Why Interior Design IS like Strategy Planning?

Got attached to Abstract these days and have been binge learning about all the personal design principles these gurus have to offer.  There are such great advices, and suddenly Netflix has become my personal mind trainer.  I've been doing strategy for years now and I too have a simple methodology in designing solutions for clients - audit, decode, insight, and then magic.

But then after watching the episode on the illustrious Interior Designer from London, Ilse Crawford, I am gonna shamelessly steal her principles instead because they are so 'humanity-centric' and none of those cold marketing terms.  The choice of words representing each step illuminates the 'how' in thinking and I've become an overnight fan.

The steps are...

Interrogation
The point she brilliantly made - God gave us two eyes, two ears and one mouth and therefore we should use them in that proportion.  That is true in what I call the 'audit' part of the strategy, which is easily and commonly mistaken as just 2D research by a lot of people.  Yes, eyes are given to read (especially off Google) but nothing beats physical observation which I find not a lot of strategists care anymore.  A lot of reading, observation, listening.  But interrogation is so much more than just audit.  The word compels you to ask questions - the right questions and the tough questions.  So that you get all the what is and nothing missed.

Empathy
This is the most beautiful part of the thought process, at least to my mind.  Why are we in business at all if not to fulfill a human need - directly and indirectly?  Empathy means walking a mile or more in the shoes of people.  Considering their POV when it comes to the product, service, experience or even the environment we're designing.  This part of the process keeps the next part, human-centric.  Especially for spaces - honestly, clients shouldn't care too much on the material, colour and texture you choose - it's about knowing them and then creating the atmosphere and aspired mood they long to be in.

Imagination
Your deepest, wildest dreams can now manifest and they should really be an extension of the empathetic discoveries made.  So that all your what ifs can be kept relevant, even the most outrageous ones.  Be realistic at this point as well on commercialisation.  We, unfortunately, can't afford to and shouldn't be wasteful because not many people have great excess of money lying around, waiting to be spent.  Be outrageous but keep it real.

And the last, not the least important part; if at all - the equally important part...

Execution
Where the magic comes to life.  A lot of people think a lot, plan in greatness but decide on a flimsy execution which is like a death sentence to a great idea.  But you'll be surprised, great execution can sometimes mask a flimsy idea, that's how much power this last part of the process can wield.  Do quality or don't do at all.

From my experience, a lot of people discount on the most time spent on the first and last steps of the process.  Why?  Because they require and involve investments.  Unlike the middle part where it is a rather subjective state - which seems to me, 99% of the marketing world's population believe that those steps are easy and free.  It's like building a house with loose cement and flimsy roofing but all you wanted was just cheap and nice wallpaper and decor.  Don't take short cuts.  Great foundations are carefully built so that it can outlive multiple generations, and every generation lays a new brick on the old taking into consideration new climate and changing environment. This is how businesses become rock solid.

So remember, the next time you plan, think IE² :)

What happens to the strategic planner with the advent of data and marketing automation?

Second day in the digital summit and I swear that I've met agency groups who see Strategic Planners as an endangered breed.  And they rejoice to hear from one.

Strategic planners - a dying breed?  Well, that depends on where you come from.  In Malaysia, and specifically Malaysian strategic planners - yes, they're high on the list of extinction.  And if data intelligence is going to drive the client's business from now on, then how do we survive?

Image: Easystock

On the contrary, this. Is. Our. Moment.

Was reading Superforecasting on the plane and came across this very interesting paragraph:

"When the scientist tells you he does not know the answer, he is an ignorant man.  When he tells you he has a hunch about how it is going to work, he is uncertain about it.  When he is pretty sure of how it is going to work, and he tells you, " This is the way it's going to work, I'll bet, " he still is in some doubt.  And it is of paramount importance, in order to make progress, that we recognize this ignorance and this doubt.  Because we have the doubt, we then propose looking in new directions for new ideas.  The rate of the development of science is not the rate at which you make observations alone but, much more important, the rate at which you create new things to test."

