Year 3 - Self Devised Project Report

Innovation of Wedding Trend in Hong Kong: The Revolution of a New Kind of Wedding Experience

Innovation of Wedding Trend in Hong Kong : The Revolution of a New Kind of Wedding Experience

Wing Yan Chow T0001707 FCP3 Negotiated Project FASH30108

fig 1.

Wordcount: 8040 words

CONTENT CONTEXT & BIG IDEA

CH.

01

Introduction

02 - 04

02

The Hypothesis

05 - 06

03

The Research Methodology

07 - 10

04

The Market Overviews

11 - 18

05

The Changes of Hong Kong Wedding Cultures

19 - 38

06

The Concerns

39 - 42

07

Insights

43 - 44

08

The Big Idea

45 - 46

CREATIVE CONCEPTS & EXECUTIONS

PAGE

09

The Landscape of Global Mobile Applications Market

51 - 54

10

The Hong Kong Mobile Applications Market

55 - 58

11

Inspirations

59 - 60

12

Introduction of WEDDIE

61 - 77

13

Our Customers

78 - 83

14

WEDDIE’s Future

84 - 85

15

Conclusion

86 - 87

16

References, Bibliography, List of Illustrations

88 - 98

CONTEXT &

BIG IDEA >>>

Ch 1

INTRODUCTION

Wedding / noun.

et g e l p peo n e ed r h e w d i y s e m o n ecially con ons. r e c A esp rati b , e d l e e i c r ted mar a i c o s as as the

(Oxford Dictionary, 2016) fig 2.

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In many countries, the wedding day is one of the most important moments for everyone; there is no exception for Hong Kong. Its importance has led bridal fashion to stand out among the whole fashion industry, as the consumer will have different mindset while purchasing. Due to the tendency of late marriage and bachelorism in Hong Kong, the marriage rate has decreased in this few years. According to the information from Hong Kong Census and Statistics Department (2016), there were around 51,400 pairs of couples got married in Hong Kong since 2015.

In additional, we can have more understanding about the Hong Kong wedding industry from the expenditure of Hong Kong wedding days. According to the data from ESD life (2015), the average wedding spending in 2015 is around HK$313,933 (around £28,242). According to the figures from the past five years (2011 – 2015), the average costs of a wedding day has been increased by 17%, from HK$267,256 in 2011 to HK$313,933 in 2015.

In this report, apart from the research of the Hong Kong wedding culture, I would like to explore the factors that prompted the consumerism among the Hong Kong wedding industry. However, consumerism has existed in the Hong Kong wedding industry for over 20 years. The traditional wedding is mainly to achieve social identity, but the consumption value of the weddings nowadays will lie on the individualism because some of the couples will try to hold a “dream wedding” by spending an enormous amount of money. Therefore, my focus point of this report will be on how the wedding industry of Hong Kong nowadays has been affected by the consumerism and what will be the service trends of the Hong Kong wedding industry in the future.

fig 3.

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Ch 2

THE HYPOTHESIS

Before moving onto my researches, I have setup some questions to lead me to have some clear research directions.

1. Will the meanings of “prefect” and “happy” be changed by the formats of a wedding?

2. What can we do to link up each character in a wedding ceremony?

3. Do the services provided nowadays satisfy the customers and ensured to meet their expectation?

4. Will there be equilibrium among the traditional and digital promotion trends?

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Ch 3

THE RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

To h ave a c l e a r u n d e r s t a n d i n g o f t h e customers' expectations and concerns in the Hong Kong wedding industry, I have worked on a list of research to achieve my goals.

During research, it is important to use both quantitative and qualitative methods, and they can allow me to test and develop my ideas after having some in-depth research with different kinds of people.

A detailed methodology table regarding my research can found in Appendix 3.

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Online Questionnaire To have the ideas and responses about the people expectation in the bridal fashion industry and the participants’ daily habits, I have set up an online questionnaire, which has been sent out to 63 people, aged 18 – 40 (see Appendix 5). This method allows me to get a quicker response in a short amount of time, although I cannot get any further responses after discovering some interesting feedbacks from the participants. However, it has provided a clearer direction on my researches and had a deeper understanding of the phenomenon in the wedding industry.

Creative Primary Resesarch With my intent to have a clearer comprehension on the customers’ expectation and get a more in-depth understanding of their choices between the traditional and digital promotion methods, I have casted a vote with 66 people which about the people’s preference for promotion methods and asking them to vote on the choices of lookbooks, Instagram, fashion fair, fashion shows and mobile apps (see Appendix 6). This creative primary research method has allowed me to understand on the customers’ expectation on the choices of promotion channels and to explore the reasons behind their options in this vote. The reason that I chose this research method is because it can provide an attractive and friendly environment for the participants in order to increase their sense of participation.

Customers Interviews For getting a few personal and in-depth responses, there are a few interviews with the customers of the Hong Kong wedding industry, including five current or potential customers, three pairs of couples and two parents of the newlyweds (see Appendix 7.1 and 7.2) Although the interviews consume time to acquire the information needed and one of the pairs of couples have already got marry for ten years, so not all of their responses and experiences may up to date and can be applied in the current market. However those interviews have allowed me to approach with the current and potential customers of the industry directly; moreover, it can help to obtain the research insights and gain more understanding of the consumers’ expectations.

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Interviews with experts in the industry The goal was to contact experts from the wedding industry and to collect professional information and their point of views in the current industry i.e. how they think about the changes in the promotion methods. I hope they can help me to establish a clear direction and identify the problems that are happening in the wedding industry. In the early February, I have contacted Jane Ho, who is a freelance wedding consultant and Bonnie Li, the founder of Event Artisan (see Appendix 7.3). On the other hand, I have sent a few more emails to the employees in the wedding industry, but I cannot receive any responses at the end.

Focus Group To generate the ideas for this project and reveal the customer needs and perceptions of the market, I have set up two focus groups with 20 people during January and February (see Appendix 8). During the discussions, I can have a chance to share the ideas and ask for advice with the participants by working on some brainstorming and discussions.

All of the above research was carried out by the ethics guidelines, and each participant has fully informed about this project and how their response being used. According to a short time scale for this project, I have tried my best to contact people from different areas in the industry to get as much as information for this projects.

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Ch 4

THE MARKET OVERVIEWS 4.1 The Overview of Hong Kong Wedding Industry 4.2 The Characters of the Big Day

According to the data from the w e b s i t e o f H o n g Ko n g C e n s u s and Statistics Department (2015), there were around 51,400 pairs of couples got married in 2015.

Although comparing with the data of previous years at the chart below ( F i g 7 ) , t h e m a r r i a g e ra t e h a s significantly decreased in 2015, but the Hong Kong wedding industry still has a considerable prospect.

EDS life has estimated Hong Kong wedding industry in 2015 worth

fig 4.

HK$17.2 billion (around ÂŁ1.5 billion).

(Yuan, 2015)

fig 5.

fig 6

The Marriage Rate in Hong Kong

4.1

The overview of Hong Kong Wedding Industry

fig 7

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Moreover, the Hong Kong couples nowadays will not mind spending an enormous amount of money on their big day; most of the wedding related services fees have increased in this few years. (Refer to Fig 8) Referring to the EDS life press release (2015), the average expenses for a Hong Kong wedding in 2015 is around HK$313,933, which

increased by 17% from the amount of 2014. I have done a graph (Fig 9) which shown on the next page, and it is about the growth of the wedding expenses from 2011 to 2015.

The Comparison of Wedding Expenditures (2011 – 2015)

fig 8

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Average wedding expenses from 2011 – 2015

fig 9

fig 10

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4.2

MAIN CHARACTERS

The Characters of the Big Day

GROOM

BRIDE

- Budget is important! I do not want to spend extra money on something, which may not be necessary for my wedding!

- I want to be the most beautiful woman on that day.

- The goal is to satisfy my spouse and parents!

- Having a perfect wedding is the most problem that I concern!

- Budget is not a problem at all!

BRIDESMAIDS & GROOMSMEN - We are the best helpers in the wedding day!

- Our responsibilities are to make sure the wedding day can go smoothly.

RELATIVES & FRIENDS - We hope we can receive a warmly welcome.

- We do not want to get bored during the ceremony and banquet.

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WEDDING CONSULTANT

CHINESE WEDDING MASTER

- I am the coordinator of the wedding day.

- I am the one who is familiar with the Chinese traditional wedding cultures.

- My responsibility is to make sure the wedding has followed the Chinese traditional wedding cultures and instructions.

- I should help on planning the wedding day preparations.

- I am the mediator between the brides and grooms’ parents.

fig 11-16

OTHER CHARACTERS Catering Services Photographers Ushers and helpers Travelling Company

Flower Girls and Page Boys Makeup Artists and Stylists Wedding Witness Wedding MC

Apart from the bride and groom, there are many people related to a wedding day, and each of their roles cannot be replaced. According to the information in fig 11-16, we can see there are different expectations of the main characters in a wedding.

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HONG KONG WEDDING PLANNING COUNTDOWN

To h a v e a c l e a r u n d e r s t a n d i n g o f t h e procedures in a marriage, there is a wedding planning countdown list (fig 17) and a procedure of the Hong Kong wedding day (fig 18) on the next page.

fig 17

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HONG KONG WEDDING DAY PROCEDURE

fig 18

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Ch 5

THE CHANGES OF HONG KONG WEDDING CULTURES 5.1 The Trend of Late Marriage 5.2 The Changing of Hong Kong Wedding Formats 5.3 The Changes of the Hong Kong Wedding Industry Promotions

5.1

The Trend of Late Marriage

Under the laws of Hong Kong, the minimum age to get married is 16 years old. If either party is under 21 years old, they should provide a consent form from their parents. Due to the trend of late marriage has been widespread among the developed countries, especially Hong Kong, the people in Hong Kong will get married a bit older than before. According to the information from Hong Kong Census and Statistics Department (2016), the median age of marriage of 2015 in Hong Kong is 31.2 years old for males and 29.2 years old for females.

