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Hey. >> Hey.

>> How you guys doing?

Brian.

>> Daniel.

>> Daniel, Rick.

>> We spoke on the phone.

>> Nice to see you. >> Nice to see you.

>> A pleasure, always.

All right, thank you so much for inviting me here.

>> No, no, it's my pleasure.

Please, sit down.

>> Thank you so much.

All right, Rick, Danny, thank you so much for having me here.

It's great, it's great.

We're really excited to be able to get to know more about,

by the way, just to start out, I am a huge fan.

And the first time I tried the sexy bow, it was like a religious experience.

I mean, it was literally like a pork dessert.

>> No, it's crazy. I mean, I remember being like 16 or 17,

eating the siopao in Manila.

I was working in Manila with my band and be on the streets at nighttime.

When we would finished working,

we'll watch all the girls from all other bars leaving work.

And I would stand outside with this little old woman and

she had like a made shift light bulb flickering connected to a car battery to.

>> Where's this?

>> This was in Manila.

>> So, wait, let me ask you a question.

So, where are you from?

How did this happen?

What's your history?

>> I mean, back in the day Hong Kong was a British colony.

I was obsessed with Hong Kong cinema, Hong Kong culture,

anything to do with Jean Claude Van Damme, Jackie Chan, any of these guys.

So basically when I was 16, I was like, okay,

I'm going to move with no money, no family, no nothing.

And I moved to Hong Kong when I was 16.

>> Wow.

>> And I just walked around to all the film sets and

tried to get work on the film sets.

I was lucky enough, within like a week.

I managed to get my first film set.

Which was a film with Jean Claude van Damme.

And then from that, I'm actually getting with a stunt team for Jackie Chan.

And then basically- >> Wow.

>> My Asian odyssey started from there.

And it's been a long road.

And basically, that's kind of what encapsulates [INAUDIBLE].

The whole idea was, so

it wasn't like about doing something that you draw in from your experiences.

>> Right, absolutely.

>> And when I first started the restaurant, it was basically only for me.

It was just for me and for the local community,

who maybe the non-smashing community.

And I wanted to draw on those experiences I had, what I knew best.

Of what I knew best was Asian food because living in Asia,

I didn't have a lot of money, so I spent most of my days eating on the streets or

in the back of restaurants.

>> But how did you pick up, I mean, the recipes?

Where did it- >> It became my comfort food.

Like for you, macaroni and cheese may be your comfort food.

No one taught you how- >> Not so much, but that's all right.

>> [LAUGH] But no one teaches you to make macaroni and cheese.

>> Right. >> But you make macaroni and

cheese, that kind of thing.

>> Right. >> And it became my comfort food.

And as I moved around Asia, there were things that I had picked up and

things that I would miss.

And I used to hang out at the back of the kitchens sometimes, because there

were periods when I had no money, nowhere to hang out, nowhere to sleep.

So I would find nice restaurants that would feed me for free.

>> Right.

>> Street vendors.

I don't mean nice restaurants, I mean like nice people and really shitty fucking

restaurants, but they would let me sit at the back, and they would feed me for free.

And I would kind of get dragged into helping out sometimes.

And that's kind of where I started to like get some of the recipes.

>> Right. >> And then it became my own comfort

food so as I moved from city to city, I kind of took a little bit from each city.

I kind of like to think of is as a bit of Slum Dog Millionaire the movie where

he doesn't actually know the answers to the questions,

because he's clever and it's like the same with our menu.

It's just a moment in each item on the menu

it's kind of like a moment in my life.

>> It's like a little each item on the menu is like a little story.

>> Like a story.

>> In your life, that's really interesting, yeah.

>> For example, there's an item on the menu called Chungking Express.

>> Okay. >> And I used to

live in Chungking mansions, which was made famous in the movie by.

And there was a little guy who used to stand downstairs cooking stir fried beef.

>> Right. >> In an oyster sauce, and

he used to stand there day in and day out, with a white vest on,

a big gold chain, jade- >> The cigarette.

>> [LAUGH] The cigarette in the mouth.

>> Nice, yeah, yeah, yeah.

>> Cigarette in the mouth.

>> Horse racing in the background on the radio and that was it.

>> It's other film.

>> Yeah, and that became from him, and it had no name.

It was just some stir fry which now because it was Chunking,

I kind of caught it, okay, well, give me the Chunking Express and that became our

kind of which I now incorporate into the menu in the restaurants.

>> Right, that is it.

>> So, yes, I get a little pocket from each moment of life.

>> So when did you actually start the first restaurant?

>> It was about three years ago.

I started it- >> Wow.

>> Here, in Calais, in Cardinal Cisneros.

