs of different types of users. The “Flower” brand is designed for do-it-itself users while the “Giraffe” brand is designed for professional users. The company also used Giraffe brand for toy paint at the beginning, which later changed to a new brand, the Toy brand. Toy brand was promoted as a safe and non-toxic product line. Nowadays, the company still marketed the three brands in Hong Kong, but in China it promoted a range of product brands at different regions. Since 1932, the company had been using “Flower” as the company’s brandname, which was called “Chrysanthemum”. The brand logo was previously a portrait of chrysanthemum flower. Since Paul Lam joined the company, the logo was changed to the current mode of a pictorial flower to make it look trendy. Now, the brandname was called “Flower” and the product quality had been improved. Initially the quality of the emulsion paint was not satisfactory because the technology applied was too low. Since it committed to a collaborative agreement with Sherwin William Company, China Paint knew how to apply additives properly in the mixing stage to improve product quality.
The sales distribution of The China Paint Manufacturing Company in Hong Kong
The products of China Paint Manufacturing Company were promoted and sold through hardware stores and distributors. The hardware stores in the public estates were small, with limited space. In order to increase the motivation of the stores to showcase China Paint’s products, the company had to advertise its products through mass media such as television commercials, to attract the attention of the general public. Paul Lam explained that the users could be classified as do-it-yourself users, construction contractors and professional masters. The company increased its competitiveness by tailoring different brands to the needs of users. “Flower” targeted at do-it-yourself users. The most popular products were silver paint and small cans of paint. “Giraffe” targeted at contractors and professional users, with the most popular products being the lacquer. Since sales agents sourced products from distributors, China Paint had to invest in commercial advertising to increase its popularity, so that the distributors became more motivated to place larger orders to the company. As China Paint was willing to design tailor-made products to meet the needs of its customers, these customers placed orders directly to the company. Usually the volume of these orders was sizeable, hence the company would send technicians to stay at the customer’s factory to provide after-sale service.
The China Paint Manufacturing Company at Hong Kong Brands and Products Expo
The China Paint Manufacturing Company used various channels to maintain its brand image through television commercials, giant posters on building walls and Hong Kong Brands and Products Expo. The company joined the Expo in order for promoting its products rather than direct sales. However in 2009, the company began to sell paint during the Expo. It also provided delivery service that allowed consumers to pick up the products at specific point of sale. When he was a young boy, Paul Lam had visited the old form of Hong Kong Brands and Products Expo which were held before 1974. The lively atmosphere there made him feel it like a carnival. The company’s booth was specially designed to attract the attention of the visitors. The company had arranged a demonstration of paintbrush by robot machine at the booth to attract visitors, as a way to promote its products.
Memories of Amoy’s stall at Hong Kong Product Expo in Tsim Sha Tsui.
Wong Wing Man also helped out Amoy’s stalls at the Hong Kong Products Expos (HKPE) held in Tsim Sha Tsui, taking charge of operating the machines for transporting cans and for launching flying saucers. Flying saucers were ejected once every half an hour and attracted big audiences. A few Expos were held in Tsim Sha Tsui in the 1950s and Wong Wing Man worked on Amoy’s stalls at around this time. Many people liked to buy Amoy’s soy sauce here and the company also gave away tens of thousands of small souvenir bottles free of charge each day. People also liked to buy canned dace with salted black beans and pig’s trotters with gingers. At that time, no other company in Hong Kong produced canned dace with salted black beans. In those years, Amoy was a very big name locally and its boss Huang Du Xiu had served as Chairman of the Chinese Manufacturers Association. As a result, he always demanded the staff manning Amoy’s stall do their very best.
How Hoe Hin leveraged unique promotional practices such as hiring celebrity spokespersons, sponsoring care ...
