Updates

Haven't been posting for a while....Maintaining a blog just takes too much time and commitment. I will be posting from time to time. But for real time updates, you can flow me on Twitter @intersphere

Adult Science

My colleague Vicky shared this with me - A monthly Japanese Magazine (that roughly translates to "Adult Science") that comes with a DIY kit. Every issue of the magazine comes with a different kit where you can build something interesting. The current issue features a DIY 35mm twin lens film camera. Past issues have featured DIY gramophones , mechanical robots and vehicles with engines . Each issue costs about HKD300 (Around SGD60).

Shanghai was a blast

Been in Shanghai for the past week - The land without Facebook, Twitter, You Tube and blogs. The average temperature was around 5 to 10 degrees so I pretty much spent most of my time wrapped up in 3 layers of clothes. On the flight there, I picked up IHT on the plane and read about Google's mobile push into Japan, a country where Yahoo still holds tops. The article talked about aggressive advertising on Google's mobile platform and I suddenly realize, I've never actually seen a Google print ad before. So it came as a pleasant surprise to see one on the Shanghai metro for Google Mobile.

Bring out the scarfs

It's getting cold in HK - Time to break out the jacket and scarfs. Been trying to figure out a cool way to drape/tie the scarf over my neck. Saw this one mannequin at a shop and thought this was pretty cool. Snuck a picture so that I could slowly figure out how to tie it this way.

Google Wave Rocks

I just got on to the Beta version of Google Wave. It is going to be big!

Where do people get these ideas?

http://ijustmadelove.com is a website that allows you to see on a Google Map where people in the world have just had sex. You can choose to add in your own marker. Man, where do people get ideas like these?

H&M never again

I was never a big H&M fan until recently, when I found a nice jacket in Shanghai (of all places). Since then, I've found myself walking into the HK outlets again and again, coming out with a couple of nice sweaters and another cool jacket in anticipation for the much cooler weather this time of the year.

However, having gone back to Shanghai and visiting the famed fabric market at Lujiabang Lu, I've decided that I may never need to shop at H&M or Zara or any other clothes retailer again. I might go to the shops to look for ideas but almost anything, and I mean ANYTHING can be made at the fabric market for a fraction of any retail cost. My first trip there was to make a nice winter jacket (the ones you see in all the nice magazines (think GQ and not FHM) but never ever thought about while living in hot and humid Singapore) - However, I was so amazed by the variety and quality that I ended up with that jacket plus another business jacket and two dress shirts.

The 2-ply dress shirts cost me RMB70 (around SGD15) each - Slim fit with french cuffs (the way I like it) and are exactly the same quality shirts that I make in SG for SGD100 to SGD120.

Yes, it's that cheap. And I've done my homework in HK (SGD60 per shirt) and even Shenzhen (SGD30 per shirt). Here's a picture of the winter outer-jacket I made for RMB480 (Just below SGD100). You can bet I'll be back there soon on my next trip up.

FT.com - Using Personas

In the interactive field, we always encourage the use of "user personas" in the design of websites - i.e. What are the types of users whom would use the site and then look at developing "personas" for these users in the form of characters. Then we develop the site architecture and navigation according to address the needs of these key characters. FT.com's Advertising Asia Microsite has a brilliant example of this. Though not exactly used in the same context, it clearly shows would-be advertisers how they can reach their intended audience through the various advertising mediums available through FT.

Uncrate

This is a really cool website - www.uncrate.com
Uncrate is a web magazine for guys who love stuff. The team digs up the best gadgets, clothes, cars, DVDs and more and new items are posted daily.

I Heart Onitsuka Tiger

I've always wanted to buy a pair of Onitsuka Tigers and finally did so today. Went to the Onitsuka botique at Fashion Walk (Causeway Bay) yesterday but they ran out of sizes for the models I wanted. Apparently, these shoes are really limited in Hong Kong. Managed to find this really cool pair in Mongkok today and got it at 10% off. The Hongkong sale is marvellous.

Also got myself a cool vintage Champion T-shirt from the sale at Sogo; my second one so far. These are the remodelled Japanese versions which feature vintage U.S designs. Check it out at www.championusa.jp

United Breaks Guitars

This is a great example of how to exact revenge on irresponsible companies in the services industry who give you crap service and refuse to acknowledge and be accountable for their mistakes. Ah the power of social media.

United Airlines broke Dave Carrol's US$3,500 Taylor Guitar and refused to compensate him even though he personally witnessed the baggage handlers throwing the guitar cases around during their stopover at Chicago. After almost a year on the phone with United Customer Service staff and being passed around and finally told that his compensation claim was denied, Carrol decided to take matters into his own hands and publish a series of music videos about his experience.

10 days and over 3 million views and United is now feeling the wrath of this excellent social media backlash.

So you want to start an advertising company?

Some inspirational reading for the aspiring internet entreprenuer.

A Brilliant Letter to the Ritz

A friend of mine wrote this letter to the Ritz Singapore. Evidently, a friend of hers made a reservation at the restaurant there on the basis of a lunch promotion but was told her phone reservation was only TENTATIVE and refused to honor it:

I am writing with reference to your current lunch promotion at the Greenhouse Cafe.

About a month ago, I booked a table for four at your restaurant for today, the 14th of July, to celebrate a friend's birthday. Per the terms of your promotion, we were to have enjoyed a 50% discount on the total bill, having booked more than five days ahead.

