PR during Crisis Management

In an emergency event, you should do the following:

1. Be upfront & honest
2. Be quick to respond
3. Be empathetic
4. Detail the steps to aviod repeat mistakes
5. Detail the actions to resolve current situation
6. Give specific steps for customers to take if necessary
7. Deliver any message by the CEO or President

If you see a company didnt do a good job in handling the situation, it usually boils down to 3 things:

1. They dont have a plan to handle crisis
2. They have a plan but didnt rehearse
3. They become defensive rather than showing empathy

Remember, that consumers do accept mistakes and tragedies if they are handled well.

note: extracted points from Brand Asset Management by Scott M. Davis page 167-168.

Facts about watermelon

Surprise surprise.. i only realised that watermelon is a vegetable and not a fruit! It belongs to the same botanical family as cucumbers, pumpkins & squash.

First harvested in Egypt abt 5,000 years ago. Now grown in over 100 countries.

More than 50 varieties; most are red flesh. But there are orange and yellow flesh ones too.

Watermelon is rich in vitamins A, C and B6, potassium, extremely low in sodium, contains fibre, and no fat.

92% water and 8% sugar. Every part is edible, even the seeds and rinds.

Plan or not to plan

The most important thing about planning is not the plan.

As Eisenhower observed: "In preparing for battle i have always found that plans are useless but planning is indispensable".

Planning forces you to think deeply and futuristically in a more systematic manner.

Extracted from FAQs Marketing by Philip Kotler book page 97.

So, in my own words, i think that since it's not the plan that matters most, it's the process of planning which forces you to think deeply and critically that matters most. ;-)

Marketing, PR & Branding pointers

Adapted from Philip Kotler and plus my own understanding, the 5 dimensions of a brand:

1. Attribute - function, feature, style
2. Benefits - solving a problem, serving a need, or fulfilling a want
3. Personality - like human characteristics people can identify with
4. Values - if it's corporate brand, it's the corporate values
5. Image - the look and feel.. aesthetics. the physical appearance.

• The art of marketing is the art of branding.
  
• Brand price premium you can charge is 10-20% today.. unlike early days of up to 50% were gone.
• Customer's attitude towards a brand can range from dislike, indifferent, slight preference to strong preference, to devotion.
• There was a book written on the fall of advertising and the rise of PR.

PENCILS for PR:

P - Publications

E - Events

N - News

C - Community Involvement

I - Identity tools

L - Lobbying

S - Social Investments

Will there be heaven when i die - Song

will there be heaven when i die

will there be angels by my side

and lift me off my feet

and take me to your solemn side

will there be heaven when i die

if there isnt where will i be

be the food for the trees

so the song that they sing to remind

will there be heaven when i die

will you lay by my side

cause that would be nice

i call it heaven if i should die

i just wanna lay by your side

that's heaven if i die...

notes: This song is written on 16 Apr 1999. It's a defining song for me as i was at a cross-road in my life; just before i knew Buddhism. There's some cheekiness in the song as well - the first portion of the song talks about if there's heaven.. as the song moves on, it's actually singing about love.. about a girl.. Ultimately, it's love or the girl that i care about.. not whether there's heaven or not..  ;P

Anti virus software that doesnt need updating

A new anti-virus software Rudra doesnt need updating.. coz it uses advanced form of heuristics-centric protection, that's proactive form of intelligent threat scanning that seeks to understand the behavior and patterns of viruses in order to thwart unknown threats.

Local S'pore startup Rudra Technologies developed it, and retails it at S$75 for single licence; works for Windows 2000 and XP.

Customer Equity

from HBR May 2008 pg 118, Customer Equity is the present value of the anticipated lifetime revenue the company's customers will generate, minus their acquisition & retention costs

3 measurable components of Customer Equity: (i) customer acquisition, (ii) customer retention, (iii) share of wallet.

Brand Equity? probably similar in nature with Customer Equity. It consider the (i) brand creation/acquisition, (ii) brand sustainability/growth & (iii) brand performance/revenue.

From another source:

Brand Value = Brand Equity + Price + Product Features.

You will find - song

It's okay if u wanna cry

Let your tears flow Rain drops autumn nite

It's alright u can let it go

There's still light ahead of your life

It's time now to walk the green

Breath the air that's freedom fresh as spring

Dont look back those crazy times

it's the future that matters most this time

Just dont give it up

Keep on moving on somehow you will find

note: This song is inspired by my friend Ferlin. In fact, she asked me to write her a song since i wrote one for JW.. So, I promised. I delivered. I think this is a beautiful song. Hope she will like it. Even Shini thinks is a nice one.  ;-)

Brands and Branding by The Economist

Brands and Branding put together by The Economist is really a fantastic read! 

