Blood donation campaign?

Copy says "DONATE BLOOD TO THE NATIONAL BLOOD BANK. NOT TO MOSQUITOES!"

Then I looked at the side and realized it is a Ridsect ad. Kills Aedes, it adds.

Congratulations on the creative ad! Cool and serious, yet humourous in its own way. :)

www.facebook.com/RageAgainstAedes

Source: The Star, 20 November 2010

The Casual Code

The Casual Code by Wendy 375 featuring distressed skinny jeans

Earth Colors

Earth Colors by Wendy 375 featuring cropped shorts

Customer satisfaction is the key to CRM

I went to a hair salon for an express haircut yesterday. As I am keeping my hair short these days, I need to get it trimmed every two months so that it doesn't curl at or grow beyond my shoulders. I must say, the more I trim it, the faster it seems to grow nowadays! I have come to reckon that keeping short hair is a high-maintenance job- it requires a lot of patience and money!

And so, I slotted RM16 in the machine and got myself a coupon. The hairdresser sat me down; We discussed how I wanted my hair to be trimmed and he started working on my hair. He got it done in 10 minutes and I wasn't happy with the length. I requested to trim it again and he did it. Again I was not satisfied because by then, I decided to just make it even shorter so that it looks bob. He did it for the third time, and in the end I walked out from the salon with a smile on my face.

I posted this on my FB and apparently, my friends do find me demanding and ridiculous. But the purpose I shared this is to applaud the hairdresser. Why? I paid so little and he treated me like a queen. He could well be a junior stylist, but I chose to pardon his inexperience and I will still come back for the next cut because of the customer service. "If I go to a restaurant and the waiters are rude, no matter how delicious the food is, I will not visit them again," said a friend on FB.

Five reasons why customer satisfaction is the key to CRM:

1) Happy customers are good story tellers.

2) Happy customers make free word-of-mouth promotions (sometimes exaggeration) for you- on any occasions, across any channels.

3) Technologies made it possible for a happy customer to digitally update his/ her whearabout and status- the moment he/she steps out from your store. Note that once things are on social media, the reach is infinity.

4) A happy customer is sure to return for a repeat purchase.

5) A happy customer wouldn't mind/ notice if you have a price increase.

Check out X-Cut Salon, the express haircut concept by A Cut Above. In case you are not aware, the stylists are trained and exprienced hairstylists from A Cut Above.

Take a look at my new hairdo. They've never let me down!

Love for Denim

Love for Denim by Wendy 375 featuring high heel boots

Earth Colors

Earth Colors by Wendy 375 featuring a metallic handbag

The Casual Code

The Casual Code by Wendy 375 featuring marc by marc jacobs handbags

Social Media: between Private and Public

"A recent blog post in Hong Kong lambasted a new restaurant in Central, but did not state that the author was the marketing manager for the restaurant next door to the one he was slamming. Disclosure, in this case, is your friend."

Source: Angie Wong, Food & Lifestyle Editor, Hong Kong

While living in the digital era, we seem to have forgotten to keep ourselves low profile. The world of digital taught us to be loud; We strive to be heard because for once, we have a chance to speak up boundlessly and we all believe that our voice matters. The ever-changing trend has invented Web 2.0- from IRC and ICQ to blogging, social networking, photo-sharing, podcasting, youtube and microblogging..... The list could just go on and on, and before we know it, a new trend will magically appear with a snap of a finger.

In the early years, these media was meant for people to keep in touch with friends and to digitalize their daily activities and personal lives. It comes in handy as one does not need to be involved in any heavy programming, and yet he/she could enjoy the ownership of a personal website. Then marketers see the opportunity and they started to engage with their customers via a two-way communication online.

But no one is there to tell us that we are drifting away from our privacy and identity.

This issue is especially serious when marketers started to employ social media in their marketing plans. As a marketer, we act professionally on one hand but on the other hand, we have a different profile altogether. If we choose to criticise about the competitor(s), do we have a valid reason for saying it or is it just based on a personal view? At what position are we suppose to talk about our competitor(s)? Being a human being, we show our likes and dislikes; We want to vent our frustrations on our personal space, but if we are not careful enough, it will indirectly influence our professional image.

Picture the scenarios below, what are your take backs?

1) Brand A decided to purchase a competitor's domain names and keywords, hoping that it would steal the crowd from its competitor. 

Question is, for all the dollars spent on this irrelevant purchase, do you get an effective reach? Do you want to take such a risk, for the exchange of your company's credibility? Check out these links for Google's trademark policy.

What is Google's U.S. trademark policy? - AdWords Help

When will my ads appear for trademarked terms? - AdWords Help

How can I get permission to use a trademarked term? - AdWords Help

2) You join the Social Media team of a company. 

As a general rule set by the company (to avoid having your personal opinions online), you are required to delete your blog and remain neutral on Facebook. Are you willing to accept the rules and hide your online presence for the benefit of the company?

3) You found cam-whoring photos of your school teacher/ professor/ consultant/ client on Facebook.

Now, does it tell you more about this person? Or does it tarnish the relationship between you both? I once have a teacher who teaches professionally in class; but behind the scene, she enjoys doing sexy photoshoot and modelling... I mean, I still see her as an inspiration, just, what would the guys think? ;)

Till today, the difference between what is private and public work is still unclear. There's no code of ethics to follow, except those that are drafted by the companies using the tools. The challenge here is to remain grown up and professional- that's probably the best way to move forward.

I've got a gold and a silver! --2010 ISTD Medallist Festival Malaysia

I am overly excited; I have too many things to tell but will just keep it simple and short. :)

Our team from Shall We Dance Studio (Karman, LiShen, Kalvin, Kim, Shaw, Heng and myself) took part in the ISTD Medallist competition last weekend and guess what! We have proudly brought back a total of 11 medals! It is really my biggest gift for the Halloween plus the greatest achievement in 2010!

My partner Shaw and myself.

 On the dance floor: Shaw and I; Kalvin and Karman.

 Photo session with Mr.Richard Hunt and Ms. Yvonne Taylor-Hill from ISTD.

 Don't we just LOVEEEE the medals!

 Ivy, principal of SWD Studio and my Latin dance instructor.

A gold and a silver- I'm contented; But at the same time, I want to do even better in the future.

They say results don't lie. I couldn't agree any more. Days and months of hard work and persistent practice off the stage have rewarded me with this in return. How nice!

Special thanks to Ivy and Shaw, for making things possible for me. And to my friends who gave their moral support, I love you all! 

XOXO...