Rising fuel price and inflation has caused many people to simplify their life and live below their means. Governments and schools have been promoting the virtues of “reduce, reuse and recycle” for ages but green consciousness did not take off save for niches here and there. Until reality hits home that income are not rising as fast as expenses, most people spend extravagantly and lavishly. The Green Movement of the “3R” is far from their thoughts.

A girlfriend said she used to throw away the cooking oil bottle when there’s about 1 cm left. It’s time wasting to wait for the oil to travel from the bottom to the opening. Now with the cooking oil price increased by 2-time and the supermarket has lesser stock and varieties. She used to the last drop and even tried to use less oil in cooking.

With rising food price and shortage elsewhere, the mood isn’t buoyant which led many retailers to predict that our famous Great Singapore Sales in June-July period - which draws tourists from all over the world - will somewhat be dampened. Mother Gaia is going through a difficult time. Just listing the recent 3 events that “shook” the world - USA’s sub-prime crisis threatens to bring the rest of the world down with recession, China’s Sichuan is suffering the consequences of a catastrophic 8.0 Richter earthquake, Myanmar’s homeless are dying of diseases and starvation after Cyclone Nargis flattened and forever changed it’s coastline.

What’s the reaction of businesses towards their businesses?

1. Cut down on non-essential and/or unnecessary expenses
2. Slow down manpower recruitment and get existing workforce to multi-task
3. Outsource to lower operation costs
4. Negotiate better pricing and terms with vendors or replace vendor with cheaper source
5. Replace materials with close alternatives

As we were discussing all these over lunch, my business associate in the printing business quipped: “The clients will hang on and recycle their design concepts longer and opt for reprinting only. You guys who works on new marketing ideas, new creative concept, new design execution will be affected.”

Yes, that’s true. A very realistic analysis.

Interestingly, Sony Electronics already recycled it’s vintage ads to promote recycling of its products since last last year. Sony said: Read the rest of this entry »

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A carefully crafted business slogan speaks volumes of it’s brand value and promise, successfully.

In many parts of the world, the word synonymous with diapers would be Pampers, just like Kleenex is tissue paper and Zerox is copying machine.

I thought this slogan was clever. By claiming that Pampers is “inspired”, Pampers is not taking any credit for it’s superior products. Pampers did not brag about it’s team of professionals (that is, adults) who researched and worked long and hard hours to develop a superior product. Instead, Pampers returned the glory to it’s little clients. Pampers didn’t say the product is made by a baby but as a parent, you believe you heard that Pampers is guided by the babies to come out with this fabulous diaper. Only a user can churn out a good product for another user, who has the same needs, wants and wishes. So, Pampers scored high points in its psychological appeal.

Now, the real story of how the Pampers Diaper come about:

Pampers diaper was first introduced to the world in 1961. They were the creation of Vic Mills who worked for Procter and Gamble. He was looking for an easier way to diaper his grandchildren. He thought it was a mess to use cloth diapers and it occurred to him that the pulp mill owned by Procter and Gamble might produce a clean, absorbent paper that just might work for a disposable diaper. Well, the rest like they say, is history.

Check out this 2006 TVC from Pampers during the Christmas season. Again, it tugs at viewers’ hearts by focusing on a child’s innocence..

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The ad has a single line, “It’s hard to concentrate on a good book with a wet diaper on your mind.” The rest of the copy is made up of one letter, “p”.

Who do you think the line is for? For the baby who cannot hear anything except “p” as you read him/her the bedtime story? Or is it for you who finds it tough to concentrate when you know junior’s diaper is soaked again? Read the rest of this entry »

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From young, I was told by parents, teachers and friends to think carefully so as to make the right decisions on all things. I’m sure you’ll have gotten somewhat the same advice.Nothing wrong with that, right? After all, our decisions are made based on what we believe to be logical, sensible and appropriate. Yet T. Harv Eker made one statement that really shook me:

The problem, however, is that your right choice many not be a successful choice. In fact, what made perfect sense to you may consistently produce perfectly poor results.

I honestly thought I have made the right decisions to reach the right choices in my life. Yet, when I look at the outcomes and results, some were lacklustre and a few were disappointing. Results don’t lie. No matter how I want to look at it “the other way”, I cannot white-wash the facts.

I realized to my horror that I have made the “right” decisions but I didn’t make them because I think, feel or believe they were the most viable option.

I made them because of Read the rest of this entry »

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People will remember “It’s Miller Time” as it is one of the more memorable beer slogans of all times. However, I reckon that “If you’ve got the time, we’ve got the beer” is worth a special mention. This 1971 slogan revolutionize how a beer campaign can work.

During the 1950s and 1960s, the average Joes thought that all beers were made from basically the same stuff, under essentially the same brewing processes and cost almost the same. The only distinction is the taste. So you can imagine all the advertising guys focused on the importance of flavour. Naturally, “how good the beer tasted” formed the foundation of all creatives and copy for virtually all the beers.

