Asher Wen

Strategist, Marketer, Nerd

2014.

It’s that time of the year again where we make promises to ourselves and hope we keep them. I decided that I had to find time to write this post no matter what because it’s really important to set goals for yourself! That’s the only way you can see if you have grown over the year.

As the new year arrives, it’s also a great time to look back on my resolutions last year to see whether I managed to keep them. So here it goes!

Resolutions for 2013

1. Meet more people, learn more from them and share more with others.

The reason I wanted to do this was because I felt that I learnt most from talking to people and picking their brains. I am glad to say that 2013 was the year that I learnt the most! Besides meeting more people, I also allowed myself to do more things outside of my comfort zone.

On the school front, I organized a Photography Competition all by myself, decided to do an Independent Study Module on “Marketing Happiness” and took part in a musical for the very first time.  Through these experiences, I met people who were passionate about their craft and put in all their heart into it.  It’s something that I want to keep doing as well!

On the work front, this meant venturing into CRM instead of the typical marketing internships to get a more quantitative experience, and subsequently moving into Marketing Analytics.  I am quite blessed to have excellent bosses who put their faith in my capabilities and are willing to teach me the ropes for totally new areas of marketing that I was previously unfamilar with.

Personally, I drummed up enough courage to go skydiving in Sydney!!  For the full action, click here.  2013 was also a year of travelling and self-discovery.  Whether it was going overseas alone or with other friends, I found out more about what I liked and disliked, and my inclinations.

One pity though, is that I did not update this site enough.  There were so many times were I started to write a post but stopped halfway because I didn’t have the time to edit it to the way that I wanted it.  For example, I had been wanting to write a “101” post on CRM since May!  Hopefully I can rectify this in 2014!

2. Go deeper into my passions.

This is a tough one to decide.  Over the past year, my interests and passions have shifted.  I guess it is in part because I have become more realistic with my dreams.  Marketing is a tough industry to be in right now with so many sea changes (think: Digital, Big Data, fragmented media, economic instability, China’s downturn, etc etc).  I have had to adapt and find out what I want to do for a career in the next 5-10 years at least.  Marketing remains my one true love, and is going to be more exciting in the future!  It would be interesting to see how the economy pans out in 2014.

On other fronts, the Photography Competition and musical were extensions of my love for photography and drama.  I am glad I could take my very last varsity year to do these things! ^^  I have also come to realize that at some point in my life, I have to decide what I want to pursue and what I want to leave behind as something that I like but will not be able to excel at.  In 2013, I have come to realise that my prolonged dalliance with music can only remain a hobby, and probably will not amount to much.  And that’s okay!  Because at least I can enjoy listening to the music of others!

3. Find ways to serve others.

This particular resolution panned out in a way that was different from how I expected.  I thought I would be able to serve others by being a good listening ear, be it in my VCF Contact Group or in my residential college.

In 2013, however, service came in the form of doing.  In my church, I began serving in the AV ministry after not touching AV since 2009.  One day, a church member just waylaid me in the social hall and asked if I was interested to help out.  I said yes without a second thought.  Thinking back, that was uncharacteristic.  But I’m glad I agreed!

I also continued to serve as the Logistics Head for our annual mission trip to the Lahu hill tribes in Chiang Mai, Thailand.  The trip this year was particularly energizing because I had the time to interact with the local pastoral team to understand their work a bit more and the difficulties that they faced in the villages.

For 2014, I hope to continue to lend a listening ear to those who need it, and to exercise discernment and patience in my interaction with others.

How was your 2013?

Resolutions for 2014

What about 2014 then? This year started out challenging for me. As I continue to look for my career (not just any job!), it’s sometimes hard to convince myself that I have what it takes. The opportunities just aren’t showing up like I wish it would. And it’s not due to the lack of trying either. I have been applying to different companies as long as I thought the JD matched what I want to do. I just have to keep trying and trust that I will find the right job in the end.

