Sales, Social and Tech

Thanks to AirAsiaSingapore Facebook Page contest, I won a pair of tickets to witness the first football match at the new National Stadium. The biggest satisfaction was to do the Kallang Wave again, after so many years, and it was even better as I waved with son for the first time. The last I did the Kallang Wave was probably during the Malaysia Cup days were the grand old dame saw many glorious goals. Who can forget Sundaram bicycle kick vs Brunei? Then, the stands were slightly further from the field because of the track. The new stands at the new National Stadium can be moved so that when it comes to football matches, you can get a closer view to the pitch. Unfortunately, the pitch looked rather patchy, especially from the brown spots. More work has to be done for the pitch to provide more quality football entertainment. The match, in general, was as predicted to be one sided with Juventus scoring the first goal with a cheeky free kick. The Singapore defensive wall, as...

During my Army days, one of the unwritten rule we were told was that you could do what you want, but don't get caught. SMRT's response to the woman defecating publicly at their Holland Village station seems to support the unwritten rule above and this poses a danger to transport security. SMRT wrote , in a reply to Temasek Review's query, Please be assured that should any of our staff spot a member of the public committing such unlawful acts, they will most certainly approach the person and put a stop to it. He/ she is also likely to be issued with a Notice of Offence (NOO) and a summon from the National Environmental Agency (NEA). However, this incident had occurred away from our staff’s line of sight. Whilst our staff would endeavour to ensure that our stations are looked after properly, they would also need to attend to other duties and passengers as well. Hence, constantly focusing on CCTV would be counterproductive for them. On that note, we seek the pu...

Many Singaporeans on Facebook was shocked to see a photo of a lady defecating in public at the Holland Village MRT Station. Such act of public "bombing" is extremely rare in the clean and green garden city that the initial reaction by some was that the image was photoshopped to add fuel to the argument that Singapore has one too many foreigners. However, a query by a concerned Facebook fan of the SMRT (Official) which resulted in a reply proved that the incident was real and not edited. Wrote SMRT , Hi 林漢文, SMRT cleaned the area at 4pm, after a passenger notified station staff of the woman's behaviour at 3:50pm. Interestingly, the photo originated from here where it was shared almost 2000+ times. The incident was photographed slightly before 2pm. Were there 2 hours of stink before it was cleared? Reaction to shock is sometimes denial. This is seen in reactions when some patients are first told they can cancer. In this case, the denial came in the form of t...

I interviewed a few potential candidates for a Marketing Executive post in my company as I was looking for someone to help me take over some of my work. I could say most of them came prepared, except for one job application who came rather aimlessly for the interview. If you are looking for a job, the lease you could do is come prepared or with confidence. Here is an open letter to those who are considering working with me as a marketing executive. 1. Please visit the company's website before the interview The first question I will ask the interviewee if he/she visited the website to learn about the company. This is a gauge of the interviewees' interest level in the job. In this Google enabled world, all it takes it a search and you can find almost everything recorded on the web. The abovementioned interviewee admitted he didn't visit the website so he couldn't explain what our company do. Though I appreciated his honesty, but that will only take you so far. ...

At one of my previous job to write about the IT media industry, something like a paparazzi of the paparazzi, journalists and writers on the good side used to complain to me about some lazy PR practices. Usually, the complains will be off the record, but with Facebook, bloggers in Singapore are taking to the social networks to complain about the "dark side". Catherine Ling, of Camemberu.com, started the ball rolling by posting on Facebook why PR folks email and ask for her websites states when they can easily be found on the site. Post by Catherine Ling . Other bloggers joined in the fray and immediately commented that the PR person was probably too lazy to go check the states for themselves. Adrian Eugene Seet commented, "Plain laziness. Especially when they ask for Facebook, Instagram and social media sites." For the record, the stats for Camemberu.com can be found at the bottom of her blog. If the PR is too lazy to read about her profile, it can ...

I registered my son for a primary school in an area under 1km from our house under the Phase 2C, which is for the children who do not fall under the earlier phases. After the first day of Phase 2C registration, there are more children registered than vacancies. Immediately, I reacted that my son will have to do through the balloting process. However, it seems not all applications will have to go through the balloting. Hidden in the Ministry of Education (MOE) FAQ website on balloting, there are two examples of how balloting is done. From the MOE FAQ , If School A has 80 vacancies for a particular phase and 90 applicants (see table below), how will the places be allocated? Home-School Distance Singapore Citizen (SC) Singapore Permanent Resident (SPR) < 1km 60 10 Between 1km and 2km 10 5 > 2km 5 0 Total 75 15 All the 75 Singapore Citizen (SC) children will be admitted first. The remaining five vacancies will then be allocat...

The National Council Of Problem Gambling is currently the laughing stock of all campaigns since Germany beat Brazil 7-1 in the World Cup Semi-Finals. However, as Argentina is now in the finals, NCPG will be one having the last laugh. Germany won because Brazil's defense was non-existence throughout the match. David Luiz was central defender but he was all over the place. Most of the goals scored was because David was out of position. Marcelo, left back, played more like left wing. Left and center not working, the defence couldn't cope with Germany's attack. Replay showed that Germany had three attackers vs three or two Brazillian defenders. The Business Insider has a good analysis of Brazil's defence or lack of it. Read here . Argentina only conceded 2 goals so far and that was their third match against Nigeria and they already qualified for 2nd round. Argentina back four don't run up much. Messi also knows when to drop deep to help defence like he did again...