Tag: marketing

Staying Afloat in a Shopper’s Paradise

February 22, 2007 • Blog • 17 comments

Crowds thronged VivoCity when they first opened

Recently, quite a few shopping centres in Singapore seem to be left behind in the retail race despite our buoyant economy. Poor customer traffic, contractual spats, tenants going on “strike”, empty shop spaces, decay and disrepair seem to be some of their common woes.

Some are new and spanking. They include Dhoby Xchange, which is strategically located next to the Dhoby Ghaut MRT Station yet attracting hardly a soul. Another recent case is an unnamed shopping mall at Commonwealth Market (to be renamed Queenspoint) which apparently ran afoul of the law. Its owners Pagar Park did not have approval to sub-let its spaces but still went ahead, with 70% of its 150 retail outlets taken up. Now it is tangled in a messy litigation case involving multiple parties including the Singapore Land Authority.

Are F&B Flops Uber Unlucky?

February 16, 2007 • Blog • 16 comments

Courtesy of www.uberburger.com

Over the years, we have seen quite a few high profile F&B failures in Singapore. They include Rainforest Cafe at Liang Court, Hello Kitty Cafe at Downtown East, and of course the numerous bubble tea shops whose bubbles have popped.

The latest casualty in the scene is Uber Burger. This uber upmarket joint has folded on 7 February 2007 barely 10 months after a much-heralded opening. Famous for their S$101 Wagyu Burger stuffed with truffles, foie gras and all things decadent, they claimed to offer unique mouth watering experiences that you can never get at cheaper chains.

20/20 Vision – 10 Wacky Ideas for Opticians

February 10, 2007 • Business and Management • 25 comments

Two out of three in my family wears specs!

I’ve never revealed it before, but I am a closet consultant. I love to provide business and marketing advice to people. After so many years working with entrepreneurs, media, lifestyle and tourism businesses, I do have some thoughts welling in my head. Whether they take it or not is another thing altogether of course.

Let’s start with the optical business. It is a booming business, with 80% of adult Singaporeans being shortsighted and us having one of the highest myopia rates in the world. What can opticians (like eastcoastlife‘s hubby Chris) do to make themselves stand out clearly from the competition?

Powerful Points that Rock

February 8, 2007 • Blog • 14 comments

Seth Godin, the master of all things marketing, shares some valuable lessons on how to make an impression with your powerpoints. I am definitely guilty of some of the worst trangressions (like bullet points) but I suppose some of these old habits die hard.

In particular, I like his 5 point list below:

No more than six words on a slide. EVER. There is no presentation so complex that this rule needs to be broken.
No cheesy images. Use professional stock photo images.
No dissolves, spins or other transitions.
Sound effects can be used a few times per presentation, but never use the sound effects that are built in to the program. Instead, rip sounds and music from CDs and leverage the Proustian effect this can have. If people start bouncing up and down to the Grateful Dead, you’ve kept them from falling asleep, and you’ve reminded them that this isn’t a typical meeting you’re running.
Don’t hand out print-outs of your slides. They don’t work without you there.

More of Seth Godin’s post here.

Other than Seth, the other masters of the art of presenting are Steve Jobs (whose product launches are always spectacularly choreographed), Guy Kawasaki, Lawrence Lessig and of course the guru of all gurus Tom Peters. Most of the time, these masters do not have elaborate 20 point slides (Seth says bullets are for the NRA) with complicated charts and graphs. Simplicity, it seems, is the key to powerpoint success.

The best reference on how to create presentations that sizzle AND sell is Presentation Zen by Garr Reynolds. Simply the best online reference on this subject matter. And its all free.

Haughty Horses and Clueless Crocodilians

January 25, 2007 • Blog • 13 comments

Two things caught my eye today as I scanned the newspapers.

The more highly publicised one was of course the untimely demise of Crazy Horse Paris, a topless cabaret show that kicked off 14 months ago with much ra-ra and buzz. Touted to bring Singapore’s entertainment to an exciting feverish pitch, it somehow failed to live up to expectations.

What led to its early departure from Singapore’s nightlife scene?

Bangkok – SEA’s Hottest Tourism Destination?

January 23, 2007 • Blog • 4 comments

Bangkok’s Chinatown bustles with nightlife!

Bangkok has changed quite significantly in recent years. The city has positioned itself as one of Asia’s most happening shopping and dining destination, cleaned up its act, and become increasingly sophisticated, modern and cosmopolitan. In fact, if you look at the cityscape at night, you wouldn’t be able to tell the difference from Singapore, Hong Kong or KL.

In our recent trip there (amidst the NYE bomb scare and other toddler catastrophes), I have observed several points which we may wish to note here in Singapore.

Making Purple Cows Sneeze

January 19, 2007 • Book Reviews • 4 comments

Lately, I have been reading a little more than usual. Have only just picked up Purple Cow by Seth Godin.

It isn’t exactly brand new but some of its insights are still worth considering.

7 As of Marketing Experiences

January 12, 2007 • Business and Management, Public Relations • 1 comment

Sprite Shower – a great example of experiential marketing (courtesy of Exact Drive)

How do you market a theme park, museum, or holiday resort? Do the traditional 4 Ps of Product, Price, Place and Promotion still work?

The answer certainly lies less in your marketing mix and more in what I’d call your Experience Mix.

December 22, 2006 • Content Marketing, Social Influence • no comments

Came across this quirky bit of thinking by Copyblogger about how the legendary Mark Twain (the artist formerly known as Samuel Langhorne Clemens) will make an excellent blogger and perhaps even content marketing guru!

Try to apply these gems to blogging – heck, any form of content marketing or writing – and you will understand the wisdom of the man.

“Whenever you find you’re on the side of the majority, it is time to reform.”

Clever Copy Writing

December 21, 2006 • Blog • 1 comment

Think that your investment in a wraparound Straits Times or TODAY ad is going to save your business? How about that huge poster in the MRT station, where gazillions pass by every day. Well, think again. Without good copy, the most in-your-face, eye-popping, jaw-dropping advertisement is going to just go down the drain.

Seth Godin puts it very elegantly in this post:

Top Two Best Times to Invest in Good Copy

Read More