Enough of that. On to my resolutions for 2014!

1. Find a job I love!
That kind of explains itself doesn’t it?

2. Post at least 4 articles a month at MAJOR:MARKETING!
I really want to keep writing about Marketing and keep everyone abreast about what is happening in advertising and marketing. Since weekly updates seems a bit challenging at the time, I want to be able to write at least 4 times each month. I hope you guys will be able to give me some feedback too so that I can improve! My hope is that this blog becomes a community of passionate marketers rather than a 1-to-many editorial!!

It was really encouraging to hear that a junior of mine in College of Alice & Peter Tan read my blog before deciding on whether to enter NUS Business School and choose marketing as a specialization! Thanks for reading this guys!

3. Save up
Now that I have graduated from university, I really feel that it’s time that I contribute back to my family financially. I want to be able to save up and give back to my mother as much as I can! She has sacrificed so much to bring us up. It’s the least I can do I feel!

4. Go for at least 1 beach getaway with the girlfriend
We have been dreaming of Boracay for a long time… Maybe I can finally learn diving! Or maybe even have a kayaking trip with Huey from Kayakasia!

5. That my family and friends stay happy and healthy!
I’m devoting my wish to all my friends and family to stay happy in 2014! I hope all of you starting out on your careers will find fulfilment and joy in what you do! I hope that everyone stays healthy too even as we fight for what we love!!!

HAPPY 2014 EVERYONE!

A breather.

DIGITAL CAMERA

Finally, a breather.

Apologies to readers for my lack of updates these few months. My final semester turned out to be a lot more taxing than I envisioned it would be. I guess I took up a little too much for my own good…

In the space between my last post in July and now, I successfully finished my summer internship at Estee Lauder Companies in Consumer Insights, started school, ran a Photography Competition for my residential college, got roped into a musical, got into a part-time internship with Mondelez International (formerly Kraft) in the middle of the semester as a Marketing Analytics Intern.

In the midst of all of these, I have also been looking for my very first job.  I never thought it would be so trying to find a Marketing role in this market.  A part of the difficulty comes from the fact that I am graduating off-cycle.  The other comes from the softness of the global economy for Consumer Goods businesses.  These are the things that the papers do not tell you, but you have to experience for yourself.  Despite multiple assurances that unemployment rates are down and that the economy is getting back on its feet, these are somehow not translating down to people like me.

Nevertheless, I will hold fast to my dreams.  Marketing is my passion, and it is something that I will pursue, even if it takes a longer and more winding path for me to get to where I want to be.  When the market rebounds, I will be right where I need to be to catch the wave and surf!

Whatever your dream is, don’t give up.  You might have to take a detour, but you will get there some day.

P.S.: I will be making an effort to start posting more! So watch this space!

Photo Credit: Camdiluv ♥ via Compfight cc

How I Survived This Past Week

It has been an eventful past week for this author.

If you follow me on Facebook and Twitter, you would know by now that my hard disk drive crashed. It was also the reason why there was no THE SATURDAY BRIEF last week.

I managed to retrieve the data that was left in the drive, and got myself a new Solid-state drive to replace the old one. So far, it’s been working great. In fact, my MacBook Pro’s performance seems to have improved since the installation of the new drive.

The only problem I face now is the need to get back all the software that I have lost. Unfortunately, I no longer have the original installation discs for Adobe Creative Suite, which means that work for Pretty Frivolous has come to a standstill. I really hope I can find some sort of solution to this soon!

On other news, this website got hacked. I have no idea why anyone would want to hack into this site, seeing how I provide no political leverage nor audience reach. With that said, it was a lesson learnt for me, and I have since boosted security by using longer passwords and installing plugins to prevent it from happening again.

On the work front, this week would be my last week at my internship, and a lot of time was spent getting ready reports and preparing my business project for presentation. I am fairly confident of the content, so I hope everything goes well come Monday!

