Tuesday, August 10, 2010
When life becomes just a fleeting breath
As I remembered my loved ones tonight I felt compelled to record my endless love and deepest gratitude for him. Every memory is still so fresh as I recounted his love and sacrifice for me. Life really becomes a fleeting moment in a hospital. Every milli second counts during the death hour. October 11 was so painful that my world collapsed. No amount of consolation helps - only God's everlasting love and grace embraced my failing heart from stopping. At half past 12 on a bright sunday, after the usual service, he left me in full witness alone. Like a flowing river, his breath was gone without a trace. He exited from this world without saying goodbye. Just as he didnt make a grand entrance, he left so very quietly. Recently a very close friend described me as one living life without breath. I pondered for days. We are nothing but a fleeting breath that's here now and there forever.... whatever you are worried about today or fighting so very hard for, stop and think about your last breath. Does any of these matter afterall?
Monday, August 9, 2010
Sunday, July 4, 2010
Social Media: Different Folks, Different Strokes
In a recent social media roundtable "Business Use of Social Media" organized by Eastwest PR in June 2010 which I've attended, revealed some interesting facts. Here are the extracts:
The Business Use of Social Media
While some users enter social media for entertainment and purely personal gratification, many people use social media for business growth. Facebook alone, which now has over 400-million active users, is considered a ‘gold mine’ of customer information and for marketing programs. Some B2C and B2B companies have started to embark on social media marketing campaigns while some are still in the stage of assessing their strategy.
During EASTWEST’s Roundtable Discussion 3 entitled ‘The Business Use of Social Media’, participants from different business verticals shared their insights, strategies and tactics on their business use of social media. There were interesting viewpoints from business owners, executives in corporate and marketing communications, sales people, artists, consultants and recruitment specialists, among others. The participants were in different stages of using social media. Some are already using social media and leveraging it for sales and marketing. Others have just started to get into social media and still navigating the platform for business. The more cautious ones have started to use social media on a personal basis and have yet to be convinced how they can use it to positively impact their business.
Despite having different opinions, the conclusion at the end of the discussion is that there is no single approach to social media. The social media approach, as well as the tools to be used will have to vary depending on the goals that they had set out for their respective business organisations. The common approach for all businesses, whether big or small, will be to start with assessing their organisation’s needs and match the right social media tools. There were two important prerequisites in the business use of social media that were highlighted:
1.Having the ability to create value-adding content in order to effectively engage stakeholders
2.The readiness or the commitment to engage with the relevant public on a regular basis.
Ian McKee CEO of Vocanic, a Social Media and WoM Marketing agency, started with a clear position that ‘social media’ is actually a misnomer and in fact a misleading term: “From a brand point of view, it (social media) isn’t social. It’s social between people. And the platforms (Facebook, Twitter, Linked-In) are not the media. The real media is the voice of thousands of people, your customers, discussing your product and the experiences they have with your product. The platforms are simply a vector that carries or broadcasts the conversations. It is what people say that is crucial – which is why Vocanic’s point of view is that there is nothing more valuable for your brand than a recommendation between friends – and the social media platforms available now simply carry and magnify the effect of these recommendations (positive or negative).
Susanna Hasenöehrl differed and asked to keep the ‘social media’ reference for purposes of discussing it in a B2B environment. Coming from a technology vendor, Susanna said there is a whole range of very specific topics that tech companies need to discuss with their customers and potential customers. She views micro blogs and tweets as a source of information and a tremendous opportunity in the B2B area to establish a conversation with potential counterparts and among customers and potential customers.
Ray Bigger, a sales, marketing and people development architect, shared how he likens people’s behaviour towards social media to how the British will queue up on something they don’t have a clue what for. Ray’s opinion-slash-question is that some people could have leapt into it (social media) because of what everybody else is doing. People are too curious: “Oh my god. How the hell am I going to get into that? What is it going to cost me? Is it something that my market segment that I’m targeting –is there people who are actually using it?”
Marcus Lim, a historian painter, on the other hand has a very clear view of his use of social media for business. Using Facebook as an example, he shared that he uses it to interact with his clients (fans). He makes use of the existing games to interact and initiate conversations.
“It’s like throwing a paper ball around a room and passing it around. Some people start having fun throwing the ball and in the process, could initiate a conversation: ‘Why did you throw the ball, Marcus?’ And the conversation begins. Social media to me is starting the ball rolling, breaking the ice, actually getting in and talking with the person at the other side.”
Frederic Moraillon, Managing Director for Southeast Asia, EASTWEST PR, shared a personal experience of coming across the opportunity to work for the company via a LinkedIn conversation with EASTWEST’s principal. “I get a lot of opportunities both personally as well as from a business perspective coming my way because of my involvement in social networks. I like connecting with people though there is a limit to where you can go. LinkedIn is purely for business. Facebook is people I know fairly well and can talk about personal things. Both of them have brought many different opportunities – but my brand has always been there.”
Andrew Pickup, chief operating officer, Microsoft Asia Pacific neutralised different views on social media: “There is no right or wrong way. Every company I think needs to approach it in different ways. The way I would approach it would is to think about what I am doing proactively with social media. What am I being proactive for, what is driving me towards (a goal), and what am I doing reactively? The reactive part is about listening and understand what your constituents and stakeholders are saying about you, you personally, about your company and about your brand and there are tools to help you to do this.”
Andrew shared that the challenge is when one gets to a size like Microsoft or any international company with 100s and millions of people commenting every single day about the company and individuals. With a big company, (listening) tools are needed to taxonomise commentaries. Only then, can companies create content that addresses commentaries. In general, comments from powerful individuals such as a minister, journalist-slash-blogger not necessarily with volume followers, with volume impact will need to be addressed. Otherwise, resources will not permit to engage everyone who comments.