THE MEDIAN AGE IN HONG KONG (2010 - 2015)

fig 19

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Two-thirds of first marriages are affected by the upward trend of cohabitation and economic slump, and they have exacerbated the rate of late marriage.

Jayson (2013)

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fig 20 and 21

fig 22

The reasons lead to the trend of late marriages of Hong Kong are:

1. The Rising Education Levels In general, the women who with a lower education level will get married earlier. According to the common education system, most of the people will finish the degree and start their career in 21 – 23 years old. However, confronting to an intense competition labor market, it will be hard to find a suitable job; some of the graduates may decide to continue their education, to escape from the pressure of unemployment. After they have finished a postgraduate degree and started their careers, most of them have already been in a marriageable age. At this time, they have to work even harder, and most of them may have to make a certain level of sacrifice, including their marriage, to return the “investment� from their parents, and it results to one of the reasons of late marriage.

2. The Unbalanced Gender Ratio The problem of unbalanced sex ratio has been affected most of the regions, and it is not a new topic in Hong Kong, but it has become increasingly severe in the last 30 years. According to the data from County meters, the total population of Hong Kong is 7,335,333 since 20 April 2016. The number of females has a slight lead with 3,862,531 people (52.7% of the overall population) currently while the number of males is 3,472,802 people (47.3% of the overall population). Due to this phenomenon, the Hong Kong women are harder to find a husband than before. According to the Population and Household Statistics Analyzed report of 2015 by Hong Kong Census and Statistics Department, there are 1,010,400 numbers of women who have not got married since 2015.

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5.2

The Changing of Hong Kong Wedding Formats

1. Wedding Proposal Become Important Than Before The wedding proposal is one of the important parts of marriage. A few surveys have shown that there are more couples will pay attention to their wedding proposals. According to the information that has given by Apple Daily (2016), the expenditure of wedding proposal occupied 6 to 10% of the total expenditure of their wedding. In additional, they have also interviewed a wedding planner, Lam Chi Wah. Lam said that due to the influence of the romantic plots from the dramas, the methods for the wedding proposals have been increased. Moreover, he mentioned, there are more men will spend an enormous amount of money to seek a planner helping them to plan their wedding proposal, in order to have a perfect moment.

As an example, during the August 2015, a Hong Kong man, Victor Tang, has proposed her girlfriend, Stephanie Cheung, by using a helicopter with a big banner. (Fig. 23) The whole wedding proposal has spent him HK$ 400,000 (around £36,000) by using more than HK$200,000 (around £18,000) for a 1.5-carat diamond ring, HK$26,000 (around £2,300) for a corner suite in a 5-stars hotel, HK$150,000 (around £13,500) for the helicopter flight.

fig 23

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2. The Wedding Formats Become Polarized As I mentioned at the before chapter, the average expenses of a wedding day in Hong Kong since 2015 is around HK$313,933. However, during my research, I discovered that the Hong Kong wedding formats in this few years have become more polarized, no-frills weddings and luxury weddings.

Without a doubt, wedding is one of the most important sections of the life. However, the Post Magazine (2016) has mentioned, there are many couples of Hong Kong will forgo the expensive banquet and complex rituals in their wedding, and the trend of no-frills weddings have become popular among the younger generation of Hong Kong.

fig 24

fig 25

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Case Study of a no-frills wedding in Hong Kong

Ronald Ma (25 years old) I have got married with my wife on the early April of 2016.

We both working as waiters in a Japanese restaurant. Because we do not have too many budgets while we started on planning our wedding, therefore, we have not done any pre-wedding photography, and we have just asked our relatives to help us on recording and filming our wedding day. In our wedding day, we hold a ceremony of marriage in a conference room in the morning and having a dinner that invited our parents and best friends at the restaurant we are working for on the same day. For the honeymoon, we have chosen Taiwan because it is one of the most nearest locations of Hong Kong, and the prices are lower than the other choices.

Overall, the total expenses of our wedding are only HK$53,214 (around ÂŁ4,800 GBP).

fig 26

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Something Interesting: McDonald Wedding Party

B

y having a huge amount of expenses for a wedding day, and it may be a heavy burden for the couples that do not have a perfect financial base. Hong Kong McDonald’s has launched the wedding party services since 2011 by providing four different choices of packages that cost only HK$2,999 to HK$9,999 (around £270 to £900). According to the article from Daily Mail (2014), the spokesperson of McDonald Hong Kong has told the journalists that the reason they started the programme is because there are many customers tell them that McDonald's is one of the places where they first started dating.

For my point of view, the reason for why McDonald has got a great success in this programme is because they have provided the services which a much lower than the others (the average cost for a wedding banquet in Hong Kong is around HK$36,000 – around £3,200).

However, there is still a part of people have not accept the idea of having a wedding party in McDonald. Helen, one of my interviewees, has held her wedding in McDonald in October 2014. She said that her parents and relatives were being shocked when her husband said that they have chosen McDonald as the location of the wedding banquet instead of in a Chinese restaurant or a hotel. Her father has even tried to stop them by committed to pay all the expenses of their wedding day. The reason that they still chose McDonald at the end is because they remember she and her husband have gone to McDonald for their first dating meal. Also, the cost of the wedding package for McDonald is much lower by comparing with the other locations.

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fig 27

fig 28

fig 29

On the other hand, gourmet m e a l s , ra re v i n t a g e w i n e , sumptuous venue decorations and wedding gowns designed by well-own designers are becoming more common in a wedding ceremony and banquet nowadays. Some of the affluent couples will employ wedding planners to arrange a fantastic day; they will not mind the total amount of money that they have spent on their wedding because they want to have a perfect wedding to greet their guest. Ko (2011) has talked about the reasons of the couples who have chosen to hold a luxury wedding, and he said that the people nowadays are no longer to satisfy with the product, and they want

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to receive the happiness while they are purchasing, and it called as “self-illusory hedonism.” This definition helps us to have more understanding of the significance of a wedding consumption: we are consuming a “life event”, and we eager to receive pleasure from the wedding shopping experience.

Case Study of a luxury wedding in Hong Kong

Patrick Kwan (32 years old) I have got married with my wife on the December of 2015.

I am a general manager of a logistics company, and my wife is a flight attendant. Because we both are too busy on working, so we have employed a wedding planner to manage our wedding day, also to seek people to work as a mediator between our parents.

We held a wedding ceremony in a church in Discovery Bay and had a lunch buffet with 155 people and a dinner banquet with around 400 individuals in the ballroom of Hong Kong Disneyland.

Moreover, we have gone to Seoul for our pre-wedding photography and Europe for the honeymoon.

Overall, the total expenses of our wedding are HK$1,069,120 (around ÂŁ96,179).

fig 30

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5.3

The Changes of the Hong Kong Wedding Industry Promotions

Doing business without advertising is like winking at a girl in the dark. You know what you are doing, but nobody else does.

Stuart Henderson Britt

In the early forms of bridal fashion promotions in Hong Kong, the brands and wedding related industry will present their products and service through the offline sources such as newspaper, magazines, outdoor advertisements and catwalk shows, also with the online media platforms. Although there has a significant development on the promotion technology in the world for those 20 years, there do not have any great changes among the Asian regions.

Without a doubt, the digital promotion platforms have provided a convenient environment and stronger visual impact for the fashion brands to be in touch with their customers; and more people are relying on the mass media in Hong Kong, but the paced seems a bit slow compared with the other countries.

However, there still have some changes in the Hong Kong wedding industry promotions:

1.

Superbride’s Homogenous Consumer Identity Nowadays, the wedding industry always used “perfect wedding” as the goals and promotion slogans, in order to inspire the illusion of a wedding day, also to stimulate their anxiety on how to hold a perfect wedding day. Under those illusions and anxiety, the wedding industry has built up an identity of superbrides.

There are lots of wedding magazines and websites in Hong Kong will use suggestive words or quotes, such as “Top 10”, “Must” and “The biggest trend of wedding” to strengthen the importance of spending an enormous amount of money for receiving an ideal wedding day.

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fig 31

2.

3.

The social media platforms become more official The portfolio is important to a brand or designers. One of my interviewee, Jane Ho, a wedding consultant, has mentioned in the interview that the social media platforms have become a more official promotion channel in Hong Kong, especially Facebook and Instagram. There are more peers in the industry will try to use Facebook and Instagram as their portfolio to show their works to the target customers.

The Influences from the celebrities For the last 50 years, celebrity is one of the best “props� in the advertising promotion, and it has become one of a universal promotion ways. Atkin, C. and Block, M. have mentioned that the well-known celebrities have frequently been appeared in marketing communications to facilitate brand and ad differentiation in cluttered media environments. (see Erfgen, Zenker and Sattler 2015, p.155) In additional, Arora, A. and Sahu, K. have said, there are more companies signing contracts with celebrities nowadays, to make use of the celebrities to create a unique and appropriate position in the minds of the customers. (see Fathi and Kheiri 2015, p619)

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fig 32

Case Study: The Kanalili “Créer les beautés, Create beauties” Kanalili is a bridal fashion brand, which has a high media exposure among Hong Kong bridal fashion industry; also, they are providing communication methods on multiple social media platforms to get in touch with their customers, including newsletters, Instagram and Facebook. They will not and feeling complacent for their current achievements, and have tried to develop their market position and provide a better shopping experience for their customers. Due to the owner of Kanalili, Lillian Kan, is a famous part-time model in Hong Kong; therefore, Kanalili has got a certain reputation during the beginning of their business. Moreover, they have sponsored the actresses in Hong Kong, in order to create stimulation of how a wedding is going to be and increase the attention from the public.

