40 Under 40 2020: Nixon Cheung, Hong Kong Tramways

Nixon Cheung

Head of commercial and brand
Hong Kong Tramways 
Hong Kong

How does a tram with a reputation as the slowest transportation in fast-paced Hong Kong pick up steam? Nixon Cheung, the youngest managerial staff member of Hong Kong Tramways, opted to steer the 116-year-old brand off its usual tracks.

The head of commercial and brand made the unconventional call to strike up partnerships between the transportation company and F&B brands. Within his first nine months of joining Hong Kong Tramways in 2019, Cheung has chummed up with 12 premium brands including health drinks, mooncakes, ice creams and alcoholic beverages.

His strategy proved to be a winner: joining forces with F&B products that are widely sold across the SAR increased visibility. This tripled the market reach of Hong Kong Tramways—from being limited to Hong Kong Island, where the trams are accessible, to the whole of Hong Kong. Since joining the company one and a half years ago, Cheung has signed on 16 partnerships that led to a sharp spike in merchandising revenue.

Cheung’s leadership also saw zero team turnover rate, and his team bagged the Team of the Year award from Hong Kong Business Magazine in 2019. The Innovator of the Year (a title awarded by the same magazine in the same year) has also been a frequent guest speaker at international events, including the CMO Asia Summit and Digital Marketing Leaders Summit.  

All of this success vindicated the decision made by managing director Cyril Aubin, to give a senior management role to a 29-year-old. Cheung had proven himself when he previously helmed the subsidiary of a large outdoor media group in Hong Kong and boosted its revenue by 28% year-on-year. But it was still a big leap for Hong Kong Tramways to hire a head of commercial and brand who was under the age of 30.

Today, Aubin “couldn’t be happier” for having taken that leap, as the company saw “unimaginable business and branding improvements which had never been achieved in the past 116 years.”