Take that principle, apply it in planning. Ever come across a planner who struts in and is cocksure that his idea was going to work and everybody else's is going to fail?  Well, that's not a planner.  That's just plain bossy.  Jokes aside, it is true that we must be able to differentiate ignorance and doubt.  And it's always good to have a pinch of doubt in everything we work on because before we are planners, we are human and we must recognize that as humans, our knowledge will always be limited.  Hence, why there are always new ways to be tested, novel ways to do things.  Data, interestingly will help us to reach there and get our answers faster.  Because data does not only show historical behavior, it can also be a rich base for predictive modeling.  And that's essentially what we do isn't it?  We evaluate where the brand is today and project the highest potential of where it can be in one year, 3 years, 5 years time.  And then we work out the kinks on how to get there, considering everything good and bad that could possibly happen under the sun between now and 5 years later.  Predictive modeling helps us to close our doubtful gaps, even if not 100% and advise plans which are a lot more grounded and risk-proof in such a fast paced environment.

Account planning was half strategy and half creative - there was always something subjective albeit calculated in our proposal.  Because we were weavers of culture and we understood the fabric of people.  So we have and will always stand proudly to represent the consumer's voice in the parliament of marketing.  That human intuition will and should never go away.  It can only be made more powerful with data analytics and machine learning.  To quote Philip Tetlock and Dan Gardner, "To reframe the man-versus-machine dichotomy, combinations of Garry Kasparov and Deep Blue may prove more robust than pure-human or pure-machine approaches".  The computer learns patterns and can probably spew a million positions in a few seconds, while the human mind can only project to as far as 10 steps ahead. But the computer will never be able to understand context as well as a human and there's where we trump. Honda said it right, Man Maximum, Machine Minimum when it comes to their engineering philosophy, because at the end of the day it is about the 'human taste'.  And THAT, was coined in the 40s.  Likewise, the machine might have hundreds of best variations but it still lacks our God-given creativity - the nature to start fresh without the burden of history. The even better news is, they will help us to be faster and more efficient as a planner.  In levels never before - we can make decisions overnight or in a blink of an eye.  Ten years ago, if you wanted a complete brief in 3 days, you must be out of your mind!  But today, 24 hours is possible with the right tools. But don't you dare test it on me.

Machine will never replace us. They're our friends. And they will help us to reconcile our client's brand and/or category back into the world where it happily belongs, in speed we've never been able to before. We shouldn't just wait and embrace it.  We should create it.

Would you put your life out on the line for money?

Something that intrigued me recently - what motivates people in a social norm setting (doing something that has nothing to do with monetary value) and in a market norm setting (doing something that has everything to do with monetary value).  Our job almost always falls into the latter category, although sometimes it's muddled by management - social norm requirements from employees in a market norm situation.

But the question which popped into my head was, what about law enforcers?  This is a highly grey area. Surely a job which requires you to risk your life be entirely about the money?  How much are you paid for your life?

Look at the police ranking in Malaysia, below from Wikipedia:

According to Home Minister, Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Tun Hussein, there was a scheme, effective Jan 1 2009, that would adjust the police salaries at the quantum of three annual salary increments.  Which means, an Inspector now earns a salary of RM2,060.28 compared to RM1,423.50 previously while their maximum salary of RM3,710.66 is increased to RM4,962.39.  An Assistant Superintendent of Police received a new salary of RM2,130, which is an increase of RM69.72 compared to RM2,060.28 previously while the maximum salary is now at RM5,170.53 compared to RM4,962.39 previously.  Now let me make a comparison to an industry renown for lack of staff benefits, low pay and long working hours - ADVERTISING.  According to Firebrand, an entry-level Account Executive (fresh grad) now should earn a neat RM2,000 of which upon promotion to a Senior AE level (which roughly requires an average of 2 year working experience with consistent performance), they will be earning at least RM2,500 up to RM3,500.

