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…]

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:

Haze Prompts Creativity From Companies in Singapore

SG HAze

**Edit (June 22, 2013): Added Starhub to the list!

The PSI Index has hit a high of 371 in Singapore today.  Even as the rest of the country post increasingly hazy shots of their country, businesses are coming up with creative ways of making the most out of #SGHaze.  Here’s some that I got off Facebook:

1. Oreo
As the company which more or less pioneered “real-time marketing” with its successful “Dunk In The Dark” campaign in the American Superbowl, it is not surprising that Oreo is one of the first brands to come up with a social media response to the #SGHaze.  Check out their gas mask with Oreo stuffing.

Oreo
Oreo Face Mask

2. Cadbury Dairy Milk
Sister brand of Oreo, Cadbury has also come up with an interesting post on its Facebook page that is relevant to the haze.  What I felt would have been a real coup would have been for them to really put this in the papers.  After all, we all know how effective the newspapers are for the Singapore market.  It would have had a much greater reach!

Cadbury Hazelnut Chocolate
Cadbury Hazelnut Chocolate

3. Costa Coffee
Costa Coffee advices us to keep our masks on and come indoors for a cup of coffee with their interesting mask coffee art.

Costa Coffee
Costa Coffee

4. Scoot
Scoot thinks we should just fly out of Singapore to avoid the the haze altogether with their low fares to different locations around the region. Well, we all know where we don’t want to fly to, don’t we? Not after they called us childish!

Scoot
What The Fog

5. Adidas
My favourite, and one of the earliest to come up with any sort of response, is Adidas’ “Go All In(doors)” advisory on their Facebook page.  I love how their tagline is embedded, and how it gives an added meaning.  Parentheses are pretty overused after (RED) campaigns, but this is just right.

Go All Indoors
Go All In(doors)

6. Physical ABuse
Local gym Physical ABuse has also decided to alleviate the pain of not being able to be out and about in the horrible weather.  They are offering free gym access until PSI levels are stabilised.  Of course, we have no idea what “stabilised” means.  I hope they mean “back to normal levels”.

Free Gym
Free Gym Access

7. LifeOpp
Job-matching community LifeOpp has taken it one step further and gave out free face masks to locals at different malls around Singapore.  Definitely a good way to boost awareness of the company.  I do hope that they somehow managed to brand those masks though.  Otherwise the mileage of this campaign would be limited.

LifeOpp
LifeOpp gives out free face masks

8. McDonald’s Peak Sauce Index
Looking at how high the PSI really is, McD’s approach is fast lousy its humour, in my opinion.  Then again, the new Wasabi and Honey Mustard sauce might offer sweet respite from our smokey woes.

What is truly laudable about McDonald’s is that it has decided to suspend McDeliveries because of the haze to protect its delivery riders.  It’s one of the very first companies to do so today.

McDonald's Peak Sauce Index
McDonald’s Peak Sauce Index
McDelivery is halting until further notice
McDelivery is halting until further notice

Since McDonald’s move, other companies have also followed suit.  Amongst them, competitor KFC: 

Screen Shot 2013-06-20 at 9.02.43 PM

 As you can see, most Singaporeans are approving of such moves.  Most are of the opinion that employee well-being is more important than the sales that these companies might lose.

The #SGHaze has become an excellent platform for brands to show that they care, and to show how their brands are relevant and fit into the lives of consumers.

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9. Starhub Offers Free Previews
Reader Tan Teck Heng has shared Starhub’s Facebook post as well.  They are offering free TV previews for those of us staying at home!

Starhub offers Free Previews
Starhub offers Free Previews

How did you like their attempts?  What’s your favourite?  Tell me more at the comments!

Quiznos: We Do It Better.

Quiznos’ Chicken Satay Sub
“Quiznos” Logo is a registered trademark of QIP Holder LLC

Quiznos [link to Quiznos Singapore’s Facebook page] is a quick service restaurant specialising in submarine sandwiches or “subs” which was brought into Singapore in 2009 by Kitchen Language, a subsidiary of the Far East Organization. Quiznos seeks to target today’s busy consumers with a delicious yet easy-to-eat solution.

In my Advertising Strategies module in university, my team analysed how the brand is doing in Singapore and market opportunities that it could capitalize on, and created a new advertising campaign for it based on the slogan, “We Do It Better”.  Check it out. [Read more…]