Overlooking and Underestimating PR

I have been keeping mostly quiet about the announcement and developments of the Association of Bloggers (Singapore), because apart from memories of being naively indignant about the whole ECL vs Ping issue, and indignantly appalled with the DK Banned affair, I felt that I knew far too little of the complete story to make fair comments. You know lah, I'm a PR-practitioner-to-be, so I get almost paranoid about what comes out of my mouth or fingers these days.

Now that I've been watching the events unfold though, I thought it appropriate to give my speech standing on familiar territory.

That is, Public Relations.

What could well have been the One Ring to Rule Them All instead crashed and burned slowly, torturously, and spectacularly, complete with exploding fuel tanks and screaming passengers roasted alive. Some questioned why the traditional media knew before the new media whom this was squarely targeted at knew (hoo. Nice mouthful there.). Some (choke)slammed Association Protem President ECL of establishing the association on petty terms and using it as a chance to get back at those who have in one way or another snubbed her. Some, as everyone's favorite werewolf said here, ridiculed the association's redundancy, and in an embarrassingly Singaporean fashion questioned its arguably exorbitant membership fees. And now, to seal the kiss, seven of the ten Protem members have stepped down from their posts. How's that for a first week at work?

All that I have just mentioned made for just about the perfect PR disaster. Wrong introduction to the wrong target, dirty linen of leaders, dubious agendas. First of all, the Association appears to have been a solo effort, with ECL taking most of the questions and the brunt of the backlash. Most if not all of the Protem are well-established and experienced bloggers, and I cannot see how everyone seems to have failed to caution their President that bloggers are a vicious bunch of piranhas that will jump on anything that tickles their irritant bone and bash it to pulp. Now I want to say this very clearly that I am not hitting out on any of the Protem members. Including the President. Some of my good friends are in the committee, and in all sincerity I hold them in high intellectual esteem. Mistakes have been made, and I'm mapping it out in a... not so nice manner by not pulling any punches. And you will see why, I hope, by the time you get to the end of this post. So please be patient and read through.

While this cannot be applied to every situation, I believe it's still common sense - please know your market before deploying your product and its introductory processes. If you aren't already confident that you know your target market well, take time to research on their likes, dislikes, habits and quirks. One should know that with such a product that concerns the very fundamentals of blogging, secrecy is not the way to go. And that an exclusive interview with traditional media, the friendly nemesis and benevolent antithesis of blogging, is bloody suicide. That interview should have been no surprise to the blogosphere. It should have served as information to people who don't care all that much. It should have been old boring news to the blogosphere.

Then there were ECL's responses to the backlash. Did she act by herself? As with presidents and prime ministers, one should never make the next move without consulting your committee. It is understandable that one gets offended, insulted and indignant when the baby you have so painstakingly nurtured in the past few months gets thrown about and laughed at. But the response wasn't a one-paragraph shoot off. It was a long detailed return. There should have been more than enough time to consider one's actions before proceeding further. Whether you get dragged into the situation or not, one should always distinguish clearly between organization and self. Failure to do so would result in one acting in a capacity greater than what is required, and further ruin the already damaged image of the company.

That said, I wonder if I am being idealistically demanding when I ask - Where was the committee then? Having seen the negative reactions of the community, why did they not gather around their president to discuss solutions? Or did they already do so to the President's deaf ears? And because there is no PR or communications-related post in the committee, I will turn on the next closest discipline. The marketers of the committee seemed to be doing nothing at all to repair the damage done to the organization's reputation, nor to curb the President's inflammatory remarks, nor to advise her, it appears, on how to deal with further attacks, at least until it was far too late. Nor, while we're on the subject, did they seem to plan the execution of the introduction. If they had given it some thought, it wouldn't be half the flop it turned out to be, I think. Because really honestly, some of the mistakes made in this case are palmface stupid.

What I'm saying is this. Never, ever, leave PR out of the equation. You just cannot afford to nowadays. Your PR person, assuming he/she is competent, is there to be a firestarter and a fireman. If things go awfully wrong as it has in this case, he will be there to put the fire out. If things go well, he's there to spread the good fire of your product, and watch triumphantly as it spreads farther and farther. And especially in today's marketing world, where we're dealing more with bloggers with just about no need nor incentive to write responsibly, you will need your PR to deal with them. Okay, us.

