Influencers
INFLUENCERS is a short documentary that explores what it means to be an influencer and how trends and creativity become contagious today in music, fashion and entertainment.
Mumbo Jumbo
Ramblings, funny things, and sometimes serious thinking.
November 12, 2011
Post secrets’ app growth
A little while ago, I met the developer of post secrets app. I knew the app was doing great, but I didn’t know it was sky rocketing! Take a look at what mobile technology can do for you.
SOURCE: Post Secrets
November 10, 2011
Startup Weekend Singapore 2011
Being in the Valley for a year has really developed my knowledge to the startup environment. Reading techcrunch or mashable daily was one small step, working in one(startup) was another, but the most interesting way to be introduced to the environment was to participate in events where you could meet people.
Yet, when I was back in Singapore, I honestly wasn’t familiar with the startup ecosystem here, I couldn’t call myself “entrepreneurship aficionado” if I didn’t know the local startup scene. To cure my curiosity, I went into a rampage to join as many startup events as I could (and I also joined a local startup, but story in another time). So this October, I was a participant of StartUp Weekend Singapore - it was the first of its kind I’ve ever joined.
In short, Startup Weekend is a heckathon. If you don’t know what a heckathon is, it’s basically an event where a group of people coming together in an event, pitching and then forming teams based on their skills & interests, building and solidifying an idea in a sprint. Usually a “working” prototype will be out within a weekend or however long the event lasts. Another famous heckathon is Techcrunch Disrupt, which probably need no further introduction.
My team, Live High’s idea was basically a program that recommends credit cards to apply based on your lifestyle and favorite brands. It was just a idea that a friend of a friend (Henry) pitched. The bulk of my team were already my friends, and I joined the team “just for experience”, rather than believing the idea.
Within the team, I was pulled in as a designer, rather than a business person (because our team has tons of non-technical people). What I learned was to be able to create designs within a really short time frame, and to have good fun while working.
Anyway, I am pretty proud to say that we won second place!
The prize? A couple of Eric Ries’ book and an opportunity to be funded. Although Singtel Idea Factory was keen to approach us to discuss about funding, I would say that up till now, there hasn’t any real phone calls from them. Not that I am interested either, I am person that needs passion to drive me, and this idea simply doesn’t.
Anyway, I’ve compiled a couple of pictures of the event, just scroll to enjoy. 
November 6, 2011
Do a barrel roll
Go google “do a barrel roll” & see what happens. What it does it pretty useless, but it create tons of word of mouth hype over it. You know what? It actually even made me think that Google is so much cooler right now!
November 6, 2011
What I learned from watching Gary Vaynerchuk’s talk.
In a Seminal Performance at the 2011 Inc 500 Conference Gary Vaynerchuk talked about he hoo haas of social media. I loved the talk, it’s an hour long, and here’s what I learned.
What is valid now, will no longer be valid 5 years later.
Marketeers ruin everything. Because whatever marketing tactic is useful right now, it is going to be used over and over again until the consumers are immune to it. And here are a couple of examples he cited:
- Open rates of email, are nowhere close to what they where 10 years ago.
- When groupon first launched, everyone was so punked to get a sushi buffet for half price. Now, you don’t care if groupon is offering a million dollar home for $300. You will be deleting the email as spam.
- When Gary launched “Free Shipping” on Wine Library.com in 1998, he sold so much wine that day, he was leaving the store at 5am and coming back at 7 for 3 days in a row. He sold so much wine that evening that people think cure was inside those wine bottles. A man thought that “Free Shipping” was such a sick deal, he bought a bottle of wine thinking to store it in the basement for his daughter’s wedding day. His daughter was 12 years old then. Now, no one will buy stuff if there is no free shipping.
Word of mouth is the currency and social media is the infrastructure
Word of mouth have more emotional connection than any banner ads or commercials. WOM is going to convert better, and social media is going to explode because human being love to express themselves.
The culture we live in is going to shift constantly.
SEO is dying in front of our eyes. The way we search, although google is such an interesting place, is changing. A handful of the audience went to twitter to do their search instead of Google. This shift is ongoing. This is why real time advertising is so valuable. We get great conversions when buying ads in real time as a current even is happening. Eg. During a hurricane someone advertises shovel. Although right now, paid ad conversion tends to happen more in Google than in Social Media, what will happen in the future where social media will be the eco system?