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Case Study: The Wedding Proposal from a Hong Kong Artist A few years ago, there was a Hong Kong artist, Wong Cho Lam, has proposed to her girlfriend, Li Ya Nan, on a TV programme, and the video of that day has been disseminated widely on the Internet. After that, they have arrived different kinds of sponsorships from the wedding related companies such as wedding gowns, venues, accessories. Although, there have a few people will think that Wong and Li’s wedding seems like a show for the advertisers in the Hong Kong wedding industry. However, it has already got a great success by having lots of discussions among the society, and it has been one of the ideas for the Hong Kong couples who are planning to get married.

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fig 33 - 36

Ch 6

THE CONCERN

Kotler A. and Wong S. have been mentioned that consumer purchases will affect by cultural, social, personal and psychological characteristics easily. (see Matharu 2011, p.14) The modern consumerism emphasis on the personal imagination and satisfaction, and it has driven the spirit of capitalism market operation. Veblen (1899) has been used the term of “conspicuous consumption” to describe the people purchasing habits.

This theory provides us with a part of the understanding of the customers’ expectations: Purposefully to show wealth, social status and personality through consumption. By the advocacy from the media, marriage has been packaged as a “festival” to spend a huge amount of money for celebrating with the relatives and friends in those 15 years.

fig 37

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Most of the time, the budget is one of the concerned problems in a wedding planning. Let’s have a look at how budgets affected in a wedding day:

1.

2.

The pressure from parents

A wedding is not only related to "two people", but it is also a ceremony to link up "two families”. If there have any mistakes happening in the wedding arrangements, it does not only have an unpleasant memory, and it will become a laughing stock among the friends and relatives.

Therefore, the parents of the Hong Kong couples have often intervened their daughters or sons’ wedding.

Mrs Chan, one of the interviewees, said that she has “helped” her son to decide the format of his wedding day because she believes that she will have better experiences of planning a wedding day, and she knows what should it be for a wedding day.

The wedding planner

There will have a lot of different problems and conflicts happened on a wedding day and its preparations.

Most of the time, there do not have enough time for the brides and grooms to solve those problems immediately, and it leads to the trend of employing a wedding planner or consultant in Hong Kong. More couples will seek a wedding planner or consultant to solve the problems or giving advice for the preparations, but the price for employing a wedding planner is high in Hong Kong. According to Fiesta (2016), the price range for a Hong Kong wedding planner is from HK$10,000 to HK$100,000 or more (around £900 to £9000 or more). It is quite a heavy burden for the couples who have a limited budget.

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3.

The entertainments for the guests

In additional, with most of the people having smartphones nowadays, the details of a wedding day become more digitally than before. From the invitations to the entertainments for the guests are more digital formatted nowadays, and it emerges the wedding party apps used widely among the Hong Kong wedding day. In order to suit the needs for the weddings, the personalised wedding party app have become a popular choice for the Hong Kong couples. A Hong Kong wedding planner, Vicky C., has mentioned in an interview (2015), many of her clients have tried to create a personalised wedding party app in these few years and most of them have said that they love the functions of the apps.

The cost range for a wedding party app in Hong Kong is around HK$500 to HK$20,000 (almost ÂŁ45 to ÂŁ1,800), some of them are free for charges.

Most of them have provided the functions of a digital invitation card, the locations of the venues and albums for the couples putting the wedding photos. However, the qualities of the apps are often depending on the costs, and it always becomes a defect for a perfect wedding day.

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Ch 7

insights

-1-

-2-

Hong Kong or even for the whole world, there will have an equilibrium between the traditional and digital promotion methods although digital platforms have become more popular a m o n g t h e s o c i e t y.

No matter how much the couple spent for their wedding.

Happiness will be the most important thing for their wedding day.

-3-

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Consumerism has affected the Hong Kong Wedding Industry and the consumers’ mindset.

By the busy work life of the Hong Kongers, wedding planners and wedding planning apps have become popular among the Hong Kong w e d d i n g i n d u s t r y.

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Ch 8

THE BIG IDEA

As mentioned in Chapter 5 of the context part, there are lots of developments among the promotion in the Hong Kong wedding industry for those 10 years. But during the research period, I discovered that there do not have any huge shift among the Asian regions, especially Hong Kong.

Due to the innovation and technology in Hong Kong are still in a developing period, and the developments of the Hong Kong wedding industry has confined. Although, there are more creative methods and ideas for the wedding days have been come from the wedding industry in these few years, but there still need more time for the Hong Kong m a r ke t a n d c u s t o m e r s t o adapt.

Although, the wedding industry of Hong Kong have tried to provide a more personalized service for their customers, and will start to pay attention on communication between their customers and themselves. But what can we do to provide an appropriate d e ve l o p d i r e c t i o n fo r t h e Hong Kong wedding industry?

Moreover, can we think of any outcome or products, which are suitable for most of the customers in the Hong Kong wedding industry?

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CREATIVE CONCEPTS &

EXECUTION

>>>

In the coming sessions, I am going to talk about my execution plan for my report. After the researches from the context and big idea parts above, I found that the wedding planning mobile apps in Hong Kong had a lot of deficiencies and the services that provided are separated into different apps and platforms.

Therefore, I want to launch a new mobile application - WEDDIE, which re vo l u t i o n i s e t h e H o n g Ko n g ’s wedding planning industry.

fig 38

Ch 9

THE LANDSCAPE OF GLOBAL MOBILE APPLICATIONS MARKET

2015

2016

2017

While smartphones are now firmly established as an integral part of our life, the global mobile applications market has got a significant development in those ten years.

According to Statista (Device Atlas, 2016), there are about 4.43 billion mobile phone users in the world since 2015, and it will be expected to grow to around 4.61 billion in 2016 and around 4.77 billion in 2017.

In additional, according to the data from Statista (2016), the global mobile apps download rate has got a continual increase in the period of 2009 to 2017, the number of 2015 was around 17.9 billion and the number of 2017 was estimated as around 26.8 billion. Therefore, we can see there will have a great opportunity to expand on the mobile applications market.

Go-Globe (Rudolph, S., 2015) has done some researches that related to the smartphone users’ habits, and they said that those smartphone users will spend almost 89% of their mobile media time by using mobile apps. Also, the research has shown the users will spend most of their time on the games apps (43% of people in the research), followed by the social networking apps (26% of people in the research) and entertainments (10% of people in the research).

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fig 39

Moreover, Business Wire (2015) has been stated that the largest groups of customers for the mobile application are majorly in 15-40 years old, and the games and entertainments apps have got the highest usage comparing with the other categories.

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fig 40 - 41

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Ch 10

THE HONG KONG MOBILE APPLICATIONS MARKET

fig 42 - 43

In Hong Kong, the smartphone is one of the important things in the daily life. Most of the Hong Kong people will start their day with their smartphones, and use their mobile before going to bed. Stella Cheung, the Head of Sales of Google Hong Kong (StartupsHK, 2013) has said that smartphones have been one of the daily essential items in Hong Kong, around 96% of Hong Kong people will never go without their smartphones, and the rate was the highest among the other Asia countries.

According to Go-Globe (2014), most of the people (95% of individuals) will use their phones at home, followed by working, walking on the street and the transports.

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The Top 30 Popular Free of Charges Apps in Hong Kong iTunes Store (Since 2 May 2016)

No.1 MILKMART

No.2 DISNEY MAGICAL DICE

No.3 Viu TV

No.4 iTunes U

No.15 Angry Birds

No.26 CoolPlayer

No.5 WhatsApp

No.16 SNOW

No.27 myTV

No.6 Snapchat

No.17 Instagram

No.28 iQLY

No.7 WhatsApp

No.18 KMB & LW

No.29 Lost Tracks

No.8 WeChat

No.19 Dragon Hills

No.30 LINE

No.9 YouTube

No.20 Taobao

No.10 Facebook

No.21 Google Maps

No.11 Viu

No.22 Uber

No.12 Messager

No.23 MSQRD - Live

No.13 QQ Music

No.24 QianXun TV (lite)

No.14 JOOX Music

No.25 Meitu

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Referring to the list, we can found that most of the popular apps in Hong Kong will be the photography and video apps, followed by the games, entertainment, social networking and lifestyles apps.

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Ch 11

INSPIRATIONS

fig 44

In order to collect inspirations for the execution idea, I have worked on moodboards and brainstorming of the Hong Kong wedding styles (see Appendix 9). Furthermore, I have taken a look at the current digital platforms and mobile apps from the other industry, such as Deliveroo, Uber, Pinterest, Craftsy and ASOS, etc.

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Ch 12

INTRODUCTION TO WEDDIE

fig 45

Weissman, R., (2015) has mentioned in an article, convenience, ease-ofuse, accessibility and immediacy have become the necessary conditions in the mobile applications for the consumers nowadays. As I mentioned, the wedding planning mobile apps in Hong Kong nowadays are still have a lot of deficiencies and the services that provided are separated into different apps and platforms, and the customers have to download a list of apps to receive the services that they desired.

fig 46

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fig 47

According to the current market condition, it inspires me to think of launching a new mobile app in Hong Kong, called “WEDDIE�, which can compensate the lack in the present Hong Kong wedding planning mobile

application market. We want our users to feel more comfortable and fully supported during their wedding planning.

