Sales, Social and Tech

When I blogged about how Microsoft wants to " smoke " Singaporeans when they launch "Get Smoked by Windows Phone" campaign here, a challenger in US who won  got "smoked" by Microsoft. "Smoke" in local Singapore slang means to bluff, cause confusion, etc.. A Samsung Galaxy Nexus user in the US challenged the Windows Phone and won, he was indeed "smoked" by the Microsoft store staff. Wrote Sahas Katta , My opponent finished a split-second later. She had two live tiles on her home screen displaying the weather of two different cities as well. Why does it take longer on Windows Phone? She had to perform two actions. First, she hit the power button to turn on the screen. Second, she had to swipe away the lock screen. That’s pretty much as fast as it gets on that platform. Windows Phone takes two interactions. Android takes just one.  After pressing for a better reason, I was told that Windows Phone won “just because.” Sahas Katta ...

Ok, the ad below wasn't for Miss Universe Singapore. However, this is classic case of copywriting gone wrong. Image from a Facebook user...

Rock and Ash has officially launched the Rock and Ash Fan Club powered by PayPal. To join the Fan Club and link your PayPal account, all you need to do is visit http://taggo.me/RockandashSG . Wrote Koon Teck , the partner at Rock and Ash, Dear Fans, do you know that you can now use your paypal to pay for your meal at our cafe ? You just need to link your Fans account to your paypal and using your handphone to authorise the purchase when paying at the cashier. It is seamless, cashless, cardless and most importantly you get 20% discount off. Aneace Haddad, CEO and founder of Taggo, paid for his first burger with PayPal at Rock and Ash a few weeks back. Wrote Aneace, Look Ma! No credit card! No wallet! Just my mobile phone! I just paid for my first burger with PayPal at Rock and Ash. When fans join the Rock and Ash fan club, they have the option to link their mobile number to their PayPal account. Then, at the point of sale, all they have to do is give their mobile n...

The Rocky Pizza Facebook Fan Club is launched. All Fan Club members enjoy 20% off the final bill! Register your mobile number at  http://taggo.me/rockypizza.sg ! Then tell the staff your mobile number upon payment to enjoy this exclusive fan benefit!  

Facebook Page: http://www.facebook.com/DigitalLifeSg Campaign Title: Digital Life Fan Club 842 check-in fans generated 1,851,231 impressions, 1,574 clickthroughs and 1,567 new fans in just four days at IT Show 2012 Launch Date: 07 March 2012 Most social media agencies will tell brands to get on the social media bandwagon to engage fans at events; they often do it with no clear way to identify fans. Some resort to using social mobile tools like Foursquare to engage fans. Such methods often do not generate the desired results. Take Lenovo for an example. At Sitex 2010, Lenovo launched a Foursquare campaign and predicted they could achieve a minimum of 30 check-ins a day. During the four day event, they only received a total of 16 check-ins ( http://socialpr.blogspot.com/2010/11/did-lenovo-singapore-foursquare.html ). At the recent IT Show 2012, Digital Life too wanted to reward their Facebook fans by launching their Facebook Fan Club.  Registered fans were reward with D...

Organisation’s Name:  Cumulus Shop at Wheelock Facebook Page: http://www.facebook.com/Cumulus.Online Campaign Title: Retailer with a single shop gets 1 million word of mouth impressions among friends of customers. Launch Date: 21 January 2012 Cumulus offers 5% for registered Fans. Cumulus is at 501 Orchard Road #02-14  Wheelock Place  Cumulus was looking for a way to reward their existing Facebook Fan base. They launched the Cumulus Fan Club, offering fans a 5% discount on all items. A special Valentine’s Day promotion was also launched, offering fans a 10% discount on selected items. Cumulus chose to have Taggo installed in their Windows Point-Of-Sales machine to allow their cashiers easy access to Taggo’s fan recognition feature alongside the POS application. How does it work? Customers visit Cumulus and see posters enticing them with the benefit to join the Fan Club. Customers scan a QR code or enter the given URL ( http://taggo.me/Cumulus.Onlin...