Simon Dale, senior vice president of SAP Asia Pacific and Japan, shares Andrew’s view: “In a B2B space with an organisation of 5000 people, you want the 50 or 60 people who are going to influence the top 3 people to be engaged with you, so they will support the decision that happens through the process. And depending on the culture, if you’re in Japan, that’s an awful lot more people who are going to make the decision than in a western country.”
Simon raised an important point about recognising the influence of commenter in a social media environment. He shared how they (at SAP) treats bloggers the same way as they would the journalists and analysts.
At the heated discussion of “how” participants from major companies use social media in their organisations, EASTWEST moderator, turned to the spa business owners/ operators to ask how they use the platform in the spa industry. Interestingly enough, while the two participants, Christina Tan and Lim Ker Han use social media on a personal basis, they have not used it for business. Among the reasons highlighted is confusion as to how to manage social media and fears of leaving out a significant demographic group — older generations of women who are perceived to be ‘not using social media’.
Greg Lipper, co-founder and CEO of Value Advantage an running five (5) other businesses, like Christina and Han believed there is a vast opportunity in social media for his businesses. However, his major concern was the time he needs to invest in managing the social media.
Lin Hsin Hsin a renowned Singapore artist, poet and composer and an active user of information technology, admits that she is new to social media. Although Hsin Hsin remains hesitant to go into a social media network like Facebook, she admits finding vast information that are extremely focused and relevant in a channel like LinkedIn.
Sebastian Barnard, marketing and corporate communications manager at the British Chamber of Commerce Singapore shares: “We look at social media from two angles. One purely as a tool to connect businesses. Part of what we do as a chain business, is essentially to mediate or be a middleman for businesses to talk to each other. We’re looking at how social media can help us facilitate that. The other way we’re looking at social media is purely as a marketing tool. I’m interested or have come to the opinion that email as a marketing tool is actually dead. I think the days of the email EDM are over. The issue I’ve faced, and this is the issue I’ve sat in many rooms and talked to many people and had many talks is a chicken and egg question that nobody seems to have ever brought up, and that is: Social media is about people opting in. I’ve never heard a discussion about how you get people to opt in. So my question is then is there a role for a traditional marketing tool to achieve that segment?”
Ian, at this point, offers an answer emphasising the importance of value-adding – in the form of valuable content, or, valuable functionality. The value that they find in the organisation, he said, is what will make them want to opt in to a relationship.
To summarise the many different viewpoints, Frederic proposed that the business use of social media, should start with the businesses’ assessment of their own organisation’s needs and goals vis-à-vis where all the tools fit – options are vast as seen in Brian Solis’s conversation prism and flywheel. Two key prerequisites are having the ability to create value-adding content, and readiness or commitment to interact on a regular basis, whether you use aggregation or manage one-on-one relationships.
The Business Use of Social Media
While some users enter social media for entertainment and purely personal gratification, many people use social media for business growth. Facebook alone, which now has over 400-million active users, is considered a ‘gold mine’ of customer information and for marketing programs. Some B2C and B2B companies have started to embark on social media marketing campaigns while some are still in the stage of assessing their strategy.
During EASTWEST’s Roundtable Discussion 3 entitled ‘The Business Use of Social Media’, participants from different business verticals shared their insights, strategies and tactics on their business use of social media. There were interesting viewpoints from business owners, executives in corporate and marketing communications, sales people, artists, consultants and recruitment specialists, among others. The participants were in different stages of using social media. Some are already using social media and leveraging it for sales and marketing. Others have just started to get into social media and still navigating the platform for business. The more cautious ones have started to use social media on a personal basis and have yet to be convinced how they can use it to positively impact their business.
Despite having different opinions, the conclusion at the end of the discussion is that there is no single approach to social media. The social media approach, as well as the tools to be used will have to vary depending on the goals that they had set out for their respective business organisations. The common approach for all businesses, whether big or small, will be to start with assessing their organisation’s needs and match the right social media tools. There were two important prerequisites in the business use of social media that were highlighted:
1.Having the ability to create value-adding content in order to effectively engage stakeholders
2.The readiness or the commitment to engage with the relevant public on a regular basis.
Ian McKee CEO of Vocanic, a Social Media and WoM Marketing agency, started with a clear position that ‘social media’ is actually a misnomer and in fact a misleading term: “From a brand point of view, it (social media) isn’t social. It’s social between people. And the platforms (Facebook, Twitter, Linked-In) are not the media. The real media is the voice of thousands of people, your customers, discussing your product and the experiences they have with your product. The platforms are simply a vector that carries or broadcasts the conversations. It is what people say that is crucial – which is why Vocanic’s point of view is that there is nothing more valuable for your brand than a recommendation between friends – and the social media platforms available now simply carry and magnify the effect of these recommendations (positive or negative).
Susanna Hasenöehrl differed and asked to keep the ‘social media’ reference for purposes of discussing it in a B2B environment. Coming from a technology vendor, Susanna said there is a whole range of very specific topics that tech companies need to discuss with their customers and potential customers. She views micro blogs and tweets as a source of information and a tremendous opportunity in the B2B area to establish a conversation with potential counterparts and among customers and potential customers.
Ray Bigger, a sales, marketing and people development architect, shared how he likens people’s behaviour towards social media to how the British will queue up on something they don’t have a clue what for. Ray’s opinion-slash-question is that some people could have leapt into it (social media) because of what everybody else is doing. People are too curious: “Oh my god. How the hell am I going to get into that? What is it going to cost me? Is it something that my market segment that I’m targeting –is there people who are actually using it?”
Marcus Lim, a historian painter, on the other hand has a very clear view of his use of social media for business. Using Facebook as an example, he shared that he uses it to interact with his clients (fans). He makes use of the existing games to interact and initiate conversations.
“It’s like throwing a paper ball around a room and passing it around. Some people start having fun throwing the ball and in the process, could initiate a conversation: ‘Why did you throw the ball, Marcus?’ And the conversation begins. Social media to me is starting the ball rolling, breaking the ice, actually getting in and talking with the person at the other side.”
