Business and management articles | Cooler Insights

September 6, 2008 • Blog • 12 comments

It was a starry starry night, with blogging stars and celebrity bloggers alike thronging the Asian Civilisations Museum (ACM) last night. ACM was all abuzz when the Omy Blog Awards was held at its River Room. Bloggers and social media users from all walks of life – students, young adults, mothers and fathers – gathered to participate in the event. It was a pretty interesting experience for me to combine work and play.

During the course of the evening, I had the privilege to meet both old and new friends from the blogging communities. They include Chun See, Marina, Claudia, DK, Chillycraps, Eastcoastlife, ieatishootipost, Sparklette, Samantha Chan, Angela Jean, Alice Cheong, Sabrina, and Miss loi amongst others. Special thanks to the team at Mypaper/Wo bao and Omy, Editor Chim Kang and Alvin, for having this event at our museum. Many thanks too to my hardworking team at NHB – Wei Chong, David, Kimberly and Kenny – for making this possible.

Social Media Breakfast 3 @ Asian Civilisations Museum

August 16, 2008 • Blog • 20 comments

ACM is the proud venue host of Social Media Breakfast III

Social media is what it is because people simply love to socialise. And boy did I get a major dose of that yesterday morning at Social Media Breakfast 3 (SMB3), courtesy of Daryl Tay, Claudia, and Derrick.

Rest In Peace Randy

July 28, 2008 • Blog • disabled comments

Do you know who Randy Pausch was? Well, he did something extraordinary, and the whole world grieved recently at his passing.

Despite suffering from a terminal pancreatic cancer, he chose to leave an indelible legacy to his three young kids (and inadvertently the world) when he chose to live life to the fullest despite dying. In doing so, he inspired millions and created a revolution through a simple heartfelt message. His Last Lecture video (below) was viewed by millions, and showed the power of social media networks in spreading a message of goodwill and humanity.

A university professor at Carnegie Mellon University specialising in virtual reality and human computer interaction, Randy made history when he delivered his last lecture – both figuratively and literally – to a capacity crowd. In it, he spoke about achieving one’s childhood dreams, and the simple lessons in life that one should take whatever one’s circumstances. The presentation was especially memorable because Randy did it with a wicked sense of wit and humour, without once feeling sorry for himself despite having only months to live.

Telling the Bad News

July 23, 2008 • Public Relations • disabled comments

Crises can be opportunities if handled well, as these Chinese characters show (courtesy of tingilinde)

One of the most important skills PR practitioners need to know is crisis communication. That is when things go wrong but need to be made public. Public listed companies would probably be most familiar with this when sharing their quarterly earnings reports.

Hiding the truth is probably one of the worst things to do in such a situation. The widespread availability of information and records through both the internet and public libraries makes it difficult for one to fudge. Sooner or later the truth will come out, and it would be far better coming from you rather than a third party source.

14 Trends of New Marketing by Seth Godin

June 11, 2008 • Business and Management • 5 comments

New age marketing maven Seth Godin in action (courtesy of ashbuckles)

What is the future of marketing like? How can your company ride these trends?

To find out, I consulted my favourite marketing guru Seth Godin and his recently published book Meatball Sundae.

In Media Relations, Timing is Everything

May 14, 2008 • Blog • 2 comments

The horrific Sichuan Earthquake left many dead or injured (courtesy of szbluewater)

The recent spate of cataclysmic events happening around our region is simply awful. To date, more than 50,000 people in the Sichuan area are either dead, missing or buried, and Cyclone Nargis in Myanmar has left more than two million homeless and tens of thousands dead. As we flip the papers, page after page describes the sad story of human tragedy caused by these natural/ manmade (some say that the cyclone is due to global warming) catastrophes.

From what I understand, both incidents are still unfolding. In other words, they will continue to dominate media spaces for quite some time.

A New Marketing Idea

May 7, 2008 • Content Marketing • 6 comments

In the age of increasing emphasis on individual preferences, coupled with the prevalence of social media, the traditional rules of marketing would need to change. We are no longer talking about market segments that aggregate themselves neatly into discrete demographic groups, or consumer preferences that follow neat patterns. Information is available fast and free, and the general levels of trust in advertising has descended to an all-time low.

How do marketers hope to thrive in this landscape? Enter the concept of I-Marketing.

Celebrities Galore @ Omy Blog Awards