>> And then and how many have you have now?

>> Right now there's a restaurant and we have more coming.

>> Wow. [CROSSTALK] So, it's like growth,

super growth.

>> It's just been unexpected, been an unexpected pleasure.

>> Yeah, and you guys, the ingredients, do you buy the ingredients,

do you make them, what's the deal?

>> We bring everything from Asia that we have to bring,

and a lot of the sources that we make from scratch,

by hand all the- >> Right, because you guys have your own,

you've got your own sauces.

>> Yeah, we've got everything. >> Yeah.

>> It's just, it would take me too long to explain to go into it.

I've literally brought over grandmothers I have grandmothers and families, and

uncles, and cousins from the Philipines from Hong Kong,

from Thailand who come help us put everything together.

>> Wow.

>> We don't go for like the- >> It's authentic.

>> It's comfort food.

It's the kind it's what our Asian grandmother would cook you.

>> Incredible. >> And that's how we like it.

>> And I mean that was really my experience the first time I walked into

TukTuk was that it was really the first time that I had had, I mean I know this

sounds cliche, but it was the first time that I had Asian street food but

that tasted like Asian street food.

In other words, it wasn't sort of adapted for the market and all this stuff.

>> No, and that's the thing.

>> I mean, the hot is super hot.

>> Yeah, because it's supposed to be hot.

And the sweet is super sweet, and the salty is super salted.

>> Brilliant. >> That's how it's meant to be.

And the original formulaic kind of recipe with Asian food.

Everybody does their own take on a dish.

>> Right.

>> It's the way, everybody, if you say, what's the recipe?

It's the way my mum taught me, or- >> Right.

>> The way my grandmother taught me.

So everybody can do the same dish, but slightly different, slightly different.

That's one thing I love about with Asian food.

It's not this is regimented, serious, this is how it must be,

like we have in certain French cuisine.

It must be like this, it must be like this.

With Asian food it's, no, this is how my grandmother makes it.

Your grandmother makes the same dish slightly different,

but we all love it equally.

>> And that's I love the freedom with Asian food.

I love the smell, I love the vibrant feeling and the colors.

>> You're passionate about it.

>> Yeah, it's the only thing.

[LAUGH] >> [FOREIGN]

>> So who are

the clients

then who- >> Who comes to [INAUDIBLE]?

>> The weird thing was originally when we first opened,

everyone said Spanish people will not eat this, Spanish people don't want this.

And, I was like, okay, I'm just opening a restaurant.

I serve anyone who walks through the door.

What we found is that it was Spanish people who embraced the food more.

They were the ones who were almost like there was It was something new,

something had been missing.

>> Right.

>> And we found that our Spanish client base has just been incredible.

So we have a lot of expats, we have a lot of foreigners.

>> Yeah. >> But obviously right now we have 35,000

customers a month.

>> This is Spain.

Most of our customers are Spanish.

>> So who is it that, what is the Spaniard that comes?

>> The way this thing is, sometimes we see old people come in,

Spanish couple like in their 70s.

And I usually were like, whoa, I think you've come to the wrong restaurant.

And they'll be like- >> Spicy food.

>> Yeah, like what are you doing here?

Go away. We had not potatoes herd.

And they'll be like, well, no, in the 1950s we worked for a church in Indonesia.

>> Wow, wow. >> And

we want to come eat Indonesian food to remember the 1950s.

So, and that's when you go, wow.

So it affects and touches everybody.

>> Right. >> So basically we have just a broad

spectrum.

It's everybody who comes and- >> But what do they have in common?

If you could think of one thing that they, what draws them in?

>> Maybe it's about slight open-mindedness.

I'm not talking about specific Asian food, but

with everything we need to be a little bit open-minded.

>> Nice. >> And I think when you get past the idea

of because a lot of people have a conception of an ancient Chino restaurant.

>> Right. >> In Madrid but

obviously were the complete opposite of that.

And hopefully people starts coming word of mouth and no no,

we want people to come in, it's an experience.

The one thing with Asian food, it's not always about the food either.

The food is like a second participant.

Asian food is about people at a table enjoying each others company while eating.

>> Yeah, I mean it's an experience.

It's not just the food.

It's the whole [CROSSTALK] >> We always do things in reverse in

the west where we come and experience the food.

>> And it's a shame that I can't change that.

because I'd rather people come and be together as a group.

Enjoy the group.

>> Nice.

>> And have a wonderful experience while the food is one the table.

>> So, can you guys tell me about, you sent me some images.

Can you tell me a little bit about the brand, and how you transmit the brand?

>> Yeah, I mean, yeah.

>> [FOREIGN]

>> So the taste of Asia without the jet lag.