In the old days, Gan Fock Wai’s father had good connection with many Cantonese opera artists and movie stars such as Sun Ma Sze Tsang, Chan Po Chu and Wu Fung. He even pledged brotherhood with top film directors who were happy to allow Pak Fah Yeow billboards to appear in their movies, as a way to promote the product brand. Back then, a lot of Cantonese opera artists and movie stars loved using Hoe Hin products. Those who are still alive today remain very supportive to Pak Fah Yeow. In the 1970s, Hoe Hin invited Teresa Teng to serve as Hoe Hin’s Charity Queen. Teresa was about 17 years old at that time and had just come to Hong Kong for further development not long after she started her career in entertainment. Gan Fock Wai knew Teresa well and the two young people had played table tennis together when Gan was in Primary Five and Six. Gan Fock Wai thought his father had a very good business mind and used a lot of progressive ideas to successfully transform a simple medicated oil into a best-selling brand. In order to successfully market Hoe Hin products such as Pak Fah Yeow, Gan Fock Wai began trying out new ways of promotion. To this end, he put more emphasis on repositioning Pak Fah Yeow as a multi-purpose product whose usefulness went far beyond that of regular pharmaceuticals. In expanding its uses, Gan Fock Wai explained that if Pak Fah Yeow was marketed as a medicine, people would use it every time they felt unwell because of headaches, mosquito stings or insect bites. Going beyond a purely pharmaceutical positioning, Gan Fock Wai told people that Hoe Hin’s star product could be used to refresh the complexion, relieve emotional tension and even soothe heat stroke or dizziness while one waited for the bus or did the Christmas shopping! In Hong Kong, Hoe Hin had registered Pak Fah Yeow as a proprietary Chinese medicine. While it focused on the product’s extensive applications in its promotional efforts, the company never exaggerated its curative effects. Gan Fock Wai hoped to expand the uses of the brand so that consumers would pop a bottle in their purse or pocket to take with them for their own use or even help others while out and about. Examples of the latter type of usage could include giving some Pak Fah Yeow to a stranger in the street who was feeling discomfort or heat stroke. Emphasising such versatility was a sure way of helping to increase sales. Gan Fock Wai describes that he had inherited his father's practice of never forgetting to convey a positive message in Hoe Hin’s promotional materials. About 10 years ago, Hoe Hin launched a series of TV commercials which were on show immediately before the news reports on two free-to-air local TV stations. Each day Hoe Hin sent a message featured a slightly different jingle such as “Letting Go Is Happiness”. The company also sponsored 13 episodes of Commercial Radio Hong Kong’s popular Spiritual Environmentalism programme. Occasionally, Gan Fock Wai hosted the show himself, inviting different guests to share uplifting spiritual stories and their wise advice about life. Many years ago, Gan Fock Wai served as the lead singer on popular Hoe Hin commercials, such as “Go Fly”. Four years ago he returned to the recording studio to record “Love 80 Years More” to celebrate Hoe Hin’s 80th anniversary. Beginning in the 1980s, Gan Fock Wai had released several albums, initially singing for fun. He later learned to love music even more and began using it to convey positive messages. In last Lunar New Year Fair, Gan Fock Wai sold an album called “Music Recycle” to raise charity funds for Friends of the Earth. The album mainly featured him re-singing old songs aimed at reminding fans to recycle and reuse. The song “Go! Go! Go!” was intended to convey a message about the environment. Gan Fock Wai later planned to record a new album on behalf of the Society for Abandoned Animals to help call for the better protection of animals.
Pak Fah Yeow as a Family Formula
The formulation was based on weight. Ingredients were measured on old-style balancing scales. Ingredients included menthol, camphor, lavender, eucalyptus, peppermint, etc. They were imported from around the world including Australia, China, India, etc. The formula remained largely unchanged to maintain the same smell of Pak Fah Yeow. Yet the company gave up some potential markets due to the restriction by the local government against certain chemical components. Gan preferred to keep the same formula because otherwise it would no longer have the unique smell of Pak Fah Yeow. The mixing of the ingredients used to be carried out only by Gan’s grandfather and grandmother at the back of the house. This ensured the formula to be kept as a secret from the workers. Modern technology allows a close prediction of the formula by chemical assay, so now building up a good brand name is of greater importance.
Pak Fah Yeow participation in the Product Exhibition
Gan’s grandfather mainly used the trade fair (products exhibitions) to build up the image of Pak Fah Yeow. Pak Fah Yeow was an active participant in the trade fair from the 1950s to 1970s. Gan’s grandfather targeted at the general public to promote the product. He was eager to win the first prizes in the fair to increase the brand’s popularity. He tried to build the biggest and the most eye-catching booth in a traditional Chinese style with good lighting. He also knew a lot of movie actors and actresses so he engaged the actresses as charity queens at the booth for promotion. The charity queens did not parade on stage, they just stood at the booth and collected votes from visitors. He always managed to win most of the titles: the best booth design and the best charity queen representative of Pak Fah Yeow. He also gave away free gifts such as hot water flasks and doll-shaped-bottle editions to bigger buyers. The aim of participating in the trade fairs was not for the sales profit but for the exposure to the public.
Innovations made by second-generation: product research and management culture
KL Sun explained how the second generation ran Kin Hip differently from their predecessor from two perspectives: product research and management culture. (1) Product research: Sun Kin Chao relied on his own insights and judgments when introducing new products, which tended to be more profitable given the larger market and less competition in the early period. Sun Kin Chao often hung around in department stores, outlets and shopping malls to observe the different models of products available in the market. He then modified them in his own products. In 1970, with reference to two models of charcoal grill, Sun Kin Chao took advantage of their good ventilating and soot fending power and introduced a double-tray charcoal grill which sold well and remained popular till now. At the time of the handover to the second generation, the market differed from that of the 1950s and 60s. KL Sun put a great emphasis on market research and data analysis. He would never proceed to tooling and prototyping without adequate customer feedback. Recently Kin Hip introduced a cold drink cup equipped with an ice column, which could prevent lemonades from warming up again or the need for ice cubes. This product was a smash in the market. Since 1984, Sun Kin Chao had faded out of the operation of Kin Hip, yet he kept thinking about new products and occasionally inspected the factory to offer advice. (2) Management culture: Sun Kin Chao adopted a paternalistic approach in management and made decisions with personal judgments. His subordinates, for the most part, were awed by his authoritativeness. His successor KL Sun decentralized management and involved senior staff members in the decision making process. He was revered rather than feared by his subordinates. When he first returned to Hong Kong for the succession, he spent most of his time in the workshop, urging the workers to work with enthusiasm. Now he had lessened his involvement in daily operation to facilitate the gradual participation by the third generation. KL Sun believed that he played a technical and managerial role, and was more devoted to the policy and strategy of the enterprise comparing with the first generation.
