The liberation of life for all Malaysians.

New Malaysia should believe, build and attain good quality of life for all – B40, M40 and T20 – all races, all ages, all gender, all beliefs. I've become some sort of an avid observer of cross-cultural lifestyles whenever I travel and every piece of my experience, I made a mental note.

And after being in 28 countries across 5 continents, these library of 'notes' in my head, is finally compiled into a comprehensive and succinct checklist for what I think good quality of life is, and that both private and government sectors should work together to provide for all Malaysians. I hope they will come handy someday. I believe that not one party can provide the solutions to all 25 goals. All sectors must work together in close collaboration and with the same ideals, only then we can achieve this ambition. I welcome discussion and suggestion.

1. Knowing the source of your food and that it is safe
2. Being able to ‘enjoy’ simple pleasures of what one enjoys - from ice cream vans to skating parks, from fine wine to swimming in public rivers
3. Having life aspirations and being able to realize them
4. Healthy engagement of discourse with each other, including with their voted representatives
5. Freedom of belief and religion - the government a watchdog, not a dictator
6. Connection with tradition and culture, a strong sense of belonging
7. Social integration - being able to interact freely with others on a daily basis regardless of income, race and religion
8. Close relationships with friends and families
9. Having quality choices in one’s everyday decisions
10. Good quality childcare that is both flexible and affordable
11. Facilities and services that have good consideration of being baby, children, senior, disabled and pet-friendly
12. Appreciation of music, literature and knowledge – music festivals, good libraries, bookstores and affordable access to fast internet
13. Accessibility and enjoyment of commute
14. Minimal anxiety of growing old or being sick
15. Low crime rate, efficient and just enforcement of law and security – everyone feels safe and secured on a daily basis
16. Accessible and affordable medical and social care and advice
17. Close proximity to nature and greens – strong accountability for the environment
18. Affordable and conscious access to clean water and electricity – no wastage
19. The wisdom of elders, the laughter of little ones and compassion for the less-abled
20. Having the means and freedom to access knowledge and experience from other cultures
21. Sound business policies, strategies and practices that maintain a good balance between the interest of the people and the interest of the market
22. Having good build and design around you – design that solves problems and for the enjoyment of many
23. A well-informed society and a good and healthy balance of government and media power
24. Well-prepared for disaster prevention, relief and recovery, and finally last but not least...
25. Able to build own home and family with loved ones

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 :)

Welcome home, Sparks.

Everyone who has worked with me, will notice that I always had a lanyard around my neck. In the plastic case contains my office tag, some business cards for those off-guard moments and one very special card.  It was my business card from Sparks' days.  I've been carrying it around for a decade now.  So here we are today, after the many ups and some downs in the Dentsu group for so many years, it has come to the moment we part ways.  For what it is worth, it's been a great journey.  Many couldn't believe that I have worked here for ten years - yeap, my whole youth gone!  I couldn't believe I'd last that long either.

I'm indebted to many of my clients but in particular, Honda for allowing me the space to continuously challenge and excise new thinking and be part of the team that transform a niche brand to today's top-selling one.  I've seen many generations of teams come and go while I stuck around the account like a bubblegum - it has allowed me to see the transformation that happens to a brand and a company with an unflagging emphasis on their spirited culture.  I've witnessed all the growth and crisis.  I've taken beatings and failures but I've also tasted victory and an unprecedented camaraderie that honestly is what made it hardest to leave. I've seen things that I would have not seen if I had accepted any other offers in the past decade.  I may have missed out great career opportunities but given a second chance, I don't think my choice will be any different.