Miller Beer changed all that in January 1971. Beer distributors from around the country attended the Miller Brewing Co.’s national sales meeting at Boca Raton, FL. The highlight was Miller’s launch of a nationwide advertising campaign revolving around the new slogan, “If you’ve got the time, we’ve got the beer.” With this slogan and the advertising campaign, a new lease of life was given to the stale beer advertising scene.

The new advertisements still depicted tough and rugged macho guys (the typical Joe-Six Pack) drinking Miller Beer. The difference is these guys are drinking not because they enjoyed its delicate balance of flavors, they are drinking because they deserved a great beer after a hard day work. In essence, it’s Miller Time. For once in the past 20 years, beer advertising focus Read the rest of this entry »

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There were times others approached me to work together on a project. Yet there were times I sought others’ help in the same manner.

The project is just too big and on our own, the weight is simply too much to bear. Taking it on our own is suicidal and it will certainly jeopardize the client who entrusted us the work.

Alone, I am without leverage. Alone, I might become discouraged and disillusioned.Eventually I might even quit. Horror, isn’t it? Robert Allen shared in his “One Minute Millionaire” book that there are at least 6 forms of leverage: mentor, team, network, infinite network, skills & tools and systems. So, getting help is the only sensible thing to do.

Still, even with extra brains and hands, taking a project bigger than we can manage can be really frightening. And there lies one of the biggest differences between successful entrepreneurs and the not-so-successful ones. The successful entrepreneurs are willing to act in spite of fear. The not-so-successful entrepreneurs let fear stop them.

I’m in the marketing & advertising industry for more than 20 years, still, there were times I could feel numerous butterflies fluttering in my stomach. Some of my peers and my team didn’t quite believe it until I “collapsed” with exhaustion and relief when a big project was successfully completed. Successful wannabes have fear, doubts and worries, so do the more successful folks.

We are creatures of habit. This is exactly why T. Harv Eker emphasizes these 4 words, “act in spite of“. To be successful, we have to take action in spite of fear, in spite of doubt, in spite of uncertainty, in spite of our moodiness, etc, etc. One of the concerns to act in spite of is the “face” issue. What would others think of me if I say this, do that? The fact is people did not notice and mind as much as we do for most of the time. We can be our worst enemies. I know I am my own, my friends always said I’m too hard on myself and I beat myself up senselessly.

During T. Harv Eker’s “Train a Trainer” programme, there were 2 nights of “Outrageous Night” where more than 400 of us were challenged to dress, sing and dance outrageously. Basically, perform something we had never ever dreamed of. Many played it safe. They dressed really nicely and picked a safe song (including Happy Birthday and Ba Ba Black Sheep). Our friend wasn’t at all amused. He took to the stage the next morning and gave us a solid dressing down. Read the rest of this entry »

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It’s with great pleasure that I introduce this month’s guest writer, Jef Tan.

Jef is a dear friend of mine. Not only that, he was my colleague when we worked in Pounds and Jordan. On top of that, he has been my boss. After he left P&J to start his own agency, he invited me to head his account servicing department. Those were exciting days where adredalin was perpetually high as we kept clinching coveted accounts over the big boys. It was with regrets that I left his agency to join the client side. Jef went on to make it big in the creative scene and won 3 awards from Creative Circles. However, it will be a big mistake to see Jef simply as an outstanding designer. To me, Jef is no ordinary designer. He can write excellent ad copy effortlessly to match his creative idea. He will unreservedly contribute his opinion on marketing strategies and tactics during brainstorming sessions. He is an asset in any team.

I enjoy working with Jef. When I started Versa Creations a few years, he was the only one I could entrust with the design of my corporate logo. I had expected nothing short of good work, still, he surprised me with the originality of his idea. Until now, my ambigram logo remains one of the most talk about features on my business card. Recently, David Airey - the popular designer-blogger - short-listed Versa Creations’ logo in his Logo Design Love Award.

Jef Tan is currently freelancing as an art director in Melbourne and is working on his first book. In his own words, “thankfully not about the creative industry”.

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Clients are a funny lot of people aren’t they? They are the reason why businesses like ours exist. But for most of us with the odious task of coming up with design solutions or any kind of creative work (and by that I mean, a unique genre of service where human emotion is a deciding raw ingredient), clients can sometimes force us to evaluate why we were ever in the creative business in the first place. After having spent a decade and a half in this trade, I should like to say that I’ve seen them all: clients who can bring us to the moon and back and of course, the ones that send us to the psychiatrist’s chair.

I’d like to offer a quick categorisation of the various kinds of clients that creative folks have encountered at some point of their professional lives. These are all pigeon-hole categories of course, common sense could never draw distinct lines between them all. I do this in the hope that for the younger lot of us, it might serve as some sort of an umbrella, you know, for when shit hits the fan.

The Devil

Let’s start with the worst type of all and why not? The Devil is the type of client whom you’ve come to depend on for the most part of your balance sheet. The kind that might even possibly pay well and provides enough work to keep your younger colleagues away from Facebook. This client will most likely be the one whom you’d reschedule appointments at the drop of the hat. And get this: the Devil knows all this and the evil thing is the Devil will use it to his or her advantage each and every time. Sounds familiar? You know it’s the Devil when Read the rest of this entry »

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