>> Yeah, basically, so that you can get a little corner of

Asia while still staying here in Madrid.

>> Nice.

>> [FOREIGN] >> Nice.

>> [FOREIGN]

>> Yeah, wow, cool.

So the ads are all, let's just look at some of the ads.

Have you guys [CROSSTALK] >> We're using this at the moment.

>> Yeah. >> In the metro.

>> Okay. >> This is kind of the metro campaign

>> And they're also on the webpage

>> They're on the webpage, and

the social media, the Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, a lot of everything.

>> And have you gone for a specific look and feel with the photography for example?

>> One thing that's really important when it comes to the image and

the style is Asia is about vibrant colors, it's about energy.

Asia has no dull moments, so what we wanted to bring was color and

that kind of impact that using them in photographs would have.

And that's why we're going for a lot of reds, silvers, purples, blues, these kind

of things just to make it give that warm sense of Asia and the vibrant essence.

>> Nice the brand colors are?

>> Red and black.

>> To me that's kind of like a Hong Kong staple and

with my background being more Hong Kong Hong Kong was kind of red and black.

But since the early days of being red and black we've progressed, we've moved along.

I mean, we still keep as a corporate image red and black.

>> Right. >> But we do like to

throw in other colors and everything.

>> Right, and does this actually exist?

>> Yeah, we have this.

>> Incredible, wow.

So you brought this over here?

>> Yeah, he drove from Thailand in it.

>> Shut up.

>> Seriously.

>> No. >> No.

>> No.

[LAUGH] You got me.

You almost had me, there you go.

All right, this photo has a different look and feel.

>> It's a little more old fashioned.

>> Right, this changes a little bit [CROSSTALK] This is like, but

there's also a little bit of an edge to the photography is what I see.

>> Yeah, yeah.

>> There's an edginess to it.

>> Yeah, yeah I mean it's there is still the trial and

error there is, we're trying to do new things and when you're doing new things,

some things work, some things don't work.

I mean, we don't have the magic formula, we're just trying what we perceive

is the right direction and how we feel is the right way of going about it.

I mean, this is, we're doing it in house for Danny, and

this is kind of the direction where we're enjoying the most.

>> Very nice.

My next question to you is, when

we're looking at this campaign, what is the problem that you want to solve?

What is it we're trying to achieve with it?

>> Brand awareness is always going to be

at the forefront- >> Okay.

>> Of what we do.

Not only to build the brand, but

because we also want to get people in the restaurant to enjoy the food.

To enjoy the experience.

>> Of course.

>> We're not just trying to make a brand name.

We want this to be a brand name that people associate with

a wonderful experience.

>> Right. >> So this is what we really want to push.

>> So we're looking at brand awareness more than

like specifically the product itself.

What we want to do is to give that idea of the brand and the experience.

>> It still goes hand and hand with each other.

It's the brand awareness.

It's the product.

It's experience.

It's being at the restaurant.

It's meeting the waiter.

It's watching the chef through the window.

If we can encompass it all, I mean, listen, my department's the kitchen, so-

>> [LAUGH] Okay.

>> So, for this kind of thing's where Danny comes in and

where you would probably be better with Danny for that.

>> Okay, so what I'm going to do is I'm going to take you guys through a little

exercise where we're going to look at who's the target market,

what unique value do you provide to them, and why should they believe you, okay?

So I'm going to ask you guys to do a little bit of thinking and then we'll come

back and we'll put it together and we'll see what you've come up with.

And the idea here is to look at especially what is unique about the brand.

Okay, so we're going to do this little exercise and

then we'll come back, all right?

>> Okay. >> All right.

>> Okay, you guys, so we've gone through this exercise, so

what have you come up with for your brand positioning statement?

>> [LAUGH] Okay, so, since it provides open-minded life-loving adventures

with an authentic Asian comfort food experience more than any other restaurant.

>> Wow, fantastic.

>> We do this by cooking them the traditional way.

Using authentic ingredients.

And, we add a dash of hustle bustle.

>> [LAUGH] A dash of hustle bustle.

I love it.

Beautiful.

So, how do you feel about that?

Does this encompass- >> Yeah, I think it does.

I think it works, yeah.

>> Brilliant.

>> Yeah. >> You guys, thank you so much for

spending this time with me.

What I'm going to do now, I'm going to go away for a week and I'm going to come up

with some ideas for how to move forward, and we'll come back and we'll meet.

>> That's great. >> All right, awesome.

>> Very good, cheers.

>> Thank you so much.

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Narrative: First Contact with the Client

From Brand to Image: Creating High Impact Campaigns That Tell Brand Stories

Meet the Instructors