Sales, Social and Tech

The PR department of Standard Chartered Bank Malaysia may have thought of a great event to bring FinTech closer to the Malaysia media, but a single line in its email promo has found to be described as patronising it audience it looks to invite.  Malaysia media has taken to social media to point out asking why is this PR department looking to train media on how to write a great FinTech story as part of the goals of attending this bridging workshop. Is the PR indicating that while the Malaysia media has been writing FinTech stories, it still have not achieved the level of greatness that of Standard Chartered Bank Malaysia standards?  "A media workshop on how to write fintech stories: From a banks point of view I wonder what's their idea of a great story??" wrote one journalist in the media group.  Another journalist sarcastically pointed out if "the hired trainer to teach us how to cross our t's and dot our i's, or someone to hone our BS ...

Students, past and present, have set up an online petition to show support for  Dr Cherian George, who was denied a tenure contract at the Nayang Technological University School of Mass Communication. It is being speculated that Dr Cherian George was denied the tenure because of his political views at  http://www.airconditionednation.com/. Wrote Nur Asyiqin , Cherian doesn't just teach - he motivates. Sharp, patient and entertaining, I've learned a lot from him during GO-FAR and FYP. He never secondguesses your ability, just encourages you, certain you can do better. That sort of faith is hard to find in professors these days. He believes in his students, and we believe in him too. #georgefortenure As of this blog post, the petition received 348 signatures. To support the petition, please share this link  http://www.change.org/en-GB/petitions/tenure-contract-for-dr-cherian-george

(Update: The write  Karl  Shmavonian has emailed to apologise for the "  inexcusable error". The right flag is now used. You can click --> http://www.forbes.com/pictures/eglg45ehghk/no-6-singapore/ to see the new flag.) It takes about five hours to fly between Singapore and China, but still even the smart writers at Forbes still thinks Singapore is somewhere in China. In an photo gallery to highlight the the top 10 places to be born in 2013, Singapore came in sixth. Sixth with the photo of somebody that looks so Singaporean carrying the flag of China. He looks so Singaporean, yes or no? Source:  http://www.forbes.com/pictures/eglg45ehghk/where-to-give-birth-in-2013/ The writer should join Sheldon Cooper on his "Fun with Flags" show and learnt a thing or two about flags of the world. 

(Update: In an article at Today, PUB highlighted that the rain on Dec 23 "caused some parts of Stamford Canal to be full" and " At Liat Towers, rainwater that drained off from the roof and the back area of the building overflowed into the basement area from an internal drain, as the water could not be discharged into the canal, which was full". Read article here . The recent "ponding" at Liat Towers in Orchard Road has turned into a finger pointing match between the building's management and Public Utilities Board. However, a Facebook user spotted the colour of the "ponding" which immediately resolves all blame to one party. Wrote The Straits Times , A spokesman for the management of the shopping and office block, speaking to The Straits Times following a meeting with PUB, pinned the blame on an over-full Stamford Canal. PUB, on the other hand, is adamant that the build-up of water came from the heavy rain and the building not pumpi...

The byline of Don Sambandaraksa, the popular IT journalist for Bangkok Post whom some PR loves to hate, appeared recently at Telecom Asia. The last time the PR world saw Don’s byline was in the last issue of Bangkok Post’s Database on January 04, 2011. Don is now a reporter at Telecom Asia and will focus more on the commentary section of the telecom publication. In his latest commentary, he described Nokia Thailand giveaway of gold bars and motorcycles as lucky draw prizes as “Lush giveaway whiffs of desperation”. Wrote Don , What do you do when you are a former market leader in a country where goodwill still runs strong and your next generation of phones will not support the local language? That is the situation facing Nokia Thailand right now given that Windows Phone Mango is reported that it will not support the Thai language out of the box. The answer that Nokia came up with was simple - turn on the marketing dollars. In what some might feel an act of desperati...

The IT journos are usually the ones asking the spokesperson of various brands their prediction would be for the year ahead. I thought I flipped the funnel to ask IT journos what they are looking out for in 2011 which could shape IT industry. Kashminder Singh, Group Managing Editor at One World Solutions in Malaysia, shared that he be on the look out for the tablets wars between the 9 inches and 7 inches, Smartphone OS competition and IPTV. Kashminder said, “Tablets. Which tablet will prevail? 9 inch tablets like the iPad or smaller ones like the PlayBook? I think BOTH will do well. “Smartphones and the OS wars: Will Android crush Apple? Will Windows Phone 7 stun everbody by delivering a knockout blow one both? Will Nokia rise or sink further? This has all the makings of a top notch thriller. “IPTV. I believe its time has come. If not this year; very soon. I am watching with interest the early days of the trend that will kill off the TV as we know it.” Neighbourly IT journos...

Technorati Tags: Techcrunch , Media , Public Relations , Embargo Techcrunch is declared to PR agencies that it either an exclusive or death to the embargo. Their reason being that other website publications are choosing to break the embargo to be first with the news and thus providing no advantage to Techcrunch. Embargos in Asia are well respected though, probably because embargoes are often given to print publications. To the non-media/PR trained, an embargoed press release or interview means that journalist will be receiving the information days prior to a date in the future that the client decides to announce to the public. Embargos are good for journalists because it gives them time to research and prepare for the article before the date of the official announcement. However, Techcrunch’s announcement shows another divide in the Media/PR relationship: Media looking for the exclusive so that they can be first with the news while PR looks out for the quantity of the cover...