Frederic Moraillon, Managing Director for Southeast Asia, EASTWEST PR, shared a personal experience of coming across the opportunity to work for the company via a LinkedIn conversation with EASTWEST’s principal. “I get a lot of opportunities both personally as well as from a business perspective coming my way because of my involvement in social networks. I like connecting with people though there is a limit to where you can go. LinkedIn is purely for business. Facebook is people I know fairly well and can talk about personal things. Both of them have brought many different opportunities – but my brand has always been there.”
Andrew Pickup, chief operating officer, Microsoft Asia Pacific neutralised different views on social media: “There is no right or wrong way. Every company I think needs to approach it in different ways. The way I would approach it would is to think about what I am doing proactively with social media. What am I being proactive for, what is driving me towards (a goal), and what am I doing reactively? The reactive part is about listening and understand what your constituents and stakeholders are saying about you, you personally, about your company and about your brand and there are tools to help you to do this.”
Andrew shared that the challenge is when one gets to a size like Microsoft or any international company with 100s and millions of people commenting every single day about the company and individuals. With a big company, (listening) tools are needed to taxonomise commentaries. Only then, can companies create content that addresses commentaries. In general, comments from powerful individuals such as a minister, journalist-slash-blogger not necessarily with volume followers, with volume impact will need to be addressed. Otherwise, resources will not permit to engage everyone who comments.
Simon Dale, senior vice president of SAP Asia Pacific and Japan, shares Andrew’s view: “In a B2B space with an organisation of 5000 people, you want the 50 or 60 people who are going to influence the top 3 people to be engaged with you, so they will support the decision that happens through the process. And depending on the culture, if you’re in Japan, that’s an awful lot more people who are going to make the decision than in a western country.”
Simon raised an important point about recognising the influence of commenter in a social media environment. He shared how they (at SAP) treats bloggers the same way as they would the journalists and analysts.
At the heated discussion of “how” participants from major companies use social media in their organisations, EASTWEST moderator, turned to the spa business owners/ operators to ask how they use the platform in the spa industry. Interestingly enough, while the two participants, Christina Tan and Lim Ker Han use social media on a personal basis, they have not used it for business. Among the reasons highlighted is confusion as to how to manage social media and fears of leaving out a significant demographic group — older generations of women who are perceived to be ‘not using social media’.
Greg Lipper, co-founder and CEO of Value Advantage an running five (5) other businesses, like Christina and Han believed there is a vast opportunity in social media for his businesses. However, his major concern was the time he needs to invest in managing the social media.
Lin Hsin Hsin a renowned Singapore artist, poet and composer and an active user of information technology, admits that she is new to social media. Although Hsin Hsin remains hesitant to go into a social media network like Facebook, she admits finding vast information that are extremely focused and relevant in a channel like LinkedIn.
Sebastian Barnard, marketing and corporate communications manager at the British Chamber of Commerce Singapore shares: “We look at social media from two angles. One purely as a tool to connect businesses. Part of what we do as a chain business, is essentially to mediate or be a middleman for businesses to talk to each other. We’re looking at how social media can help us facilitate that. The other way we’re looking at social media is purely as a marketing tool. I’m interested or have come to the opinion that email as a marketing tool is actually dead. I think the days of the email EDM are over. The issue I’ve faced, and this is the issue I’ve sat in many rooms and talked to many people and had many talks is a chicken and egg question that nobody seems to have ever brought up, and that is: Social media is about people opting in. I’ve never heard a discussion about how you get people to opt in. So my question is then is there a role for a traditional marketing tool to achieve that segment?”
Ian, at this point, offers an answer emphasising the importance of value-adding – in the form of valuable content, or, valuable functionality. The value that they find in the organisation, he said, is what will make them want to opt in to a relationship.
To summarise the many different viewpoints, Frederic proposed that the business use of social media, should start with the businesses’ assessment of their own organisation’s needs and goals vis-à-vis where all the tools fit – options are vast as seen in Brian Solis’s conversation prism and flywheel. Two key prerequisites are having the ability to create value-adding content, and readiness or commitment to interact on a regular basis, whether you use aggregation or manage one-on-one relationships.
Thursday, July 1, 2010
Communicate your thought leadership through vBlog
Thought leadership blogs are smart ways to communicate expertise in your industry niche. I have a number of favourite CEO blogs who focus on this topic - their blogs are done with style, substance, and light-touch humour. Check out Go Daddy founder - Bob Parsons' blog in video format.
Get out of your comfort zone! Spending time outside your comfort zone makes you feel alive like never before.
Friday, June 25, 2010
Hi darling, I am of no pretense to what i am not. I am more than social media.
In a skype conversation a former colleague asked me what services does 7Skies Communication offer. I rattled off "pr, communications, marketing and social media". He said he doesn't get it. His impression is it is all "very broad". And he went on to say: "people I met are very specialized in social media. One guy does marketing through mobile apps. Another focuses on product campaigns and leads generation. It helps to remember what they do". Of course, and many called themselves SEO (Search Engine Optimisation) Specialists too. I was about to add my entry but he went offline.
First, I will not pretend what I am not. I am no technies, I cannot write or market apps.
So what do I offer ?
I help businesses and individuals establish relationships, build relationships, connect, enrich and deepen relationships. Social media is just one of many pr tools to do that. The fundamental purpose of PR is to manage reputation. And social media is a process in attaining the communication goal.
So my friend, I won't bothered to be "less broad" just to get noticed. I am more than social media.
P.S. In case you are reading this blog, please don't take offence I promise I won't spam you if you skype me :)
First, I will not pretend what I am not. I am no technies, I cannot write or market apps.
So what do I offer ?
