Oral History

Silver Manufactory Holdings Co., Ltd. took part in HKPE every year to promote itself. Setting up a booth did not cost much and it can improve company's reputation. However, Silver seldom made business in the exhibition venue. Lam’s factories, including Winsome Plastic Works, Advance Plastic Factory and Forward Products Co.. had participated in the Hong Kong Brands and Products Expo (HKBPE) for six to seven times during the times of Governor Alexander Grantham, Robert Black, and David Trench. Winsome was a producer of photo frames, lampshades and signs for the local Hong Kong market. They had a shop on 93 Hennessey Road. Winsome was the first of Lam’s factories to join the HKBPE. It was an opportunity to directly promote the factory to the public and businesses, and they were well received. Alice Doll and Forward, on the other hand, manufactured for the overseas markets. Lam explained that running a booth at HKBPE could boost company reputation and promote the company to foreign businesses in Hong Kong. At the same time, it was a good time to sell out a sizable volume of products. Forward used their female factory workers in the Miss Exhibition Pageant, and one of them had wun an award one year. Forward also advertised on Overseas Chinese Daily News. Lam stressed that the HKBPE was not only a chance for local sale, but also for marketing and connecting factories to exporters.

Lam introduced photos taken at the HKBPE: Governor Robert Black visiting Fowind’s booth, Winsome’s products in the 1950s, Group photo at Winsome’s booth, Group photo at Forward’s booth. Lam spent 20,000 to 30,000 dollars every year in designing and building his booth. Only a certain selection of products was sold in the exhibition. But that was enough for the company to break even. The HKBPE stipulated the size of each booth, so the participant factories all tried their best to design the booths in ways to attract visitors. Lam displayed different sorts of doll costumes and crystal balls at the booths. The dolls looked like Barbie, for a lot of Hong Kong factories copied foreign products in those days. It was not common for plastic factories to be present at HKBPE. One of the more outstanding exception was Red A. Toy factories did not take part actively either. Large factories with abundant capital, such as Red A, put up booths with eye-catching design, so did the major producers of vitreous enamel, torches and crystallised ginger. Lam’s booth was constructed by an interior design company. Usually, those companies would come to pitch their services after the factories registered for the HKBPE. The two parties would confer with each other to work out the booth design. KP Tin participated in the Hong Kong Brands and Product Expo (HKBPE) organised by The Chinese Manufacturers' Association of Hong Kong in his early years in Hong Kong. Tins’ plastic and processed products were displayed in their booth with an aim of promoting Hong Kong’s plastic processing industry to foreign buyers. Tins’ also had a showroom at office to promote sales for low-end clients, indirectly facilitating Tins’ own businesses in return. Participating in the HKBPE was quite effective in targeting mainly Hong Kong customers. Tin’s had participated in the HKBPE for 3 or 4 times until the promotion aim was achieved. HKBPE at first was an exhibition for the industries to meet buyers. It later transformed into a carnival, which did not serve much use for Tins’. No reception was served at Tins’ booth, which only came with display windows showcasing plastic films, plastics, etc. Sometimes a buyer who met KP Tin in the booth would subsequently contact Tins’ straight.
Founder of Chung Nam Watch Co., Ltd, Chong Ching Um, was a director of the Chinese Manufacturers' Association of Hong Kong (CMA). Chung Nam had participated in the Hong Kong Products Expo. What left a deep impression on young Chong Hok Hoi (Chong Ching Um's son) were snacks, toys and games in the Expo. He already knew Red A was a famous Hong Kong brand. As a watch manufacturer, he thought that these activities were less important than the watch and clock fairs. Lai Lok Shing’s parents operated their grocery store in Lower Wong Tai Sin Estate, they only took one day off for rest every six months. They used these breaks to take the children to visit exhibitions such as the agricultural exhibitions and Hong kong products expos. The products expos were held in Wan Chai and Tsim Sha Tsui. In the products expos, the booths of Pak Fah Yeow, Red A plastic products and Crocodile shirts were all beautifully decorated with eye-catching features. The Red A stand was especially fascinating from a distance while the Pak Fah Yeow booth was decorated with giant bottles and the Crocodile had living crocodiles at the booth. Lai Lok Shing was excited about visiting the expos as he loved the glamorous lighting, the tasty food on offer and casting his vote for Miss Expo. While visiting the expos, parents often bought clothes such as shirts, trousers and “Dai Di” brand school blazers for their children. While he was young, Lai Lok Shing rarely saw new products such as electronic watches when he visited the expos. After he grew up, he went to the expo with his girlfriend was shy when the two visited the Family Planning Association’s booth to get information on birth control. The courting couple got married when Lai Lok Shing was 26 years old in 1974 –the same time as the last expo took place.

