Went to Indie Garden at Singapore Science Centre, a free party organised as part of NHB’s Explore Singapore! Check out Electrico (they blog too!) in action.
Youths concentrating on the stage action
Posts Under: Blog
Must We Be Perfect?
Do we need to wait for everything to be pristine and tip top before proceeding with our new fangled marketing plan? Is it necessary to get everybody’s consensus and to be 100% risk-free? So what if certain things are still a little screwy?
Seth Godin, a pioneer in the new world of citizen marketing, sums it up pretty nicely with his latest post. Quoting from him:
She doesn’t really look like this. Especially in the morning or after a long plane flight. And yet we’re bombarded by photos of one perfect celebrity after another… enough to buy into the fantasy that they’re all perfect.
The Best Laid Plans of Mice and Men?
Planning versus execution. There is an age-old debate about which is more important in marketing. Should strategy take precedence over implementation? Similarly, which is of greater significance – the general’s plans or the warriors tactics?
I believe that increasingly, ivory towers “strategic marketing” ain’t gonna cut the ice. Poring over numerous analytical reports and market research alone will not do. AC Nielsen may have the best coverage of traditional marketing channels but have you read what people are talking about you on hardwarezone’s forums? How about what the taxi drivers are saying behind your backs?
Papyrus Pleasures @ Chinese Heritage Centre
Popped down with Ethan and Tina to Chinese Heritage Centre to check out Sunday Playday, a programme that is part of Explore Singapore! organised by the National Heritage Board, National Library Board and Media Development Authority. The event provided hands-on and light-hearted ways to learn about all things Chinese. Well, my son Ethan certainly enjoyed his time there and brought home a neat little souvenir to boot!
Here are some photos for your viewing pleasure.
Busloads of seniors (sound familiar?) leaving CHC after a swell time discovering what makes one Chinese.
Seniors Going the Blog Way
Yesterday afternoon, fellow Friends of Yesterday, Ivan Chew and Chun See did us all proud by showing seniors the basics of blogging at Queenstown Community Library.
The capacity crowd of about 100 seniors were rather engaged and sat on the edge of their seats, some copiously taking notes, while others asked questions. Many of them braved the heavy rain just to attend this session. I have not seen such a picture of earnestness in a long time.
Personally, I hope that they can contribute their stories, photographs and reflections on life at yesterday.sg, the blog which was set up by NHB and the Museum Roundtable. We would love to hear from them!
Its Beginning to Look Alot Like Christmas
Took this photo recently using my Dopod at Stamford Road, just a stone’s throw away from Armenian Street. Ahhh… I always love the Christmas season for its romance, magic, and lots of feasting and wining!
The Fs of Citizen Marketing
Ben McConnell and Jackie Huba has created the 4 Fs of citizen marketers. This is an elegant idea which distills some of the types of bloggers and new media activists you find in the blogosphere.
The 4 Fs are:
1) Filters
Value through Videos and Virals
I came across this fascinating post from Marketing Sherpa about how one can use both blogging and video logs (or vlogs) to generate word-of-mouth interest. While the subject matter is about golfing equipment and apparel, the same principles can be applied across other “experience-rich” businesses. They include sports retail, travel agencies, leisure attractions (especially zoos and theme parks), restaurants, and maybe even museums.
Everyone’s talking about all of the things you can do with online video — and why not? Once production completes and the clips are on your site, it’s essentially a 24/7 downloadable TV commercial.
But the space is becoming more competitive, and marketers will have to find ways to cut through the video clutter sooner rather than later as the medium matures.
See how one golf-club manufacturer used original programming in a blog and in merchandising to build their email database from scratch.
It would be great if Singapore businesses can explore leveraging on the power of youtube, Yahoo! video and other such channels.
You don’t have to be rich to be clever
In my years of experience in the leisure attractions business, I have learnt – often through the hard way – that drawing people can be a challenge. There is just an incredible amount of competition from other leisure and recreational options, plus lots of advertising clutter. You just can’t out advertise the FMCGs, fast food chains, or big shopping malls.
How does one hope to compete against well-heeled shopping centres, restaurants, cinemas, and other places of urban air-conditioned splendour? Especially if one only has a miniscule budget.
Well, here are some tips that you can consider. I wouldn’t say they are foolproof but at least they improve your odds.
Are We Still Clean and Green?
It is sad but true. Singapore’s claim to fame as a clean and green city may be under threat if we do not buck up.
In a recent news report on Channelnewsasia, it was cited that littering is on the rise in Singapore. In the first 10 months of this year, a staggering 4,800 were caught littering compared to only 3,800 for the whole of last year! One only has to look into the grisly photos submitted on STOMP to verify that we are indeed degenerating in hygiene and civic mindedness.
What is alarming is that education apparently has little impact on “filthy” attitudes. A recent Straits Times poll show that more than 50% of youths are nonchalant about littering and feel that it is either the government or somebody else’s job to clean up after them.
Certainly, they cannot plead ignorance. A recent study conducted by the National Environment Agency cited that most students were aware of environmental issues, scoring 90 out of 100. Yet, it seems that dirty habits still persist.