It has been a truly enjoyable internship at Estee Lauder Companies. The people are awesome and friendly, and I learnt a heck of a lot at my CRM role this past 10 weeks.

My supervisor was very conscientious in making sure that I learn as much as possible, so I think I have a very clear idea of how CRM fit into the Marketing function of an FMCG now. In fact, I am going to write a 101 on CRM soon!

Besides the learning, the culture has been great. ELC is a company that prides itself on “high-touch”, and “Bringing the Best to Everyone We Touch”. That really shows through in the internal corporate culture, where everyone is like family. The monthly recreational activities really helped us to mix around with people from other departments as well.

It’s a pity that the internship had to end so soon. I will enjoy what time I have left with ELC!

My MBP is dead. Long Live My MBP!

My MBP finally died on me yesterday night after 4 years. I had recently changed its batteries but now even the hard disk drive decided to fail on me.

I’m going to try to recover whatever data I have in there, but until then, I won’t be able to blog much…

Can’t believe it happened!! But hang in there people, I’ll be back soon.

Singtel pits Gordon Ramsay against Singaporean hawkers

Singtel pits Gordon Ramsay against Singaporean hawkers

UPDATE: Gordon Ramsay 1, Hawker Heroes 2. Ramsay hails Singaporean street food as being better than Michelin star restaurants. Watch what he says at the end of the post.

Gordon Ramsay is causing all sorts of buzz in Singaporean hawker centres this weekend. Invited by Singtel, Ramsay will face off three top hawkers who were voted in by Singaporeans in a bid to find out if the local hawker fare is really as good as Singaporeans make it out to be once and for all.

Ramsay’s fame as a Michelin-starred chef, the head chef in Hell’s Kitchen, and the host of various TV shows showing cuisines from different countries makes him an ideal fit for this challenge.

In preparation for his challenge, Gordon Ramsay has been going to different hawker centres to learn dishes from the hawkers, having appeared at famous food hangouts such as 328 Katong Laksa and Tian Tian Hainanese Chicken Rice in Maxwell Road Food Centre. He will also be making an appearance in Newton Food Centre on Sunday, 7 July.

Is Singaporean Hawker Food Dying Out?

The challenge comes at a time when many locals are worried that the hawker culture in Singapore is dying out.

There has been various high-profile retirements of favourite hawker haunts lately such as Lim Seng Lee Duck Rice in South Buona Vista. With ageing hawkers literally growing old and dying out, and the younger generation eschewing the tough hawker life for cushy PMEB jobs, it seems to be only a matter of time before the hawker centres that litter Singapore is no more.

The Singtel challenge then, comes at an appropriate time to pull at the heartstrings of locals. If it isn’t a statement that our hawker food still reigns supreme, it is at least a brilliant eulogy that hawker food died out having once pitted itself against one of the best chefs in the world.

Singtel?

And how does all this link back to the largest telco player in Singapore?

After its acquisition of HungryGoWhere.com last May, Singtel now lays claim to the largest food & lifestyle audience in Singapore.

According to SGEntrepreneurs’s interview with Singtel’s Digital Life Group CEO, Allen Lew last year, “a cornerstone of SingTel’s growth strategy is to build digital solutions that help consumers in their daily lives – as they live, work and play. Possessing the local knowledge and content is critical as it allows us to compete effectively in these areas”.

It is evident that Singtel is increasingly its efforts to move the brand away from Telco-only, to a wider set of associations such as food and lifestyle. The Ramsay challenge helps in channeling traffic back to HungryGoWhere.com where the voting is held, and also helps to boost Singtel’s profile of being truly “local” and close to the ground as a content provider, rather than simply being a medium like Starhub.

Here’s more Ramsay:

At the end of the day, Ramsay lost to the Hawker Heroes by quite a close margin.  Not a totally unexpected result, since the odds are stacked against his favour.  Ramsay had nothing but the highest praise for Singaporean hawker food: