Blog | Cooler Insights

More Than Meets The Eye?

July 5, 2009 • Blog • 1 comment

Spy movies have always held a certain glamour, romance and intrigue, but most appear to paint the protagonists as super slick agents of the state. Witness how this common premise is oft-repeated in the 007 James Bond franchise, as well as movies like the Bourne Ultimatum and Wong Kar-Wai’s Lust, Caution. Taking a slightly different tact, Tony Gilroy takes a more light-hearted look in Duplicity, which sets itself in the cut-throat commercial world of New York-based MNCs.

Helmed by A-list Oscar winning Julia Roberts and Academy Awards nominee Clive Owens, Duplicity has more twists, turns and double-crossing action than a pretzel store in New York (which is where it is set). Former CIA agent Claire Stenwick (Roberts) meets ex-MI6 agent Ray Koval (Owen) as corporate spies acting on behalf of two feuding MNCs. The object of their affections (other than each other) is a secret formula which is fiercely guarded by Howard Tully (Tom Wilkinson) and his cronies, much to the chagrin of rival CEO Dick Garsik (Paul Giamatti) who appears to be the main perpetuator of this commercial spy-versus-spy tale.

Charming Creatures of Cleland Wildlife Park

June 24, 2009 • Blog • 1 comment

Located just a short drive away from the Adelaide City Centre, Cleland Wildlife Park is a haven for native Australian wildlife in South Australia. Nestled within the sprawling Cleland Conservation Park area in the Adelaide Hills region, the government operated attraction is spread over 35 hectares of pristine bushland. All the usual marsupial suspects like the kangaroos, koalas, wombats, Tasmanian devils, and echidnas can be found here, as well as native reptilian and avian species. What’s great about this sanctuary for beasts is the painstaking attention it pays to keep its surroundings as authentic and natural as possible.

This photo at the entrance of the reserve was taken by our little explorer Ethan himself.

As in all tourist attractions, the souvenir shop is a mandatory feature.

Do We Really Need So Many Options?

June 18, 2009 • Blog • disabled comments

One of the greatest contradictions in life is that “the more the merrier” isn’t necessary true when one is swamped by choices. In fact, having too many options open to you could lead to an analysis paralysis and a freeze in decision making.

So having one hundred different flavours for your ice-cream, a thousand different blog templates, or 10,000 different pantone shades to paint your wall in may actually work against your business rather than for it.

Don’t believe me? Just watch this engaging presentation by Barry Schwartz, a well known psychologist and academic at Swarthmore College who spoke about the paradox of choice. His central thesis is that having a greater variety of options needn’t necessarily improve the quality of life. In fact, the plethora of choices that we have in this Internet-fueled day and age may actually lead to lower satisfaction levels and discontent rather than hyper delighting one’s customers.

Sexy Selling in Less than 10 Words

June 15, 2009 • Blog • disabled comments

If this outdoor advertisement doesn’t catch your eye, I suppose nothing else will. No prizes for guessing what product they are pushing for! What’s more interesting though is how a seemingly simple advertisement like this follows the age-old rule of AIDA. In advertising parlance, this means Attention, Interest, Desire and Action.

1) Attention – Obviously a headline like this written in bright red on a yellow background catches one’s attention. The sentence is also provocative and uses one of the most attention grabbing word in the world (not sex but) – love.

2) Interest – In this case, the same headline also helps to stir one’s interest by using the phrase of “Making Love” and “Doing It…” which piques one’s curiosity.

3) Desire – Instilling desire (in those who are already naturally inclined) is done by weaving in words like “Longer” and “Try” which are positive building words. In other words, you can have your cake and eat it too.

4) Action – This of course is where the rubber hits the road (no pun intended), and the call for action is conveyed through the word “SMS ‘Try’ 1800 711 711”. When one is outdoors without access to the internet or pen and paper, the fastest way to do so is through SMS. And the sensitivity of the subject is such that people will probably find it easier not to have to speak to a ‘live’ person about wanting to “do it longer”!