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The Services The services of WEDDIE will divide into four different areas, including “Wedding Proposals”, “Planning”, “The Big Day” and “The Forum”. There will provide different kinds of services in each of the areas:

WEDDING PROPOSALS This area will provide various types of information and inspirations for the people who are planning on their wedding proposals. Once you have clicked into this field, you can see there will have two choices for you to get into (Fig 48). The first one will be “Advices”, and the second will be “Seeking Support”.

In the “Advices” area, we will provide blog articles and tips from the experts in the wedding industry, and it will refresh in every week. We know that there needs a lot of manpower and material resources, so we will have support teams that are going to help our customers to solve their problems during the wedding proposal day. You can found and have a chat with them in the “Seeking Support” area, and there will have different kinds of service packages in various price range, the customers can choose one of them if they think there is any package suitable for them. fig 48

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PLANNING This area will divide into seven fields, including “Advices”, “TrendLook”, “Check Your Budget”, “Checklist”, “Countdown”, “Highlight” and “Best Match”.

time to time. Also, we will try to provide a lot of live streams and a culture calendar from the bridal fashion catwalk shows and wedding exhibitions.

For the “Advices”, as same as the one in “Wedding Proposals”, we will provide articles and short reports, which are written by the experts and bloggers, and they will renew in every week.

We know that most of our users will be too busy with their work, and it is hard to spare time on finding suitable services providers or locations for their wedding day. In “Best Match”, we will provide a list of choices, such as wedding planners, locations, catering services, photography and filming services, witness services, etc. To ensure the qualities of our services, there will have a rating and feedbacks system, so that our users can choose the suitable services provider by referring to those comments and ratings.

In the “TrendLook”, there will have different digital fashion lookbooks for the both Chinese traditional style and Western style brides, grooms, bridesmaids, groomsmen, page boys and flower girls. On the other hand, we will provide an area for our users to create some mood boards by uploading products pictures or just choosing some suitable items in our lookbooks area.

For “Highlight”, we want our users can receive the latest information from the bridal fashion weeks or fairs; we will try to upload highlights from the bridal fashion weeks and shows from

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On the other hand, we will also provide some traditional services areas, including budget checking, checklists for the wedding and countdown systems, to let our users have a fully supported during their wedding planning.

WEDDING DAY

In this area, there will have a few primary functions which are free of charges, including: - Up to 20 themes for them to choose for their app design - An album which can upload 50 photos, - Digital invitation card - The map of locations - The schedule of that day - Guest lists - An introduction of the bride and groom.

In additional, if the couples want to have any extra functions, they can pay HK$ 100 (around ÂŁ9) for purchasing one extra service or purchasing all of them in a lower price HK$450 (around ÂŁ40). We will provide: - Up to 50 themes for them to choose for their app design - Instant messages system for the guests and the couple - The couple can upload maximum 5 videos into the album - The couple can upload maximum 100 photos into the album - A digital guestbook for the guests to drop down their best wishes for the couple, and this function is also available for the guests who cannot attend the wedding day - Provided some interactive activities between the guests and wedding MC Once the users have purchased any of those services, we will send them a secret present on the day before their wedding, for example, coupons for travelling or furniture purchasing.

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THE FORUM Moreover, there will have a forum for our users to share their experiences or having some discussions with the other users. It is because we believe that SHARING and DISCUSSING are one of the best ways to receive inspirations.

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How To Use WEDDIE?

fig 49

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SWOT STENGTHS

WEAKNESS

- We have provided a list of services and supports from the wedding proposal to the day of wedding

- It is hard to make sure the users will give us feedback or sharing experiences after the wedding day

- We will try to gather most of the services in one app instead of in separated apps

- It is hard to maintain the number of long-term users because marriage is a once a lifetime thing

- The price for any upgraded services is lower than the others

- If we decide to employ freelance bloggers at our Advice Areas, the quality of our blog will be difficult to assure

- We have provided some interactive services for our users, such as live streams from the catwalk shows, a forum for the users, support teams for wedding proposals, etc.

- Some companies may hire “Network hatchet man” or “Internet Water Army” to falsely accuse their competitors

- The app is available on both platforms – Android and iOS - We have provided both Chinese traditional wedding styles and western wedding styles, which can suit for the Hong Kong couples - We will provide both Chinese and English version for our app

OPPORTUNITY

THREATS

- Hong Kong has an international position among the fashion industry

- Have to compete against with a lot of competitors in Hong Kong

- Digital platforms will be one of the promotion trends in future

- Some of the couples would purchase a customised wedding app for more suitable functions; what can we do to attract them to become one of our customers?

- We provided one-stop services in our app - We will have a long-term plan for our app developments, and see if there will have any opportunities for us to bring our app to the whole world - We will try to provide a few more different language visions for the app

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OUR COMPETITORS

fig 50

WEDDIE is a wedding planning app for Hong Kong, which has included most of the functions from the other apps in the current market. In the perceptual map below, it has shown how we tried to position WEDDIE in the Hong Kong wedding apps market. WEDDIE will sit across to the local and one-stop services sectors, because we want to provide most of the useful services in one app, to convenient our users.

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According to the perceptual map, I have done some indepth researches on the 3 main competitors for WEDDIE, which of some of their functions are quite similar with WEDDIE.

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fig 51

1. The Knot About: The Knot is a common wedding planning website and mobile app. They have provided a wide range of services and inspirations for the couples, and also providing services to create a customised website for the wedding day.

Differentiation: The Knot is one of our inspirations while we are creating WEDDIE. But I think that The Knot does not have a right balance between their website and mobile app, we can see the internet site from The Knot have provided a load of services for their users, but for the mobile app, it will be a fashion lookbook. So it may let their customers feel a bit confessed on their service areas.

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fig 52

2. Appy Couple About: Appy Couple is wedding services platform for the couples to create a website and mobile app for their wedding day.

Differentiation: Appy Couple has provided a lot of design and themes choices for their customers; also the layouts and functions of their product are user-friendly, which I think it is brilliant. But the price of their service packages (ÂŁ39 and ÂŁ89, around HK$440 and HK$1,000) may be a bit high for some of the couples who will have a limited budget.

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fig 53

3. Wedding Planning App from Kee Wah Bakery About: It is a mobile app which introduced the Chinese Traditional Wedding format, and teaching the couples what to do if they have chosen the get married in a Chinese traditional way. Also, they have created a YouTube Channel – keewahbakery, for posting videos about the Chinese traditional marriage ceremony.

Differentiation: Kee Wah Bakery has done a great job by creating an app to teach the couples about the Chinese traditional wedding culture because some of the couples nowadays may not be familiar with the Chinese traditional wedding; also to promote their products at the same time. But this app is just available for the iOS system, and I prefer they can launch one of vision for the Android system so that it will be more convenient for their target users.

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How to measure the success

For a business founder, it is important to know how their business.

Brin, R., (2004) has mentioned, we can use the existing data to forecast and develop our business and the trend forward. For WEDDIE, we will try to measure our success by checking on the download rate every month and annual, also we will have reflections according to the users and industry’s feedbacks in every 3 months. We hope that we can get more ideas on our app development by according to those comments and data, also to provide better services and environment to our customers.

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Ch 13

OUR CUSTOMERS

Although, our users will be divided into two groups basically, COUPLES and GUESTS, but the main users and target customers will be the couples who have a limited budget for their wedding. Because our app will be totally free of charges for the basic functions and providing a flexible price range for any additional services, so that it can be one of a good choice for our target customers In this chapter, I am going to show our target customer profiles and talk about how can we be in touch with them.

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CUSTOMER PROFILES

fig 54

Gigi Li & Alex Chan

GIGI LI

ALEX CHAN

Interests: Photography, cooking, hanging out with friends

Interests: Reading, playing sports

25 years old | Kindergarten Teacher

25 years old | Accountant

- They planned to get married at early 2018, and they both feeling stress about how to held a perfect wedding by having a limited budget.

- Gigi knows that she can receive information and inspirations by visiting the bridal fairs or having a look at the apps and social media platforms, such as the KNOT, Pinterest and Instagram, but she thinks that most of the contents in those areas are advertising and she does not know how to distinguish them.

- For Alex, he is concerning about finding a way to solve most of the problems for their wedding day, but he does not want to hire a wedding planner, because of he thinks that it may be too expensive for them to hire a planner.

- Alex has proposed Gigi at his home instead of a restaurant or any other unusual places. Sometimes, Gigi will complain about that day, and it makes Alex feel embarrassed and regretful.

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KAREN CHAN 29 years old | Secondary School Teacher Interests: Travelling, Reading and Exploring anything special

- Karen does not have any plan on getting married, but I think she will be one of our potential customers.

fig 55

- Karen is a dreamer; she always thinks of how will be her wedding day is, and what styles would she prefers.

- She does not have an excellent time management skill, and she will start worrying and feeling stressful when she is working on something important.

- Karen loves to share her experiences on the forums and social media platforms - She likes to look at the trends of fashion and designs.

LAWRENCE WONG 27 years old | Chef Interests: Travelling, photography, playing football and cooking.

- Lawrence plans to propose to her girlfriend few months later, but now he still has not a suitable plan on it. And he is seeking somebody who can help him on planning the wedding proposal.

- He does not mind to spend an enormous amount of money for the wedding (his budget is about HK$50,000, about ÂŁ4,885), but all of the expenses should spend in a reasonable way.

- His father-in-law has intimated the wedding style should be in the Chinese traditional style, but Lawrence is not quite familiar with this style.

- Lawrence and his girlfriend, Chloe, would prefer to include some interactive activities for the guests during the wedding banquet.

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fig 56

ROUTE TO CUSTOMERS

fig 57

Once WEDDIE has been launched, we have to handle a load of press releases. Therefore, we will have a Facebook page, which can provide us a platform to post those information. Also, we will have an Instagram page for getting in touch with our target customers and for promotion use.