Creation and promotion of the ‘Kinox’ brand
In 1980, KL Sun created the brand ‘Kinox’, the ‘K’ stood for the company’s English name ‘Kin Hip’ while ‘inox’ was the short form of the French word ‘inoxydable’, the equivalent of ‘stainless steel’. ‘Kinox’ was easier to pronounce than ‘Kin Hip’. A Chinese name ‘建樂士’ was dubbed by Cantonese transliteration. In 1980, the brand was registered in Hong Kong and Beijing and also recognized in the UK. Kin Hip used to print on its products the trademark ‘LH’. Unfortunately ‘LH’ was not a catchy name, which made promotion difficult and its products less than popular in the market. Clients tended to welcome the new brand ‘Kinox’, which saved some lengthy introductions for Kin Hip when it was promoted to clients, and which helped the products enter the chain store market. The ‘Kinox’ trademark was engraved on the tooling of the products. At the request of its clients, Kin Hip sometimes printed the clients’ trademark on the packaging, such as the US distributor Vollrath. Should a trademark be requested to be engraved on the tooling, Kin Hip would decide upon the order size. Now Kin Hip did direct retailing only in the mainland. It relied on agents for marketing in Southeast Asia, Europe and America. KL Sun took Apple iPhone’s supply chain to proclaim the huge profit brought about by retailing. However, he confessed that retailing was not easy to develop. It was vital to launch a new product according to the trend, which would affect Kin Hip’s sustainability.
Production of cans, preserved gingers and soy sauce.
The iron used to make Amoy’s cans was ordered and imported from overseas with vessels divided into half-pound, one-pound and five-pound variants. The cut iron plates were fed into the machines to undergo processes known as flanging, lidding and pressure leak testing. Afterwards, empty cans were stored in warehouses. While half-pound and one-pound cans were manufactured by fully automated machines, the five-pound cans had to be processed manually. Amoy was the first company in Hong Kong to produce canned dace with salted black beans. Wong Wing Man thought that Amoy’s canned dace with salted black beans tasted delicious and gave off a mouthwatering aroma when deep-fried with lard and Amoy’s salted black beans. After relocating its plant from Ngau Tau Kok to Tsuen Wan, Amoy began buying cans from Singapore rather than making the containers itself. As a result, the company eventually ceased production of cans for dace with salted black beans. From the 1950s to the 1960s, Amoy produced a wide variety of canned foods including pigs’ trotters with ginger, shark’s fin, minced fish, longans, lychees, pickled shallots, bamboo shoots, mixed vegetables, dace with salted black beans, salted black beans, miso and pickled cucumbers. The white cucumbers used to make this last delicacy were imported from China before being preserved by male and female casual staff working overtime shifts. Different kinds of food were either canned manually or by machines in the pickle room and then sent to another department for vacuum sterilisation and capping by machines. Female workers in the pickle room canned the food while their male colleagues transported the goods. Amoy’s canned food was not only sold locally but also exported overseas. Amoy’s preserved gingers were very expensive and so tended to be exported. Preserved gingers were made of ginger cubes which were divided into wet and dry piles and graded according to size. All gingers used were imported from China. After the raw gingers were peeled manually by the female workers, they were preserved in a big pool with salt. Technicians had their own secret recipe for making preserved gingers, often testing the temperature of the sugar being heated with their bare hands before adding the ginger cubes. Employees’ first step in making soy sauce was to soak soya beans in water during the day and then pick them up and leave them in the hall before clocking off and heading home. At around 5 to 6 a.m. the next morning, the beans would be steamed in an oven. The cooked beans were then placed on the floor to cool, ploughed loose, mixed with flour, fermented and then left to get mildewed. The male workers took charge of these steps while their female colleagues hard-pressed the remains of the beans to help them dehydrate. The technicians making soy sauce also had their secret techniques. To this end, they often sprayed the beans with fluid to reduce the temperature or turned up the oven to increase the heat according to the demands of the fermentation process. Between the 1940s and the 1950s, Amoy’s boss was a native of Fujian. As a result most of the company’s male workforce was predominantly made up of Fujianese people mixed with a few locals or migrants from Chaozhou. Surprisingly, there were very few female workers from Fujian.