I'm indebted to Dentsu. The Japanese have shown me great hospitality, loyalty, silliness and insights for the many years I have worked with them.  I have all the opportunities that came my way which made me believed that there was only one company who truly value entrepreneurship at every staff level.  I was given many chances to flex my ideas.  I used to tell the teams - the only limitation is yourself because if you have an idea, Dentsu never says no.  Well top-down or bottom-up, as in life, balance is the best approach.  We had a merger and I was elevated to a group role and itself was an amazing opportunity.  I spent 3 years on group strategy, executive management and data leadership.  I had to learn from ground up on media because I only had creative agency background.  It's like you don't just have to run but also eat at the same time.  It was tough but it was also a great workout (well maybe not recommended in real life).  It reminded me of the early days in Sparks - I was working on 3 agencies at any one time.  Every working year triples the experience!  It was tough but it was good because THEN, I was one of those eager beavers who couldn't wait to grow.  But when I was in DAN, it wasn't as easy because I had a lot of people to care for.  It wasn't just me.  I had to run and eat and make sure the rest of the people behind me cross the finishing line too.  The difference was stake I guess.  It's a helluva of an experience but I will never exchange that for anything.  The other day I had a chat with a legal veteran and she told me that she has worked for 25 years and served 7 CEOs.  I told her I have worked in DAN for 3 years and I have served 13 CEOs.  I felt like I was a walking CEO-pedia.  I knew all colours, shapes and forms of ideas and intentions, professional or otherwise.  I think this was the extraordinary part of my position that not many people were given such opportunity.  So if you are a CEO wanting to give me a job, seriously, you can just cut to the chase.  And if I'm ever to be CEO, I sure hell know what rocks and which type I don't want to be.

And when it came to regional offices... I realised (not sure if The Regional People realised), that the most hated word in any agency and I'm not even referring to the network I worked for, but anyone from this industry whom I came across, hates this 4 letter word - APAC.  LOL. Seriously.  I get WHY it's difficult but to be honest with you, I never had any issue with the regional team - whether or not they are my team or even directly relevant to what I do.  I think I might be the luckiest person in the agency world then cause the people I'm in touched with are seriously the most helpful ones.  They get everything for me, all I had to do was just ask.  And sometimes we gossip.  And we laugh out loud.  And then we go back doing our work.  And we go back helping each other.  Although, I'm not really sure if I ever want to be known as APAC, or at least that kind of APAC.  The word GLOBAL is not even half as bad as APAC!  Maybe cause GLOBAL is too far away and APAC is just across the causeway.  Haha, I laugh just thinking about it.  People, wise up!  We're all on the same boat.  A very big boat!  But the same boat.

And lastly, the people I love, trust and respect.  My team.  All of my team, direct or indirect reports, with dotted or squiggly lines, in the group or across all brand agencies - I'm going to miss them the most.  The ones who fight the battles on ground.  I guess my biggest regret if I had one, was I could have done more for them.  The one thing that's more satisfying than personal growth is when you see others grow.  Many have left and new ones came but I'd like to think like Soichiro Honda who once said that he was proud when great Honda employees after so much vigorous training left to work elsewhere.  Because that only affirms that Honda is moving in the right direction and that's how the philosophy will spread around the world.  That amongst many quotes, is one of my favourite.  I'd like to think too that when you have trained real good people and they leave you - it's never disloyalty.  But it's a way for them to create greater change elsewhere.  

So here's signing out from Dentsu Aegis Network.

And welcome home, Sparks. We are now open for collaboration :)

Code of engagement

Let's talk at yay.we.got.sparks (at) gmail.com

"A great strategy starts with clarity; knowing what's the problem, how long and how much do I have"

Why Asians are the best digital experience designers?

In fact they should be because East and South Asia dominate global internet usage.  Quite amazing that all the tech stuff and content are coming from the West though.  I mean even Africa has higher users!  Maybe that's something to do with penetration instead.  The more people use it compared to those who don't, the more quality stuff we get?  I think we have to rewire our thinking.  Internet is not about being advanced or developed.  It's about enabling solutions.  We should get out of this follower mindset right now.

The real difference between Malaysia and Singapore today.

Source: Google

That's the difference.  Malaysians who go to Singapore, can't afford the night and Singaporeans who come to Malaysia, all enjoy themselves :'(

This is a very far-fetched hypothesis.  Please take it with a pinch of salt. Don't be too serious otherwise statistics becomes shitistics :)

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.

What would 'Perfect Education' look like?

