The Beautiful Birds and Beasts of Parndana

The Beautiful Birds and Beasts of Parndana

September 27, 2009 • • 2 comments

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On our last day on Kangaroo Island, my family and I decided that we should maximise our remaining hours there by visiting the real stars of the island. Yes, ladies and gentlemen, we are talking about the kangaroos that are indigenous to this bucolic paradise. Our craving for comfortable creatures brought us to the Parndana Wildlife Park, an award winning sanctuary for South Australia’s macropods (kangaroos, wallabies), cockatoos, koalas, and other beautiful beasts. The animal attraction was charming and unpretentious, allowing us to venture up close and personal with God’s wonderful creatures.

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These tall and shady Eucalyptus trees provided a nice natural look to the park. However, they are also…

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6 Ways to Make it Worth Their Time

September 25, 2009 • Blog • 1 comment

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Customers should feel as relaxed as spending a day at the beach

While browsing various blogs, websites and news feeds today, I was suddenly hit by a thought. What if we make it more enjoyable for our customers to transact and purchase from us? In other words, improve the quality of their time spent with us.

As many would have heard, time is often more precious than money. You can’t buy a day, an hour or even the second that has slipped by. As the saying goes “Carpe Diem!” or “Seize the Day!” goes, one doesn’t want to waste precious discretionary time doing something utterly boring, meaningless or frustrating. The best way to avoid the ravages of time – at least to your consumer – is to offer an experience that is so compelling and “magical” that they no longer remember that they are spending their precious days of leave spending hard earned cash on you.

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The Fragility and Fury of Pompeii

September 22, 2009 • Blog • 2 comments

After waiting for the (non-volcanic) dust to settle from my assignments, readings and thesis writing, I took some time off today to visit the exhibition “A Day in Pompeii” that is now showing at the Melbourne Museum till the end of October. I have a personal interest to view this blockbuster exhibition as I have visited the site some 15 years ago in 1994 when I toured Europe as an undergraduate. If you wish, you can actually experience Pompeii online with this wonderful virtual walk through that allows you to see what is available in each gallery. Of course, nothing beats the real thing!

Nestled in what is now close to modern day Naples in Italy, the ancient city of Pompeii lived under the ominous shadow of the volcanic Mount Vesuvius. Citizens and residents of that town-city were used to the occasional rumblings of the dormant volcano, and took it quite matter of factly. It became a part and parcel of life, according to famed Roman lawyer and magistrate Pliny the Younger. Nobody could have suspected that a disaster of cataclysmic proportions was about to occur.

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Which Comes First? The Picture or the Word?

September 21, 2009 • • 7 comments

On the world of advertising, three posts in particular hit me recently. All three looked at the various visual and verbal effects of advertisements and their relative impacts on a consumer’s response.

The first is by Vivienne of Versa Creations, who shared about Ikea’s latest advertisement which apparently confuses more than it convinces with poorly taken pictures. Have a look at the advertisement below to see what I mean:


Courtesy of Versa Creations

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On a Cold, Dark and Still Night…

September 20, 2009 • • 3 comments

After a fun-filled day of climbing windy cliffs, gawking at gaping pelicans, and strolling amongst slippery sea lions, we made our way back to our resort at American River of Kangaroo Island. The night was cold, very dark (street lights are infrequent on Kangaroo Island) and extremely quiet. Not a soul was stirring as our rented car trundled past the dirt path nearing our residence at Casuarina Suites.

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Until suddenly, I thought I spotted something with two bright shining eyes staring right at me beside the fence on the road.

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How Market Leading Companies Do It

September 18, 2009 • Book Reviews • no comments

In the world of business, there are few winners and many losers. The merciless marketplace leaves little room for companies trying to be all things to all men, spreading their resources too thinly across many areas. Those who make it focus their energies and resources on focusing their energies on one of the three key value disciplines – operational excellence, product leadership or customer intimacy – and look at ways to continually improve superior value.

According to The Discipline of Market Leaders, the true formula for enduring strategic success is to be either operationally excellent, exceptional in leading the market in product development, or to have one’s entire business closely integrated with one’s customer’s processes. Authored by Michael Treacy and Fred Wiersema, the slim volume proposes that market leaders choose their customers carefully and find the best ways to meet their needs in a highly differentiated and focused manner while ensuring that quality standards are not compromised.

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The Aura of Anticipation

September 15, 2009 • Blog • 2 comments


Courtesy of Hella Bus

Have you wondered why a perceived treat or reward sometimes appear better than they really are? Or experienced the endless wait for a brand new gadget to arrive in the stores, rushing to be the first among your friends to get it? How about the thought of that luscious holiday in Europe, where you can soak in the sights, scents and sounds of culture?

The one thing holding these disparate consumption experiences together is anticipation. An oft-forgotten but oh so powerful emotion which grips everyone of us.

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Strolling Among Sea Lions

September 13, 2009 • • 5 comments

One of the best things about Kangaroo Island on South Australia is its abundance of wildlife beyond just kangaroos and other marsupials (the traditional hallmark of Australian fauna). As a sanctuary for many marine-based birds and animals, the island attracts a wide diversity of wildlife both avian and aquatic. Many of these animals are indigenous to the island, and they include the Australian Sea Lion and New Zealand Fur Seals, members of the well-loved Pinniped family of marine-based mammals that exhibit interesting social behaviours.

To catch those blubber-coated creatures up close and personal, we ventured to Seal Bay at Kangaroo Island on the second day of our trip there. Here are some photos of our journey.

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Seal Bay is both a conservation park, wildlife reserve and a tourist attraction rolled into one. Here’s a usual pose by the sign post.

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