It is a daunting situation for ABS now, one that will convince many that there is no need to bother fighting anymore. But I think there's still a slim chance, if they can hang on tight to their cards and play them well.

One more mistake though, and it will all over. And when that happens, belief can help them no further.

Company

Yesterday, I met up with my friends from my time in university. All four of us were the same, entering uni after O levels, and unwittingly convincing everyone we tell this to afterwards that we're absolute genii. 7 months after we left graduated, we met up with each other - one in unit (me, cos I'm fat and went in much earlier), one freshly passed out from Police Academy, one in OCS, one not long into SCDF training as a fireman (tough shit).

We went to Bukit Panjang Plaza (great mall, but fucked up place to get to -_-") for Jack's Place and nearby for LAN to play Left 4 Dead. It's a fantastic game. But as I see it much of the enjoyment depends on co-op. I dunno how much fun it will be playing alone with 3 bots for company. I do know that there's a chance that a controller flung out of frustration might crack my 42" LCD TV.

But that's the thrill of it all. Wondering if I should buy it for the 360 - should be able to tide me over till Street Fighter IV (!!!!!!!) and Resident Evil 5 and Final Fantasy XIII (HAHA PSers HAHA).

More importantly, as we talked and shared and boasted about our NS life (we may not have been able to share much pain and bitchiness because we were scattered all over, but it's fun in its own way listening to stories from other metaphorical islands.), complained about bunkmates, and reveled in each others' simple company, I began to realize just how much I missed this crowd of people. This gang of madcaps. This clique of intelligence. And I don't mean intelligence in a sense of IQ, but rather one where we're tuned to the exact frequency, able to understand each other effortlessly. I won't pretend that we're a smart bunch above common folk - how smart do you think you are when the entry requirement is $60 000 and 6 O level passes? But the unique education system, the amount of interaction we went through seeing and working with each other for 3 years that sped by just like that, it just sets us apart from others. And I look back and see how much I was teased and how awkwardly I stood out in secondary school, how university was such a world of a difference where I felt very at home, and how I'm back to square one now, and I realize that my blind insistence and parents' hope was right - I'm quite hopelessly tuned to respond favorably to the US education system. And these months in NS, I've had my fun, of course I've had. I gained plenty of experiences that I could finally identify with others. But the magic of it all, for now, will remain in this clique of mine.

Perhaps it should remain this way, that we meet once in awhile and realise how much we took our company for granted.

After all, absence makes the heart grow fonder, and familiarity breeds contempt.

Love you guys. And thank you for memories undoable.

Got such a word meh undoable? But it sounds nice lah. Chim.

Happy moo year.

Customer Disservice

I honestly don't know whether I have too high standards, or expectations, or it was the crowd, or just a bad bad day. How often though do you get served poop on a silver platter two times in a row?

Story is, my parents announced to me that they wanted to invest in a home theater (love their choice of words). The only condition is wireless, because we don't have/don't want a rug in our living room, and with wires running smack across the floor, either you die, or the console crashes. Or worse, the whole TV. I don't like the idea personally, I want to avoid wireless as much as possible, but it is a very valid concern, and it's just too bad that this very valid concern is mine.

So we decide to go to Vivo City to check it out, and with the others trailing behind me I make a beeline for Best Denki. When I first reach the home theatre section we were attended to quickly. But I honestly dunno what was up with the sales guy. He was so slow and blur I started wondering if he was mentally challenged. Almost every question was returned with a "Hah? Err..."