From 1957/1958 onward, Kin Hip had set up booths at four Hong Kong Products Exhibitions (the Exhibitions), hiring people with expertise to design the booths for displaying various products such as plastic containers and bicycle horns. In those days, Kin Hip was very focused on export markets. The Sun’s ultimate reason for participating at the exhibitions was to improve their company’s reputation among the local trading firms who used to visit these events to source products for their overseas clients. Two Hong Kong Governors, Sir Robert Black and Sir Alexander Grantham, had visited Kin Hip’s exhibition booths. Over the years, Kin Hip’s double-layered plastic cups won several Exhibition’s Packaging Design Awards. While using the Exhibitions as a channel to meet business partners, Kin Hip continued to concentrate on overseas rather than local sales. As the company eventually succeeded in building stable sales via channels such as sending out product catalogues to overseas customers, it eventually ceased to join the exhibitions. Ultimately, Sun Kin Chao also felt using incentives such as food to attract visitors to their booths did not fit the style of Kin Hip. Amoy’s then managing director, Wong Tuk Sau, had served as president of the CMA for many years. As Amoy was an important member of the CMA, it had participated in several Product Expo events after World War II, investing large sums of money in preparing for each occasion. The Amoy booths at these shows were very special and sometimes won the Expo’s booth design award. Other well known exhibitors in those years included Crocodile and Union shirts, Pak FahYeow and Shaw Brothers. Amoy’s purpose ofjoining the exhibitions was to promote itself by selling high-priced products such as Gold Label Soy Sauce at special booth prices slightly belowthe regular price. Amoy’s staff were generally given entry tickets for them to visit the exhibitions with their family members and friends. Cheng Yum Kwai was not involved in the preparation of Amoy’s booths and only visited the exhibitions and helped out in delivering materialswhile he waswith the general affairs department. Internally, Amoy did not go out of its way to publicise the exhibitions but employees were encouraged to attend them. Staff seldom bought goods from the company’s booths as the Staff Welfare Association already provided them with discounted items.

Miss ginger and Miss HKPE who represented Amoy at each of the exhibitions were recruited from outsideand not from among the staff. Amoy’s in-house advertising department generally was responsible for preparing the company’s booths as most of its staff had strong advertising background. Once it had prepared the drawings and ideas for the expo booths, the advertising department then commissioned specialist design companies to actualise their concepts. Amoy eventually dissolvedthe advertising department following the closure of the Green Spot plant in 1978. In the years up until then, the advertising department was mainly responsible for promoting Green Spot beverages whereas the promotionpublicity for other products wasout-sourced to advertising companies. The CMA was the main organisation in which Amoy’s managerhad participated. Although the Cheng and Huang families who founded Amoy came from Fujian, Amoy was not active in the Fujianese associations, and in 1949 severedthe relationship with its parent company in Xiamen. From then up to now Amoy’s main competitors were Lee Kum Kee and Doll Dim Sum.

