Business and management articles | Cooler Insights

Tasting the Temple of Heaven

January 4, 2008 • • 4 comments

Built during the Ming dynasty period by the Yongle (forever happy) Emperor from 1406 to 1420, the Temple of Heaven (天坛) in Beijing is one of the many must-visit historic sites. An internationally acclaimed UNESCO World Heritage Site (1998), it boasts of a complex of different circular buildings interlinked by a grid of corridors, walkways and pavillions. Surrounded by a beautiful sprawling garden, the taoist temple held great significance for both Beijingers and tourists alike.

A map of the Temple of Heaven showing the extreme care made in ensuring that different building areas are linked by straight grid lines. An interesting fact which I learnt was how the various monumental buildings in Beijing were linked by a grid system.

Beijing – Ancient City Nestled Amidst Modernity

January 3, 2008 • • 4 comments

My recent visit to Beijing helped me understand why everybody is talking about China.

The city is sprawling (3 times the size of Singapore), teeming with people and fighting a battle between keeping its Chinese roots and heritage versus becoming an economic superpower in the global stage. While few can argue against the splendour of its historic sites (more of that later), it is the urban cosmopolitan aspect of Beijing and the sheer massiveness of its buildings, roads and complexes which seem to tower everything else.

When we interacted with the native Beijingians, as well as other Chinese citizens who migrated there for work purposes, we can tell that they do not take things for granted. Life isn’t easy in a country of 1.3 billion faced with limited resources, and everybody has to work hard to eke out a living. The monumental structures – both historic and modern – seem to bear witness to the fighting spirit of this city.

Experiential Marketing @ Changi Airport

January 2, 2008 • Blog • 2 comments

Yes, I am back from my Beijing sojourn together with my family. It was unforgettable and memorable.

On the day of our departure on Christmas Eve, we spent about an hour or so wandering Changi Airport Terminal 2 before leaving on our plane. There, we came across an interesting roadshow cum promotion which the airport was running while celebrating the Christmas season.

I thought that it was quite innovative to encourage travellers to spend more at the various retail and F&B outlets at the airport, while providing a Chrismassy feel through the use of experiential marketing techniques. What makes this special is that it took place at an airport rather than a shopping mall. Increasingly though, airports are repositioning themselves as lifestyle destinations – in fact, the Schiphol Airport in Amsterdam has a casino and mortuary in it!

Off to Beijing!

December 23, 2007 • Blog • 8 comments

Courtesy of me & me photoes

Yes, we are off to the wintry weather of the Northern Chinese city of Beijing for a vacation. I hear that temperatures now are in the range of between -6 to 6 deg C, so you can bet that it is going to be quite freezing cold there. Of course, regular readers of my blog would know about our propensity for polar climes, so this isn’t surprising. My son Ethan in particular is very excited about the snow, and says that he is already dreaming of building snowman.

In the words of Dean Martin, “I’m dreaming of a White Christmas….” Or perhaps Chen Lei does it better in this classical Chinese hit “One Night in Beijing”:

See you guys in 2008!

Word Of Mouth – The Charmin Chronicles

December 22, 2007 • Blog • 1 comment

Wow and double wow. A tip off from my regular read Church of the Customer led me to this story by Virginia of Brains On Fire about how P&G is revolutionising toilet papers. Yeah, you didn’t read me wrong.

Apparently, what happened was that the FMCG behemoth fitted out an entire toilet and a lot more as part of the their efforts in promoting Charmin toilet paper. There are even two strengths available – Extra Strong and Extra Soft – depending on your inclination and err….vigour. What’s neat is that ancilliary brands like tissues, scented wipes, and serviettes were also promoted along with the necessary waste disposal expendable item. Check out the Youtube video on this here:

Now, if only we can create an entire bathroom completely decked out with the toiletry products of leading brands inside for a completely brand immersive experience? Of course, the experience must be great in order to generate positive rather than negative Word Of Mouth.

Anybody game for this here in Singapore?

The Rule of Three

December 20, 2007 • Blog • 5 comments

Courtesy of Hale Popopi

Came across this brilliant piece of copywriting advice from Copyblogger and how the “Rule of three” works universally in capturing people’s attention. It is simple, effective and oh so true.

Here’s a quote from the post:

…information presented in groups of three sticks in our heads better than other clusters of items. For example:

“Life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness”

“Government of the people, by the people, for the people”

“Friends, Romans, Countrymen”

“Blood, sweat and tears”

“Location, location, location”

“Father, Son and Holy Spirit”

“Faith, Hope and Charity”

“Mind, body, spirit”

“Stop, Look and Listen”

“Sex, Lies and Videotape”

“I came, I saw, I conquered”

Perhaps the next time you are tasked to write an advertisement, a speech or powerpoint presentations, see if you can dissect them into 3 key points.

A Funky Monkey and Busy Bee

December 19, 2007 • Blog • 2 comments

As part of his graduation ceremony, Ethan recently performed two items at his childcare centre Learning by the Park. Ethan is the boy in the green T-shirt with a shark on it wearing long red pants.

The first above is a segment from the song “Funky Monkey”.

The second segment above is one where the kids pretend to be bees.

While his performance isn’t quite Asian Idol material, well at least he is trying his best. And that’s what matters most I guess.

The Gift of a Lifetime

December 16, 2007 • Blog • 24 comments

Christmas is just around the corner. My wife Tina and I were cracking our heads thinking about an appropriate gift for our four year old Ethan. Should we get him yet another Power Rangers toy? Or maybe a pair of rollerblades?

Inspired by NParks’ Plant A Tree programme, Tina suggested that we give him a tree. This will be meaningful as trees help to beautify our environment, reduce our carbon footprint, and restore Singapore’s once lush tropical forest cover. More importantly, it could be a gift that will follow him for a lifetime as forest species do grow rather slowly. At $200 a piece, it doesn’t cost an arm and a leg to do our bit for our future generations.

Our ardour for arbor began at the foot of Mount Faber Park, just next to Marang Road. This route was named after the Marang trees which used to grow in the region.

How to Manage Winning Award Ceremonies

December 13, 2007 • Business and Management • 3 comments

Courtesy of Laughing Squid

Love them or loathe them, award ceremonies are here to stay.

After all, everybody just loves to receive an award (or 10). Award ceremonies are also great occasions for you to dress up and look your resplendent best (plus put that $900 suit or $1,000 dress to good use).