Am I the only one who sees how our human resource system for law enforcers is flawed?

Assuming an SPM graduate / undergrad / cadet school grad who for some unknown reason is extremely passionate about protecting civilian security of his nation joins the police force at a Constable (PC) level, what do you think his salary starts from?  IF an Inspector (7 ranks above) was earning RM2,000?  And you ask what are the police doing in alleviating crime rates?  What do you think?  What would you do?  Would you put your life in the line of fire for RM2,000?  Even if you are okay, what about your family?  Who's gonna take care of your children?  Your parents?  Your spouse?

The above paints me a picture of an ideal police in Malaysia: You are single, on fire for the country and her people and injustice that you're willing to risk everything including the livelihood of your family (if you have one) for whatever amount the government has allocated as your measly monthly salary for decades unchanged.  A true national hero that will never question the authority or his career rights.

To those who indeed lost their lives in protecting the sovereignty of the country, you are indeed a hero.  No question.  But to those who are less than willing to go the extra mile, I understand your plight.  And to those who misuse their power, I also understand.  Because this system is greatly flawed.  Please do not misconstrue my understanding of the situation as a personal agreement.  Only by awareness we can then identify effective solutions to the problem.

So.  If I were to build my own police force as in like SIMCity, I would overhaul the entire HR strategy.  While the police serves under market norm, but their motivation must stem from a social conscience.  Money in this case is both important and unimportant.  A sound salary plan accompanied by social motivation is perhaps the best balance to ensure minimally an 'effective' police force.  The problem with the current situation is, they are entirely taken for granted, expected to serve at minimal wage.  If we were to plug the holes that are depleting the government funds, surely there's enough to ensure sustainable and progressive wage to our officers?

Agree?

The evolution of Man: What CAN we become?

Once upon a time, shortly after the completion of our social research on eco awareness, The Green Chronicles, we propagated that producers/manufacturers should not stop their consumer purchase cycle at 'consumption' but at 'disposal'.  When it is put into their mandatory action list, I am very sure it will drastically change the way products are planned and launched (think cameras, think smartphones).  If manufacturers are responsible for products at the disposal stage, then we will have better quality products with longer 'usage' life and a more sustainable eco-system of consumption.

While I shopped at H&M last weekend, that's one brand which recently launched a global awareness campaign on their sustainable recycling strategy.  Simple: Bring in your old clothes and trade for discounts for new ones.  Old clothes will then be recycled into materials which will be used in manufacturing new ones.  This practice now has a label and it's called EPR - Extended Producer Responsibility.  The whole point is not to mindlessly put new stuff into this world - we need to seriously consider how to 'delete' them from our system.  There.  Are.  Just.  Too.  Much.  Stuff.  In.  This.  World.  Seriously.

Now, you may not think much about this tiny little extended marketing program, but assuming the best that ALL manufacturers in this world were put in place to ensure sustainability in their product life cycle; then the first most immediate visible impact would be: NO LANDFILL.  This world will have no more landfill.  If you can't think of a way to dispose and/or recycle your products sustainably then you can't produce.  Period.  Simple as that.  Imagine, a world with no landfill.  NO LANDFILL.  No more rubbish dumps in the middle of the Pacific Ocean that spans for kilometers in diameter.

Watch the video below to get the picture.

p/s: If you're reading this and are in the business of production, please, I beg of you, consider this epic insight.  As starters, I'll even volunteer my time to discuss possibilities if you need an additional thinking buddy (consultation thereafter is chargeable though, ha ha ha).  Well I'm serious, really, think about it.



Obviously, I'm not the only one propagating.  More reading: You see Garbage, I see Value: Let's make the recycling business a no-brainer.

Monetizing curiosity.

First question - what does it take to be a planner?  You have to be curious.

But doesn't everyone in advertising... or as a matter of fact, in any industry (last I checked most Nobel Peace prize winners aren't from the communication business), should be curious?