I am convinced that in order for human to advance, we must always consider 'balance' in our everyday life.  It sounds like some Buddhist Zen philosophy but reality is that is how nature has always taken its course.  Which to me, education should not be a field that is an exception to this law.  If at all, it should be the most important one to embrace this because as we all know, education is the fabric of any modern development.

To me, 'Perfect Education' should look like this, where X marks the perfect equilibrium of technical skill (what is) and thinking skill (what if):

Too often than not, traditional education tends to focus on the 'what is' - the technical aspect of any field of study.  While this is important as logic tells us; before you meddle with science, you better know your compounds - it teaches the individual of what had happened, what had been discovered and how the world is currently working - but not necessary what can happen, what is yet to be discovered and how the world should or could work.  But if we apply 'what ifs' thinking into the equation, learning becomes something else.  It spurs us to question what had happened and how we can change that.  This is the thinking skill, we so desperately need.  Do bear in mind however, a school that teaches only 'thinking skills' - usually dubbed as 'creative', seems to produce students best in fields which don't require a lot of technical knowledge.  It's missing a lot if you ask me because no society is built without technical capabilities.

Although I'm not a big fan of moral police, but if I absolutely have to add another dimension to this so-called 'Perfect Education', it would be 'ethical skills'.  This is an area of contend, even for me, because personally I believe that there is good in human if only they are taught to 'think'.  The greater the ability to think, the greater the ability to connect ideas - good or bad.  Unless, the person is pure evil, there is no way an individual will choose to continue building on a series of bad ideas!

What kind of education is this framework applied?  Any.  In nurseries, in schools, in colleges, in professional courses, in corporate training and in life.  That's how lifehack came about anyway right?  What you do previously and how you can hack it to make it better.  Same principle.

We are hiring: Driven 'automotive' marketing specialists.

It's going to be tough.  Automotive is a multi-billion industry in Malaysia.  Our GDP relies on this.  One screw up isn't one car sale down.  It sends a repercussion to hundreds or maybe even thousands of jobs being cut.  It's serious business because it involves 8.3 million lives (excluding motorcyclists and pedestrians).  So if you think we are anal about how this business is run and communicated, you are absolutely right. It only looks repetitive if you don't know how to hack it.  The game?  Is to keep repositioning your competitors with what you do.  One step if you're good.  Ten if you're great.

You'll be wanted for accountability - of everything that comes out from your kitchen.  Your pole position is meeting targets, the title on your card is secondary - let us make that clear.  You drive the brand and it drives you.  You are partners, like in any race - man and machine is one.  And let us repeat one more time, in case you missed the first line.  It's going to be tough.  On top of a challenging industry, is another.  We believe in innovating how brands are built by way of integration and collaboration.  We put scientific measures behind our intuitions and have extremely stringent expectations on our fellow brand builders whether from a creative, media or comms specialist aspect.  And most of all, we take pride in providing world-class service to our clients.  They win, we win.  If you can't agree to that equation, you may exit right now.

So if you have what it takes - the desire to not just race but win in the automotive business and you can demonstrate to us why you can do that, we want to meet you.  We're looking for automotive specialists, no longer an account management person or a strategic planning person or a whatever person who can do many things.  We don't care where you come from as long as you can deliver what's to come in the future.  You can be Jack of however many trades you like, there's only ONE thing that we care for you to master - the car business.

In terms of personality requirements, you will need resilience and energy to excel.  A strong character with an inclusive leadership to take the reign is not absolute but from our experience, is a trait will take you very far.

So if you know anything about races, you'd also know second place is the first loser.  Reach out to us now.

Milking the future.

My latest research expedition brought me to far flung, long forgotten places that are resting in the dusty recesses of the economy - dairy farming.

Nutshell, we are only 12% self-sufficient when it comes to milk production.  What does that mean?  It means, if we were 100% self-sufficient, milk prices will come down and more people can drink more milk because it's more affordable.