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fig 58

According to the information from Wedding Expo (2016), there will have at least nine wedding exhibitions held in Hong Kong every year. We will try to join minimum four of them every year, to introduce WEDDIE to more people and our target users. Also, there will have a lot of opportunities for us to learn from our competitors by joining those exhibitions and fairs.

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Ch 14

WEDDIE'S FUTURE

Short Term We are going to try on developing our market position and bring WEDDIE to the customers in the whole Asia after 5 - 6 years. This plan will be quite easy for us to achieve because we already have an experience of working for an Asian country; also trying to provide a least two different wedding cultures on one platform, so it will be the time for us to have more challenges on trying to add a few more specific wedding cultures and styles in our app.

Long Term A long-term aim for WEDDIE would be to expand into a wedding consultancy and online wedding magazine company. We want to get in touch and help our users or customers by different kinds of platforms and methods.

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Ch 15

THE CONCLUSION

This report has investigated the trends and changes in the Hong Kong wedding industry and has summarised the prospects of the development of this industry.

conflicts between the couples and their parents, the manipulation of the market and cultures. Consumption has often praised as the best solution. Although, there still have a part of the couples will be loyal to themselves by having a nofrill wedding, but it is just a limited part of the whole wedding industry of Hong Kong. By the trends in the current Hong Kong wedding industry and the customers, I have a plan on launching a mobile app called WEDDIE, which can provide a few ideas and supports for those couples who are seeking for help during their wedding planning. I hope that we can provide a better environment, which is more suitable for the customers’ needs for Hong Kong wedding industry in the future by launching the app, WEDDIE.

Due to the Hong Kong wedding industry nowadays will encourage the couples to spend a huge amount of money to hold a “unique” wedding ceremony, and “Having A Dream Wedding” and “Once in a lifetime” have been widely used for the promotions of the industry.

Moreover, the couples will often affect by the pressures and trepidations during the wedding planning, most of them will choose to employ a professional wedding planner or consultant. In additional, the parents in Hong Kong will try to intervene their daughters or sons’ wedding, in order to “help” them to have a decent wedding ceremony. Most of the time, some of the couples will not give too much idea on their wedding days, and leads to the Hong Kong wedding formats have become similar.

In conclusion, there are many contradictions in the wedding nowadays, including the budget of a wedding, the

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Ch 16

16.1 References 16.2 Bibliography 16.3 List of Illustrations

16.1 REFERENCE

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8. Erfgen, C., Zenker, S., and Sattle, H., 2015. The vampire effect: When do celebrity endorser harm brand recall?. International Journal of Research in Marketing, 32 (2), 155-163.

9. Fathi, F. and Kheiri, B., 2015. Celebrity Edorsement and Its Effect on Consumer Behavior: A Literature Review. International Journal of Review in Life Sciences, 5 (10), 619-626.

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15. Jayson, S., 2013. Marriage rate may be low, but more weddings predicted. USA Today [online]. (17 June 2013). Available at: http:// www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2013/06/17/marriage-trends-demographics/2424641/ [Accessed 3 February 2016].

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52. Robb, S., 2016.You thought you’d seen the ultimate Gypsy wedding, wait until you see this! Metro [online] 24 April. Available at: http://metro.co.uk/2016/04/24/you-thought-youd-seen-the-ultimate-gypsy-wedding-wait-until-you-see-this-5838308/ [Accessed 24 April 2016].

53. Robbo75 [pseud.], 2013. 10 Benefits of Digital Marketing v. Traditional Marketing. Businesszone [online blog]. 7 April. Available at: http://www.businesszone.co.uk/community-voice/blogs/robbo75/10-benefits-of-digital-marketing-v-traditional-marketing [Access 2 March 2016].

54. Roetzer, P., 2014. The marketing performance blueprint : strategies and technologies to build and measure business success. New Jersey: John Wiley & Sons.

55. Sheridan, J., 2010. Fashion, media, promotion: the new black magic. 1st ed. Oxford: Wiley-Blackwell.

56. Sherman, L., 2013. Inside the Designer Bridal Boom. Business of Fashion [online blog]. 29 October. Available at: http://www. businessoffashion.com/articles/intelligence/oscar-de-la-renta-alice-temperley-net-a-porter-designer-bridal [Accessed 13 February 2016].

57. Solomon, M.R. and Rabolt, N.J., 2009. Consumer behavior: in fashion. Upper Saddle River, N.J.: Pearson/Prentice Hall 58. Stone, E., 1990. Fashion Merchandising: an introduction. 5th ed. New York: Glencoe/McGraw-Hill.

59. Sumitra [pseud.], 2014. McDonald’s Restaurants Becoming Popular Wedding Venues in Hong Kong. Oddity Central [online blog].

18 July. Available at: http://www.odditycentral.com/news/mcdonalds-restaurants-becoming-popular-wedding-venues-in-hongkong.html [Accessed 20 April 2016].

60. Swanson, K.K. and Everett, J.C., 2007. Promotion in the merchandising environment. 2nd ed. New York: Fairchild Publications.

61. Thorstein,V., 1902. The Theory of the Leisure Class: An Economic Study of Institutions. New York: Macmillan.

62. Tungate, M., 2008. Fashion brands: Branding style from Armani to Zara. 2nd ed. London; Philadelphia: Kogan Page.

63.Vows Magazine, 2015. Vows:The Bridal & Wedding Business Journal. [online]. Los Angeles:Vows Magazine. Available at: http:// vowsmagazine.com [Accessed 4 February 2016].

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64.Vows Magazine, 2014. BridalLive to launch web-based software. Vows Magazine [online blog]. 5 September. Available at: http://vowsinsight.com/bridal-live/ [Accessed 4 February 2016].

65. Vows Magazine, 2014. BrideClick creates Wedding app. Vows Magazine [online blog]. 11 September. Available at: http:// vowsinsight.com/brideclick-launches-wedding-planning-app/ [Accessed 4 February 2016].

66. Wang, J., 2008. Brand new China: advertising, media and commercial culture. 1st ed. Cambridge: Harvard University Press.

67. Wei,Y.H., Samiee, S., and Lee, R., 2014. The influence of organic organizational cultures, market responsiveness, and product strategy on firm performance in an emerging market. Academy of Marketing Science, 42(1), 49-70 68.Winter, A.A., 1984. Fashion advertising and promotion. 6th ed. New York: Fairchild Publication.

69.Wong Cho Lam proposed to Li Ya Nan in TVB Anniversary 2014, 2014. [user generated content YouTube] TVBUSAofficial. 19 November 2014. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lAkSDRfxwbk [Accessed 18 April 2016].

70.Yeung, M., 2015. Tying the knot can be a bind. China Daily Asia [online]. 15 October. Available at: http://www.chinadailyasia.com/ focus/2015-10/15/content_15329835_2.html [Accessed 15 April 2016].

71. Zeff, R. and Aronson, B., 1999. Advertising on the internet. 2rd ed. New York: Wiley.

72. Zimmermann, J., 2015. 5 Things to Know Before Hiring a Wedding Planner. Money [online]. 3 July. Available at: http://time.com/ money/3827145/cost-of-hiring-a-wedding-planner/ [Accessed 18 April 2016].

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16.3 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS Cover page: Unknown. 2015. Online. Available at: https://unsplash.com/photos/51QcRqMjy6w Fig 1: Flowers. 2013. Online. Available at: https://uk.pinterest.com/pin/447826756675812686/ Fig 2: Confetti. 2015. Online. Available at: https://uk.pinterest.com/pin/536913586806998048/ Fig 3: Lusan Mandongus Wedding Dress, Hong Kong Wedding, Berinmade. 2012. Online. Available at: https://uk.pinterest. com/pin/486318459731339803/ Fig 4: Unknown. 2015. Online. Available at: https://uk.pinterest.com/pin/350928995940422572/ Fig 5: Unknown. 2015. Online. Available at: https://unsplash.com/photos/3Oa0b0TF8tg Fig 6: A Chic and Intimate Hong Kong Wedding: Elgin and Kai. 2013. Online. Available at: https://uk.pinterest. com/ pin/449515606530407720/ Fig 7: The marriage rate of Hong Kong. 2016. Own Image.

Fig 8: The Comparison of Wedding Expenditures (2011 – 2015). 2016. Own Image.

Fig 9: Average wedding expenses from 2011 – 2015. 2016. Own Image.

Fig10: Unknown. 2016. Available at: https://65.media.tumblr.com/a41ce9acf7311c72395fd46f09dc48e7/tumblr_ mr7sjpUOlh1sevp0so1_1280.jpg Fig11: The Groom. 2016. Own Image.

Fig12: The Bride. 2016. Own Image.

Fig13: The Bridesmaids & Groomsmen. 2016. Own Image.

Fig14: Relatives & Friends. 2016. Own Image.

Fig15: Wedding Consultant. 2016. Own Image.

Fig16: Chinese Wedding Master. 2016. Own Image.

Fig17: Hong Kong Wedding Planning Countdown. 2016. Own Image.

Fig18: The Procedure of a Hong Kong Wedding Day. 2016. Own Image.

Fig19: The Median Age in Hong Kong (2010-2015). 2016. Own Image.

Fig20: Chinese Tea Ceremony. 2010. Online. Available at: https://uk.pinterest.com/pin/105342078753443943/ Fig21: Chinese Wedding Candies Wrap. 2015. Online. Available at: https://uk.pinterest.com/pin/523050944198447578/ Fig22: Hong Kong.2015. Online. Available at: https://uk.pinterest.com/pin/564357397030809910/ Fig23: The helicopter hauled the massive banner - the size of a basketball court - past the Ritz Carlton at the right time.

