Yesterday evening, as I was going home from work, I was handed a packet of free tissues outside City Hall MRT station along North Bridge Road. Considered one of the oldest promotional gimmick in the book, it came from QB House – famous for its 10 minute haircut costing $10 – which recently opened a branch at Basement 2 of Raffles City.
Despite the small rectangular area of the tissue, the company has cleverly done a few things right:
Last night, at the kind invitation of Liana Tang (@spoonrabbit on Twitter), I participated in the first #nlbmeetup (issue #1) organised by the National Library Board. Happening at the lovely Esplanade Library, the Meet Up was a good chance for me to catch up with social media buddies and to witness the evolution/revolution of Singapore libraries from Paper Books to Facebook.
Of course, our libraries aren’t strangers to social media, as my buddy Rambling Librarian (aka Ivan Chew) would testify. They have blogs for almost anything under the sun, a Twitter account, a Facebook fan page, an electronic encyclopedia (Infopedia), as well as other social media tools. Being a great fan, I can attest to their extensive efforts in using web and social technologies to improve the entire book borrowing, reading, fine paying (it happens!) and information gathering experience.
It was great to know that Siva (or @sivasothi), a long-time friend, former biology tutor, Friend of Yesterday.sg, and eco activist extraordinaire, would be speaking about his experiences as one of the pioneers in embracing social media for teaching and other purposes.
Last night, my family and I decided to venture on the new and improved Jewel Cable Car ride from Mount Faber to Sentosa. Living just a stone’s throw away from the Jewel Box (with the view of Mount Faber from our window), we were really looking forward to going on our latest aerial adventures, suspended on a cable.
Revamped at a cost of some $36 million, the new cable car rides boasted of 67 sparkling new cabins done in a modern metallic black and chrone design which boasted of large panoramic view windows. The flip-up seats were more comfortable, and the internal ambient lighting helped to make it less pitch black at night. Having experienced the old cable cars before, I must say that this recent upgrade is a major improvement to the overall experience.
Source: Frat House Sports
By now, almost everybody plugged into social media (including my friends Ivan Chew, Kevin Lim, Siva and Lucian) would have heard of how Old Spice, a heritage toiletry brand (used by one’s granddad) managed to reinvent itself through the Old Spice Man Youtube channel. The idea was developed by marketing agency Wieden + Kennedy and involved the shooting of real-time marketing videos while leveraging on social media networks.
Here’s an example of the commercials which have been circulating on Youtube and garnering massive views:
Courtesy of Life’s a comic strip!
In the world of User Generated Content (UGC) on social media platforms, a common question always arises for those whose job involves blogging, facebooking or twittering.
How do we separate our personal and professional selves? More importantly, are we able to do that in the first place?
As I was walking to work recently, I couldn’t help noticing the following workplace safety advertisement on a bus stop shelter (I have a peculiar habit of noticing outdoor advertisements of all shapes and sizes):
Put up by the Ministry of Manpower’s Workplace Safety and Health unit, the poster had a simple and succinct message reminding everybody to be careful and to take care of themselves. This is important as some 29 per cent or 3,000 workplace injuries last year were from non-factory industries like retail, entertainment and services.
It was an afternoon to remember at Movida of St James Powerhouse when virtual virtuosos became real rock-stars. More than 100 bloggers, models, singers, friends, fans and followers of social media stardom congregated for Omy.sg’s Singapore Blog Awards 2010. As one of the judges for the awards, I had the privilege of evaluating the shortlisted finalists for two of the categories, and was blown over by the quality of the entries.
Looking around the hall, I had the following quick thoughts (being an insightful blogger – remember?) on what Singapore’s blogging scene has become:
Don’t just benchmark Google for its technology – it also has one of the best corporate cultures in the world. (source)
Yesterday morning, I had an interesting conversation with my wife (an organisational excellence whiz) on the question of benchmarking and best practices.
First, we spoke about how global liveability indicators like this (from Mercer), this (from the Economist), this (from Monocle), and this latest one (conceived in Singapore), are used as top-line outcome measures in the Balanced Score Card – a universally accepted system for strategic management. Such measures provide objective assessments of a city’s efforts to position itself as a beacon of success.
Which would you rather be? A marathoner or a 100-metre dasher? (source)
Do you know what the most important tip in social media success is?
Let me give you a few hints.
Ibu Oka’s Babi Guling at Ubud
Bali has always held special meaning to me and my wife. It was on this tropical island that we had our honeymoon way back in January 2003. Back then, I was so inspired by the holiday experience and customer encounters that I wrote an article that was published in the Straits Times on the legendary hospitality of Balinese.
Sadly things have changed, even at Ubud (Bali’s cultural heart) which is supposedly less mercantilist than Kuta, Uluwatu or the coastal cities. While its verdant and pastoral landscapes have largely remained, the ugly effects of commercialisation and gentrification have left major scars on the island.