It's quite scary to know that Malaysia lacks a strategy when it comes to food security.  We are too reliant on food imports which is why we're all hurting over our grocery bills today when the Ringgit plummeted.  Sometimes I wonder.  I really really wonder.  I wonder what else can the ministry do.  This is not a bashing post, and I don't doubt some people are really good at what they do.  But the question is what's next?  What's our best game plan in feeding 30 million mouths and counting? While Najib has moved on to the 11th Malaysia Plan, a quick search on the internet seems to me that the Ministry of Agriculture and Department of Veterinary Services are still stuck in the 9th!

Looks like all the attention is focused on building a knowledge-based economy that we have left our fundamental needs behind.  Many are quick to jump into an obvious conclusion - use agriculture to lift up the bottom 40 economy.  This is where we make a grave mistake of assuming poor people are meant to be farmers and urban folks are not.  That's a very strong social prejudice in this day and age, mind you.  In my books, it's equivalent to asking women to stay home.  Agricultural and farming technologies have evolved past mere livelihood to increase efficiency for better yield for better revenues for bigger markets for new economies.  You need someone who is savvy and trained and to a very large extent, passionate about about the job.  And no young urbanite today, likes a dirty job.

So perhaps, it would be wise for the government to consider attracting knowledge-based young entrepreneurs back into the agriculture sector to catapult it to its much needed and deserved growth.  Instead of just flogging dead horses, shoving expired KPIs into the shed and trying to attract those who have no will power to succeed nor excel to be part of their program.  It will bode well when we start with education, to inspire young minds to find success in farming. That this field deserves as much pride as your Silicon Valley-ish start-ups.  We need to look and scrutinize short, mid and long-term plans instead and it seems that there're A LOT to catch up.  Such bright future for us, if only the people at high places are more accounted for.

Got a related project or an idea?  Call me and let's discuss over a mug of milk.

Nine gloomy nine.

Today is Nine Nine.  September Nine.  And boy so much things have happened since October 20th.  This was almost going to be an anniversary post of my last piece.

These days have been gloomy.  Not just physically because of the dark haze blanketing the entire nation region but also of the world and of our country.

My heart goes out to those who are running away from their beloved homes and pleading for help in neighbouring countries.  They didn't have to suffer because it was never their choice for such ill-fated situation in Syria.  Some European and South American countries opened their doors to welcome the worse migrant exodus since WWII really gave me some hope.  Whilst the hardening of hearts of Syria's rich neighbours say so much about their priority.  More and more I realised that civilization isn't about technology development nor economic wealth.  A civilized society is one that learns from its past and put steps into place to ensure it's civilians are and will be much better off than where they were yesterday.  Germany is probably the first nation that stood up and declared assistance and I can't think of a more apt country that one that has been ridden with a supremely bad past.  Nations are not deadwood, they're like brands and if they're like brands, they're like people.  They can have a soul and they can learn to respond to and with humanity.  That's civilization.

Coming back closer to home, whatever happened in Shah Alam stadium is a sports disaster that we wished had never happened.  Yes, what exactly happened?  Fans got unruly?  Fans couldn't contain their frustration?  Frustration to who?  Surely not to our Arab opponents for scoring?  Buried and building frustration towards the management of football in our country perhaps?  When will Malaysia learn the civilized way of showing displease?  Or care enough to stand up for the change or difference when the right time posed itself?  When?  Instead of internalizing everything and lashing it out on our sports friends.  Is education the root of this problem?  Is it work ethics?  Family values?  What is it?  I know what it isn't.  It isn't about football.  It's a hell lot of deeper underlying currents that have somehow weaved itself together and brought about such ill harvest.  So I tweeted to Khairy and asked that he does not give up.  I asked that he will continue to use sports to unite the nation.  And I would have loved to ask him to open his doors to people who are able, disregarding race, gender and religion.  Those who are objective and strategic.  Nation building, ministry building, company building, brand building - the fundamentals are the same.  Rubbish in, rubbish out.  Will he reply?  I don't know.  I guess it doesn't matter because frankly, who am I?  Am no Tan Sri nor Datuk.  Just a little spark.

So there you go.  Darkness looms as we desperately scramble for some hope.  I hope the clouds, haze and smog go away soon and return us some deep blue skies.  Sigh.

Dumpster Divers: Yay or Nay?

