New beginnings

Gosh! It has been 3 months since I’ve updated my blog. The main excuse being my course… I’m learning that juggling work and studies is so tiring! Now that the term is over, I can kick back and have a little break. Well one interesting thing is that inspite of not updating this blog, I discovered that I am still getting traffic, sometimes from the most faraway places, oddly enough. I hope to regain my momentum and blog more regularly, especially on PR and social media.

And of course, this month I start my new job at Sony Asia Pacific, where I’m part of the regional webcomms team. This is the first week so far, and already the learning curve is steep.

On a more personal note, I joined the big Three O club this month. I thought I was suppose to be like either very scary or exhilarating, depending on how you look at it. But I was like, hmm, okay. There’s other changes that I’m making in my life and here’s to a brand new start to brand new beginnings.

p/s Keep coming to my blog!

MDA’s rap video makes it to TechCrunch

The infamous MDA rap video has made it to TechCrunch, and not for the right reasons. Great. Now besides being known for banning chewing gum, caning, archaic laws that criminalise homosexuality, we’re going to be known for bad rapping. Well done!

Kevin from theory.isthereason has a really funny post on the entire monkey business.

Kit Chan joins Hill & Knowlton

The one and only Kit Chan has joined Hill & Knowlton, one of the world’s five largest public relations firms. The established singer starts her new career as a campaign strategist in September. Are high visibility and influence good substitutes for relevant PR training and experience?

“One reason is that in this profession, you can get away without formal PR training and professional accreditation. Employers hire PR personnel based on the candidate’s writing skills, media experience and event management. Hence, it is easy for anyone who has these abilities, to claim to be a PR professional. Such flexible entry requirements have long been a subject for debate in the industry.”
(Quick Guide to Public Relations, IPRS)

I wonder if this means that from here on out, we’re gonna see a posse of celebrities crossing over to join the PR industry? I vaguely recall reading somewhere that Diana Ser also joined/started a PR consultancy not too long ago. Well it’ll be interesting to note how this will work out for Kit.

Whatever and Anything

Two of the most oft-used words in our modern lexicon have become the polestar of a major advertising blitz for two beverage products called, you’ve guessed it, Whatever and Anything. If you’ve never heard of this before, you probably just came down from Mt Kusu, in which case you’d be better off climbing back up again.

The (very successful) teasers and ad campaign generated lots of interest and buzz and personally, the print ads never fail to illicit a chuckle. Whether the actual products lives up to the hype is another thing. From what I’ve heard so far, feedback hasn’t always been positive. Just last night, I tried a can of Whatever, and it turned out to chrysanthemum tea laced with so much sugar they should stick a diabetic warning on the can.

I attended a company-sponsored course last week, and the trainer just so happened to mention that the products was a result of focus groups replying “Anything” or “Whatever” when asked what were their favourite drinks. (I checked the product website, and the creators claimed they stumbled upon the idea themselves.)

First we had the baby boomers, followed by Generations X, Y and Z. Now apparently we have the Whatever-and-Anything Generation. Typical teenspeak for you:

“What shall we have for dinner?” – “Anything.”
“Which way is better? X or Y?” – “Whatever.”
“Which sauce would you like to have? Mayo or thousand island?” – “Anything lor.”
“He/She is soooo cute!” – “Whatever!”

Some of us non-teens aka adults are guilty of the above as well. Nothing wrong with that of course, but unless you want to be accused of being indifferent and apathetic, then you better speak up. Wait, Singaporeans ARE indifferent and apathetic. That probably explains why we are the first ones to invent beverages with innovative names like Whatever and Anything.