Blog | Cooler Insights

Four New Careers in Marketing

November 12, 2008 • Blog • 4 comments

Seth Godin, the world’s most recognised internet marketer, has identified three new positions that would be vital in the new age of Word Of Mouth (WOM) and digitally enabled marketing. These are as follows:

COMMUNITY ORGANIZER. Find and connect and lead a tribe of dedicated users that contribute to and benefit from the work you do.
STATS FIEND. Measure everything that can be measured. Do it efficiently and consistently. Find out what metrics are important and cycle until they improve.
MANAGER OF FREELANCERS. Find and hire and manage the best outside talent in the world. If it can be defined as a project, and if great work defeats good, seriously consider having the MOF get it done.

Other than these positions, perhaps I should also add in a fourth position that is vital in the age of social media as follows:

4. STORYTELLER. Create, produce, write, and record compelling and fascinating content that excites, entertains and interests. Be able to spin a great yarn in words, pictures, videos, or sound.

Are there any other positions that we should take note of? This is exciting stuff and is in fact how I intend to organise my team in the future. Loosely that is.

Podcamp 2.0 and The Story of Yesterday.sg

November 3, 2008 • Blog • 5 comments

Giving my two cents worth on Yesterday.sg

At the kind invitation of Yi Xuan from SMU, I had the privilege of attending Podcamp 2.0 – an unconference of sorts organised by SMU, where doyens of the digital space proferred their views and insights on social media. Together with me were several bloggers and podcasters like Claudia, Melvin Yuan, Priscilla Tan, Daniel Tsou and Farinelli (of Tech 65), DK, Coleman, Preetam, Michael Netzley, Amelia Wong and others.

Sharing the story of how the National Heritage Board (NHB) – probably Singapore’s most ancient organisation – could leverage on social media, I hoped that I inspired some of the corporate representatives to venture forth. As an interest-based blog, Yesterday.sg took the slow and steady growth approach and the blog is still going strong after being around for two-and-a-half years (or 31 months to be exact). Social media outreach is a team effort driven by my great colleagues from team CCIP (especially Kim, Wei Chong, Kenny and Roy), as well as our dear Friends of Yesterday who have stuck with us through thick and thin.

Debates, Discussions and Dilemmas at DMFest 2008

November 2, 2008 • Blog • no comments

Panel discussion on Web 2.0 and Building Online Communities moderated by Mark Laudi

At the invitation of Text 100 and the Singapore IT Federation, I had the privilege of attending the recent Singapore Digital Media Festival 2008 Television 2.0: Internet Services & New Media Mashup.

Together with me were other bloggers and podcasters like Shunjie, Pat Law, Claudia, Bernard, Darryl, Daniel, Coleman, Clapping Trees, Preetam, Howie (from The Digital Movement), Andrew Peters, Shalabh, the Tech65 crew, and a few others.

Marketing Strategies in a Downturn

October 9, 2008 • Blog • 5 comments

What should companies do in a recession? Should they cut back on their advertising expenses or use the opportunity to build their brands like what P&G would do?

I found out the answers to the above and more at the recent CEO Power Breakfast hosted by the Institute of Advertising Singapore and Moove Media. Held at the pristine Shangri-La Hotel, the panel discussion featured three top marketers in Singapore: Mr Terry O’Connor, CEO of Courts Singapore, Mr Quek Peck Leng, CEO of Singtel Mobile and Exec Vice President (Consumer) of Singtel, and Ms Isabelle Svartstein-Bourjade, General Manager of L’Oreal. The moderator was Ms Goh Shu Fen, Principal of R3 Asia Pacific.

From Excess to Austerity – a Self Help Guide

October 1, 2008 • Blog • 8 comments

Courtesy of Notagainfarm

By now, almost everybody would have thought about the impact of the collapse in financial systems and how it would affect their lives. The wiping out of US$1 trillion in liquidity from American stock markets in one day – after the failure of the Bush’s Administrations proposed US$700 billion bailout package in clearing Congress – was especially sobering. Apparently, this could just be the tip of the iceberg as the financial saga sparked off by loans made in bad faith unravels itself.

What could one do in a situation like this? Does it mean that one should immediately cut all expenses and live like a Spartan?

Downtown East – A Destination for Heartlanders

September 28, 2008 • Blog • 5 comments

Nestled amidst the balmy seaside town of Pasir Ris, Downtown East has positioned itself as a playground for the average Joe, providing entertainment in all its forms to unionists, members of the public, and their families. The transformation of what used to be NTUC Pasir Ris Resort into this one-stop mecca of mass entertainment was pretty extraordinary, considering how sleepy and rustic it used to be. Many people now know that you can get a lot more than just chalets at this Eastern destination.

My family and I decided to check out Downtown East yesterday, after being away from it for a few years. Here’s our visual journey.

With a huge building looming large, the external facade of Downtown East has transformed dramatically from holiday resort to shopping mall.

Turning Crises into Opportunities

September 25, 2008 • Blog • 3 comments

Courtesy of youngadultcrisishotline

Many would know that these are challenging times. The financial markets have collapsed, retirees are losing their life savings in complex derivative financial products, inflation has reared its ugly head, and the China melamine milk scare has seized many with fear. According to many economists, the prognosis is bleak for the next two years or so. Friends in the financial sector have also told me that the prospect of losing their jobs are very real.

Against such a gloom and doom scenario, what can one do? Is there any light at the end of the tunnel? My answer is yes. Depending on your experience and training, there are opportunities out there if you know how to seize them.

The Parable of the Spider

September 21, 2008 • Blog • 6 comments

I spotted the above spider making his home at the lift lobby just outside my home. The little guy has been there for weeks, and interestingly, no efforts have been made to clean up his silky home. I don’t really mind though as I have a thing for spiders.

In fact, there are some lessons that you can learn from them, which relates pretty well to the world of marketing.

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