I help businesses and individuals establish relationships, build relationships, connect, enrich and deepen relationships. Social media is just one of many pr tools to do that. The fundamental purpose of PR is to manage reputation. And social media is a process in attaining the communication goal.
So my friend, I won't bothered to be "less broad" just to get noticed. I am more than social media.
P.S. In case you are reading this blog, please don't take offence I promise I won't spam you if you skype me :)
Thursday, June 24, 2010
Of shepherds, sheeps, and integration success
Two mega corporate mergers in my 15 years career. I was part of the marriage deal between a 200 years old European company called Danzas, and AEI (Air Express International), a successful corporation in the US then.
Both gave themselves two years to harmonize any differences and work the right balance. They listed in the "will" the people, assets, liabilities, and share of voice on both sides. They adopted both names and called themselves DANZAS AEI. Quite a fair marriage.Two years later, Danzas AEI took DHL as a partner. This time, the decision was swift. They decided to bury Danzas and named the combined entities DHL, due to its global brand equity.
These integrations taught me many things. However one thing prevails. People work for people.
The key team who cut the deals - Danzas, AEI, and DHL, are mostly around, fiercely loyal, and the best talents in the industry. They went on to achieve many great things in the corporate history.
A corporation can change directions many times. They can rewrite new mission statements and core values. They can rebrand themselves. They can acquire new assets and buy more companies. All these can be done in a controlled fashion. When it comes to matters of the heart - people's attitude, values, belief, respect - they look only to their leaders for guidance. No amount of carrots dangling can move your people to do what they don't believe in, unless you have nurtured strong shepherds to herd the sheeps. Don't omit the good shepherds from the will for they determine the success.
Both gave themselves two years to harmonize any differences and work the right balance. They listed in the "will" the people, assets, liabilities, and share of voice on both sides. They adopted both names and called themselves DANZAS AEI. Quite a fair marriage.Two years later, Danzas AEI took DHL as a partner. This time, the decision was swift. They decided to bury Danzas and named the combined entities DHL, due to its global brand equity.
These integrations taught me many things. However one thing prevails. People work for people.
The key team who cut the deals - Danzas, AEI, and DHL, are mostly around, fiercely loyal, and the best talents in the industry. They went on to achieve many great things in the corporate history.
A corporation can change directions many times. They can rewrite new mission statements and core values. They can rebrand themselves. They can acquire new assets and buy more companies. All these can be done in a controlled fashion. When it comes to matters of the heart - people's attitude, values, belief, respect - they look only to their leaders for guidance. No amount of carrots dangling can move your people to do what they don't believe in, unless you have nurtured strong shepherds to herd the sheeps. Don't omit the good shepherds from the will for they determine the success.
Tuesday, June 22, 2010
Don't give PR a bad name
Someone spoke about changing mindset of PR professionals - from the Classical PR(service provider)to Consultative PR (business partner) model.
It reminded me of a female avatar who fits within this classical PR type. Besides sucking up to her CEO, she turns the limelight on herself at company's events, and is a master at outsourcing - including the communications strategy; presentation deck to the board; and her very own mailbox. Pleasing the internal stakeholders at all cost is her motto! Service provider mentality.
Give PR the respect it fully deserves. Quit the bimbo-ish act to compensate for the lack of skills. Stop kicking downward. Show real talent. When you manage business relationships genuinely, you help individuals, company, and yourself to grow. A righteous business partner who possess personas of strong values and belief is a true leader.
It reminded me of a female avatar who fits within this classical PR type. Besides sucking up to her CEO, she turns the limelight on herself at company's events, and is a master at outsourcing - including the communications strategy; presentation deck to the board; and her very own mailbox. Pleasing the internal stakeholders at all cost is her motto! Service provider mentality.
Give PR the respect it fully deserves. Quit the bimbo-ish act to compensate for the lack of skills. Stop kicking downward. Show real talent. When you manage business relationships genuinely, you help individuals, company, and yourself to grow. A righteous business partner who possess personas of strong values and belief is a true leader.
Thursday, June 10, 2010
Be kind when you blog
A mega church was recently under probe in Singapore and the news were widely debated in the bloggosphere. A pastor of another church remarked "If you blog, be kind. After all we are all preaching the gospel of grace". For those who saw the news as a chance to hit back at churches or christianity or anyone, look at yourself first before you judge others.
Monday, June 7, 2010
What to do with your internal blogs
I hate getting emails about when the server is going down. And those employee telephone and email directory listing. On average I received 150 - 200 group emails per day while I was working in corporation. Less than 30% of emails are relevant to me. If only companies see the benefits of blogs as an email killer apps... As I see it, here's a list of ways to use an internal blog:
1. Alerts - Instead of sending out those server failure emails, IT can request employees to subscribe to their blogs to be notified of such updates.
2. Departmental - Besides the intranet where you will find this sort of who's who, services, achievements, monthly/quarterly reports.. here's an opportunity to invite your employees to give their feedback on your department's work eg invite them to brainstorm or show their support for your initiatives.
3. News - Again, promote interactivity. Employees can respond to a topic be it industry or group's news.
4. Sales - Have a sales blog to share with fellow colleagues about a customer's visit or report on the sales developments of a customer.
1. Alerts - Instead of sending out those server failure emails, IT can request employees to subscribe to their blogs to be notified of such updates.
2. Departmental - Besides the intranet where you will find this sort of who's who, services, achievements, monthly/quarterly reports.. here's an opportunity to invite your employees to give their feedback on your department's work eg invite them to brainstorm or show their support for your initiatives.
3. News - Again, promote interactivity. Employees can respond to a topic be it industry or group's news.
4. Sales - Have a sales blog to share with fellow colleagues about a customer's visit or report on the sales developments of a customer.
Thursday, June 3, 2010
There are more important metrics than ROI
Love this quote from the new CMO at Dell from her interview in Adweek
Can social media scale and be measurable?