Then the question becomes what makes a curious person, a planner?

When you can monetize curiosity.

Being curious is not enough, you need to be resourceful.  Experiencing a moment is not enough, you need to understand how to draw that moment into the creative process.  Discovering trends is not enough, you need to know why and how people's behaviour is changing and how that would affect brands.  Researching a problem is not enough, you need to find illuminating solutions.

Yup.  2013 - monetize curiosity.  Because curiosity stems all creativity.

And in case I don't see you, hope you have had a Merry Christmas and most importantly, an awesome fruitful 2013.  Take care and see you in business.

Is supermarket, the new age fantasy?

I've been a supermarket vulture recently and oh my, how have our civilization has evolved.

We used to have one type of cooking oil. Maybe two or three choices of brand but essentially the same stuff. Then the choice widens as more and more brands push through the shelf. Some independent, some a few sub-brands from the same company, designed to dominate visual space with little product differentiation. And then the range started growing roots vertically. Within cooking oil, you now can choose peanut, canola, palm, etc etc. Brands of each sprouting like branches. And then the budding specialist oils (raspberry mango, olive and spice, etc etc) blossoms to confuse you even more if you're not confused by now. Welcome to grocery 2.0. And that's just the oil. Wait till you see the other stuff.

What happened to us? How much variety can we really consume?

But I must say that going grocery window shopping has become a new hobby of mine. I don't cook much nor great. But I simply couldn't resist the fascination of being awed by the powerful but mostly overlooked little inventions of mankind. Inventions that not only sustain us but nourish and enrich us. Amazing isn't it?

If you believe in the theory 'paradox of choice' then you must agree with me that the business of grocery shopping might be a lot less prosperous than it actually seems to be. What do you do when you click on a website that has nothing but 8 point size text and no matter how long you scroll, the page knows no end? You x it of course. So imagine being overwhelmed by rows and rows of colourful bottles and boxes and packages and what not. With no recipe in hand. You thought you would come for an exploration and an exploration it is. And find yourself at a complete lost, paralysed by the paradox of being able to whip up almost infinite types of dishes yet you could decide on none. Brilliant.

Now for the swift sighted, there's a blatant gaping hole of need that begs to be fulfilled. Perhaps in more than one way but nevertheless a great opportunity to help ease this shopper paralysis and make us all better cooks, chefs, homemakers, husbands, girlfriends, boyfriends, sons and daughters. If you can spot it, why not share it? See if we're on the same page? ;)

Meanwhile, I should stop blogging and get on with my cart. I'm causing a supermarket jam.  Happy shopping y'all!

What is UX design?

UX design is human-centred design process.

Question.  If planners are representatives of the human population within an agency, then logically planners must also give a lot of input in UX when it comes to any sort of production.  I thought the author, sylvaincottong.com, explained it rather clearly:

Since we're not manufacturers, our main production would be creative campaigns and more relevant than ever, anything that requires interactivity - within a space or behind a screen.  Maybe not a strat planner planner, but some kind of human researcher planner, no?

I'm a 2.0 planner, not yet a 3 so I'm intrigued...

I thought this was a good example for UX framework consideration by Wikipedia:

Example

Lisa is on her way home by bus, and wants to know how her husband is doing on a business trip. The bus is crowded and she did not get a seat, but she wants to use the time to contact her husband by phone. What affects her user experience with the mobile phone?

• Lisa’s own mental state and characteristics (motivation, expectations, mood, know-how) and current physical resources (only one hand available for the phone)

• The context, i.e. the current situation:
  • Physical (moving bus, views passing by, lighting, noise – the environment Lisa feels via her senses);
  • Social (fellow travellers, code of conduct, husband's availability - how other people affect user experience);
  • Temporal (the duration of the bus trip – time constraints);
  • Infrastructural (availability of network, cost of calls and text messages, legal restrictions); and
  • Task (sending a text message is part of a bigger "task" of two-way dialogue, other ongoing activities such as monitoring when to step out of the bus, possible interruptions).

