How to Achieve Greater Office Productivity

Old Spice Man – Old Cologne in New Bottles?

July 19, 2010 Blog 4 comments


Source: Frat House Sports

By now, almost everybody plugged into social media (including my friends Ivan Chew, Kevin Lim, Siva and Lucian) would have heard of how Old Spice, a heritage toiletry brand (used by one’s granddad) managed to reinvent itself through the Old Spice Man Youtube channel. The idea was developed by marketing agency Wieden + Kennedy and involved the shooting of real-time marketing videos while leveraging on social media networks.

Here’s an example of the commercials which have been circulating on Youtube and garnering massive views:


Which Poster Would Warn You Better?

July 15, 2010 Blog 2 comments

As I was walking to work recently, I couldn’t help noticing the following workplace safety advertisement on a bus stop shelter (I have a peculiar habit of noticing outdoor advertisements of all shapes and sizes):

Workplace Accidents Singapore

Put up by the Ministry of Manpower’s Workplace Safety and Health unit, the poster had a simple and succinct message reminding everybody to be careful and to take care of themselves. This is important as some 29 per cent or 3,000 workplace injuries last year were from non-factory industries like retail, entertainment and services.


We Are All Stars @ Singapore Blog Awards 2010

July 11, 2010 Blog 6 comments

Singapore Blog Awards 2010

It was an afternoon to remember at Movida of St James Powerhouse when virtual virtuosos became real rock-stars. More than 100 bloggers, models, singers, friends, fans and followers of social media stardom congregated for Omy.sg’s Singapore Blog Awards 2010. As one of the judges for the awards, I had the privilege of evaluating the shortlisted finalists for two of the categories, and was blown over by the quality of the entries.

Looking around the hall, I had the following quick thoughts (being an insightful blogger – remember?) on what Singapore’s blogging scene has become:


Who Should We Compare Ourselves With?

July 4, 2010 Blog no comments


Don’t just benchmark Google for its technology – it also has one of the best corporate cultures in the world. (source)

Yesterday morning, I had an interesting conversation with my wife (an organisational excellence whiz) on the question of benchmarking and best practices.

First, we spoke about how global liveability indicators like this (from Mercer), this (from the Economist), this (from Monocle), and this latest one (conceived in Singapore), are used as top-line outcome measures in the Balanced Score Card – a universally accepted system for strategic management. Such measures provide objective assessments of a city’s efforts to position itself as a beacon of success.


Does Product Sampling Work for Juices?

July 1, 2010 3 comments

A few weeks ago, at the kind invitation of Coca-Cola’s agency Fulford PR, my colleagues and I were given a juicy treat of about 3 dozen bottles of the new Minute Maid Pulpy juice. I also received a brightly coloured package which came in cheerful splashes of orange.

Coca-Cola's Minute Maid Pulpy

Apparently, this was part of the new launch by the world’s number one fruit & vegetable juice brand, Minute Maid, which incorporated pulpy fruit sacs into their new juices. Part of the Coca-Cola company’s stable of products, the beverage giant has undertaken its largest sampling promotion campaign ever for Minute Maid.