Re:thinking Marketing

Do you dare to claim this?

Maxis Way

On May 26th, I was invited to give a lecture during Maxis Senior Manager’s Off-site Meeting in Phuket, Thailand. Maxis, the number one telco company in Malaysia, just launched its so-called "Service Savvy" or its internal campaign to boost its service performance.

The New Baby in Town

I really admire Johny Andrean for his entrepreneurship skills. We have all witnessed how he has been so successful in the hairstyle business, and then brought Singapore’s brand BreadTalk to Indonesia where he ‘learns’ the retail business inside and out. And now, what he’s doing with J.CO I can say is very excellent. With no advertising at all, J.Co’s brand is now talk of the town. I hear it by myself from him while I attended the opening J.Co’s new store at Cilandak Town Square, last Sunday (March 19), I saw by my own eyes how people were lining up in a 20 m queue, standing for about an hour to just to get donuts.

That’s why I invited him to guest-speak at my monthly workshop last Saturday, this time entitled Branding that Sells.

Yes, I consider J.Co as the perfect case study of Branding that Sells. The Donuts and Coffee shop now has five outlets and each time it opens a new one, it manage to breakeven in just three months. And also J.Co applies what I call the Customer-Centric Branding concept…very engaging and experiential. It evens bring the J.Co Experience to my workshop…. free donuts and coffee for the participants…..

234% Jazz Lover

What a great marketing event this is...

I saw it by my own eyes as i attended the show on Sunday.

I'm not really fond of Jazz music, although i don't mind listening to it, but the main reason i come to this festival is just to see the marketing aspect. Yes, you are right...to me it's like a commodity.

I have to say Peter Gontha & Co did a great job in putting this show together. How he brings 1000+ performers for the three days festival and how sponsors lining up to chip in their money for this event. And yet it's a good marketing tool to bring the world to Indonesia and bring Jakarta to the World Map of Jazz Festival.

It's a great Marketing Festival....

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Btw, at the event, I met Mr Andy Noya from Media Indonesia and Mr Monika Soebari (Vice President of Rolling Stone Indonesia)...and got a lovely Rolling Stone shirt.....

Super Bowl Sunday, Jan 5th @ Big Apple

New York City 3pm: Super Bowl XL is still three hours away. The kick-off is due at 6pm, and because ABC has started showing the Pre-game show since 2.30pm. That’s why the city is now “sleeping”.

Four reporters at the Motown Stadium plus the other two at field analyzing and reporting about the two finalists: Pittsburgh Steelers and Seattle Seahawks plus their fanatic supporters who came by buses to Detroit.

The annual Super Bowl is really amazing! I have been visiting to New York City many times but yesterday's event was my first experience. How an event like that can make a metropolitan like NYC becoming a quiet city.

One thing that has amazed me the most is NFL. The organizer of Super Bowl..! 40 years in a row and The Super Bowl brand is still powerful even stronger...! It can create such perception that super bowl is The World Championship of American Football..! Strange huh? They call it football, but they rarely kick the "strange shape ball" by foot...! They successfully position the Champion Team, the Champion Coach and MVP (most valuable player) as people who can realize their dream to conquer the world after fighting very hard for a whole year in NFL Season.

Most Americans don’t care about World Cup..! The Real World Football Championship..! They just call that as Soccer, not football. Take a look to NBA..! More or less the same...They call it World Championship of Basketball, American Basketball team is not the Olympic Champion, because the NBA Pros are not allowed to play in Olympics…and the Pros never care too…

London-NYC/ Virgin Atlantic

This is the most famous VA flight. London-New York City is an 8-hour trans atlantic flight. [this flight is like a Big Mac at Mc D] At Heathrow, VA has its own terminal which is dominated by red color. Different from other airlines, VA names its first class as The Upper Class. I didn’t take that class, as it’s just too expensive; rather, I was in what Richard Branson called Premium Economy. (It was not Economy Class, but not Upper Class either.)

The seating arrangement is good. Two by two seats in every row..again, the chairs are dominated by Red color. even the blanket..! The second color is the metal color that makes a very vibrant and dynamic character of Virgin. The same character that I saw in Virgin Train that took me to Liverpool from London yesterday. For Upper class passengers, there is an open bar at the main deck for free and also Foot Massage is also available for Upper-class passengers who can recline their seats into bed.

I was sitting at the Upperdeck of 747-400 (Singapore Airlines calls it Mega Top) which was used not only for Premium Economy but also for Upper Class. Singapore Airlines only use its upperdeck for Business Class.