Retention is the game.
It’s not always about the “hunting”, but also about “farming”. Stop worrying about acquiring, but start worrying about holding on to. The ability to improve conversion rate is great, but think about how to keep them coming back. There is only one way to do it, is humans. Human being is the value. You can’t outsourced it, you can’t automate real feelings.
Content in the world is going to grow, the ability to build on online business now is so low. The piping of the internet and its ecosystem has allow entrepreneurs to come out of nowhere, very very quickly. What it means for all of you is that this is a race, it’s a branding race, but most of all, it’s a context race.
Gary said that creating relationship on the context of one to one is really important. The reason that he was growing his business, was not because he was able to put out good content, but because every day, after producing 30 minutes of wine television, he spent 15 hours to answer questions that people had on email and twitter. Because these are the people that put the cash in your wallet. It’s no fun to repeat “What wine goes well with fish” 68,000 times a year, but he did it anyway, and that what matters.
What’s is the ROI of social media?
Gary can’t answer it. This question was drilled to Gary by one of his client from his brand consulting company. It’s not about how many fans you have on your Facebook page, but it’s about how many of them is going to do a purchase. He said he can’t answer it and threw her back with the question “What’s the ROI of your mother?”.
Uh oh.
He wasn’t interested in making her mother a joke, but he wanted to prove that the ROI of his mother or any mothers. Is the success of their children. The reason why he is going to buy a multibillion dollars sports franchise is because of his mother. The way she parented Gary, is the ability, confidence, and absolute way with all with how he execute his businesses. But he cannot put up slides and data, telling you at particular instances of his live when his mother increased his self confidence and other traits to help with his success. But it’s the whole package. His mother is exactly like social media, it’s a long term investment.
Visit gary’s blog here and the video here.
November 6, 2011
Top 10 Failed Logo Designs
Be forewarned, not all are appropriate. But here are 10 logo designs gone wrong, and they still crack me up.
1. Tragic pig that pours sauce on himself, while getting barbecued.
2. Czech Republic brand.
3. Once you see it, it’s an incredible faux-pas! Hint: Concentrate on the negative space…!
4. A logo for Locum, a Swedish property management company.
5. More like an unfortunate name rather than logo design. We need spaces.
6. Another case of lack of spacing. Not Pen Island… but…
7. 1973 Catholic Church’s Archdiocesan Youth Commission
8. Not the words, but the symbol
9.
10. Instituto de Estudos Orientais (It’s an Asian-influenced Building with a rising sun)
[CREDITS]
November 5, 2011
Design Inspiration Sites
A couple of good design inspiration websites:
http://dribbble.com/tags/website
http://www.theimport.co.uk/categ…
http://www.webcreme.com/
http://cssremix.com/
http://designshack.co.uk/gallery/
http://grid-based.com/
http://www.minimalsites.com
http://siteinspire.net/
http://bestwebgallery.com
http://cssline.com/
http://www.smashingmagazine.com/tag/showcases/
November 5, 2011
7 Failed Marketing Msg:Groupon.sg
Was browsing through groupon.sg and found that their marketing messages were really funny (and appalling). They exaggerate a ton.
I wondered who they hired to write these? Tell me which is your “favorite”.
November 5, 2011
This cost $10? Really?
This might be a case of great marketing. But let me show you how ridiculous marketing can overprice a probably useless product.
Twistbands
Knotting up a couple of elastic ribbons, giving names like Lucy, Chelsea, Jessica… and a odd one “Alex”, sticking a brand-name to it seemed to do the job. A pack of 6 twist bands costs US$10, where you could probably go to the store to get it and tie a couple of ribbons yourself for less.
My problem with this product is that there’s no design thought for the product. It’s too apparent, easily replicated, but overpriced. The claim, “they won’t damage or leave dents in your hair”. However, if you keep your eyes peeled, there are plenty of hair ties that does not leave dents to your hair, so what’s the big deal about this one?
I gotta admit that I own a couple of these twist bands (didn’t buy it, but got the samples of it), and I would say, it sucks. The claims are not 100% accurate. What if I were to tie my hair in a bun? — It would leave dents!
I could get a pack of 50 regular hair ties at the dollar store. I don’t need branded rubber bands. FYI, Emi-Jay is another company that does this at an even more expensive price.
Really? $10 for 6?