I think it can and has to. We have 2 billion conversations online a year. If I can't scale to the requirements, I can't continue to be a thriving business because that's increasingly how customers are shopping and engaging. It's not even an option not to scale, but it's to figure out how to do it around the customer. We're less focused right now on attributing ROI to everything we're doing. We're focused on "does it enhance the customer experience?" Does it look like revenue and profit are following? I'm less interested in measuring cost per contact. I know engagement with a fan on Facebook is a really good thing. I don't measure if that shortens the sales cycles. The things I can measure I feel great about. Those I can't I'm not losing sleep about.
via www.adweek.com
Can social media scale and be measurable?
I think it can and has to. We have 2 billion conversations online a year. If I can't scale to the requirements, I can't continue to be a thriving business because that's increasingly how customers are shopping and engaging. It's not even an option not to scale, but it's to figure out how to do it around the customer. We're less focused right now on attributing ROI to everything we're doing. We're focused on "does it enhance the customer experience?" Does it look like revenue and profit are following? I'm less interested in measuring cost per contact. I know engagement with a fan on Facebook is a really good thing. I don't measure if that shortens the sales cycles. The things I can measure I feel great about. Those I can't I'm not losing sleep about.
via www.adweek.com
Tuesday, June 1, 2010
More than skindeep, touches the heart strings
A DHL courier's red and yellow uniform caught my eyes as I stepped out of a client's boardroom yesterday. I welcomed the familiarity and everything sweet associated with that brand... couldn't conceal my smile to the boy.
I remembered sitting in the Parkview Square office 7 years ago... doing the tedious inventory of the number of vehicles (from scooters, bicycles, cars, vans to 40-foot container trucks), inferior and exterior office signages (which building is prominently located and facing the freeway? which is hidden within industrial parks?), uniforms, office stationery, airwaybills, tapes, bags, invoices - all things operational. Every single touch point with Management, Employees, Customers, Media and general publics needed us to move the world with just one aim. That is to show the world the new DHL brand. Yes, "us" the tiny Regional Communications Department of less than 7 leading the mega rebranding project in 2003.
Every single quarter were a report-out to Corporate tracking old vs new assets. Every single month was a party in at least one country with employees, customers, and media. Every week was a mad rush to push news in all propoganda channels to reach every corner and soul of DHLer. Every day we lived a rebranding high ! The power to excel and the can-do spirit was intoxicating. Everyone in the organization embraced the new brand. It was money very well invested to get people excited isn't it - especially when budgets was a free-flow commodity those days.
Within 12 months, all 40 countries and terrorities completed the project. AP topped the world's records to become the first region to wrap up the monster task. I believed it is the positive spirit of all in one and one in all... that got us through in such amazing speed and precision !
Yeah, we painted every city red, and left a specially blended yellow pantone in everyone we touched. I even suspected there was yellow in my blood ! 7 years on, I still love those colours. DHL was a rebranding success. I had the best time of my professional life.
I remembered sitting in the Parkview Square office 7 years ago... doing the tedious inventory of the number of vehicles (from scooters, bicycles, cars, vans to 40-foot container trucks), inferior and exterior office signages (which building is prominently located and facing the freeway? which is hidden within industrial parks?), uniforms, office stationery, airwaybills, tapes, bags, invoices - all things operational. Every single touch point with Management, Employees, Customers, Media and general publics needed us to move the world with just one aim. That is to show the world the new DHL brand. Yes, "us" the tiny Regional Communications Department of less than 7 leading the mega rebranding project in 2003.
Every single quarter were a report-out to Corporate tracking old vs new assets. Every single month was a party in at least one country with employees, customers, and media. Every week was a mad rush to push news in all propoganda channels to reach every corner and soul of DHLer. Every day we lived a rebranding high ! The power to excel and the can-do spirit was intoxicating. Everyone in the organization embraced the new brand. It was money very well invested to get people excited isn't it - especially when budgets was a free-flow commodity those days.
Within 12 months, all 40 countries and terrorities completed the project. AP topped the world's records to become the first region to wrap up the monster task. I believed it is the positive spirit of all in one and one in all... that got us through in such amazing speed and precision !
Yeah, we painted every city red, and left a specially blended yellow pantone in everyone we touched. I even suspected there was yellow in my blood ! 7 years on, I still love those colours. DHL was a rebranding success. I had the best time of my professional life.
Wednesday, May 26, 2010
Are you willing to go beyond "Ni Hao Ma"?
Recently a CEO of a large multinational corporation addressed his audience at a customer event in China. He delivered his maiden speech in Mandarin. No big deal. However he is not Chinese. Neither is he a Singaporean who is bilingual in Mandarin nor an expatriate who has mastered the language after years of living in China.
This young and brilliant CEO is a Senegalese. He created not only lasting impressions with his customers, I bet he won their hearts too. With no formal training in Mandarin, he asked his capable secretary to translate the script he has written (not his publicist, mind you) and he memorised every single pronounciation through constant recitation.
This CEO is a leader who has redefined leadership or what I call Servant Leadership. Within months of his appointment, he demonstrated this rare quality of serving people so they can serve others. His willing heart to learn a local language in the shortest time to reach local community, is just one illustration. Servant leadership has created environments to which employees are drawn and in which they thrive.
While language can be learned, I truly wonder how many top position holders have the serving attitude to go beyond "ni hao ma"?
This young and brilliant CEO is a Senegalese. He created not only lasting impressions with his customers, I bet he won their hearts too. With no formal training in Mandarin, he asked his capable secretary to translate the script he has written (not his publicist, mind you) and he memorised every single pronounciation through constant recitation.
This CEO is a leader who has redefined leadership or what I call Servant Leadership. Within months of his appointment, he demonstrated this rare quality of serving people so they can serve others. His willing heart to learn a local language in the shortest time to reach local community, is just one illustration. Servant leadership has created environments to which employees are drawn and in which they thrive.