Build a Virtual Museum and Win Awesome Prizes

June 2, 2009 • Blog • disabled comments

As a museum and heritage buff who is also a geek at heart, I am pretty excited about this latest campaign by HP to build an online virtual museum of technology. They are looking for photographs and stories of old, outdated equipment that used to occupy a place in our hearts – a typewriter which has outlived its usefulness but not sentimental value, outmoded computers (anybody remember the old Apple II?) or perhaps even handheld games like the old Game and Watch which we loved.

The great thing is that you can stand a chance to win these droolsome prizes!

Free Entry to 13 Museums on 31 May!

May 27, 2009 • Blog • disabled comments

International Museum Day or more affectionately IMD’09 is upon us yet again. This year’s nine-day celebration revolves around the theme of ‘Holiday Fun at Home’ and features 40 activities that promises lots of sensory pleasures for children of all ages. Specially catering to kids and families, it features a wonderful smorgasbord of entertaining yet enriching activities specially designed to pique the sense of wonder and curiosity of your little ones.

Even as I write, a couple of exciting programmes and events are already ongoing. Do check out Yesterday.sg to keep updated on what’s happening at our museums this year. Read all about Singapore’s last leopard, participate in the various children’s programmes at our national museums, or take note of the blow by blow account of what you can do in a week. Some of the cool stuff you can do this year include meeting Phua Chu Kang and his family at the Singapore City Gallery, learn about environmental sustainability at the Marina Barrage and Newater Visitor Centre, or reliving the genius and artistry of the legendary Renaissance artist cum inventor Leonard da Vinci!

Just in time for the opening of Angels and Demons (and Night at the Museums 2) I suppose… 😉

Seth Godin Talks about Tribes

May 21, 2009 • Blog • disabled comments

One of my favourite marketing gurus Seth Godin shares his ideas on how tribes are changing the world, community by community, in a grassroots evangelistic sort of way. In the age of social media with its platforms and tools – blogs, Facebook, Youtube, Flickr, Twitter, Plurk etc – the barriers to entry in starting any movement is considerably lowered. The democratisation of publishing and content production means that anybody can leverage on these tools to create pockets of influence wherever they are.

While not every one of us can be as convincing or charismatic a speaker as Seth, his speech does give us much food for thought on what we can do as marketers, as communicators, as publicists and as leaders. Perhaps it is time for us to start our own movements today?

PS – I just heard from Jackie Huba (via Twitter) of Church of the Customer that Seth’s looking for stories for his next edition of Purple Cow. Sounds like a great way to get your local stories of extraordinary products and businesses in …. if you can meet Seth’s high standards! I will start to consider some options now…

Extreme Outdoor Advertising

May 7, 2009 • Blog • 4 comments

Courtesy of hojimoto

Came across this series of 15 of the most creative outdoor advertisements seen in the world from this fascinating compilation of superlatives called oddee. The above advertisement was apparently one from Nationwide Insurance which specialises in automobile insurance services. Well, it has certainly proved a point with this amazing visual spectacle.

I wonder if it got the approval of the authorities in doing that? Hmmm…..

Play a Part in Dennis Kweh’s Mission

May 2, 2009 • Blog • 1 comment

Courtesy of Sebastian Song

By now, you would have probably read, listened or viewed about Dennis Kweh, a Singapore librarian who suffers from the rare genetic disorder called Morquio Brailsford Disease, Spinal Sclerosis and is blinded in one eye due to Glaucoma. Because of his condition, Dennis has to get around in a motorised wheelchair, which can be hazardous if you consider the high vehicular and human traffic in practically every corner of our city.

At 47 years of age, Dennis decided to do something meaningful and ventured on a journey of 200 km around Singapore – aptly named Adventure 200 – on a motorised wheelchair. His intention is to raise a total of $200,000 for the Spastic Children’s Association of Singapore (SCAS), and the math works like this = a dollar each for every metre traveled, ie $200,000 for 200,000 metres covered (which is 200 km). Management of the fundraising effort comes from the Start Centre Pte Ltd, and support was provided by various sponsors including the NLB, NParks, and several companies.

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