Business and management articles | Cooler Insights

April 10, 2010 • Blog • no comments

Before I talk about the great opportunity for bloggers, I must first declare that I’ve been selected to be a judge of the 2010 Omy.sg blog awards. Spearheaded by bilingual news portal Omy.sg, the awards have always been well received by the blogosphere year after year.

It is a great honour for me to be appointed alongside other more well-known luminaries from the arts, entertainment, and digital communities like Mr Kelvin Tong, movie director, Ms Kuo Jian Hong, Co-Artistic Director of The Theatre Practice, Ms Anna Lim, Radio 100.3 deejay, Mr Josh Lim, Managing Director of Advertlets, Mr Chua U-Zyn, CEO of Ping.sg, Mr Samuel Ng, CEO of Marine Parade Family Service Centre, Ms Xiao Han, Director and Lyricist of Funkie Monkies Productions, and Mr Danny Yeo, who is a theatre practitioner.

Appointing Customer Champions

April 7, 2010 • Blog • no comments

Make customer advocacy the pinnacle of your business (courtesy of MIT Sloan Management Review)

Anybody who has been in the field of marketing would be familiar with the term customer champion. However, few have truly understood what it means in the context of today’s organisation.

Being an advocate for customers doesn’t merely mean spending all your days (and nights) at your client’s offices, or conducting an endless round of surveys, focus groups and tea sessions. It isn’t just about understanding what customers want and desperately trying to fit one’s products and services into that itty bitty space called “consumer desire”.

Who Says Museums and Families Don’t Mix?

April 4, 2010 • Blog • 2 comments

Yesterday, my family and I decided to check out the Circle Line Open House at NHB Museums after hearing about it from my colleagues. Held in anticipation of the opening of the highly publicised Circle Line on 17 April, the Line includes the Bras Basah MRT Station which is smack in the middle of the National Museum of Singapore and the Singapore Art Museum!

Despite the dreary rain and drizzle that morning, the crowds still thronged the museums. I saw queues in front of the National Museum, and many families popping into the Singapore Art Museum with kids totting their Circle Line balloons. As I’ve been to both museums recently, we decided to make a bee-line for the Peranakan Museum and the Singapore Philatelic Museum.

Feeding My Mind

April 4, 2010 • Blog • no comments

Following the tip-off of a friend, my family and I visited the wonderful MPH Warehouse sale at Singapore Expo and hauled back about 40 titles. Admittedly, most of the books were for my son as well as gifts.

I picked up a total of five titles covering digital culture, grassroots/evangelistic marketing, socio-psycho trends, social media marketing, and related topics. Beyond Buzz is actually a loaned copy from the wonderful National Library of Singapore’s public libraries.

Now, if you’ll excuse me, I will spend more time reading and less time surfing…. Yeah right!

We are all Creatures of Habit

April 2, 2010 • Blog • no comments

Courtesy of cartoonstock.com

There is an age-old saying that you cannot make a leopard change its spots. Or teach an old dog new tricks.

Habits, especially deeply ingrained ones, die hard. Sometimes, they can be so addictive that they not only fail to perish, but linger on. Day after day. Week after week. Year after year.

Would You Apply For This Job?

April 1, 2010 • Blog • 1 comment

Every now and then, you come across a nice marketing idea that not only catches the eye but changes conventional perception of how advertisements should look like. As I was flipping TODAY newspaper this morning, the following job advertisement caught my eye.

What I like about this ad is that it chooses not to adopt a conventional job advertisement format which lists down the various job requirements in bullet points, and is often written in a more straight forward manner.

The use of the visual provides a nice touch, and the use of colours is balanced in a harmonious manner while highlighting certain text which needs special attention. What’s more, the copy is beautifully written and pitched at the right level for the premium world-class restaurants that the Marina Bay Sands will be opening.

It would be great to see more organisations take the plunge by investing in creative and innovative job recruitment advertisements. People are the most important resource in any company, and it is absolutely critical to ensure that you hire only the best that your money can afford.

We Should All Be Curators

March 28, 2010 • Blog • 4 comments

The art of curating and storytelling drew 8.5 million visitors to the Louvre in 2009 – many just to catch the Mona Lisa here!

One of the insights which I have gleaned in the hectic past few days from Steve Rubel and his thoughts on digital curation was this:

We should all be curators. Every single one of us in the fields of marketing, public relations, and advertising. And not only in the digital realm, but all others too.

So What’s the Big Deal about Transmedia?

March 24, 2010 • Content Marketing • 3 comments

Transmedia in a diagram (courtesy of Seize the Media)

Crossing various media platforms (or Transmedia, a term which is well expounded by Kevin Lim) isn’t something new in the world of marketing communications. We have always done that in our ever desperate bid to attract eyeballs, visitors, and revenue in an increasingly crowded marketplace.

Witness how quickly the emergence of communication technologies like the printing press, telephone, radio, television, websites, mobile phone, huge electronic billboards, bus stop shelters, and building facades are used for advertising purposes.

More Than $40,000 Worth of Prizes for Bloggers