While language can be learned, I truly wonder how many top position holders have the serving attitude to go beyond "ni hao ma"?
Friday, May 21, 2010
Branding. Making it come alive like “No Signboard Seafood”
Everyone knows what a brand is. It is about delivering meaning and value.
My job is to make brands come alive. I describe brands as:
A promise, a personality, an image, a trusting relationship, a sense of purpose, security in purchase, satisfaction in use, leadership and authority, a sense of community, experience, and authenticity.
With decreasing product differentiation, product convergence, acquisitions and mergers, it is hard to tell products apart especially the white goods, automobile and others.
Only 20% of the brand is seen by customers who are able to recognize a logo and or a name. 80% of the brand convey values, that are unseen by the consumer, happen at the unconscious level.
Yes, big boys have money to burn so they have higher chances of getting their branding strategies right. However companies of any sizes have an equal footing if you are passionate about your business.
Even a well-known seafood chain in Singapore which does not have a brand before, has branded themselves as “NO SIGNBOARD SEAFOOD”! The name was given by their customers and they are wildly successful. http://www.nosignboardseafood.com/
So given the challenges, where do you start on branding?
The emphasis now is focus on the intangible or abstract value of brands. The big boys’ various branding architectures well illustrated this.
• SIA: a great way to fly - Corporate Branding
• Procter & Gamble: touching lives, improving life - Product Branding
• Nestle: good food, good life - Endorsed Branding
• Vidal Sassoon (under Procter & Gamble) - Line Branding
Recently I worked with a startup to conceptualize a new brand for a new company. We started by defining positioning in 7 levels: attributes and benefits, price, product class, use and application, competitor, value, and personality. Finally we developed the branding architectures before wrapping it up with messaging and proof points.
The entire process took 3 months from inception to launch, before a new brand is born.
My job is to make brands come alive. I describe brands as:
A promise, a personality, an image, a trusting relationship, a sense of purpose, security in purchase, satisfaction in use, leadership and authority, a sense of community, experience, and authenticity.
With decreasing product differentiation, product convergence, acquisitions and mergers, it is hard to tell products apart especially the white goods, automobile and others.
Only 20% of the brand is seen by customers who are able to recognize a logo and or a name. 80% of the brand convey values, that are unseen by the consumer, happen at the unconscious level.
Yes, big boys have money to burn so they have higher chances of getting their branding strategies right. However companies of any sizes have an equal footing if you are passionate about your business.
Even a well-known seafood chain in Singapore which does not have a brand before, has branded themselves as “NO SIGNBOARD SEAFOOD”! The name was given by their customers and they are wildly successful. http://www.nosignboardseafood.com/
So given the challenges, where do you start on branding?
The emphasis now is focus on the intangible or abstract value of brands. The big boys’ various branding architectures well illustrated this.
• SIA: a great way to fly - Corporate Branding
• Procter & Gamble: touching lives, improving life - Product Branding
• Nestle: good food, good life - Endorsed Branding
• Vidal Sassoon (under Procter & Gamble) - Line Branding
Recently I worked with a startup to conceptualize a new brand for a new company. We started by defining positioning in 7 levels: attributes and benefits, price, product class, use and application, competitor, value, and personality. Finally we developed the branding architectures before wrapping it up with messaging and proof points.
The entire process took 3 months from inception to launch, before a new brand is born.
Saturday, May 15, 2010
The social web media battle against corporate
In this technology and ideas age, if your corporation does not have an official blog or a facebook fan site. Then your company is considered "old-fashioned". This is not only a beauty label. You should be seriously worried if your major competitors are ahead of you in the social web curve.
Many reputable corporations today have official blog sites and facebook fan pages. General Motors, Dell, UPS, Fedex are great examples of well-established companies who are using the new media to their full advantage. They recognized the importance of bringing people together online!
In my work with a regional client, he is keen to embark on this media plaform to expand his reach to employees and customers. His openess to explore new ways of communications is commendable despite his corporate's alienation of social media for years. Close to 70% of the employees in his organization are active social networkers through facebook, despite not having fb access at work ! Huge potential for internal communication ! We discussed possibility of developing a blog for customers and industry where it operates. However we still have to work through layers of resistance and challenges his corporate HQ may present.
PR department manages corporate reputation. A blog or a facebook are just two of these channels for reputation building. There are no different from interviews with analysts, press, and public speeches - all of these are documented anyway. The fundamental is to make sure that all spokespersons are well trained in what can and can’t be said. However, if the CEO has proven him/herself to be a loose cannon, perhaps some second party should advise on blog posts as well as during interviews.
There is only so much a provider like myself can do, it still boils down to who can win those corporate battles to reach new communication frontiers!
Many reputable corporations today have official blog sites and facebook fan pages. General Motors, Dell, UPS, Fedex are great examples of well-established companies who are using the new media to their full advantage. They recognized the importance of bringing people together online!
In my work with a regional client, he is keen to embark on this media plaform to expand his reach to employees and customers. His openess to explore new ways of communications is commendable despite his corporate's alienation of social media for years. Close to 70% of the employees in his organization are active social networkers through facebook, despite not having fb access at work ! Huge potential for internal communication ! We discussed possibility of developing a blog for customers and industry where it operates. However we still have to work through layers of resistance and challenges his corporate HQ may present.
PR department manages corporate reputation. A blog or a facebook are just two of these channels for reputation building. There are no different from interviews with analysts, press, and public speeches - all of these are documented anyway. The fundamental is to make sure that all spokespersons are well trained in what can and can’t be said. However, if the CEO has proven him/herself to be a loose cannon, perhaps some second party should advise on blog posts as well as during interviews.
There is only so much a provider like myself can do, it still boils down to who can win those corporate battles to reach new communication frontiers!