Dumpster Divers are people who rummage through garbage to find wasted food that might not be perfect, but is comfortably safe to be consumed.  You could say it's a culture, a way of life for some, and few for art sake - the perfect way to demonstrate how much wastage is going through in urban areas.

Watch this:



This video was shared by a fellow Human-Design coursemate as we were discussing about the issue of food wastage.  While I think there is merit to the idea of scourging dumpsters to look for perfectly safe and edible foods (not to mention incurring absolutely zero cost for 3 meals a day!), but I'm not really convinced on the concept of 'freeganism'.  Hmm.

I remember my dad once told me that it's okay to study religion.  Or be religious.  The danger is being TOO religious.  Why?  Yah, one of the reasons could be obvious - we don't want no ISIS beheading no people.  But really, if you think about it... what kind of economic value would this individual be putting in the society?  Sure, Freeganism is sustainable for them. But, what about the rest of the society?  How is Freeganism sustainable for everyone?

That's an interesting albeit very touchy subject.  And for fear I attract haters/stalkers, I shall not delve further.  Except to leave you with this very thought.  As an individual that functions as a whole in the society, is it or is it not important for you to be able to add value to the system?  Freeganism sounds like takers.  But if it's done right, it could very well be like a much needed organic support system for many living on the streets.  Just like how an acquaintance rightly put - if only hipsters act like REAL hipsters.

I don't know, what do you think?

IKEA is sexist.

Yup. The everybody-loves-cheap-and-good furniture and home decor giant from Sweden who also holds a gigantic prejudice against the fairer and frail-ier gender.  Women.  Muscle-less women.  Women who don't do crossfit and can't lift a 10kg flat pack on her own.

Have you ever thought why is it SO jam-packed in IKEA?  Two weeks ago, I sent a private message to the IKEA team on Facebook (I'm being ignored already due to my persistent questioning of gender equality, but oh well, what's not to be expected).  To be honest, my inquiry was gently masqueraded as a genuine honest query on why IKEA with every resource prepared, does not have e-commerce?

Here's IKEA's answer: Thanks for being a major fan! We would love to cater to to requests from our fans for online shopping, however we don't have the resources for this service just yet! We do appreciate fans who brave the jam to come visit us - isn't shopping in store (being able to see, touch and possibly, sniff) our items better than shopping online?

Well, IKEA, here's my answer to your question: NO.

I'm your major fan, but I can see that you're not mine.  In this age of personalization, easy access and #lifehacks (sorry, it didn't seem complete without the hashtag), does anyone think they can escape from providing products and services that don't consider consumer needs first?

Isn't it peculiar?  Women who are the growing economic power and a strong draft in social change, can't perform a simple task such as buying a big wardrobe from IKEA on her own, simply because we couldn't.  Fullstop.  Our arms and legs just won't let us carry an 8-ft, god-knows-how-many-kgs flat pack on our own.  I'm PRETTY sure some guys have problems too.  Which is why, if you take a drive to IKEA at anytime, you'll pretty much see the Woman scouring for stuff, while the Man stands at the side with his giant trolley and tries not to be too much in everyone's way and only acts when he's bidded by Her Royal Highness.

Now let's pause here.

Dear IKEA.  If you are reading this, wouldn't it be MUCH simpler if you did away with greed (we will buy your stuff even if we're not there seeing, touching and possibly sniffing them. Yes, WITH impulse, and YES to even your smallest stuff!) and just build an e-commerce platform?  You'll be everybody's major fan. Instantly, I promise.  I'll even throw in payment for your service.  Ok?

Online shopping is a woman's game. Okay, we have stats to prove what they do when they're online.  But seriously, forget about indulgence but really consider the very practicality of a woman's lifestyle.  If she's born frail, do you expect her to carry a 1kg bottle of cooking oil, 1 pack of toilet roll, 3kg worth of rice and tonnes of other fresh foods and cleaning detergent, etc, all entirely on her own?

