Monthly Archives: November 2011

Milking nostalgia at the MTR

With Hong Kong’s Mass Transit Railway being just a touch over 30 years old and the trains running just as smoothly as the opening day back in 1979, one might think that a feeling of nostalgia for the old days would be hard to find among residents of the city. However the MTR Corporation begs to differ: if advertising heavily on television doesn’t set them apart from other railway operators, then milking a nostalgia for the past will.

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TV commercials from the MTR: do you get their point?

Unlike many other railway operators, Hong Kong’s MTR Corporation buys a lot of television airtime to promote their railway operations. In the last few years their television commercials seem to have a common theme: bouncy pop music with English lyrics, visuals that have nothing to do with railways, and a short Cantonese voiceover at the very end telling the viewer what the entire point of the advert is. Can you guess it from just the visuals?

MTR advert - merry go round Continue reading

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The City of Tomorrow (according to Microsoft)

Microsoft has a thing for producing videos showing their vision of the future is, and their latest effort is no different. Titled “Productivity Future Vision” and made by the Microsoft Office team, the video shows people around the world collaborating on projects with their smartphones, tablet computers, and desktop PCs. For a railfan interested in Hong Kong, the scene from 1:20 onwards is of interest.

Microsoft: Productivity Future Vision, scene at Sai Ying Pun Continue reading

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