Innovative 'chef' with a balanced, 'ready-to-go meal'

Even by the high standards in a finicky and fiercely competitive advertising world, June Li and the company she helms, Metta Communications, play a remarkable role in an ever-evolving market landscape.

A diversified client portfolio, an innovative gene that keeps the company pushing the envelope, and an always customized, all-encompassing package for its clients offer the company an invincible edge on its home turf.

Amid a slowing economy on a global scale, compounded by a protracted and wayward social unrest in Hong Kong, Metta Communications has proved resilient, posting a year-on-year, double-digit growth rate last year, said Li, managing director of the Hong Kong-based advertiser.

The company's enviable, coveted growth, in defiance of lackluster sentiment in the local economy, is due, in no small part, to a business expansion strategy it began two years ago, in which the company joined hands with its clients in expanding beyond its comfort zone to the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area — the nation's mega 11-city development initiative — as well as the Asia Pacific region.

New way to go global

A decade ago, globalization was all about the big-name "4A" advertisers coming to China, according to Li, but now, it's about the Belt and Road Initiative.

"It's China's turn time to build the infrastructure to go global," she said. "And, we offer a bridge to Chinese customers to go global."

In her view, regional expansion, as well as client-sector diversification, has become very successful in terms of the operation with retrospect.

Darryl Mak — Metta's senior regional business director — spearheaded the company's expansion plan in the Bay Area, sparing no effort in launching projects in the broader Asia Pacific region.

As the company's retail clients took a hard knock from the prolonged protests in Hong Kong, Li saw many of its publicly-traded clients in the finance sector bucking the trend and, at the end of the day, had offset a considerable amount of losses on the retail side.

As a result, Metta's balanced client portfolio has proved to be one of the "secret sauces" that has helped it weather the storm.

Beyond diversification, Li believed there's something deeper that got the company out of the swamp — its innovative gene and a self-challenge mentality.

Back in 2017, Metta created Me Beauty, which focuses on online platform content development. According to Li, the branch is not just like any other advertiser serving in a tailor-made manner, meaning strictly following clients' instructions every step of the way. It's also a content creator.

"With this content platform, the challenge is not about the product itself, it's about how we elaborate, how we communicate this 'beauty' concept with society," she explained.