Upon arrival at the restaurant today, however, I was told that my reservation had not been confirmed, and, as such, Greenhouse would not be able to honor my reservation. After clarifying, it emerged that my initial call to you only counted as a tentative reservation, and I needed to produce a printed email confirmation to get my table and the 50% discount offer.

Please note that at no time during the phone reservation was I asked for my email address, nor did the person taking my reservation explain to me that I was only making a 'tentative reservation'. I explained this to the host on duty that day.

I believe that the proper response would have been an apology and an offer to let us enjoy the promotion anyway. After all, the host was able to trace and retrieve my initial phone reservation. As far as I was concerned, I had more than fulfilled the terms of the promotion, which was to make a reservation at least five days in advance.

Instead, he very kindly explained to me that restaurant policy dictated that the terms of the promotion would not be honored sans printout. No apology was even offered, and certainly nothing even approaching some form of compensation for an error that was no fault of mine, but which ultimately resulted in a complete waste of my time that day. I'm sure you'll agree that you, too, would not have been satisfied with a canned response such as the one I got: that he would 'raise this to management and ensure it doesn't happen again.' Quite frankly it did not matter to me whether it happens again, as I'm not likely to return to see that it doesn't.

I'd like to seek some clarification - I'm not sure what it means to your staff when customers make a reservation over the phone - are all your reservations then 'tentative' reservations? I have never in my life been so indecisive as to have to make only a tentative reservation for lunch; I decide on a lunch date and make a booking only when I am sure I can make it.

There are only two conclusions to be derived from this episode - one, that your staff is clearly lacking the training that befits a hotel of your supposed calibre and that they themselves had not been fully informed of the convoluted terms of your promotion; or two, that your establishment was never very sincere about offering this promotion to your customers in the first place, given that you've obviously made it as difficult as possible for customers to take advantage of this. I'm sure you'll agree with me this is bordering on dishonesty.

(As a marketing professional myself, I'm familiar with the need for terms and conditions on special promotions, but I draw the line at deception and dishonesty)

I have to, however, thank you for providing me with an excellent case study on PR and marketing, which I intend to refer to as an example of what not to do in discussions with my clients. Fortunately, my day was not completely wasted, as I was able to salvage the situation by celebrating my friend's birthday at the Mandarin Oriental hotel, where we had an excellent lunch at the MELT World Cafe. Happily, the service there was excellent.

I'm not sure how, if at all possible, this negative experience at your establishment could be remedied. I am doubtful that I will ever set foot there again, and, I think, neither will the many friends I've told this story to.

Another Pacific Coffee Offer

Here's another Pacific Coffee offer. One-for-One on Iced Coffee drinks. Enjoy! *Valid for Hong Kong only.

Goodbye and thanks for all the wonderful memories

The essence of MJ's memorial service came down to 20 poignant powerful seconds: The moment when 11 year old Paris inched up to the microphone and, in a statement no one saw coming, referred to the late pop superstar as "Daddy". I shed a tear when I saw this.

Don't piss off Wall-Mart

This is an old scandal back in 2006/07 but Fast Company did a great editorial about how Julie Roehm is rebranding herself in light of the scandal that toppled her once flourishing marketing career.

Read it here

UA Movie Discount

I spent 2 hours watching Megan Fox get chased by Decepticons yesterday. I'm a huge Transformers fan as a kid but the movie just didn't do it for me. I didn't really like it that much - It was kinda really just ok. However, I've discovered that watching movies in HK is a rather expensive affair. The ticket at UA Causeway Bay cost me HKD81 (about S$16). I could watch two movies back home for that price. Fortunately, someone sent me a UA movie discount coupon good for HKD35 a ticket. Sweet!

Dellswarm

Dell has been using social media platforms such as Twitter rather successfully for quite some time as a customer relationship management and communications platform. However, this is (I think) the first time, they are using it from a sales/customer acquisition angle and I think it is a very well thought out and executed social media campaign – www.dellswarm.com.

The campaign plays upon the idea of group purchases - where the more people group together to buy something, the lower it drives the per unit purchase price. Not a new concept but Dell makes use of a combination of social media elements (facebook,twitter, referral emails and SMS) to get individuals who do not even know each other but have the intention to purchase similar items together to make the purchase.

This is how it works - 1 user starts by joining a swarm (for a specific featured product) to enjoy a price lower than Dell.com’s best discounted price. As more and more users join the swarm to buy, the price reduces. The swarm closes after 72 hours or when 15 users have joined (which results in the lowest possible price for the product).

Users can tell others about the swarm through a referral email, facebook, twitter and other social bookmarking tools and follow a particular swarm via email alerts, SMS or Twitter.

Yes, you have the power too

HP has always prided itself as a socially responsible company with a high regard for corporate sustainability. They've launched a new initiative called Power To Change which essentially is a call to everyone to perform the simple act of turning off our computers when we don't use them in the concerted effort to help reduce energy waste, curb carbon emissions and save money. Part of the initiative is this cool little widget that you can download onto your desktop.

The widget is there as a reminder but more importantly, to measure how much energy you save by actually turning it off. It's an interesting social media angle where each individual's widget gets a daily sync with the HP database and it shows how much savings are made by all participating users.

Download yours at www.hp.com/powertochange

Google vs China

This just about sums up the whole conflict.