Wong Wing Man, from Amoy Food's engineering department, 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. 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. In the 1950s, Fung Yuen Hon served as the deputy manager of the promotion department of the Exhibition, assisting in fund raising activities. In order to raise funds to build the Hong Kong Technical College (the forerunner of today’s Hong Kong Polytechnic University), the CMA organised fund raising activities at several Exhibitions. All required prior approval by the government. The prizes for the lucky draws were all sponsored by the Directors of CMA and included cars and flats in a 3-storey building in Mody Road, Tsim Sha Tsui. Other ways the Exhibitions used to raise funds included a $50 fee for taking a photo with renowned Cantonese opera performers. As a result, the CMA ultimately succeeded in raising between $1 million to $2 million. The entire sum was subsequently donated to the government for building the Hong Kong Technical College. The management of the college was handed over to the government after the completion of the building works.

After the World War II, the Hong Kong Products Exhibition started again on a piece of vacant land near to the Peninsula Hotel. At that time, the government only provided reclaimed vacant land for hosting the exhibition. Before 1962, the exhibitions had also taken place on the vacant land near City Hall in Central. At that time, the land for the Exhibition venue was barren without cement cover or any facilities. As a result, the Exhibition organiser had to install lights and lay water pipes, telephone lines, drains, toilets, etc.

At first, there were no traffic lights near the Exhibition venues so the CMA had to ask the Scout Association of Hong Kong to recruit scouts to control the traffic. While on duty, scouts had to follow orders that strictly prohibited cars from entering the Exhibition venue. In one incident, even the Governor of Hong Kong was turned away by the scout on duty! After this incident, the Governor sent a letter to the scout, commending his courage of standing up against those in power! Between 1951 and 1952, Hong Kong’s enamel industry was thriving. Many enamel factories set up their stalls in the Exhibitions to promote their products and a considerable number of local people came along to buy antimony pots, antimony slow cookers and kerosene stoves, etc. I-Fung Enameling Co. (HK) Ltd. had sponsored building the entrance façade for a few Exhibitions in the 1950s to promote its enamel wares. In the following decade, plastic products began to replace ceramics and buyers came to the Exhibitions looking for newer materials.

In the 1950s, rubber shoes and shirts accounted for a major share of Hong Kong’s industrial exports. As a result, rubber shoe and shirt factories such as Fung Keung Rubber Shoe Factory were frequent participants at the Exhibitions. Later, companies like Continental Rubber Manufactory began running more promotion campaigns during Exhibitions. Their founder even served as Deputy Chairman of the CMA.

Of the many shirt factories who participated in Exhibitions at this time, Leaf Shirt was among the most prominent.Subsequently, Union Shirt staged still more promotions and used gimmicks like “one-dollar-for-one-shirt” and “ironing- and pulp-free shirts” to promote its wares. Participating still later, the Crocodile brand attempted to promote more sales and attention from the visitors by arranging “crocodile girls” to measure customers’ collar size at its stall.

Before the opening of each exhibition, its promotion department needed to recruit 2 staff members to send advertorials to newspaper editors to report on the size of visitation, VIP visits and other interesting stories, etc. The department also recruited staff to liaise with movie stars inviting them to appear in the Exhibitions as a way to attract visitors.
In the initial period after the World War II, the Exhibitions used the slogan “Hong Kong People Use Hong Kong Goods” to promote products made by local Chinese manufacturers. At first, the CMA only allowed Hong Kong’s Chinese manufacturers and CMA members to participate in the Exhibitions. In order to more efficiently promoting their goods through the Exhibitions, some retailers attempted to register as CMA members. Participating manufacturers also had to submit their stall design when applying for participation and could only set out their products for sale once these plans were approved. The Exhibitions were eventually suspended because the government could not provide a suitable venue. Despite the fact that the CMA and participating manufacturers over-spent on organising the Exhibitions, the events regularly posted losses. The Exhibitions in the 1970s had been bustling and were entertainment hot spots for citizens around Christmas time. The government was given free a few stalls at these Exhibitions, some of which were used to recruit policemen. Radio Hong Kong was also given stalls to broadcast live programmes on the exhibition venue. Leading local film makers also released their latest movies at the stalls or invited movie stars to come along and promote their latest blockbuster.