Table-top advertising man Kelvin Hong is no believer in the ordinary. Most of all, he doesn''t believe in wasting time. He joined the advertising industry in early 1995. Joined agency AP:FCB as a junior account executive where filing and tear sheets were the call the day. He worked himself up the ranks to account director within 5 years. Then had a short stint in Bozell Worldwide working on the Carlsberg account. He jokes that his increasing waistline due to all the beer tasting was the reason he left Bozell to join Interface Advertising. Then came the ?Eureka? moment, as they say, when he made a decision to follow a new direction for his career. Today Kelvin ''commandeers'' the tabe-top advertising medium and is bent on taking it across Malaysia with his dedicated taskforce in tow. Sledgehammer caught up with him at Shakey''s, which is one his clients.....

S: Why table-top advertising?
Kelvin: Don?t want to sound like a broken record but everybody wants to know how it all began. Obviously, the ?eureka? moment happened at one of the ?mamak? restaurants (can?t remember which one though). I was enjoying my favourite ?teh halia? (ginger tea) with my partner, observing strange antics of others when the idea suddenly hit us. Initially, we wanted to incorporate jokes and riddles on table tops to reduce the boredom of lone drinkers and those who were experiencing a lapse in conversation. Stretching our brain waves further, we thought it would be an even better idea if we were to convert the table tops into advertisement space. So Tableview was born!

S: What were your initial doubts and fears?
Kelvin: Every advertising medium has its own set of worries during inception stage. For us, I wouldn?t call it ?fear? but the initial worry was to source for a material that could withstand all the possible ?torture? i.e. vandalism (graffiti), curry gravy, coffee spills, weather uncertainties (sun & rain), itchy fingers (trying to peel the ads off) and cigarette burns. Well, after some intense R&D, we managed to find a solution to most of the potential problems. Our table top materials are weather-proof, heat-proof, water-proof and scratch-proof. To be really honest, we?ve had our fair share of failure and frustration trying to find the most suitable materials. We also need to ensure the ?hard-bond? glue we?re using didn''t damage the table tops. And that was just the beginning....

S: What is your personal view of table top advertising?
Kelvin: Definitely optimistic. Otherwise I won?t be leaving my steady job in one of the top ad agencies in town to do this. I would say having a confirmed job provides one security, fixed monthly wages, blah, blah, blah. But I was seeking satisfaction and the feeling of fulfilling a dream. That''s different. When opportunity knocks on your door, you better answer it!

The TableTalk concept came from understanding the lifestyle and habits of Malaysian consumers. TableTalk is about merging common sense and creative marketing. Why do Malaysians enjoy the mamak stall environment? What are their common topics of conversation? TableTalk advertising does its job as long as customers sit at the table. This is advertising that is intrusive. Advertising that gets noticed. And gets talked about. And advertising that gets talked about enjoys higher recall.

I have a long list of advisors to whom I am extremely grateful. I wouldn?t want to make it sound like the academy awards but special thanks goes to my mentor, Mr. T Renganathan (better known as Nathan), the MD of Interface Advertising. If it weren?t for Nathan, I may not even be in advertising today. He opened the door to advertising for me in early 1995 and from a Junior Account Executive (I didn?t even know that position existed), I work my way up to an Account Director. His level of tolerance and calmness in handling problems never fails to amaze me.

Back home, my wife, Eileen, has been my constant pillar of support. At first I was pretty uncertain about leaving a great job because it seems like a big sacrifice for me but she was the one who has been there whenever I needed advice and reassurance.

S: What sort of reactions were you expecting from clients and friends? Wasn''t it strange talking about table top advertising for the first few times to new recipients of the idea?
Kelvin: In the beginning, I thought it would be a breeze convincing advertisers to adopt the table top advertising concept. In no time, I was proven wrong. Even though they find the concept extremely unique and interesting most of them took a back seat when it came to allocating advertising budgets. Immediately it struck me that it was going to be an uphill battle to convince advertisers to part with their money.

I put on my cap both as a ?consumer? and ?advertiser? and started looking for answers. Why are they not biting? Isn?t it the perfect medium to reach most target audiences? Are the rates too high? I finally realised that being a ?new medium on the block?, most advertisers will be sceptical and would rather wait for the medium to be proven positively first before committing any budget.

Persistence paid off and Panasonic came on board as the first advertiser taking advantage of the World Cup Fever in July 2002 to feature their ?Gila Gila Bola Consumer Campaign?. It?s a Malaysian culture to gather in groups at their favourite ?mamak? restaurant to enjoy live World Cup matches. I can?t think of any better way to capture their attention especially during half time. They committed a 3-month campaign and that was a significant enough to jumpstart our level of confidence again. From then on, ad agencies and media specialists started jumping onto the bandwagon and began to incorporate table top advertising as part of the integrated communications plan for clients.

S: How do you manage your time? What takes top priority in your list?
Kelvin: I?m already searching for more than 24 hours in a day. There isn?t just enough time to do everything. We started off in the Klang Valley as a great percentage of sales are generated here. Majority of decision makers from big brands are still based in the Klang Valley. Then we realized the potential and need to expand into other major town centers such as Penang, Johor and Ipoh. We did exactly that. Some of the advertisers who have ventured out of Klang Valley with this concept include Tourism Malaysia, Sigmatrix Worldwide Phonecard, Telekom Malaysia and Listerine. At the moment, top priority remains in strengthening our coverage in Klang Valley especially in colleges, universities and independent cafes.

S: What?s next for Tableview? From ?mamaks? to hotels?
Kelvin: Building a niche medium from scratch is no small feat. It takes a lot of enthusiasm, commitment, passion, determination and most importantly patience. Hats off to Bills Gates who retained his position as the world?s richest man for the 10th year consecutively. I read somewhere he was declared a bankrupt 13 times before finally striking it big. This is the beginning of a very exciting journey for us. The ultimate satisfaction for Tableview and those who pioneered its operations is to see the business grow into a prominent ?outdoor? ad medium and to see table tops ads in every little corner of the country.

S: Let me cut to the chase, how many tables are we talking about?
Kelvin: In Malaysia alone, there are about 7,000 ?mamak? restaurants with an average of 30 tables each. That would equate 240,000 tables conservatively. And that?s just ?mamak? restaurants. TableTalk is an alternative communications channel available to advertisers that is extremely effective if used properly. When we first started, we only ?TableTalk?ed approximately 200 tables. Now, there is an average of 1,000 TableTalk ads out there every month. We''ve also had some good feedback from advertisers and consumers. Interactive table top ads where those who participate get rewarded has generated overwhelming response. TableTalk ads have converted non-users into users for certain products. Consumers have spoken highly of this concept. I''d say we?re on the right track.

S: What?s the most creative thing table top advertising can do?
Kelvin: I leave to the creative people in the business to figure that out. I am sure the coming "Turning The Tables Creative Awards 2003" will be a good opportunity for the creative boys and girls to do justice to this new medium. Experienced creative gurus from the advertising industry will assist us in the selection of winners and the ?Best-Of-The-Best? TableTalk ad. There will be a grand prize of an all-expense paid trip to the Asian Advertising festival in Pattaya next year!

We?ve suggested crazy ideas to some potential clients such as lighting up their TableTalk ads, creating ads that pops up on a click on a button and ?scratch & sniff? ads for food and fragrant-related products. I?d like to urge creative people to enter this competition and express your talents. Even advertising students can enter. The closing date is mid November.

Information on the Turning the Tables Contest is available at http://www.tableview.com.my