CNN has partnered with 'The News Room' restaurant in Hong Kong to create a branded dining experience for customers.

CNN's programming will air live on screens around the restaurant, while images of CNN's coverage of iconic news events from the past three decades will be displayed on the walls, coasters and menus.

The initial branding agreement will run for two years. CNN's press release follows below.


CNN Press Release: CNN and ‘The News Room' Restaurant announce exclusive brand partnership in Hong Kong

CNN live broadcast and iconic news images feature in new restaurant in Quarry Bay

CNN announced today that it has entered into an exclusive brand partnership with ‘The News Room' restaurant in Quarry Bay, Hong Kong.

Located minutes from the network's regional headquarters in Taikoo Place's Oxford House, the restaurant features CNN's live feed on LCD screens and iconic CNN news images from the past thirty years on menus, coasters and notably in black-and-white artwork on restaurant walls.

The unique and innovative brand association will initially last for two years as the region's leading news network secures a strategic and long-term branded environment in the dynamic media hub of Quarry Bay.

‘The News Room', part of premier restaurant group ‘Press Room Group', will receive targeted brand exposure across the international edition of CNN.com and the network's lifestyle and travel site www.cnngo.com.

"Hong Kong has been CNN's Asia Pacific HQ for more than fifteen years, so there are few more tangible or innovative ways to reaffirm our longtime presence than this unique branding partnership on our doorstep" said Chris Dwyer, Executive Director CNN Communications Asia Pacific. "The News Room features some of the most iconic news moments of the past thirty years, many of which people will have experienced through watching CNN. Coupled with screens showing our live feed, it's a first class branding opportunity to reach out to our discerning and upscale Hong Kong audience."

"The News Room is inspired not only by media legends, but also by the neighborhood context," said Louisa Harker-Marin, Press Room Group's Marketing Director. "Quarry Bay is home to much of Hong Kong's communications industry. As well as providing current news content for our customers, our partnership with CNN is great means of enhancing the restaurant's understated character with iconic archive imagery."

About CNN International

CNN is the world's leading global 24-hour news network and one of the world's most respected and trusted sources for news and information. The CNN brand is available to two billion people via 18 CNN branded TV, internet and mobile services produced by CNN Worldwide, a division of Turner Broadcasting System Inc and a Time Warner company. CNN International is the international directorate of CNN Worldwide and distributes news via 14 services in seven different languages. CNN International can be seen in more than 280 million households and hotel rooms in over 200 countries and territories worldwide, including over 37 million across the Asia Pacific region and online at www.cnn.com/international

About The News Room

‘The News Room' is the latest addition to the Press Room Group's growing portfolio of restaurants. Located at 33 Tong Chong Street, Quarry Bay, The News Room is open daily from 7.30am weekdays and 10am weekends serving breakfast, lunch and dinner and weekend brunch. Industrial-style interiors comprising dark wood, polished timber and textured surfaces evoke a sense of warmth while wine-dispensing systems allow guests to try a variety of international wines. With their sophisticated tastes, trend-spotting instincts and eye for design, Press Room Group co-founders - Alan Lo, Paulo Pong and Arnold Wong - have changed the dining scene in Hong Kong. Together with The News Room, The Press Room Group portfolio of dining concepts now includes The Press Room, Classified, The Pawn and SML.

CNN International has launched a multi-platform promotional campaign in Hong Kong. The new campaign is active across popular Hong Kong websites, as well as local cable television (watch the commercial further down in this post) and buses (pictured below - click to enlarge). All the details from CNN's full press release below.


CNN Press Release: CNN International, the world’s leading global 24-hour news network, has announced the launch of a major multimedia brand campaign in Hong Kong, the most extensive the network has seen in one Asia-Pacific destination. Combining on-air, online, and on-the-ground efforts, this unique and innovative advertising initiative aims to reaffirm CNN’s prominence in the region, further raise brand awareness and, most importantly, celebrate Hong Kong as home to the network’s Asia-Pacific headquarters for more than fifteen years.

Using the tagline “Stay Ahead with CNN”, the new campaign reinforces the message that CNN, like its audience, is constantly ahead of the game – ahead of the industry, ahead of competitors, and ahead of events happening around the world – in bringing intelligent and relevant news content to its viewers worldwide.

“This new campaign is laser-focused on the Hong Kong market, delivering two key messages to millions of new and existing viewers across the city; to highlight how the CNN brand enables consumers to stay ahead in business and in life, and to reaffirm our heritage and ongoing presence here. We're confident that this multiplatform initiative will resonate well, due to the first-class creative execution and local consumer research on which it is based" said Chris Dwyer, Executive Director, CNN Communications Asia Pacific.

CNN’s first ever terrestrial TV campaign in Hong Kong will run on the city’s biggest free English television broadcaster, TVB Pearl, reaching over 2.7 million* Hong Kong people during its primetime evening program lineup, from November 15 to December 15, .

Scripted, filmed and produced entirely in Hong Kong, the commercial showcases how watching CNN gives audiences a competitive edge, enabling them to 'stay ahead' in every aspect of their everyday lives, whether at home, at work or at play. It also highlights the power of CNN anytime, its news content made easily accessible via multiple platforms on television, online, and on mobile.



Acknowledging the fact that CNN’s Hong Kong viewers are predominantly native Cantonese-speakers, the TV advertisement is also available in local language and hosted as a banner ad on two of the most popular and high-traffic websites in Hong Kong – Yahoo! Hong Kong and TVB.com.

To maximize coverage, the all-encompassing “Stay Ahead with CNN” campaign is further creatively executed on twenty public buses. Running across Hong Kong, the creative features the city’s definitive Victoria Harbor skyline – a reference to CNN's heritage in Hong Kong.

CNN’s Asia-Pacific headquarters was established in Hong Kong in 1995, originally in Central, and since 2000 in the city’s media hub of Quarry Bay. The channel is carried by Hong Kong cable operators Cable TV (Ch. 74) and now TV (Ch. 316). CNN was also the first 24-hour international television news network in Asia and the first to open a bureau in China, in Beijing in 1987.


Notes:

* Data source: Synovate Media Atlas Hong Kong Q32010-Q22011