Part of me wanted to tell him to find someone more competent please because you're wasting our time, but I didn't. I really, really, knnbccb really am too patient and kind for my own mental health -_-"

After awhile, while we were testing some of our music, he just disappeared and we never saw him again. An older guy came along and apparently was in charge of the entire section, but after awhile when my father kept insisting that he turn up the bass, he said, "I go call my sound guy." This next guy appeared but he was supposed to be in charge of the Yamaha section. He was honestly the most helpful and knowledgeable guy but he had an area to stick to and other customers to attend to, so he left us to find for ourselves another salesman. I randomly walked to the shavers counter and told one younger salesman that I wish to be attended to by someone from the home theatre section. After physically searching for some guy in mind, and paging him over the store PA for 10min, we were still unattended to. Someone else came along, and was equally clueless about wireless home theater products. He however introduced us to some new information, that some wireless technologies use infrared, which requires direct line-of-sight, which I think is fuck-you stupid, but anyway. My parents said "never mind, we'll take our time and research. No rush." So I walk out dejectedly of Denki (yeah it's not best). True, there was no rush really, but I had asked my parents and aunt to detour to Vivo for a solid purpose, and utterly failed to meet it because of a whole fucking store's incompetencies. We'd all have been chilling at home an hour earlier if we didn't go to Vivo only to find out that Denki's customer service fell to a new low.

As we were walking, my dad was chattering away about how Samsung came out with this new phone that looks even better than the Omnia (turned out to be the Pixon he was talking about). And both of us realized at the same time that Samsung had home theater systems displayed there as well.

So excited again we went to the flagship store. And great, this guy at least knows his products. Even if he can't recite the power distribution in middle left right rear left rear right speakers backwards, at least he could tell you immediately which systems supported wireless rear speakers, which is all we needed, not a completely wireless system. We tested a frankly sexy system, the X715. After I was satisfied with the stereo playback, I asked for a DVD to hear the 5.1. "Don't have." What the fuck is the meaning of don't have? You sell 5.1 systems without media to show of 5.1 capabilities? After repeatedly asking, he went to dig up the Cars DVD, and again the system performed well. My parents were ready to pay up after he's answered their million questions. Then I enquired about my Xbox and how it would be wired up. And though not his fault, I was disappointed because it seemed that I cannot retain my high def video and have 5.1 at the same time. The last time I clearly remembered a salesman show me an amp module with HDMI in and out, for configurations such as these. My father made a comment about how this set didn't have as much connectivity as the other set we saw in Denki, and I shrugged because shucks USB input isn't important to me. As I was playing with the console later though, I switched through the modes and landed smack on USB mode.

And true enough to my deduction, our friend apparently missed out on the cosmetically concealed side flap containing a USB port, Aux in, and Headphones out.

Ticked me off a little, but again, these aren't the most important features to me, so I told my parents "Go ahead and get it if you want. I'll solve my own problems after." After which I spied the Guitar Hero station empty and went to play. I haven't even gotten through half the song when my dad called to me.

"The guy says there's no stock at the moment, so you give him your number and he'll call you when he's checked."

We motherfucking stand there, excited for half an hour, and at the bloody END of it all you tell me there's no stock? NO STOCK??

I hide my anger and give him my particulars, and we go home, me still in a bad mood. I'd asked for a brochure for the system, and got more like a catalogue instead, but no matter. I get back home and my dad says "Hey look, this one does wireless too."

Following instructions I went to dig up their number from Vivo's website and the guy who answers says that the model is not on display in the store. Great, then? Don't need to know ah? Don't see don't know, is that the new policy now?

"Right well, then what's the price?"
"Ahhh that one we don't have it in store sir, so we dunno the price. You can check with Best Denki or Challenger for the price. I think Best would be a better place to check."
" ... Do they even have it?"
"Uh this oneeee.... You have to check with them, sir."

There. Picture-perfect don't-see-don't-know.

Is that it? Is that the state of electronics sale in Singapore? Try smoke your way through uninformed customers? Say you find someone else to assist us and disappear in the smoke? Not know BASIC features of a product and say it's not there? Know that products exist but have no information about them because they aren't in your showroom?

Utterly disappointing. Denki's bad enough, but this is Samsung's FLAGSHIP store we're talking about you know! Flagship store where Tech65 recorded. Where SMB5 was held. Whose space will be offered to many more events yet. Is this the sort of sparkling image you want to give customers? Worse, to bloggers who'd have no qualms about tearing your brand name apart letter by letter?

