Sales, Social and Tech

The last Singapore General Elections in Singapore was held on 06 May 2006, social networking and the smartphones then were still in the infancy. Twitter was launched in 15 July 2006. Facebook opened registration to all in 26 September 2006. Foursquare on 11 March 2009.  The first iPhone was launched in 27 June 2009. Google launched the Google Android Phone on 18 August 2008. It isn’t any surprised that the Singapore General Elections of 2011 has brought social networking in the fray with the smartphone playing an important part in spreading the messages of the various political parties. As most equate those using social networks as being used by the younger generation, the recent Foursquare check ins at the political rallies are an indication to where the younger generation are leaning towards. The Workers’ Party saw the most Foursquare check ins at its rally on the first day of campaigning.   This number of check ins show that the Workers’ Party has significantly ...

Nomination day is just around the corner yet if you have read “Marketing Warfare” by Al Ries and Jack Trout, you could easily identify with the strategies of the various political parties. “Marketing Warfare” isn’t about the battle of geographical conquest, but rather the battle for the positioning in the mind of the consumers. In the General Elections, the various political parties are too fighting for voters’ mindshare but for their heartshare too. Ries and Trout highlighted that companies with various marketshare have different objectives, which is similar when you start comparing the actions of the political parties. Party Number 1 (PAP) – Dominance of Market Share (Win as many seats to continue to be the next government) Party Number 2  (WP) – Increase Market Share (More than 1 seats in Parliament) Party Number 3 (SDP,NSP,SPP,RP) – Profitable Survival (Win at least 1 seat/GRC or at best more than 1/8th of the votes) If you are number 1, you should have a defensiv...

(Don't miss the fun at The Originals IP Race 2011! Register now at www.hipalliance.com ) Juz B will be crashing The Originals IP Race and rocking it out to their original songs. Let's hear what they say about standing up for originality and respecting IP. (Juz-B performance at Youth Olympics Games) From L to R: Mathyr, Dee, Ryan, Afwan, and Fizz (Jules not in photo) 1. What’s the story behind Juz-B? Juz-B was formed back in 1995 when we were in Bowen Secondary School. It originally had 3 members and we performed mainly in school events. After we graduated from secondary school, we still got together due to our passion for singing. Our group first appeared on national TV in the Asia Bagus programme back in 1997 and we were known as Take 5, because there were five of us. However, there was a boy band with the same name so we changed it to High 5 but another group targeted at younger children also called themselves Hi 5. We didn’t want our audience to be confused so we n...

Taggo – Facebook Fan Recognition – is in action at the Retail World Asia 2011 . We were invited by IBM and our partner EBR to demonstrate how Taggo – Facebook Fan Recognition – can be easily installed into a IBM POS (Point of Sale) machine and be used at an retail outlet. Simulating a fashion outlet, Jolt.F, we provide retailers the experience on how Taggo – Facebook Fan recognition – identify Facebook fans of the retailers’ Facebook Pages at the point of sale. In this scenario, the “cashier” performs the regular sales transaction with the customer over the counter. Before payment, the “cashier” will ask for the customer if he is a fan of Jolt.F Facebook Page . The customer takes out his credit/debit card, loyalty card and transit card, which he has used to register and link at the Jolt.F Facebook Page. When the customer is recognised as a fan, the “cashier” can give the 20% discount to the fan. But why is the retailer willing to give the customer/fan the 20% discount?...

The IT journalists in Singapore who I know are usually very nice people. When a statement made by a spokesperson is found to be false, they will usually give the PR team a benefit of the doubt and ask double check. Unfortunately for an IT editor who explained that he needed a new statement within 30 mins with an off stone deadline looming, otherwise the options would either be to pull the story out or prove that the statement made was found to be false. Both would have dire consequence for the PR team. Unfortunately, the PR person, rumoured to have an experience of 17 years in PR and marketing, took the off stone statement as a threat from the journalist. "Are you THREATENING me?" screamed the PR person according to inside sources in the local newsroom. It took just four words to end the courtesy extended by the IT editor to change the wrong into a right. PR lesson of the day: If a journalist is nice to you, as a PR person - be nice too. You need to do w...

(Related post - How the opposition can find their voice in traditional media ) In this 2011 General Elections, more members of the People’s Action Party are getting their feet wet in the realm of social media to reach out to the “younger” generation. Already, it seems that it is no easy walk in the park as recent gaffes have highlighted how wet behind the ears are their experience in social media. One example is that of Senior Minister Goh Chok Tong making a tongue in cheek comment of the new candidate Tin Peiling being “treated for trauma”, only to be taken seriously by traditional media. As a result, Senior Minister Goh had to explain his comment. Another example is that of the handler of the @PAPSingapore Twitter account replying to a follower that she should join the PAP.SG Facebook Page so she can look at more photos of new candidate Tin Peiling. As senior members of the PAP are trying to build Tin Peiling as a credible candidate despite her age, the reply from @PAPSingapo...

(Related post: How the People’s Action Party can find its voice in social media ) The Channel NewsAsia Political Forum on Saturday threw light to how the opposition, save for Singapore Democratic Party’s Vincent Wijeysingha, is not ready for the media spotlight. Singapore Progressive Party’s Lina Chiam and Nazem Suki of the Singapore Democratic Alliance were the two worst performers in the forum. Both stumbled and sometimes failed to string a proper sentence or two to deliver the parties’ mandate. They made it seem that that their parties’ do not have any mandate at all but to win a parliamentary seat from the ruling party. Workers' Party Gerald Giam did his best but he still showed the lack of media savvy to take full advantage of the medium. Even if traditional media played fair and balance, not being ready for the media could dampen the confidence of the voters you are looking to sway. The best advice I can give to the opposition party is to hire a PR or ex-media profe...

You know it is a bad joke when a comedian has to explain why his joke is funny. Senior Minister Goh Chok Tong was under the media’s eye when he update on the MParader Facebook Page that new candidate Ms Tin Pei Ling “has been traumatized”, as seen as from the screenshot above. SM Goh Chok Tong could have use the quotation mark in his status update to show that his remark was indeed tongue in cheek. For example, Young Pei Ling has been “traumatized”.  Saw her yesterday with “trauma” specialist, Fatimah. While doc “examined” her, I “observed”. Her “initial hurt” and “pain” have subsided… Wouldn’t the quotation marks tell the joke better on Facebook?

If you are into social media or want to be into social media, the first thing you ought to do is to stop typing out vulgarities to your friends on any social media outlets. Last March, one social media executive at Health Promotion Board tweeted the f-bomb, which was meant for friends, on the HPB account . On April’s Fool 2011, a social media executive at The Straits Times tweeted the f-bomb, which was also meant for friends, on The Straits Times twitter account – Stcom . Look at both incidents. Both were meant for friends. But because of a mix up in account on the Twitter client, the two behind both accounts send out the f-bomb through these official Twitter accounts. Many have said that the four letter word is something you say commonly to friends and friends take it in jest. However, if the f-bomb comes from an official account, it affects the reputation of the brand. The social media editor for STcom has apologise for the error. Wrote The Straits Times , Upon being ...