Okay, so maybe she should learn to build up a little bit, I mean who asked her to be stay frail right?  Okay, let's try something else then.  What if that woman was your 60 year old mother?  Who by the way need to fend off unscrupulous snatch thieves and what not while carrying all I've mentioned above.  And you tell me there's NO market for e-commerce?  YOU are not ready?

Tsk tsk.  Really? 

The world is changing and so is beauty.

Gone is the last century of beauty of porcelain smooth baby's-bottom skin, or has it?  Look at today's beauty ads - same same but different: good looking lady, very feminine, with all the right curves and almost spotless.  We kept touting that beauty has change or at least, Dove has been trying really hard to convince the society at large (or reflect?) that beauty is all in the mind.  It has nothing to do with products.  You use products because you only care about how others perceive you.  But really, beauty is about confidence and if you think you've got it, you've got it.

Is that what the world has come to?  If so, then why are we still seeing 99% of beauty commercials talking about the same old thing?

Why do women want to be beautiful?  Because they want to be accepted.  They feel that beauty is a passport for them to gain access to meaningful interpersonal relationships.  To not miss out or be left out in the society, they must at the very least groom themselves because it's the 'social norm'.  So, nobody's born ugly.  Everyone's born beautiful to the beholder, the question is what does society accept and reject?  That caused women all over the world to scramble to look 'right'.

Let's talk about hair.  Does being hairy make a woman feel unattractive?  But if we follow the argument above, isn't her 'unattractiveness' a result of a miss in social expectations?  So WHO decides these expectations?  Men?  Or media?  Or beautiful women?  Or all of the above?

So if I want to tell a woman that she deserves is beautiful, what must I say in order to convince her?  With a clause that she must must must use our product?  Whatever noble message that comes from the commercial, I guess it's sort of cheating.  It's a grey area and a very fine line.

I think all women are beautiful.  At different points of their lives, they experiment with different solutions - make up, clothes, hair removal, etc.  When they drop the school uniform, they'll start to realize the need for hairless armpits and legs to be socially accepted when wearing clothes that might reveal those area.  I suppose this isn't called 'beauty', it's simply about being respectable.  Like not wearing your underwear out in public.  Or your birthday suit.  Or having BO.  Can a beauty service then sell itself by unpositioning itself in the beauty area?  Frankly, it's such a sensitive area, it's pretty much like the discussion of a Brazilian wax.  There're two extremely different school of thoughts regarding that X zone.

Strong women are not beautiful?  Wrong.  Strong women are the most beautiful.  Because they stand for something.  I've got my train of thoughts back now, thank you very much.

Happy New Year.

Wow, it's been almost 6 months since I last posted anything.  Happy New Year to all.

I did not lose my voice nor vocabulary.  Nope.  I was just really busy.  Busy with preparing a new life and 2014.

I wish to continue my point-of-view but alas, sometimes this space scares me.  And that's because of you guys really.  Those whom I know and those I don't.  I never intended to garner attention as much as any other witty whimsical writers did.  It's nice to have some attention but not too much.  Limelight scares me and I'm afraid of this unknown invasion that's slowly but surely creeping into my space.  I wanna talk.  I want some people to listen but to be honest, I'm really worried about who's listening.  Because I don't function alone right now, I have people in my life and I want to keep their space private.

Till then, I'll learn to self-censor.

If you want to keep reading this, then be my friend.  Learn with me, teach me, lend me your empathy, let us exchange counsel.  But don't.  Don't share my blog.  I really don't think this circle should grow any bigger than it is right now.

Till the next time we speak, happy new year once again.

Quality-of-life Index.