This context motivates Lisa to use text messaging as the means to communicate with her husband. The context also affects the interaction with the mobile phone and thereby the user experience.

• The system needed for text messaging (mobile-phone and text-messaging service in this case): user interface and functionality (e.g. text-messaging software and keypad), design and brand, the replies coming from the husband. The primary value comes from the discussion itself, and all other parts of the system should support this purpose.

Depending on the husband's messages, Lisa's emotions may range from delight to sorrow, from excitement to despair. User experience focuses, however, on Lisa's feelings about using the mobile phone, not those about her husband. Did the system enable her to communicate with the husband in the way she wanted in this context? Did the system delight her by exceeding her expectations or by attracting positive reactions from others?

Any thoughts?

Really. Seriously. Honestly, what do planners do?

When people ask me what I do in advertising, everyone gets it if I were to say 'Client Servicing' or 'Copywriter' or 'Art Director' or 'Media' or 'Production'.  Most often than not, I just get a blank look when I say 'Planner'.  No one knows what we do.  Heck, even some within our own office don't know what we do.  While some people bitch about Servicing as being the 'high-class' messenger, we are infamously known as the 'expert' Powerpoint writer.

It's total bullshit.

What I do is I PLAN.  I solve problems.  Any problems.  Period.  Full stop.  You have a problem?  You come to me.  I give you a solution.  And that solution has a plan.  It consists of an idea that has a concise strategy to help you get out of your rut hole (Point A) and into dreamland (Point B).  Wherever your Point A is, wherever your Point B is.  It doesn't matter.  Sometimes, we can give you an even bigger plan and suggest the third point.  Point A to Point B to Point C to Point Whatever.  Till you say stop.  Small planners, small journey.  Big planners, big journey.  Simple as that.

There's no job in planning.  Planning is living.  If you're a good problem solver in life, you're a good problem solver at work.  Problems are problems, big or small.  What a planner lives on, he or she feeds back into their work.  So, there's no 9 to 5 job, it's a round-the-clock work because a planner is perpetually living, breathing and most importantly learning.  What a planner learns is oxygen (amazingly well put by fellow planner, Heidi Heckemer) to the agency.  The oxygen that's needed for the ultimate first spark of light (yes, pun intended).  Without that oxygen, there's nothing.

I'm not a workaholic.  I might seem like I'm thinking all the time.  That's because I enjoy learning.  You can't learn if you're not thinking, no? (that's why our education system failed so terribly).  So people may mistaken me as a workaholic.  Well, yea.  Whatever.

In reality, there's no such thing as a 'junior' planner.  Or planning manager, or director, or chief planner.  A planner is a planner.  You're either a planner or you're not.  A good planner or you're not.  Levels don't define how good you are, it just defines how old you are (defers maybe only in some exceptional cases).  But I guess, it's a way for management to safeguard the planning lineage in agencies.  Therefore, they need to photocopy the planning director into many little planners so that they can make more money.  Makes perfect economic sense and I'm not complaining.  But I think planning directors are just highly misunderstood.  That's all I'm saying.  I'm not interested in intellectual masturbation with C-executives.  I'm here to solve problems.  Directorship sets a diplomatic restrain on you, that's all (say that, don't say that, say that, don't say that).  It's no biggie.  Don't like?  Leave.  Be a planning nomad :) (that's my dream job actually.  And now that I've mentioned it, PLEASE REMEMBER THAT YOU READ THAT TERM HERE FIRST.  TQVM).

I have a confession.  I have trouble following rules or systems to be specific.  I can't work in a cookie cutter.  I can't live in a pigeon-hole.  That makes me unstable and that always gets me into trouble.