Wednesday, May 5, 2010
Day 5 of Shanghai World Expo 2010 - bigger bang than Beijing Olympics
Today is day #5 of the six month long Shanghai Expo 2010. The event ends on 31 October. While I have not booked my ticket yet, I am looking forward to visiting the event in September. For sure, this mega pow-wow has been well marketed on an international level, stacking up well above the Beijing Olympics in 2008 - except for that controversial theme song lifted from 1997 Japanese hit (Oops!) http://www.chinabuzz.net/buzz/shanghai-2010-world-expo-plagiarized-mayo-okamotos-song/
Well, well beyond plagiarism, there is still worthwhile facts to know :
Infrastructural cost:
Shanghai Expo US$58 billion
Beijing Olympics US$42 billion
Tourist traffic:
Shanghai Expo 70 million (forecast)
Beijing Olympics 6.5 million
Economics benefits:
Shanghai Expo 100 billion yuan (forecast)
Beijing Olympics 29 billion yuan
Oh, ladies forget about your 3-inch heels and pack a pair of good walking shoes. In China size does matter, but your comfort comes first !
Lili Koh
7Skies Communications
Well, well beyond plagiarism, there is still worthwhile facts to know :
Infrastructural cost:
Shanghai Expo US$58 billion
Beijing Olympics US$42 billion
Tourist traffic:
Shanghai Expo 70 million (forecast)
Beijing Olympics 6.5 million
Economics benefits:
Shanghai Expo 100 billion yuan (forecast)
Beijing Olympics 29 billion yuan
Oh, ladies forget about your 3-inch heels and pack a pair of good walking shoes. In China size does matter, but your comfort comes first !
Lili Koh
7Skies Communications
Monday, May 3, 2010
Making a masterpiece out of flies!
Dear friends
What do you do when you are bored? Time flies when you make a masterpiece out of flies ! See this creative work by Max, the Gen-Y designer working with me ...
http://www.mexzhouse.com/what-to-do-when-you-are-bored-at-work/#more-578
Enjoy !
Lili Koh
7Skies Communication
What do you do when you are bored? Time flies when you make a masterpiece out of flies ! See this creative work by Max, the Gen-Y designer working with me ...
http://www.mexzhouse.com/what-to-do-when-you-are-bored-at-work/#more-578
Enjoy !
Lili Koh
7Skies Communication
Thursday, April 29, 2010
Trade logistics matters, and Asia knows it
Trade logistics matters, and Asia knows it
To all my friends in the logistics industry, here's an interesting read:
The World Bank has released its Logistics Performance Index and Indicators 2010 (LPI), a ranking of 155 countries by their capacity to move goods and connect manufacturing and consumers in international markets. Germany tops the ranking this year. Of the top 10 countries, 8 are wealthy European economies (not suprising), and two - Singapore and Japan - are wealthy Asian economies (hooray!). Singapore is ranked 2nd and Japan is ranked 7th!
To read more, click on the headline.
Source: Supply Chain Asia
Lili Koh
7Skies Communication
To all my friends in the logistics industry, here's an interesting read:
The World Bank has released its Logistics Performance Index and Indicators 2010 (LPI), a ranking of 155 countries by their capacity to move goods and connect manufacturing and consumers in international markets. Germany tops the ranking this year. Of the top 10 countries, 8 are wealthy European economies (not suprising), and two - Singapore and Japan - are wealthy Asian economies (hooray!). Singapore is ranked 2nd and Japan is ranked 7th!
To read more, click on the headline.
Source: Supply Chain Asia
Lili Koh
7Skies Communication
The Art of Storylistening
Everyone loves a good story. Storytelling is a powerful way to communicate. But it is storylistening that gets you the right story.
As organizations grow and become more complex, managers are facing the challenge of delivering clear and concise messages to stakeholders. Employees do not know how to make good use of information while Leaders are bogged down with lengthy explanations of technicalities, when it comes to cascading new policies. How do you inspire, influence and persuade ?
Clearly, there is a need for a guide to help corporations - using the storylistening techniques I learnt from Shawn Callahan of Anecdote. Shawn explored how narrative techniques can be used in a business setting.
Here's how:
1. Where do you start? Every single employee is a storyboard. With 100 employees, you have 100 story ideas! First task is to decide the project themes on the type of stories you want. Then craft questions that will elicit responses eg what is the major turning point for your life?
2. How do you collect anecdotes? Invite employees, transcribe recordings and extract anecdotes.
3. What do you do with the anecdotes collected? Sensemaking. Immerse employees in narrative and identify the patterns, encourage dialogue and tell stories to explain, test and reinterpret.
4. What do you want to achieve with the anecdotes? Decide what and how you want to achieve out of these information. Select an Endorsement Committee to help with the decision.
5. Understand the impact. Monitor at intervals and polish process.
Start with these listening techniques and you are on the way to building up a repertoire of stories for your organization. Tell it well and you will create a shared experience with your audience.
Lili Koh
7Skies Communication
As organizations grow and become more complex, managers are facing the challenge of delivering clear and concise messages to stakeholders. Employees do not know how to make good use of information while Leaders are bogged down with lengthy explanations of technicalities, when it comes to cascading new policies. How do you inspire, influence and persuade ?
Clearly, there is a need for a guide to help corporations - using the storylistening techniques I learnt from Shawn Callahan of Anecdote. Shawn explored how narrative techniques can be used in a business setting.
Here's how:
1. Where do you start? Every single employee is a storyboard. With 100 employees, you have 100 story ideas! First task is to decide the project themes on the type of stories you want. Then craft questions that will elicit responses eg what is the major turning point for your life?
2. How do you collect anecdotes? Invite employees, transcribe recordings and extract anecdotes.
3. What do you do with the anecdotes collected? Sensemaking. Immerse employees in narrative and identify the patterns, encourage dialogue and tell stories to explain, test and reinterpret.