Compared to Singapore Airlines, I think, VA is really different in terms of Vibrant atmosphere and MUSIC SOUND QUALITY..! The Sound Quality is really First Class ! I enjoyed very much Walk the Line: The Johnny Cash Story, VA's Movie of the Month, mainly due to the sound quality. [Maybe because it’s a musical film. The true love story of Johnny Cash and June Carter-Cash..! Johnny and June themselves appointed Joaquin Phoenix and Reese Witherspoon to perform as both of them, before they died.]

The rest..? Food and Cabin crew service, I think SQ is still leading ...Try it if you have a chance. it is worthy to see Sir Richard Branson welcomes you through video before you fly...:)

HILLY Dental Salon/Kemang Jakarta

I just went to a dental saloon, owned by Drg Hilly Gayatri. Yes, it’s not a dental clinic. At least they don’t call it that way. There are 10 dentists who are ready to help patients.

If you come, they will analyze your teeth through model study and photos and they will keep the file and explain to you what are the possible choices of treatment for you. And by keeping the file, all dentists will exactly understand you and can work as a team in providing solution based on their own expertise.

The interiors..?

Very ethnical...A complex consists of three buildings linked by small parks. The waiting room is also "equipped" by several paintings and sculptures. The toilet is like a typical Kemang expatriate favorite ethnical Cafe's toilet. And the dentists don’t wear doctor's uniform. As Drg Hilly said: "To be honest, doctors' uniform is not necessarily better and cleaner than our normal dress" By wearing jeans and shirts, the dentists are also happy, creating good moods for customers and children as well.

It is all about Marketing...not only about Dentist type of job...

Amazing ABSOLUT @ Lotus Lane, Beijing

Beijing has now been transformed as a true Metropolitan city. With bars, streets of entertainment opened until 2 am in the morning and beyond. Many good places for eating, dining, drinking and sight-seeing are there to excite expatriates and locals.

Last night I went to a place called Bars Street or they call it simply as Lotus Lane, the home of more than 50 outlets and this hot spot becomes the place for Absolut to build its Sensational Branding by using Experiential Marketing.

See the pictures below, then you'll see what i mean....

They put all the Absolut Bottles and the Absolut Shapes in Glass Boxes along the Lotus Lane in this Festive Season...

As the biggest consumer market in the world and the sixth largest economy in the world (as recently announced), China’s market has emerged to be the place where The Biggest Marketing Battle is happening. Everyone is ready to invest a lot of money for long term return...

HK @ Disneyland HK

I have been to Disneyland Anheim, Paris, Tokyo, Disneyworld and Epcot Centre in Orlando, also Disney Sea in Tokyo. Still I feel tempted to go to Disneyland Hongkong, the latest and smallest one, While comparing it with other Disney Theme Park. !

Just the Mainstreet USA, the Fantasyland, the Adventureland and the Tommorowland...That's it...!

The most attractive show is Lion King! So spectacular. You don’t want to miss this one if you have the chance to go next time. And also The 3D Animatic. Not like other 3D, you will feel the wind, the water even the smell of the scene in the movie. Wow!

And how about the rest? I can say a liltle bit boring.

Winnie the Pooh story is not so interesting. Magic mountain, the Indoor Roller Coaster is okay.

However, since the area is relatively small, it is easy to move from one area to others. The positive thing here is you don’t need to queue long enough for your favourite shows. They have Fast Track (FT) system. You can insert your smart ticket to a machine and it will give you ticket with a designated time range. So you can save your time.

In Aichi Expo (which is a bit like Disneyland for the innovators), to be honest I can only go into 2 shows in one day. But in Hongkong, I can do 5 shows from 11am to 5pm ! But, interestingly to know that the Locals are not keen to go. Why? Most of them have visited other Disneys, so they perceive this one as a "local" Disney.

But guess who their customers are? Mainland Chinese. They come and they have money. { The Economists on its special edition "The World in 2006" recently said that "in 2006, visitors numbers to hongkong hit a record high of 27 m as mainland chinese are lured by relaxed tourism rules and attractions such as disneyland hongkong."}

But unfortunately, there is one problem which the Disneyland HK surely needs to take into account. The characters here speak Cantonese and English. While the mainland Chinese speaks and prefer Mandarin, over Cantonese and for sure not English. So, that’s why the rumous is that Disney Hongkong is not making money yet. The same thing happened in Disneyland Paris in the first two years.

Anyway, for me it’s still okay.

My visit to Disneyland Hongkong was just like a study case of International Marketing of a World Class Service-Brand.

And beside, I went there to enjoy x’mas eve.

More pictures on photo album

sexuality-creativity link

I got an interesting insight From Straits Times today.

Clara Chow, who writes the article "Do sexuality and creativity go hand in hand?" says that "Creative people may, by and large, be sexy, but it doesn't follow that sex inspires creativity"

What do you think ?