BIG SMILE.  Sorry, can't help it.  Learning is a dotted-life (credit Steve Jobs).  Hold that thought!  Did you just imagine some black dots on a straight line?  Whether horizontal or vertical?  Hmm.  You know what dalmatians are?  Well, that's what I'm talking about.  Sporadic dots (who says it must always be a line!).  I get suffocated, unhappy, bordering depression if I'm locked within 4-walls.  Not 4 physical walls (I don't really care about physicality) but my light gets dimmer if I'm tied down by systems.  Linear methods.  You must do this and this and this because it's this and this and this.  You must be in by 9am.  I don't really care what time I come to work but to sit in the jam for 2 hours simply don't make any common sense to me.  I defy inefficient systems.  So.  I don't come in to work at 9.  As long as I'm in when I'm needed then problem solved.  You get me now?  Yea, planning nomad.

I get suffocated if I can't travel.  If I can't go and see the world, talk to people and consume their culture, I shrink.  Some people don't.  They retain their original size.  But I will shrink.  I don't why it happens, but it happens.  I'm not sure if it's gonna work as well if you tell me to 'grow up', cause trust me, I told myself that gazillion times before.  But it doesn't work.  On the contrary.  Every time I travel, my mind grows.  It stretches itself so much to carry the excitement back to my team.  My excitement literally bursts out from me.  I wanted to share with them what I saw, who I met, what I did because I have all these great ideas that would make for great problem-solutions.  Without getting out there, my sight dims.  And I will lose the love for my work.  The love for solving problems.  The love for learning.  The love for living.

That's what I do.

That's what a planner does.

And now, I'm gonna share with you a really simple but profound slideshow from Heidi, another planning nomad.  And right after this.  I'm gonna share the link with my bosses.  It feels like these are the words which I've always wanted to tell them but never knew how.  Well, now that a planner has expertly put it into a Powerpoint, I should just click 'send'.  PTL for Slideshare.  Enjoice :)

planning, creativity & planning for creative campaigns

View more presentations from Heidi Hackemer

Bedtime read: Stephen King.

Known as the Godfather of Account Planning, he said:

Many managements have copied the most overt element of BMP's account planning, without fully understanding the depth of skill and breadth of interest involved, the very high ratio of planners to account managers and the great commitment to training. All they have seen, in fact, is account planners running group discussions. As a result a large number of qualitative researches have found themselves, after four years or so of slogging away at group discussions, translated overnight into instant agency Account Planning Directors. It was so much easier to find them than people with a thorough grounding in all aspects of brand building. - Published (reproduced) in 1989.

Wherefore art they, O'King? If not from research!

Fastforward two decades, and instead of research agencies, we see an influx of planners from account servicing. Some grew in love for strategies (but then again, that's a little vague), some grew in detest of clients (a hard truth, but a truth nevertheless). For us to really grow planning talent, I'm afraid they will have to come from media or marketing. Best if hybrid, but that's where they should come from. Preferably, the client's side. Someone who finds sole data crunching a little limiting to their growth.

And really Mr. King... it is too ideal to have 1 Account Planner to 1 Account Manager. My management will drop dead laughing at my utopian proposal! (On second thought, hey... may I should...).

Death of a strategic planner.

The key word of today's marketing communication discipline. Integration, integration, integration. Traditional planners become the consumer voice, conduct extensive social type researches to get a slice of the consumer's life and present it in the most inspiring manner for creative to chew. Traditional planners also provide indicative direction to the must-have mass channels in the campaign, supported by media data. Traditional planners help (and even encourage) creatives to say one thing and one thing only in the campaign, regardless of media. That's not wrong. Because that reflects the traditional consumer who's a digital immigrant (I learned a new word today) compared to his or her digital native younger counterpart. He or she is forced to use digital medium (computer, PDAs, handphones, etc) because that's how the world has evolved into it.

If traditional media is dead, then guess who's buried with it? Yup. Planners.

