Dial stars for commercial success

Wai? Waiiiii? Hello? It's Leon calling for Ah Mei. Or is it Aaron calling for Gigi? Ah, it's Michael calling for the bride-to-be Maggie. Hang on a second, it really is Jacky calling his father . . . oh, no, it's only Mr Moneybags of Rich Fones calling Canto-wood.

Leon Lai Ming was in when the call came through. So was Gong Li. As were Maggie Cheung Man-yuk, Michael Wong Man-tak, Anita Yuen Wing-yee, Jordan Chan Siu-chun, Mark Lui Chung-tak, Aaron Kwok Fu-shing, Jacky Cheung Hok-yau, Chow Yun-fat, Patricia Ha Man-chik, Tony Leung Chiu-wai, Faye Wong, and Wong Kar-wai. And, they're all laughing their way to the banks.

For a small region of 1,095 square kilometres, Hong Kong's ever-aggressive population has always been overly obsessed with the wonders of telecommunication. At a restaurant, on the MTR, or even - irritatingly - in the cinema, the telecommunication signals come over loud and clear. First it was the pager, now it is the mobile telephone.

With 11 networks and seven providers (and close to two million subscribers), Hong Kong is arguably the world's most competitive market. All the proof that one needs is in the never-ending price slashing between the providers. Or, on a television screen near you.

Now Hong Kong has taken its telecommunication obsession to new heights of stardom. With commercials costing anywhere from $6 million to $60 million and more, telecommunications companies are falling over themselves to lure the SAR's top names into endorsing their products. And, vice versa, considering the money being thrown about.

Stars - and telecommunications companies - hit upon this big bucks formula more than four years ago when Canto-pop idol Leon Lai first starred in the new Hutchison Tien Dey Seen service advertisement. The vast promise of using an idol to endorse a product came when the commercial was voted the top one of the year, and Lai's theme song I Miss You Everyday swept the music awards - not to mention the thousands of teenage girls who started re-naming themselves Ah Mei.