Something had better be done by management level island-wide. STARTING WITH THESE TWO STORES.

Ambiguity Cost Me $10

So yesterday after an awesome 100th 65bits episode, I went with DK, Nicole, Jean, Alice, Vincent, and sorry Jean's friend your name slipped my mind, to watch Bolt. We wanted to catch the 3D version, and were disappointed that The Cathay only had one show at 3.15pm (it was 4.30 by then?). The other alternative was 6.30 at Tampines Mall, which I didn't mind but the other westies did haha. So after digging, we found a fantastic timing at Cathay Causeway Point, and went ahead.

When we walked into the theatre, we got no 3D glasses, no 3D movie.

Now I'm paying money for Bolt only because I was under the impression that I was going to watch it in 3D. I don't want to pay to watch the normal version. I'm not too happy to discover I blew 10 bucks like that. Look at this.

This is what you see when you go through the Movies page on Cathay. So SWEET we were happy with the 3D sign, and totally didn't see the fucking fine print Exclusively at The Cathay Cineplex. So we clicked on Book Tickets Online to move forward...

And this is what the link brings you too. Tell me, 1) after seeing that 3D sign on the previous page, and 2) being a customer who doesn't know/realize that screenings in special formats, ie. Digital and 3D, would be indicated, would you not assume that all three locations were playing in 3D? But in fact...

Bolt 3D is hidden inside the movie dropbox.

How misleading is that?

And on a sidenote, you know that 3D is the attraction of this movie, why are you not promoting it actively? Why are you not bringing prospective customers to the 3D page first, and provide a link out to a normal screening if they don't want 3D? Isn't that Marketing 10fucking1?

I'm swearing alot nowadays right? Yeah. Sorry la. Boy boy's growing up.

Now this on the other hand, is GV's Now Showing page. And you can see that instead of one synopsis pointing you to two different types of screenings, it's two types of screenings on two pages with the same synopsis. See, if it is indicated like this, customers have far less excuse of saying "WTF? You didn't tell me this wasn't 3D??" Simply because this is the FIRST thing you see, when wondering what movie to catch, or when you want to confirm timings for a certain film or screening type.

Can you say we were at fault for not noticing the small print on the 3D sign? Yes. It was carelessly overlooked, I'll grant. But to that I also say "Fuck you we're not trying to discern counterfeit money we are trying to watch a movie here". And all the manager at Causeway Point could say, bless his soul he also dunno what to say I think, was to keep insisting that special screening formats are only played at The Cathay, and that we must know that these formats are separately indicated. I think you better teach your managers to say something else before they get slaughtered by popcorn and straws one day. And if your business method is to make it the customer's responsibility to scrutinize every damned pixel or ink blot to figure out for himself where you're screening what, then I couldn't care less if you're the only company who manages to import award-winning films from Tuzilihastokhan, I'm not going to put myself at risk of wasting money by patronizing you. I'm travelling across the island to GV Tampines for my 3D show.

I've always loved The Cathay for its extra comfy seats, and digital film options. It's what a cinema should be (that's only one cinema venue of theirs but still). And this incident is very disappointing and smears stinking dirt on the wonderful image that I have of them.

I hope this message gets passed along. Something needs to be done about this. Do not let your, I'd say prestigious image fall so easily because of such a flaw. Leave no room for error and keep your customers' loyalty.

Family Man

Early last week, I had a little fall. An emotional fall. I rang my dad up during a long break we had and a long teary conversation ensued about directions, purposes, life in the army, and life outside.

As early as a year ago, I cringed every time my dad launched into lectures about family togetherness. They were getting one too many, and it's frankly amazing how they can repeat the exact same phrases each time they go into it and never realise it nor get tired. By then I'd heard many things about the history of my paternal family, and it wasn't exactly happy hour with them. Alot, alot of crap happened, and seemed to come one after the other after the other, like a well planned attack. All I can say is that for the stubborn, sometimes narrow man that he is, I'm very glad that he pulled through the right way, instead of turning to... ok well, the dark side.