Today's planners need to be a Jack of all traits and Master of some. They need to know all interactive medium such as digital, mobile, PR and events because engagement is the key to integration, on top of what they already know about mass advertising. True value creation today comes from collaborative willingness from consumers. Part of the responsibility of communication should be socially skewed, to provide conusmers with a sustainable long-term value versus short-termed benefits. It's hard to spell everything out in one paragraph but, in a nutshell, planners should really evolve to consider the social innovation realm as part of the marketing mix discipline.

Evolve. Evolve. Evolve.

What happens when advertising agencies don't invest in social media?

We were all okay, until...

Everyone is talking about how brands should be getting online. No one thought about what advertising agencies would evolve to become? When clients get first hand information and feedback from consumers, why do they need to pay for strat planning fee for Agencies anymore? Agencies will become creative executors. We will lose our edge when we lose sight of insights. Then we will not be on the same page with our clients NOR the consumers. Think about it. We'll be left out :(

6 Lessons From the Best Marketing Campaign Ever by Rohit Bhargava.

Something thoughtful. Original article here.

***

Still, a big part of the reason for the amazing success of this campaign ("Best Job in the World")was not what they were marketing, but how they used social media to do it. In that, there are some lessons anyone trying to promote a product or service could use:

Make it believable. Many marketing groups would never make a claim if they can't provide substantial evidence. How might Tourism Queensland prove that their job is the best in the world? They can't. But it is believable because it is a beautiful place and fits what many people's definition of a dream job might be.

It's not about how much you spend. One of the major benefits of smart public relations and social media is that it scales in a way that advertising typically doesn't. In other words, you don't have to pay more to get more. The real trick is to have something worthwhile to say that people can't help talking about. You need a good story.

Focus on content, not traffic. (Amen, amen, amen) The typical marketing campaign focuses on traffic to some kind of site. For Tourism Queensland, the biggest payoff of this campaign was having over 34,000 videos on YouTube from people around the world talking about how much they love Queensland. Aggregate the views of all those videos, and multiply them over the long term and you'll start to understand the true impact of their campaign.

Create an inherent reason for people to share. Another element of this campaign that worked extremely well was the fact that there was voting enabled on the videos. What this meant was that after someone submitted their video, they had an incentive to share it with everyone in their social network online to try and get more votes.

Don't underestimate the power of content creators. Most recent statistics point to some number between 1% and 10% of the user base of any social network are the active content creators. Though these percentages may seem small, the potential impact of some of these individuals are vast online. It could easily become the secret weapon for your next marketing campaign.

Give your promotion a shelf life. The best thing about this campaign may just be the content yet to come. Ben, the winner, just started blogging and sharing videos and photos, but the content is already engaging, high quality and inspires you to dream of making it to Queensland yourself. Over the next six months, his itinerary will take him across the state of Queensland and unlock many other unique opportunities. Best of all, this content will live on far beyond the time span of the campaign.

***

Italics mine.

Although essentially there are no rules in social media campaigns but I think these are the fundamental requirements. Hmm.

What on earth...?

What prompts a brand to rip its values apart and fight on sheer naked cost?

"Just print out the confirmed booking from MAS and I will pay the difference. As for the sub-Zero Fare, which will be launched in the next few days, it will be cheaper than zero,” said Fernandes in an interview. - The Star, 6 May 08

I've always thought Tony was a brand man, I guess I thought wrong looking at how both Air Asia and MAS are taking the fight outside. I mean who could be benefiting from this? Firefly? This reminds me of the 3 year (or more maybe?) war waged in the mobile service playing field. It took everyone to bleed to stop the costly battle (yet celcos are still laughing to the bank, sigh, oh what margins!). Now, we're looking at another. Is there any other way Malaysian brands can offer value to consumers without having to cut each other's throat? Throwing zero cost products and services out like that is like throwing toys out of the playpen. Well, but then again, that's strictly from a business point of view. But as for being the consumer's voice and an avid traveller, I'd say, bring it on!! (I'm just glad I'm not the agency in charge).