4. What do you want to achieve with the anecdotes? Decide what and how you want to achieve out of these information. Select an Endorsement Committee to help with the decision.
5. Understand the impact. Monitor at intervals and polish process.
Start with these listening techniques and you are on the way to building up a repertoire of stories for your organization. Tell it well and you will create a shared experience with your audience.
Lili Koh
7Skies Communication
Monday, April 26, 2010
The Bad Eggs in Corporations
Having worked with dozens of agencies and suppliers, I have always prided myself for having the tenacity to build strong, lasting relationships, whom many became good friends including friends from Ogilvy, Burson Marstella, Senses Communications, PictureComm, Waggener Edstorm etc. I am cordial and respectful in every human sense until the trust is violated and I will not hesitate to set things right. In fact I took one to court not too long ago. This one has definitely been blacklisted - eternally!
The reason why I share this with you is not to forewarn or scare the wits out of anyone. No, this is not my style (In fact, I prefer to tell it like it is to your face:)). I endeavour to point out that every smart Communications Director should know how to get the most out of an agency. Work ethics tells us to treat them right and they will go the extra mile. I think most clients understand this. However I also saw for myself that many don't.
As the client, you always have the upper hands to almost everything. You have the power to throw out proposals, deny pitches to small unknown agencies, bargain prices in a cut-throat manner.. you can demand the sky, really... So what is acceptable and what's not?
Personally I did all of the above which I deemed as reasonable. As long as you know what you want, you raise the bar with each challenge to get the best deal from your agency. So that's my motto. However I detest despicable ways to demean people.
This story I heard just last week is by far the most outrageous!
This client from hell, let's call her "Miss Idiot" called up her PR agency on Friday late evening 7-ish and demanded for a proposal to be delivered to her house the next morning by 10 am. She said she has a very important meeting with her boss on Saturday.
The agency abided by her instruction, worked through the night (until 4 am) to deliver the proposal on time. The parcel was dropped off at Miss Idiot's condomnium's security checkpoint as per her instruction. The weekend came and gone. However the parcel was not picked up until the security officer alerted the agency that the house owner (ie Miss Idiot) had gone off for holiday during the weekend !
The horrible fact they discovered was Miss Idiot's boss cancelled the meeting on late Friday night and she decided to go to Batam for the weekend ! Not even a courtesty call to stop production?!!
Apparently Miss Idiot thought that her outrageous act stays within her and the agency. Well, she is so short-sighted on a few things. First, she better keep her job FOREVER because of her well-known records of abusing agencies. Second, she forgot that Singapore is just a tiny dot where words travel at a lighting speed. True enough, a headhunting firm who was bouncing off names within the industry found her horrible records through this very agency's Managing Director.
So the morale of the story? if you are a bad egg, it's time to quit. It's not too late !
Lili Koh
7Skies Communication
The reason why I share this with you is not to forewarn or scare the wits out of anyone. No, this is not my style (In fact, I prefer to tell it like it is to your face:)). I endeavour to point out that every smart Communications Director should know how to get the most out of an agency. Work ethics tells us to treat them right and they will go the extra mile. I think most clients understand this. However I also saw for myself that many don't.
As the client, you always have the upper hands to almost everything. You have the power to throw out proposals, deny pitches to small unknown agencies, bargain prices in a cut-throat manner.. you can demand the sky, really... So what is acceptable and what's not?
Personally I did all of the above which I deemed as reasonable. As long as you know what you want, you raise the bar with each challenge to get the best deal from your agency. So that's my motto. However I detest despicable ways to demean people.
This story I heard just last week is by far the most outrageous!
This client from hell, let's call her "Miss Idiot" called up her PR agency on Friday late evening 7-ish and demanded for a proposal to be delivered to her house the next morning by 10 am. She said she has a very important meeting with her boss on Saturday.
The agency abided by her instruction, worked through the night (until 4 am) to deliver the proposal on time. The parcel was dropped off at Miss Idiot's condomnium's security checkpoint as per her instruction. The weekend came and gone. However the parcel was not picked up until the security officer alerted the agency that the house owner (ie Miss Idiot) had gone off for holiday during the weekend !
The horrible fact they discovered was Miss Idiot's boss cancelled the meeting on late Friday night and she decided to go to Batam for the weekend ! Not even a courtesty call to stop production?!!
Apparently Miss Idiot thought that her outrageous act stays within her and the agency. Well, she is so short-sighted on a few things. First, she better keep her job FOREVER because of her well-known records of abusing agencies. Second, she forgot that Singapore is just a tiny dot where words travel at a lighting speed. True enough, a headhunting firm who was bouncing off names within the industry found her horrible records through this very agency's Managing Director.
So the morale of the story? if you are a bad egg, it's time to quit. It's not too late !
Lili Koh
7Skies Communication
Saturday, April 24, 2010
The PR deathbed without digital
A friend shared with me over lunch today that a well-known local PR house is about to close down after 10-15 years of establishment. In their good old days they managed major mncs and they were in big demand so much so that they probably won't get out of bed if the account is not worth half-a-million! Today, the founders are well into their 50s. Old school thinking, laid-back and too tired to learn new tricks to stay relevant. One of them was quoted saying "digital media is too hard!". So gone too were the major accounts and they are losing money every day.
For those practitioners - be it in corporations or agencies, if you are still betting on press releases, media conferences and 1-1 interview pitching to make news... you will face the same fate as this PR house. Multi-channel PR is the way to go with the advent of the social web. Innovate to create more value-add or you will find yourself at your very own PR deathbed.
Lili Koh
7Skies Communication
For those practitioners - be it in corporations or agencies, if you are still betting on press releases, media conferences and 1-1 interview pitching to make news... you will face the same fate as this PR house. Multi-channel PR is the way to go with the advent of the social web. Innovate to create more value-add or you will find yourself at your very own PR deathbed.
Lili Koh
7Skies Communication
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