Manner Culture Ltd. (; ) is a Macau entertainment company. The company produces comedic videos in Cantonese that can be between a few seconds to a few minutes. It used to have 31 or more performing artists under management.
Manner was founded in June 2013 by , , and in Macau. It became popular after it published a nine-second viral video set in a Macau McDonald's titled "When buying ice cream, don't be distracted", in which a woman who is distracted by her cell phone grabs the ice cream part of an ice cream cone from the cashier. The company expanded to Hong Kong in 2018 through a seven-figure investment from an undisclosed investor. Its revenue is primarily from advertising. It has made sponsored videos for Alipay, the Hong Kong Police Force, and Royal Dansk. Roughly 80% of its advertising revenue is from Hong Kong companies or organisations. Manner created a physical store called Laji in Sé, Macau, that sells Manner-branded snacks and souvenirs. Its revenue was over HKD$10 million (US$) in 2017.
Manner posts videos on social networking services and online video platforms including Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, Sina Weibo, , Miaopai, Sohu, and iQIYI. It had accumulated three billion video views and over 3.5 million followers on these sites by 2018. The Macau Post Daily called Manner "one of the biggest YouTube channels in South East Asia". Former employee died by suicide on July 26, 2023. Her suicide note said Manner's management had intimidated her, while netizens and Manner employees had cyberbullied her. After criticism from netizens and brands cut ties with the company, Manner announced on August 10, 2023, that it would temporarily suspend its operations.
History Foundation Manner was founded in June 2013 as a joint venture by three Macau people, , Jacky Lei and . Sixtycents is responsible for coming with ideas and the creative direction while Lei is responsible for directing, film editing, and working with clients. They rented space in an industrial building as their office. Initially, Manner took up a small office but by 2017, they occupied half of an entire building. The founders chose the name "Manner" by using Google Translate to translate the Chinese word for "attitude" into English. They were given the name "Manner" and liked the sound of it so chose it as the group's name. On second thought, they found the English name to be too serious so they chose a less serious Chinese name. The company's English name "Manner" mimics the sound of its Chinese name, 微辣, which has the literal meaning of "slightly spicy". The name represents the company's goal to stimulate thinking. The group's Chinese slogan is "生活的調味", which means "seasoning for (daily) life", while its English counterpart is "Taste Happiness". They specialise in making comedic videos that range from a few seconds to a few minutes.
During Sixtycents' university years, he began producing short films. Through part-time work with his partner in filming and performing magic, they saved up (US$), which they used to self-fund their first film. The cast and production crew were all friends who participated for fun and were not paid. Initially, the group made music videos as well as covers of songs that they changed the lyrics of. When Manner was just established, they created the music video "Back then" () which changed the lyrics of the Joey Yung song "16th Lover" (). According to Exmoo News, the song, which discussed childhood toys such as the spinning top and the Game Boy and memories of a first love, had "affecting lyrics and thoughtful pictures and earned big praise from netizens". The video received 10,000 likes. Despite the song's receiving attention online and in Hong Kong media, Manner did not receive any advertising requests. They self-funded the video, which cost several thousand dollars to make. They soon realised that the cost to make it was too high in both money and time. It took two to three months to produce a film. Members of the group started to leave as they graduated and had to make a living and provide monetary support for their family. Sixtycents visited Taiwan in 2015 for a summer vacation during which he learned from Internet celebrities and new media companies and resolved to change Manner's business model upon returning to Macau. He discovered that it was challenging to transform a passion into a career. Sixtycents revised their filming approach by focusing on making shorter clips like a nine-second clip that would make people laugh within a limited period of time.
Manner created a skit titled "When buying ice cream, don't be distracted" in which a female customer at a McDonald's in Macau is looking at her cell phone when she grabs the ice cream part of an ice cream cone. The fast food employee is startled. The skit quickly became viral, leading to its being shared 190,000 times on Weibo and its Facebook page receiving 50,000 new members in a night. By 2018, the video had received 2.83million YouTube videos. The Macau Post Daily said that the video's popularity was "the beginning of one of the biggest YouTube channels in South East Asia". Its success led to Manner's creating more nine-second comedy videos. The song marked the start of Manner's popularity in Macau, Hong Kong, and Taiwan as well as the start of brands' seeking to advertise on Manner. Sixtycents observed that Macau is a city focused on gambling whose inhabitants largely look to other places such as Hong Kong, Taiwan, Japan, and China for entertainment. He hoped for Manner to be a venue for Macau performers to make a living while performing. In May 2018, Manner employees visited Kuala Lumpur in Malaysia to do a meetup with 2,000 fans. In May 2019, Manner employees visited Malaysia again to promote a film.