One important process that i learned is the brand positioning process: 

1. Understanding all stakeholders needs & desires
2. Opportunity modeling - include elements of Relevance, Credibility, Differentiation & Stretch
3. Brand Platform
4. Brand Identity
5. Brand Architecture
6. Continuous evaluation and development

I'm still reading other branding books.. so no comment on which is the best model to use.. i think i will likely end up with a set of tools for various scenarios..

baby Joash.. happy mother Sarah

more friends pictures

4 Ps of Business Success

Like 4 Ps in marketing (Product, Price, Place & Promotion), Business Success also has 4 Ps.. except that it's coined by me, a nobody lor.. ;-)

The 4 Ps are:

1. People. Especially important if u're a start up. Any organisation needs good & trusted people to achieve anything at all.

2. Process. When organisation grows big, process will determine the sustainability of success. Typically, an organisation of more than 30 employees must really look at defining key processes.. otherwise, things will breakdown..

3. Plan. At the end of the day, business strategy determine how you intend to win the business game. U definitely need a plan.. a good plan, that is.

4. Patience. As long as you're working with people, u need lots of patience. No one will be like you - in terms of capabilities & expectations. So, sometimes hv to learn to accept less than your expectations.. fortunately, most cases need only make do may/will do standards..

friends

Colleagues, or ex-colleagues i should say.. They're my friends today! ;-)

asking the right questions

i spoke to a wise consultant today and asked him to share his experience in consulting.

He said that one important aspect of his work is to ask the right questions. Not always giving the right answers.

This is indeed both art and science. i appreciate this wisdom.. though i've learned this from Anthony Robbins.. but this conversation definitely reaffirmed my belief.

Blessings.

positive energy management

It's timely to remind myself of the power & importance of
energy management.

Each of us has finite energy each day. We must, therefore,
make full of this precious energy to do good & useful tasks.

Apart from doing good, we should focus on energy management.
Create more positive energy while mitigate negative ones

1. Focus on things that matter most.
2. Don't dwell on negative thoughts. Replace them
with positive ones immediately.
3. Take care of physical, mental & spiritual energies.

Blessings.

Feels like heaven - Fiction Factory

Heaven is closer now today,the sound is in my ears
i can't believe the things you say,they echo what i fear
twisting the bones until they snap,
i scream but no one knows
say i'm familiar, cold to touch
and then you turn and go
Feels like heaven, feels like heaven
See how we planned for saddened eyes
and tears to pave the way
i fought the fever as i knew,
my hair it turned to grey
study your face and fade the frame,
too close for comfort now
we can recall the harmony
that lingered but sent sour
Feels like heaven, feels like heaven
You wanted all i had to give
see me, i feel, see me, i live, woh-oh
Feels like heaven (heaven is closer, heaven is closer)..

Decision making

Decision making is both an art and science. There're methods to adopt but in the end, in business, it's the leader's wisdom, 6th sense and experience to decide the next course of action.

i now believe that, in most cases, or 80% of the time, there's a reason for making certain decision. While the remaining 20% i would say that it's intuitive, gut feel or simply personal preference.

A great leader would listen to everybody, then distill them with his or her own ideas before deciding. And it's difficult to say what is a good decision or bad decision - it's judgmental. And only time or history can tell, maybe. I would say that no decision is worst of them all! 

So, regardless how difficult it is, you must learn to be firm and make a decision when time is up! And of course, if there is no urgency to make one, dont! Dont force yourself to make decision when there no need to.. another wisdom i've learned.  ;-)

Strategic Options Evaluation

As a continuation of my earlier blog on Making Strategy, i missed out the importance of evaluating the strategic options. This is an important step in deciding which strategic options to use.

Strategic options may use a scoring system (range from -3 to +3) to measure against the issues/opportunities it would resolve or take advantage of. This method is based on relativity in scoring. The results are deliberated and top scoring options will then move on to the next stage of evaluation.

The second round entails measures (i) risk & returns, and (ii) manpower, financing & time. Here, scoring will use High, Medium & Low as accuracy is not essential. No option will be eliminated. Here, it's trying to find synergy and causality among the options.

Finally, the options are packaged into strategic thrusts or themes for manageability & ease of communication.. giving each thrust/theme an interesting or inspiring title.

From here on, use balanced scorecard to implement the strategy. ;-)

mulist team

This picture will mean a lot years on when we look back to the good old days of building mulist regardless of the outcome of this dare-to-dream venture. i will never forget this adventure.. especially those who embark this journey with me. must thank Shinni for taking this picture of us too! ;-)

Iron Man

The Iron Man movie is really great! Great story, great actors! must watch!!

Official website