2015. Online. Available at: http://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/article/1845855/man-who-spent-hk400000-pop-bigquestion-and-she-said-yes Fig24: Wedding Photography by Steve Steinhardt. 2014. Online. Available at: https://uk.pinterest.com/ pin/431078995553528736/ Fig25:Unknown. 2016. Online. Available at: http://www.gettyimages.co.uk/search/more-like-this/597709435?excluden udity=true&family=creative&license=rf&phrase=wedding&sort=best

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Fig26: Ronald Ma’s Wedding Expenses. 2016. Own Image.

Fig27: McDonald’s Wedding Party. 2014. Online. Available at: http://www.expatliving.hk/living_in_hk/How-a-weddingparty-at-McDonald’s-has-become-the-goal-for-your-dating-relationship-in-Hong-Kong-54408.ece Fig28: Here's a ring shot I did on my McDonalds engagement shoot that I love! © Julia Seiler Photography. 2014.

Online. Available at: https://uk.pinterest.com/pin/147633694009693323/ Fig29: The Verandah in Repulse Bay. 2012. Online. Available at: http://hk.asiatatler.com/weddings/5-top-boutiquewedding-venues-in-hong-kong Fig30: Patrick Kwan’s Wedding Expenses. 2016. Own Image.

Fig31: #Hong Kong Wedding on Instragram. 2016. Own Image.

Fig32: Moodboard of Kanalili. 2016. Own Image.

Fig33: Screenshot of Wong Cho Lam Wedding Proposal (1). 2014. Online. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/ watch?v=lAkSDRfxwbk Fig34: Screenshot of Wong Cho Lam Wedding Proposal (2). 2014. Online. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/ watch?v=lAkSDRfxwbk Fig35: Screenshot of Wong Cho Lam Wedding Proposal (3). 2014. Online. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/ watch?v=lAkSDRfxwbk Fig36: Screenshot of Wong Cho Lam Wedding Proposal (4). 2014. Online. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/ watch?v=lAkSDRfxwbk Fig37: Wedding Photography by Bryant Wong. 2012. Online. Available at: https://www.flickr.com/ photos/57630730@N04/9304479907 Fig38: Hong Kong Night View. 2015. Online. Available at: https://unsplash.com/photos/IUc0s1etvug Fig39: Kids Like Mobile Games. 2016. Online. Available at: https://picjumbo.com/kids-like-mobile-games/ Fig40: Photo by RC Cipriano. 2014. Online. Available at: https://unsplash.com/photos/UldEou9GdqI Fig41: Unknown. 2016. Online. Available at: http://www.morguefile.com/search/morguefile/17/mobile/pop Fig42: Hong Kong. 2012. Online. Available at: http://www.ytravelblog.com/hong-kong-instagram-photos/ Fig43: Hong Kong. 2008. Online. Available at: https://www.flickr.com/photos/limaoscarjuliet/3124035554/ Fig44: Moodboard for Hong Kong Wedding. 2016. Own Image.

Fig45: Unknown. 2015. Online. Available at: https://uk.pinterest.com/pin/304415256036316827/ Fig46: Traditional Chinese Wedding with a Vintage Flare. 2015. Online. Available at: https://uk.pinterest.com/ pin/214061788515202032/ Fig47: WEDDIE’s Welcome Page. 2016. Own Image.

Fig48: Wedding Proposal Page in WEDDIE. 2016. Own Image.

Fig49: How to use WEDDIE. 2016. Own Image.

Fig50: The Perceptual Map of WEDDIE. 2016. Own Image.

Fig51: The Knot Logo. 2016. Google Play Store.

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Fig52: Apply Couple Logo. 2016. Google Play Store.

Fig53: Wedding Planning App from Kee Wah Bakery. 2016. iTunes Store.

Fig54: Gigi Li & Alex Chan. 2016. Created by Gigi Li and Alex Chan.

Fig55: Karen Chan. 2016. Created by Karen Chan.

Fig56: Lawrence Wong. 2016. Created by Lawrence Wong.

Fig57: The Facebook Page of WEDDIE. 2016. Own Image.

Fig58: 82nd Hong Kong Wedding Fair Poster. 2016. Online. Available at: http://www.iprimo.hk/en/news/news_ 2016/42386.html

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APPENDIX

WING YAN CHOW T0001707 FCP3 Negotiated Project FASH30108

CONTENT

[1] CRITICAL PATH

01 - 02

[2] TUTORIAL RECORD SHEETS / FEEDBACKS

03 - 04

[3] METHODOLOGY TABLE

05 - 06

[4] CONSENT FORMS

07 - 08

[5] ONLINE QUESTIONNAIRE

09 - 10

[6] CREATIVE RESEARCH

11

[7] INTERVIEWS

12 - 21

[8] FOCUS GROUP

23 - 24

[9] OTHERS

25 - 28

[1] CRITICAL PATH

- 01 -

- 02 -

[2] TUTORIAL RECORD SHEETS & FEEDBACKS

- 03 -

- 04 -

[3] METHODOLOGY TABLE RESEARCH METHODS

SAMPLE

PURPOSE

STRENGTHS

Online Questionnaire

63 people

In order to have some ideas and responses about the people expectation for the bridal fashion industry and their daily habits on the touch with promotion.

This method can let me to get a quick response in a short amount of time.

Creative Research (Street Interception)

66 people

In order to have a clearer comprehension on the customers’ expectation and their choices between the traditional and digital promotion methods.

Interviews (Customers)

13 people

In order to know more about the problems that the customers may face during their bridal shopping experiences.

This method can provide a more interesting research way among the other methods. Also a creative research method may let the participants have more interest on helping me.

Interviews (Professionals)

2 professionals

In order to collect some professional information and ideas from the experts in the industry.

Focus Group

20 people

In order to have a further discussion about the customer’ expectation and their point of views on the promotion trends nowadays and future.

- 05 -

This method can let me to approach with the customers in the bridal fashion industry directly, also I can go deep into the information that I need from the target customers.

This method allows me to get in touch with the employees in the industry, which can provide me some professional information.

Also it may give me some research direction for this project.

This focus group can help me to generate ideas and reveal the customer needs and perceptions from the industry.

WEA

It may not pos enough in det question, and participants m Moreover, I ca detail respons interesting an participants.

It is not deep research, beca for their opini ask for a more and the reaso

It has to spend finish this res participants w married for a may not give m responses and

It is hard to fin because most busy to reply may not reply of the private their business

I may get som and ideas from some of them depth of the a to go through

ENGTHS

can let me to get nse in a short me.

can provide a ing research he other o a creative hod may let the have more elping me.

WEAKNESSES

EFFECTIVENESS RESEARCH METHOD

It may not possible to explain enough in details in every question, and it may let the participants misinterpreted.

Moreover, I cannot ask for more detail responses when I found any interesting answers from the participants.

It is not deep enough for this research, because I can just ask for their opinions, but may not ask for a more detail information and the reasons of their opinions.

can let me to h the customers ashion industry I can go deep mation that I e target

It has to spend a lot of time to finish this research; also some participants who have got married for a long period of time may not give me some updated responses and information.

allows me to get the employees y, which can ome nformation. ve me some ction for this

It is hard to find the participants, because most of them are too busy to reply me. Moreover, they may not reply me deeply because of the private and confidential for their business.

oup can help me eas and reveal needs and rom the

OUTCOMES

I may get some official answers and ideas from the group, or some of them may not expect the depth of the areas that I planned to go through.

Provide me to have a clearer direction on my researches and have a deep understanding of the participants’ personal opinions.

Let me to understand more of the customer’s expectation on the choices of promotion and give me a force to explore the difference between the traditional and digital promotion.

Provide me to obtain some research insights and to confirm my hypothesis for this project.

Provide me a chance to get in touch with the professionals in the wedding industry, and helping me to obtain a clear direction and identify the problems of the current industry and market.

This method provides me a chance to collect as much as ideas and point of views from the participants. And it can help me to set up the questions for my online survey.

- 06 -

It allows me to ascertain my research direction, and find out the areas and questions that I have to ask my interviewees during the interviews and focus group.

It allows me to have a force to research on the reasons of the participants’ opinions, and to create a exciting and friendly research environment for me and the participants.

It is effective for me to make sure my ideas form the responses of the customers from the bridal fashion industry. Moreover, it allows me to have a deeper research with those participants.

It is useful for me to get some professional responses from the industry; also it can help me to gain a clearer insight by interviewing those experts.

It is effective because it helps me to collect more ideas and directions for my researches, also I can get my responses directly and in a short amount of time.

[4] CONSENT FORMS

- 07 -

- 08 -

[5] ONLINE SURVEY

Link: https://coeychow.typeform.com/to/PBL3dV Total: 63 responses Questions: 1. Your Gender?

A. Male (10 people) B. Female (53 people) 2. Your Age? A. 18 - 25 years old (41 people) B. 26 - 30 years old (18 people) C. 31 - 40 years old (4 people) D. 40 - 50 years old (0 people) E. 50 years old + (0 people) 3. Your Occupation?

A. Student (29 people) B. Employed (Full-time) (25 people) C. Employed (Part-time) (3 people) D. Self-employed (5 people) E. Un-employed (1 people) F. Retired (0 people) 4. Which social media platform(s) have you used to get in touch with fashion brands? (You can choose more than one) A. Facebook (84%) B. Instagram (90%) C. SnapChat (30%) D. Twitter (16%) E. Pinterest (38%) F. YouTube (57%) G. Blogs (24%) H. Other (0%) 5. How much time will you spend on those social media platform(s) every day?

A. Less than one hour (6 people) B. 1-2 hours (23 people) C. 3-4 hours (25 people) D. 5 hours or more (9 people) 6. Will you follow the inspirations and ideas that have been given on the magazines or lookbooks?

A. Yes (51 people) B. No (12 people) 7. Do you think providing a personalize shopping experience is interesting?

A. Yes (53 people) B. No (10 people) 8. Do you think providing a personalize shopping experience is interesting?

A. Yes (48 people) B. No (15 people)

- 09 -

9. Which one do you prefer?

A. Traditional Promotion Way

B. Digital Promotion Way

(27 people)

(36 people)

10. Do you agree wedding day is one of the MOST IMPORTANT day in your whole life, and you will try your best to make sure everything MUST goes fine on that day? (1: Oh mate! It’s not important at all. < 3: It’s really really important!!!)

1. Oh mate! It’s not important at all. (42 people) 2. It’s OK. (14 people) 3. It’s really really important!!!

(7 people) 11. Do you agree the celebrity charm has been glutted among the social media?

A. Yes (57 people) B. No (6 people) 12. Do you think those celebrity charm affected your daily life, especially your fashion choices?

A. Yes (38 people) B. No (25 people)

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[6] CREATIVE RESEARCH

To have a clearer comprehension on the customersâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; expectation and get a more in-depth understanding of their choices between the traditional and digital promotion methods, I have casted a vote with 66 people which about the peopleâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s preference for promotion methods and asking them to vote on the choices of lookbooks, Instagram, fashion fair, fashion shows and mobile apps.

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[7] INTERVIEWS

[7.1] CUSTOMERS INTERVIEWS [7,2] PARENTS OF NEWLYWEDS [7.3] EXPERTS IN THE HONG KONG WEDDING INDUSTRY

Nottingham Trent University School of Art and Design

Introduction to interview (Customers)

I am Wing Yan Chow (Coey). And as part of my programme of study I am undertaking research on the problems that the bridal fashion industry is facing.

To enable me to answer my research questions I wish to talk to you about your views and /or experiences of bridal shopping.

The interview will be a focussed discussion and will take approximately 40 minutes. We will concentrate on the following:

l l l l

Your bridal shopping experiences

Your expectations during bridal shopping

The problems you have faced during bridal shopping Your views on the future bridal fashion industry

The focus group/interview will be taped and transcribed, and should you want a copy of the transcription then please ask me and I will arrange for one to be sent to you.

The information you give me will be used in support of my work and will be written up

in my dissertation. Anything you say will be treated with the strictest confidence and your contribution to the discussion will not be attributed to you as an individual, what you said will be used for illustration only; to reinforce a point that I am making.

The tapes will be kept in a locked room and the transcripts on a password protected computer. Both will be destroyed once I have completed my degree and graduated.

- 13 -

Nottingham Trent University School of Art and Design

Introduction to interview

I am Wing Yan Chow (Coey). And as part of my programme of study I am undertaking research on the problems that the bridal fashion industry is facing.

To enable me to answer my research questions I wish to talk to you about your point of

views of the current bridal fashion industry and your working experiences.

The interview will be a focussed discussion and will take approximately 40 minutes. We will concentrate on the following:

l

l l

Your working experiences

Your views on the future bridal fashion industry The culture of the bridal fashion industry

The interview will be taped and transcribed, and should you want a copy of the transcription then please ask me and I will arrange for one to be sent to you.

The information you give me will be used in support of my work and will be written up in my dissertation. Anything you say will be treated with the strictest confidence and your contribution to the discussion will not be attributed to you as an individual, what you said will be used for illustration only; to reinforce a point that I am making.

The tapes will be kept in a locked room and the transcripts on a password protected

computer. Both will be destroyed once I have completed my degree and graduated.

- 14 -

[7.1] CUSTOMERS INTERVIEWS

For the couples who got married 1. How long have you been married?

2. Can you share the experience of your wedding?

3. What is the difficult part(s) for you to hold the wedding ceremony and banquet?

4. Where do you collect your inspirations for the wedding day?

5. Do you agree it will be great to have an online platform or an app to help you or giving advices for the wedding day?

(1) Interview with Mr and Mrs Leung Date: 7-2-2016 1.How long have you been married?

Mrs Leung: 3 years 2. Can you share the experience of your wedding?

Mrs Leung: We decided to hold our wedding ceremony in Okinawa at the start of our plan. But at last, we have just held a small party in our hometown, Hong Kong.

Mr Leung: We have found a wedding agency in Hong Kong around one year before the wedding started, but their services made us feel disappointed.

My wife want to hold a wedding ceremony in Okinawa, but the agent tried to mislead us from time to time.

3. What is the difficult part(s) for you to hold the wedding ceremony and banquet?

Mr Leung: I think it will be finding a suitable location for us, because you know it is really expensive for booking a hotel ballroom in Hong Kong. We do not have a huge amount of budget for our wedding, and it is one of the reasons that we planned to hold our ceremony overseas.

4. Where do you collect your inspirations for the wedding day?

Mrs Leung: We have asked some of our friends’ advices; also we have gone to the bridal exhibitions in Hong Kong.

5. Do you agree it will be great to have an online platform or an app to help you or giving advices for the wedding day?

Mr Leung: It will be great if there will have a communication platform for us to ask advices from some experts.

(2) Interview with Mr and Mrs Chang Date: 28-2-2016 1. How long have you been married?

Mrs Chang: We have got married since 2004.

2. Can you share the experience of your wedding?

Mrs Chang: It is a happy and unforgettable experience. We have held our wedding ceremony in a church at Kowloon Tong; we have invited all our friends and family members to celebrate with us. Lastly, we have a banquet in a Chinese restaurant at night.

3. What is the difficult part(s) for you to hold the wedding ceremony and banquet?

Mr Chang: If you ask what’s for the men, I will tell you are money. (Sigh) Everything in Hong Kong is too expensive. I was a junior office assistant at that period with only HK$9,500 (around £450) for the salary every month. It is difficult for me to handle with a huge amount of expenses in the wedding, although the expenses of the wedding day are shared among both of us.

Mrs Chang: I think it is not related to the wedding planning, but I believe it will be useful for your research. I think that the bridal stores always trying to mislead the customers in order to convince the customers purchase from them, not only happening in the bridal industry but all kind of merchandising. I got my wedding gown from a bridal store in Sheung Wan. It is a white lace dress with a statement sleeves in the lookbook, but it came with a v-neck dress at last. I remember it is just 5 days before the wedding ceremony! I don’t have enough time to find another one.

4. Where do you collect your inspirations for the wedding day?

Mrs Chang: We have gone to the wedding fairs and also look at the magazines and lookbooks.

5. Do you agree it will be great to have an online platform or an app to help you or giving advices for the wedding day?

Mrs Chang: Yes, I think it would be great. Because most of the Hong Kong people are too busy with their work, they may not have too much time on finding information for their wedding, so if there will have any convenient platforms or methods for them to do those things.

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(3) Interview with Ronald Ma Date: 10-4-2016 1. How long have you been married?

I have got married since this April.

2. Can you share the experience of your wedding?

Because we do not have too many budgets while we started on planning our wedding, therefore, we have not done any pre-wedding photography. We asked our relatives to help us on recording and filming for our wedding day. In our wedding day, we hold a ceremony of marriage in a conference room in the morning and having a dinner that invited our parents and best friends at the restaurant we are working for on the same day. For the honeymoon, we have chosen Taiwan because it is one of the most nearest locations of Hong Kong, and the prices are lower than the other choices. And it costs us only HK$53,214 (around ÂŁ4,800 GBP) for the whole wedding.

3. What is the difficult part(s) for you to hold the wedding ceremony and banquet?

The budgetâ&#x20AC;Ś I think. We both working as waiters in a Japanese Restaurant, the salaries from both of us are unavailable to allow us to have a luxury wedding.

4. Where do you collect your inspirations for the wedding day?

I have not do anything actually. But we have tried to ask our friends and relatives who have already got married for advices and listen to their experiences. I remember my wife has bought some wedding magazines too.

5. Do you agree it will be great to have an online platform or an app to help you or giving advices for the wedding day?

Yes, if the functions are user-friendly and basically free of charge.

(4) Interview with Patrick Kwan Date: 19-4-2016 1. How long have you been married?

I have got married in the December of 2015.

2. Can you share the experience of your wedding?

We have spent around HK$1,069,120 (around ÂŁ96,179) for a wedding ceremony in a church in Discovery Bay and had a lunch buffet with 155 people and a dinner banquet with around 400 individuals in the ballroom of Hong Kong Disneyland. Furthermore, we have gone to Seoul for our pre-wedding photography and Europe for the honeymoon.

3. What is the difficult part(s) for you to hold the wedding ceremony and banquet?

I am a general manager of a logistics company, and my wife is a flight attendant. We both are too busy on working; therefore we have employed a wedding planner to manage our wedding day, also to seek people to work as a mediator between our parents.

4. Where do you collect your inspirations for the wedding day?

As I mentioned, I have hired a wedding planner for our wedding. Most of the inspirations are come from our wedding planner, but my wife has gone to buy some magazines and have some researches on the Internet.

5. Do you agree it will be great to have an online platform or an app to help you or giving advices for the wedding day?

That idea is great!

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For the couples who have not got married or planned to get married 1. Can you share your wedding plan to me? Or how will be your dream wedding?

2. Which part(s) do you think is the most difficult for your plan at this moment?

3. Where do you collect your inspirations for the wedding day?

4. Do you agree it will be great to have an online platform or an app to help you or giving advices for the wedding day?

(1) Interview with Miss Ngan Date: 16-2-2016 1. Can you share your wedding plan to me? Or how will be your dream wedding?

I decided to hold a wedding ceremony in a big park. And I decided to invite all my friends and family members. It will be a warm and joyful party.

2. Which part(s) do you think is the most difficult for your plan at this moment?

Finding a suitable man to get married? Haha.

3. Where do you collect your inspirations for the wedding day?

I will collect my inspirations from Pinterest and bloggers.

4. Do you agree it will be great to have an online platform or an app to help you or giving advices for the wedding day?

Yes of course. It will be great, if there will have a platform which can provide some professional advices for the users.

(2) Interview with Gigi Li and Alex Chan Date: 20-4-2016 1. Can you share your wedding plan to me? Or how will be your dream wedding?

Alex: We planned to get married in the early 2018.

Gigi: We hope that we can have a wedding ceremony in the beach.

2. Which part(s) do you think is the most difficult for your plan at this moment?

Alex: I am concerning about finding a way to solve most of the problems for our wedding day, but I do not want to hire a wedding planner, because of it may be too expensive for us to hire a planner.

3. Where do you collect your inspirations for the wedding day?

Gigi: I know that there are lot of information and inspirations by visiting the bridal fairs or having a look at the apps and social media platforms, such as the KNOT, Pinterest and Instagram, but most of the contents in those areas are advertising and sometimes I do not know how to distinguish them.

4. Do you agree it will be great to have an online platform or an app to help you or giving advices for the wedding day?

Gigi: Yes. Alex: Not just for the wedding day please. I prefer to have one-stop services in a same platform. As an example, I have proposed Gigi at my home. Sometimes, Gigi will complain about that day, and it makes me feel embarrassed and regretful. If there will have some wedding proposals ideas and advices, I am sure they are really helpful to the guys.

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(3) Interview with Karen Chan Date: 14-4-2016 1. Can you share your wedding plan to me? Or how will be your dream wedding?

I do not have any plan on getting married at this time. Because I am one of the fans of Disney, so I wish I can hold an wedding ceremony and banquet in Disneyland.

2. Which part(s) do you think is the most difficult for your plan at this moment?

I do not have an excellent time management skill, and I will start worrying and feeling stressful when I am working on something important. Time management skills are really important to the wedding planning.

3. Where do you collect your inspirations for the wedding day?

I think I will find some inspirations through the Internet as the things that I do as normal.

4.Do you agree it will be great to have an online platform or an app to help you or giving advices for the wedding day?

Yes of course.

(4) Interview with Lawrence Wong Date: 19-4-2016 1. Can you share your wedding plan to me? Or how will be your dream wedding?

I am planning to propose to my girlfriend few months later, but now I still so not have any suitable plan on it. And I am seeking somebody who can help me on planning the wedding proposal. I do not mind to spend an enormous amount of money for the wedding, I think the budget will be about HK$50,000 (around ÂŁ4,885), but all of the expenses should spend in a reasonable way. But I have heard from my girlfriend that it would be great if there will have some interactive activities for the guests during the banquet.

2. Which part(s) do you think is the most difficult for your plan at this moment?

My father-in-law has intimated the wedding style should be in the Chinese traditional style, but I am not quite familiar with this style.

3. Where do you collect your inspirations for the wedding day?

I have asked for advices from my friends who got married.

4. Do you agree it will be great to have an online platform or an app to help you or giving advices for the wedding day?

Sure, Hong Kong people are too busy. If there will have digital platforms for us, we can receive information without any physical restrictions.

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[7.2] PARENTS OF NEWLYWEDS

Questions:

1. Would you mind to share a bit about your son/daughter’s wedding day?

2. What is the point that you are most concerned on for your son/daughter’s wedding?

(1) Interview with Mrs Chan Date: 8-4-2016 1.Would you mind to share a bit about your son/daughter’s wedding day?

Our family is the indigenous inhabitants; most of our relatives are lived in the walled villages in New Territories. According to the traditions, the wedding styles should be in Chinese traditional way. I have tried to help my son to hold a Chinese traditional wedding ceremony because of those traditions. I believe he can have a better wedding ceremony from my experiences and helps.

2. What is the point that you are most concerned on for your son/daughter’s wedding?

The most concerned is I should make sure my son has given a warmly welcome to all of our relatives and guests. It is all about the reputations of our family.

(2) Interview with Mr Lui Date: 8-4-2016 1. Would you mind to share a bit about your son/daughter’s wedding day?

My daughter has chosen England as the wedding ceremony location. And they have held a causal dinner in a Chinese restaurant when they got back to Hong Kong.

2. What is the point that you are most concerned on for your son/daughter’s wedding?

I feel disappointed while I know she is going to England for her wedding. Because some medical problem, her grandfather is unavailable to get onto the flight. Therefore, I think the couples should make sure on the locations.

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[7.3] EXPERTS IN THE HONG KONG WEDDING INDUSTRY

Email sample Hi, Sorry to bother you. Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;m currently a Year 3 Fashion Communication and Promotion student at Nottingham Trent University. Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;m in my final year, and as a result I have to produce a dissertation type research project. As I have a great interest in the bridal fashion industry, I have decided to work on a research about the problems that this industry is facing, in order to explore more and see what can I work for the bridal fashion industry.

I was just emailing to ask whether either of you would available to answer a few questions. Mainly just about your working experiences and your point of views in the current bridal fashion market.

All the answer will be confidential and only be used to inform my researches and my dissertation report. Your answers would be much appreciated and useful, so I hope you can help.

Thank you for taking the time to read this email. Looking forward for your reply.

Regards, Coey Chow

Questions sample 1. Can you share your position and duty in the wedding industry?

2. How long have you worked in this post?

3. What reasons make you want to become a _______?

4. Do you agree there are a lot of misunderstanding or problems between the bridal stores and customers in a bridal shopping experience?

5. How do you think about the current wedding industry?

6. Do you think there will have a lot of challenges for the future wedding industry? What will they be?

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(1) Interview with Jane Ho Date: 2-2-2016 1. Can you share your position and duty in the wedding industry?

I am a freelance wedding consultant, who is working on the wedding planning for the couples, including planning all the details of that big day and make sure everything should be all right in that day. I cannot tell you what will be the position is, but I can tell you, I am the “maid” of the weddings.

2. How long have you worked in this post?

About one and a half years.

3. What reasons make you want to become a wedding consultant?

Er... I don’t know why. But it is one of my dream jobs since my childhood. I started to think about my career when I meet a guy when I studying university, Johnny, who is a photographer of our team now. We have tried to help some of the couples to take their pre-wedding photographs as a freelance job since year 2 of uni. And it leads me to become a freelance wedding consultant.

4. Do you agree there are a lot of misunderstanding or problems between the bridal stores and customers in a bridal shopping experience?

Yes of course. As a wedding consultant, it is important to consider the customers’ expectations. At the same time, you have to consider the budgets too! But the customers will never know how heavy the workloads you have got.

5. How do you think about the current wedding industry?

The customers’ shopping habits are changing; the stores are keeping changing because of the customers. The whole world is changing!

6. Do you think there will have a lot of challenges for the future wedding industry? What will they be?

As I mentioned, the customers’ habits are changing. Therefore, the whole wedding industry should find some new directions to move on in the future instead of just standing in a same position. I know it is hard, but it is important.

(2) Interview with Bonnie Li Date: 23-2-2016 1. Can you share your position and duty in the wedding industry?

I have started my business a few years ago, it called Event Artisan. We are a company that provided a list of event planning services, including catering, budgeting, scheduling etc.

2. What reasons make you want to become an event planner?

I worked in a wedding planning company in Hong Kong a few years ago. I decided to start up my own company that focused on small to medium sized weddings and events. I want to provide some professional services to our customers by using my expertise and experience.

3. Do you agree there are a lot of misunderstanding or problems between the event planners and customers in a bridal shopping experience?

It is hard to let the others understand our work. Our work as a wedding or event planner is to help our customers to reach their target or expectations. I can give them advices by my experiences and knowledge, but I believe no one want to listen to us although we are professional, it is really difficult to change their mind-sets.

4. How do you think about the current wedding industry?

I have a lot of clients who decided to have destination weddings, and I believe it is a trend for the wedding industry. Also there are more couples who wanted to have a simple wedding instead of a luxury one, it is because of the save money and want to have a more memorable experience of the life.

5. Do you think there will have a lot of challenges for the future wedding industry? What will they be?

I cannot tell you about what are going to happen in the future, but I am sure there will have a lot of challenges for the industry. The trends are changing day by day; we have to stand at the front of the whole industry, in order to get the best service for our customers.

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[8] FOCUS GROUP Nottingham Trent University School of Art and Design

Introduction to focus group

I am Wing Yan Chow (Coey). And as part of my programme of study I am undertaking a research on the problems that the bridal fashion industry is facing.

To enable me to answer my research questions I wish to talk to you about your ideas and your expectation to the bridal fashion industry.

The focus group will be a focussed discussion and will take approximately 40 minutes. We will concentrate on the following:

l l l

The customers’ expectation and habits

The promotion trends of the bridal fashion industry

Your point of views in the current changes of the promotion ways

The focus group will be taped and transcribed, and should you want a copy of the transcription then please ask me and I will arrange for one to be sent to you.

The information you give me will be used in support of my work and will be written up in my

dissertation. Anything you say will be treated with the strictest confidence and your contribution to the discussion will not be attributed to you as an individual, what you said will be used for illustration only; to reinforce a point that I am making.

The tapes will be kept in a locked room and the transcripts on a password protected computer.

Both will be destroyed once I have completed my degree and graduated.

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[9] OTHERS

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Execution : WEDDIE LOGO DESIGN

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WEDDIE welcome page (english and chinese vision)

登入 新用戶？

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