My dad was glad that I called to talk to him, because my extreme moodiness every Sunday evening did not escape his eyes (not that I made much of an effort to conceal it anyways), and he was concerned about what was bugging me. Such an inexplicable depression falls over me when I think about camp and training, and I get extremely reluctant to leave home and its now precious comforts. It honestly doesn't help that all my campmates seem to be able to say are "Oh dear how I don't think we're going to pass our summary exercise and will not turn operational and suffer another month of slavery and oppression". It irks me every time they do that.

What touched me so much was that after the call, which was in some ways comforting already, I went for my all day rather intensive training, and when I came back, there were missed calls and SMSes telling me to hang in there and keep happy. The whole family rose at my dad's call to pick me up from my fall, and help me stand again. I was so amazed, and I knew that I'd never disagree with the high importance of family support ever again. The next thing I knew, my dad texted a day later to say "We're going for a family dinner on Sunday. Is Brazil (churascura) ok with you?" I said it was abit too meaty, and he replied, "Ok. We'll go to Melt at Oriental then."

"That's so expensive... we could do with cheaper food, we're still spending time together anyway."

And you know what the man said? "It's ok. Nothing costs too much for good family bonding time."

It was quite hard to control myself.

Monday night when I booked in I was compelled to thank him again and again he said, "Nothing costs too much too make you feel good and loved. Keep your spirit high and overcome temporary obstacles knowing you have strong family support always."

So this is love.

Thanks dad. Thanks mom. Thanks Renjie. Thanks Sandra. Thanks Kat. Thanks MKT.

Ok ok on a not so emo note, for nom-nom love, I've got the FB album link here. Go ahead, hate me. :)

Your Special Symbol

Symbols were developed right from the beginning of time, and has not only stayed with us till today, but developed into a discipline so complex that some devote their lives to decoding. Symbols come in many forms - the letters of the English alphabet you read now are symbols, a medium to convey my thoughts to you in the symbolic form we know as writing.

And symbols can also come in the form of physically tangible objects, a thing that reminds you of something else, a more intangible concept. My bible is one such object.

I have my piece to say regarding religion and science, but let's save that for another post. For now, whether it's the concept known as A Holy Anointing, or another known as Psychology, my bible is to me a powerful object of comfort. Every time I look at it, touch it, feel it in my hands, fan the pages, it reminds me of the very essence of my church's teachings - that God is there with me, and for me. That He loved us so much to send His only beloved Son Jesus to suffer what is now known as the most inhumane execution method, to die for sins that would only be committed 20, 200, 2000 years later. That as one who has left his entire life in the mercy of God's ever-loving hands, I can rest assured that He is in complete control of my otherwise messed-up life, that when I slip and fall, I will fall within the Ark of the New Covenant, not into the raging seas. And such a sense of peace, comfort and security just falls upon my heart when I hold my bible, that my worries and fears just melt away.

For the moment, at least. Come on la be real. Emotions cannot last. Faith can. Amen. :)

Another Christian object that holds a symbolic significance is the mazzah bread I'm privileged to be consuming every Sunday for Holy Communion. The appearance, the holes, the breaks, the burns, and especially the smell, reminds me of Christ's loving sacrifice for us. I guess it's important that this habit was cultivated in me at a mature age, when I at least understood something, and that it was a new object. If you gave me like... a nua-nua piece of Gardenia bread, I eat that half the time for breakfast. How do you expect it to hold any special meaning? (That said, my church does make a special effort to import mazzah direct from Israel, so can't really compare la).

Christians or non-Christians, what are the objects that hold a special meaning for you?

Gmail App: Old vs New

As a techie who relies extensively on his 3.5G Nokia E51 to spare himself from the occasional boredom of his neverending sentence, it is in my minute but nevertheless present interests to have an optimal surfing experience on the go (or on the no-go). One part of that is fast-loading mobile versions of websites, especially frequently accessed social sites like Twitter and Plurk. The other part is an intuitive mail application.

Before I go into my comparisons, I'll start off by saying that to me, desktop or mobile, Gmail's simplicity wins. No complaints about the web version. Now the mobile version has just been updated recently, so I'm gonna talk about what I like and what I don't like between the two.

