Angry Birds has enthralled youths and adults alike providing a multi-age platform where grandparents and grandchildren alike can challenge each other. Rovio; creative team behind the Angry Birds global phenomenon, and TCC; retail marketing experts yesterday announced a collaboration on a customer loyalty reward initiative for Wellcome supermarket chain. Similar programmes will also soon be launched in China, its residents becoming increasingly cash rich and time poor resulting in fewer grocery shop visits with hauls of greater value, moving towards the demographic of location-is-everything Hong Kong residents.
We took the opportunity to interview Simon Hall—Regional Business Development Director, TCC Asia and Henri Holm—Senior VP, Rovio Asia to find out how their organisations search through Hong Kong’s talent pool to fill their more creative positions and, once found, how they make sure that creative spark doesn’t go out.
Hong Kong talent crush
Hong Kong’s public education system has a rather undesirable reputation for producing a conveyor belt-type batch of educated carbon copies; hard-working—no doubt—however put through years of punishing tests, exams and interviews to give the ‘right’ answer—book smart but not idea rich. Despite having its headquarters in Amsterdam, TCC houses five times as many staff members here in Hong Kong. “Its proximity to China, where our sourcing and design chain functions take place, in addition to its large talent pool, make Hong Kong the obvious choice to place our 120 creative talents,” said Hall. He further explained that when interviewing candidates for creative positions, the HR department is given a difficult task; look for people with enquiring minds. “Often, due to the rigidity of the education system here, candidates with a diversity of education and those who have been educated outside of Hong Kong have an advantage. Having said that, some that are locally educated are right for the job; they just have the right mindset,” said Hall.
Ticking the ‘creative’ box
Spotting creativity is no easy task. Asking candidates straight-out is not the way to go. Instead, the TCC HR department uses a variety of methods to explore the openness of the candidates’ minds. “Perhaps by posing a scenario and seeing what solution they come up with. Alternatively, asking them to draw a picture, ‘How do you see Hong Kong in 5 years’ time?’” explained Hall. These off-centre questions are not designed to separate the wrong answers from the right answers, rather to see to what extent their imagination and opinions guide them. At Roxio, the hiring process is made all the more difficult by the ever-changing challenges they face themselves. In the online world, things move in seconds, minutes and hours. In the offline world, things move at a decidedly slower pace; hours, days and weeks. Candidates that can keep up and help them stay up to date are just the type they look for.
Creative space
To foster creativity it is vital to create and maintain an environment free from unnecessary barriers, “If you restrict the collaboration, team-building and comfort of your talents—you’ll restrict the creativity of the ideas,” warned Hall. Rovio takes a similar approach; employees are encouraged to carry out their meetings standing up or in the corridor. The head office, located in Finland, is fully decked out with Angry Birds merchandise and images, to avoid a stuffy office feel. What is important for them, according to Holm, is that every team—whether it be creative, logistics, marketing or sales—has everything it needs to come up with ideas, develop those ideas and make great changes without obstacles. Holm opined, “Making a programme successful is putting the right people together.”
Be on the same page
“Creativity isn’t just about drawing, making characters, using colours, it’s also about—how do you foster that diverse group to collaborate and see and deliver the same goals?” shared Holm. Roxio’s approximately 400-strong workforce consists of people from 30 different nationalities so diversity is one of their great strengths. Team relations must be fostered to allow the free flow of ideas and passion for these ideas in order to achieve the company objectives, and this structure matters. All employees at all levels in all departments within Roxio are made aware of the company goal: to reach 1 billion fans.
Paul Arkwright
Publisher
