Asher Wen

Strategist, Marketer, Nerd

The Life of a Marketer.

A friend recently approached me to ask if I would like to share some experience so far of the working life. He is starting a Facebook group for students because he saw that many college students are not sure what is expected of them when they first start out.

I thought it was a brilliant idea as I had the same insight and intention when I started to write about Marketing as well. Through the years, I am glad to hear that some people have benefitted from what has been written, and I truly hope that more people can come to learn more and love Marketing.

Here are some of the questions that were asked, and my responses. If you are still a student or starting out and thinking of making a shift into marketing, I hope these responses will be of help to you.  Feel free to ask me questions if you have any! [Read more…]

The Road So Far: 5 Things to Expect When You Start Work

It has been a little over 8 months since I started my job.  In that time, it has been difficult to find time to write – until now.  Work is a whole new ball game as compared to varsity life and it probably will take you some time to adjust to it.  Hopefully it doesn’t take you as long as I did.  Here’s my take on the difference between school and work and what you can do to prepare yourself for it.

[Read more…]

The Fallacy of the Perfect Picture

I celebrated my 26th birthday yesterday.  The day was spent with my oldest friends over food and mahjong, and it was also spent reflecting on my life this past 26 years.  Looking back, I thank God for His blessings in my life and the friends and family who have been with me every step of the way.

I am so thankful for my friends and family
Celebrations over the weekend with the gang and my family

While I was thinking back on the bigger milestones in my life, I realised that I never would have been able to guess that I would end up where I am now.  Yet, I am right where I am supposed to be.  I was just telling Teck yesterday that somehow all the skills that I picked up in school has come into use in some way or another at work.  Like what Steve Jobs said in his Commencement speech to Stanford University, you can only ever connect the dots retrospectively.  I now have a newfound understanding of what he meant.

To try to engineer your own future by trying to fit your life into some sort of mould that someone else told you is good would only bring about unnecessary angst and pain.  Unfortunately, so many of us fall into this trap because of familial and societal expectations.  I call this the fallacy of the perfect picture. [Read more…]

The Importance of Internships

Hello My Name is Intern

Last Friday marked the very last day of internship for me, EVER. (okay, I might still have internships when I do my MBA, but you get what I mean right?).  I have just completed my Marketing Analytics internship (more on that in a future post!) with Mondelēz last week, and I have been on a period of ‘unemployment’ since.  Since it’s been so very long since I had so much time on my hands, I thought it would be good write a post on the importance of internships. [Read more…]

5 Marketing Lessons From “Now You See Me”

Now You See Me
Image credit: MajorSpoilers.com

The movie “Now You See Me” opened this Thursday with a stellar line-up with big names such as Morgan Freeman and Jesse Eisenberg of “Social Network” fame. The well-paced plot was always one step ahead of the audience, keeping them from guessing the movie before its fruition, leading up to an unexpected twist for the clincher. Spoiler alert!

What caught my eye though, were the lessons that we can draw out from this movie. There is much marketing departments can learn about Marketing from “Now You See Me” in order to stay ahead of the pack and come out winning. [Read more…]