Previous Gmail App

For some reason it takes a long time to load on my phone when I activate it, so much that my phone usually autolocks before I even start using Gmail. It hangs when I zip through the motions too quickly.

New App

I'm none too happy that they took out the automatic access. Now I have to select refresh each time I want to check whether I've got new mail, when the previous version just did it automatically. Perhaps people are not even meant to close it or disconnect from their 3G connection, but surely there are more people who disconnect when they aren't looking. Also, I preferred the old method of entering contacts to mail to. Now when I click on the To field I have to type out the address I want, when previously I was brought straight to my Frequently Used Contacts list where I could immediately scroll and check the people I want to send it to. And another thing is that now mails seem to take longer to send/receive, so much so that I have to wait for the program now to finish communicating instructions before I can close it. And for some reason I cannot seem to use the shortcut buttons as effectively. After I hit 9 two times, which is the shortcut for archival, I'm brought back to the inbox, where it is still sitting. Only after another two clicks will the archival be registered. Again, I have to wait for the information to be communicated to the other side to do so, before closing the application.

I do like however, multiple account support, although in all probability I won't even use it, since I like to re-direct all mail to my personal account. Like also that they've made outgoing links in mails easier to access. Neutral to the smooth scrolling feature though. It's cosmetically nice but... ok lor, that's about it.

FaVid #1

Well here it is, my foray into vodcasting. Lemme know what you think.

Money No Enough 2

Well bite me, I'm slow.

I just watched the show and I have two things to say about it.

Firstly, I think Jack Neo has the knack of sifting the worst out of Singaporeans and throwing it on the table for all to see. I also think he totally went crazy with it this time. Apt topic - the true test of filial piety in hard, unforgiving times such as this. This I'm sure is an issue that plagues many post WW2 old folk (probably shortens their life just thinking about it). And I do honestly wonder how many of my generation nowadays, and indeed those after, would experience the same deep injustice and indignance I felt at the portrayed actions, and how many would absolutely agree with the teen daughter in the film that visiting an old dying lady in ICU is a waste of valuable time that could have been better spent at Zara or Zouk. What worries me the most is that for all the indignance I feel now at the characters' abandonment of their loving mother, I have such a long future ahead of me that I can't even say for certain that 'never will I do something as despicable as this'.

Secundo, my respect goes to the ladies and gentlemen who have let their characters get killed off, act unceremoniously dead, and have their photographs stuck on hearse vans. This generation of people wouldn't be caught dead writing their name on a small brick paperweight because your name on stone means you have already, as they in the army love to say, gone up the lorry. And it speaks of a deep maturity I think, that these older folk recognise that there are values and messages to be communicated to a changing public that trump the most logical of superstitions. For that, I e-salute them.

Flatline

It does get overwhelming at times, when you have to rush through in two days the things you'd have rushed through before in 7. At times I feel as if I'm trying to speed too fast, leaving my senses, my purposes, my principles, all behind. At times I feel an inexplicable immense dissatisfaction, probably that I haven't done this or that right.

They say you don't last three seconds after that last sliver of hope is taken away from you. Sometimes I think that a situation that could come close to comparing to that is quite the other extreme - when you have so much hope, so many ideas you want to put forth and try out, so much to live for, and you're stuck in a place where individualism is possibly the last thing you want to exhibit. I love my country. I accept and believe that 2 years of your life is a small price to pay for the utopian peace and stability that has held us together through various storms. And for that reason I am proud as a Singaporean male to fulfil my duty and obligation, and serve NS. But the military is the military, and self-expression isn't quite in vogue there. You be yourself, laugh and cry, but a full bloom of one's personality is near impossible. Unless of course you're the type who prefers a certain routine order to life, or to let someone else think for you. Not being sarcastic - there are a couple of people I respect who are like that. They're not weird. They're not patriotic. They're just who they are.

And I am who I am. And if the military manages to permanently rob me of that spark inside that drives my entire existence on Earth, then I might well be a sad case of failure.

For now I'll still say, I won't let them.

Oh God confusion reigns my mind.