Just read about The Economist's Quality-of-life Index and it's scored based on these criteria:

"The survey uses nine quality of life factors to determine a nation's score.[1] They are listed below including the indicators used to represent these factors:

Health: Life expectancy at birth (in years). Source: US Census Bureau
Family life: Divorce rate (per 1,000 population), converted into index of 1 (lowest divorce rates) to 5 (highest). Sources: UN; Euromonitor
Community life: Variable taking value 1 if country has either high rate of church attendance or trade-union membership; zero otherwise. Source: World Values Survey
Material well being: GDP per person, at PPP in $. Source: Economist Intelligence Unit
Political stability and security: Political stability and security ratings. Source: Economist Intelligence Unit
Climate and geography: Latitude, to distinguish between warmer and colder climates. Source: CIA World Factbook
Job security: Unemployment rate (%.) Source: Economist Intelligence Unit
Political freedom: Average of indexes of political and civil liberties. Scale of 1 (completely free) to 7 (unfree). Source: Freedom House
Gender equality: Measured using ratio of average male and female earnings. Source: UNDP Human Development Report"

Wikipedia

Good to know.  Last I checked in 2005, Malaysia is ranked 36.  But with all these political fiasco, rampant corruption and crime and latest gun shooting incidents, how do you think we are scoring?  

From government controlled currency to branded economy.

If loyalty is essentially a currency to the brand, then maybe it’s time to rethink if money is absolutely the only currency for consumers to purchase products.



There is a restaurant which you could eat at even if you don't money.  You could pay by helping out in the restaurant - cleaning, washing, serving - where the currency that matters is your time.

Our ancestors might have gotten it right long time ago, bartering could be a viable option before money was centralized by federal governments.  And if the accumulation of money and domination of wealth by 1% of the world population is creating a lopsided economy and tonnes of other social problems, then wouldn't it make sense for the other 99% to start consider creating their own micro-economy, especially in countries which are hard hit by poverty?  So what is so bad about exchanging some cabbage for a free ride to work?  Or like Nike - some sweat for new kicks?  Or cleaning for rice?

I call this innovative economy - where brands are as big as some governments, this idea is really not so far-fetched after all.

The best city in the world.

A liveable city has low crime rates, decent weather, good education, superb healthcare, reliable transport and an airport with a host of international destination. It’s the sort of place where you can be gay or Muslim, or gay and Muslim, and no one cares. Its art galleries open late and museums are free. It takes recycling seriously and encourages independent shops.

Monocle - Steve Bloomfield & Michael Booth

I cannot agree more.

At least it provides the fundamental basics of a safe and thriving community for us to consider when choosing where to live, or how to live.  Or even, dare I add, how to plan for a liveable city.

Hello.  I'm back :)

Marketing evolution.

Price is competition

Packaging is competition

Promotion, well, is in a way, competition

Distribution is definitely competition

But Purpose... the new P.  That's outside of competition.

How to hire the right person when you have too many candidates?

Okay.  Scenario.  You wanna hire an Account Manager - so it would be someone who's got some level of leadership, a team player, able to decipher complicated tasks from the Account Director which usually comes in the form of a Morse Code and break it into understandable tasks where they and the Account Executive can work on, able to put things together and get it organised and present it back to their boss.

There are 5 candidates.  All Senior Account Executives with similar agency experience and operational skills.  But what you need are 'invisible' skills and they are usually not stated in resumes or extravagantly exaggerated otherwise.

And your enemy is time.  You need this guy like yesterday and interviewing all 5 means you'll have to drown in your own team planning incompetency together with all of your other projects at hand.

So what do you do?

Tick tock tick tock tick tock.

Easy peasy.  Get all 5.  Put them into a room with a two-way mirror (if your agency doesn't have this crazy surveillance room, then a spy camera would do).  You might want to inform them of the camera, in case they found out they didn't get the job, you might get sued to Timbuktu.  So as I was saying, get all 5 of them.  Put them into this room which you can observe them remotely and give them a 30 minutes to an hour task.  Give them a problem of which all 5 will have to agree on a common solution.  Tell them they're free to do whatever they want and you'll be back in an hour to 'hear out the solution'.

Tick tock tick tock tick tock.

Now sit back, relax and evaluate.

All 5 people, and everyone knows only 1 will get the job.  So there is some kind of tension already in the group.  So observe who is the natural leader in the group, who opposes with facts and who without facts, who are the followers, who are the 'whatevers', who are the limelight grabbers, who are the thinkers, who are the idea jotters, who are the yes people, who are the mavericks, who are the smartypants and who are the actual smart ones.

There.

I think you have an ideal candidate in mind already.

;)