The concept of Sparks.

Sparks is conceived because of multiple business reasons which I am pretty sure I'll be sorely sorry if I don't do something about it now. I've learned my lesson well from Faith Popcorn and Malcom Gladwell. And this time, I'm not going to let these opportunities fly by. Some of the issues that have been bugging me for quite awhile which eventually lead me to form Sparks are:

1) The importance of knowledge.

Now, more than ever, businesses in various industries are searching to capitalize on existing knowledge and upcoming trends. Yet strangely enough, not everyone knows where to find knowledge and even what to do with it! Although my measly less-than-a-decade experience in the advertising industry does not measure much to all you advertising gurus, I did and still do witness a lot of work produced based on best guesswork or through tried-and-tested-fool-proof methods.

I think one way to break those rules is to be well-informed on what's happening around us. Knowing trends keeps us abreast with people outside our own four walls - at work or at home. Understanding them helps us to see beyond our current business scope and leads us to sparkling breezy blue oceans. Applying them propels us ahead of the competition and into an era of profitable innovation.

Sparks believes that having knowledge without application is just black and white information, as much as we can't manage what we don't know. We focus on social researches that will spark a culture of understanding and innovation.

2) The business speak of the future is profitable social innovation.

It's true when they say, "We have innovated the world into this mess. Now we must innovate ourselves out of it". Businesses need to be more aware of the current impact they are creating in the society and how they can innovate to meet the REAL needs of people. I'm talking about BIG needs that keep people up at night - whether it's that persisting worry or a new found dream. Not just social needs of the less fortunate. And certainly not any artificial desires created by traditional ad campaigns.

Sparks believes that ethics and profits can co-exist and aims to put them back into business.

3) Web 2.0 and counting

Needless to say, Malaysia is one of the ultimate laggards when it comes to internet business and marketing. Everyone is still shivering from the horrible cold of the dotcom era and is blaming everyone else for bad infrastructure and low broadband penetration. But really. What are you doing about it? Businesses in Malaysia are highly equipped to help 'sophisticatize' local internet users but they always use the same old excuse of '3% broadband penetration is not viable'. Really?

Sparks is part of the net revolution and speaks web communities and content because Web 2.0 is borderless and waits for no man. Or woman for that matter.

I truly believe that if Sparks continously check itself with these three issues, the journey from now on will be an exciting and thoroughly unbelievable one. Imagine the possibilities - the innovations - that can be sparked with the true knowledge and understanding of people, culture and technology.