(PS: A journalist shared a tip on the 5Ws and 1H to pitch and referred to WHEN. The worst time to call a journalist is when it is on the offstone day or week and at end of work day.  "That's like calling a restaurant at peak hour on a weekend and asking for a table," said this journalist. Knowing WHEN the best time to pitch would make your "anyhow" pitch sound good.) Trying to pitch a dead story to a journalist is one thing. Trying the patience of a journalist with a meaningless pitch of a story so as to enter "media relations - 5 mins spent" on the timesheet is not media relations. And it could end up with your agency being the laughing Facebook status update of the day, even if it was done in coded shorthand. A journalist was overheard by another complaining about a PR executive pitching a non-story and who sounded like he/she was unprepared to make the pitch. This resulted in jokes on a popular social network to about the agency should be re...

Photo taken with iPhone 4S, edited with Snapseed.

Remembering Created with cinemagr.am Was walking past Orchard Road when I came across the exhibit of paper windmills thanking Singapore and Singaporeans for te help and prayers given to Japan at the time of the crisis. 

Singapore Tourism Board, or STB, recently launched a "Get lost" visit Singapore advertisement that has led many Singaporean perplexed by the choice of words used to entice Australians to come visit this island state. Wrote mrbrown , I guess this was Singapore taking the piss at Australia for their "So where the bloody hell are you?" tourism campaign. Though I am pretty certain "get lost" means the same in Australia as the rest of the world. And with our tiny size, I am not sure if it is possible to get lost here either. For those who feel that the "get lost" tagline is almost as cute as "So where the bloody hell are you", I would have to ask you when was the last time a Singaporean told you to get lost and meant it as an encouragement to go out and explore. Also, if an Australian gets lost in Singapore, it is an insult to the efficient Singapore public transportation system and the hard work by the Land Transport Authority t...

Microsoft is looking to bring over its campaign from the US to invite the Singapore consumers to bring down their existing and compete with the Windows phone. Unfortunately, local slang gives the tagline a undesirable meaning in this game of speed. Wrote e27.sg ,  "Think you have the fastest non-Windows Phone mobile? Get ready to be Smoked by Windows Phone and if you do win, you’ll get a chance of walking away with S$100. Check out more info and the official Smoked by Windows Phone videos." However, most Singaporeans, especially those who have served in the Army, would view the word "smoked" in a different light. According to talkingcock.com dictionary of Singlish terms,  "SMOKE/THROW SMOKE  (Contributed by Bertha) A term derived from the Army, where smoke is used to conceal tactical operations. Means to bluff, cause a diversion, confuse someone or bullshit. It's used commonly during examinations, when someone has no idea how to answer t...

Fans of Digital Life Facebook Page can enjoy up to $10,000 worth of prizes at The IT Show 2012.  To join The Digital Life Fan Club, all you need to do is to follow the next three steps: Step 1: Click on http://taggo.me/DigitalLifeSG Step 2: Follow the instructions to register your mobile number. You mobile number will be kept private. Step 3: Go to the Digital Lift Booth at The IT Show 2012 and share your mobile number. It is that simple.

Start-ups looking to put the loyalty cards into the mobile phone are sprouting out these days and many more are being inspired to look at creating one on their own. These new start-ups are putting new features to the digital loyalty card to differentiate themselves, but is there a really a business model for loyalty? I am highlighting this issue, not because of the biasses of where I am working now, but rather from the experience of the first version that has taught us valuable lessons in the business of loyalty. The learnings from the experience may be wrong and I will welcome these start-ups to show me otherwise. Every digital loyalty card startup will talk about the fat wallet syndrome and how consumer will appreciate the fact that the digital loyalty card will remove this. There is some truth in this as much some wallets and purses are filled with loyalty cards, or the overfill of loyalty cards that are left in the car or in the house, and a thinner wallet would be much app...