Expansion to Hong Kong Manner invested in a Macau production company. The company expanded to Hong Kong in August 2018 to allow them to recruit local entertainment talent and to better tap into the mainland China market through the city. They rented from a friend of Sixtycents' a Kwun Tong office that could hold 20 people and set up a Sheung Wan dormitory for their employees who lived in Macau. Manner received a seven-figure investment from an undisclosed investor for the Hong Kong expansion. The investor had connections with people in the Hong Kong entertainment industry who Sixtycents believed would help Manner grow more quickly.
In 2018, Manner's equity was held by Sixtycents, Jacky Lei, and two executive directors. Sixtycents said, "We won't go public for the sake of going public. There's no rush." He emphasised that the most crucial thing was that the company's business become stable and that going public did not matter.
Suspension of operations had been a Manner manager until her resignation on bad terms in 2021. When Lao left the company, she said founder Sixtycents had "cried" as he tried to retain her. Several Manner employees posted images of themselves with the crying filter, which came across as mocking Lao. The company had another conflict with her regarding sponsorships at the start of 2022. Lao died by suicide on July 26, 2023. The day before her death, she made a social media post detailing that after leaving Manner, she had social anxiety and depression which stemmed from online "haters" who had made cruel statements about her. Her suicide note suggested that Manner's management had intimidated her, while several of her Manner coworkers had cyberbullied her. In a post released the day of her death, Manner said her death did not stem from the behaviour of any Manner employees and announced a pause of its decennial gala. Celine Cheung, RSVP Communications' account director, criticised Manner's response to the suicide, saying it alienated the community by being phony and from a position of trying to protect themselves.
Within a week of Lao's death, the company's partnership deals with the Hong Kong brands 24/7 Fitness Hong Kong, THANN and 24 STORAGE were severed, while Manner artists and resigned. Prior to Lao's death, the company's YouTube subscriber count reached 751,000. By 31 July the subscriber count dropped to 695,000. Manner announced on August 10, 2023, that the company would temporarily pause posting new content. Manner's CEO Sixtycents told artists that during the company's suspension, they were free to choose who to work with and determine how to further develop their careers. The company filed a notice to its landlord to terminate its office lease. By the end of September, photos were posted online showing Manner's office empty and its setup dismantled. Manner had closed its restaurant Manner Dai Pai Dong () and stopped having merchandise to sell on its online store named Manner Store () by October 2023. According to the influencer , the company soon started to struggle with paying debts.
Members Manner recruited heavily in summer 2017. In 2018, Manner had between 40 and 50 full-time employees with the remainder of the team being students whom they hired as part-time performers. Most employees in 2018 were in their twenties and born in 1994 or 1995 with few being born in the 1980s or earlier. Behind-the-scenes employees including screenwriters made a salary of $10,000 with the opportunity for bonuses based on the number of films and advertisements made. Sixtycents uses the OKR framework to hold employees accountable.
Manner in 2018 had 12 performing artists under management, including Carl Ao Ieong, Yelo, and Tina. Manner's performers each play a role that resembles the everyday friend, coworker, classmate, or family member. Their conversations represent the "inner voice buried in the hearts of ordinary people", the "kind of inner dialogue that cannot be spoken", said HK01.
Sixtycents (; born in 1993 or 1994 in Macau), known as 六毫子, is a co-founder of Manner. When he was an elementary school student, he was very quiet and had little interaction with other students. When he was 13 or 14 years old, he started to learn magic. He enjoyed performing it in front of an audience. He won first place in the Macau International Magician Association's Macau International Close-Up Magic competition when he was 14. Through his new hobby of magic, he became more social. As a student, he was not interested in school. He switched schools a total of seven times, including five times in secondary school. He was expelled from a school because he spoke too much and misbehaved. He attended one university and switched to a second one. He studied communication first and then tourism, each for one year, and eventually dropped out. When Sixtycents was 19 years old, a friend of his died in a traffic accident. The incident had a lasting impact on him, causing him to reflect on the fleetingness of life. Viewing human life as being like a falling star, Sixtycents wanted to live a bright and splendid life that even if short would not be filled with regret. He started Manner when he was 20 years old in 2013. Initially, Sixtycents was primarily responsible for the creative side of Manner. As Manner grew, he spent more of his energies on the business management side. Jacky Lei (; born in 1992 or 1993) is a co-founder of Manner. He graduated with a university degree related to science and engineering. When he was in his second year of secondary school, he self-taught himself how to make special effects on the computer. Lei acts as a director and film editor. He funded the purchase of video production equipment through money he made from promotional films.