It is rare to see an advertisement or message leveraging the medium to add context and meaning. It is challenging enough find a medium to reach the right type of consumer, let alone choosing the medium based on its ability to enhance your message.

An example I can recall was a campaign executed several years ago encouraging people not to litter. Artist renditions of sea creatures were integrated near and beside storm water drains. The power of the message was enhanced by the choice of media placement.

At the Singapore Biennale 2008, Farhad Moshiri applied a similar principal with his social/political installation titled Operation Supermarket. His messages were printed on bottles of low-involvement consumer products. I believe he chose this medium to reinforce society's care-factor.

Reported and documented so often, important social and political agendas of our time have become as mundane as dish washing liquid.

Denise and I visited the Singapore Biennale 2008. We only had enough time to visit art installations at the Old Supreme Court, but we saw some really creative pieces.

Our favourite was the Google Earth piece by artist Wit Pimkanchanapong. Covering the entire floor of the Chamber room was a rendition of a Google Earth image-map of Singapore. 

Just like in the virtual version provided by Google Earth and Google Maps online, visitors to Biennale could stick messages on different parts of Singapore. Messages identified places people live, are educated, favourite food stalls, first kisses and places to avoid - like ERP.

One visitor placed a drawing of the Monkey King on part of the map with cloud cover :). Very clever.

Based on the simplicity and interactivity of the Google Earth installation, Denise and I gave it the highest vote. Unlike many exhibits, the Google Earth piece attracted and retained the attention of the majority of visitors. People from all walks of life squatted to place their message and read messages left by others before them.

Better get used to seeing this fellow. Very soon he'll be appearing all over Singapore, Vietnam and Japan. On sidewalks, trucks and fronts of t-shirts. And where ever else we can stick him.

I can't reveal too much at this stage, as the work has just been approved.

Except to tell you this logo was the child of a recent corporate branding exercise by Firestarter's creative department.

The brand has something to do with burn down the house, partying and bringing out the slightly more crazy side of ourselves - something our friends love to help us do.

More on this character later.

I have here for you readers a very good case study on the importance of planning then event logistics and briefing your partners prior to the execution of an event.

So here the story goes... our event was on Mon so as usual our setup was planned for a day before (Sun). When I arrived at the venue, to my horror, there were 3-4 construction dudes renovating the venue. !?!? I almost fainted right there.

Staying focused, I pulled my limp body upright and carried on with my work. I gave strict instructions to the operations team and demanded that all the renovation work and event setup be done by 7am on Mon. Then I left the place at 4am.

During the three day event, we had only two hours to rebuild the sets for different sessions, to include a classroom environment, a standing network arrangement and finally, a theatre for a briefing. Each time we reconstructed the set, we had to redo the IT setup, and perform system checks before the next session began. Crazy! Every session was fully booked so we had no choice but to get it right.

In hindsight, we had to play catch-up during the entire event, since we did not have time for adequate pre-planning. In the three weeks leading up to the event, the client and I were able to execute what many would describe as a logistical nightmare. Anyhow, despite the lack of pre-planning and the venue being under renovation, we still delivered an excellent event. Despite all the problems, we upheld the high standard of execution expected of Firestarter – and I’m proud of my team that we handled it so well.

In the past few years, we have seen a sharp rise in the number of international events being hosted in Singapore. Largely we have the Singapore Tourism Board and other governmental statutory boards to thank. They have vigorously promoted Singapore as a MICE hub to the rest of the world, many foreign companies are now considering Singapore for their global kick-offs.

Recently we assisted an US-based client to set up her booth in Singapore. Despite the geographical distance between the two of us, we were still able to successfully plan and execute her event. The client was delighted that she could communicate her ideas and intent through email, and not have to waste time being onsite. Thank you technology!

The difference in time zones did not pose any problems to our communication. This is in part due to my owl-like sleeping pattern—I function better at night when everyone else is sleeping. *maybe I should work in the U.S. Haha…

To assure my client that preparations were going well in Singapore, I sent her a planning update document weekly. Just before the event, we also arranged a conference call with her just to run through the setup again. This helped her feel more confident that we ready to execute the event.

In the end, the client was so at ease with the manner that we handled the project that she did not make an onsite appearance during the event. Instead, she was able to experience the two-day exhibition through pictures and our follow-up reporting.

There are many reasons for having a 20-person event. These events are small, intimate, stylish and unique. The target audience may be high-level decision-makers, when placed in a smaller grouper, are easier to influence  and convert to customers. Or maybe you would like to make use of the opportunity to thank these people for their support over the past year.

In the latter case, we managed a Google dinner event  paying tribute to an important VIP who was here in Singapore. The attendance of this VIP was the key focus of the event and to provide the delegates with a chance to meet him in person.

With that in mind, we set out to create a special dining experience.

The organisers really wanted to narrow down and qualify a select group of 20 people for this sit-down dinner. Since the guest list was small, we were able to cater to the specific dietary preferences of each of the delegates. We sat down with the organisers to select the menu and ensured that all the guests were contacted to ask for their food preference.

The seating arrangement was strategically planned to ensure that everyone could enjoy up close and personal interaction with the VIP at some point during the dinner. This special arrangement also helped to promote discussion among all the guests.

As delegates had to rotate their seats to enjoy new company during the evening, I also had to ensure that service staff served the correct foods to the right person.

Just because the event size was small, didn't make the event easy to plan or execute. The rituals, food and service become more crucial, as nothing goes unnoticed in an intimate event.

Key takeaways from this experience: be very meticulous in your seating arrangement, choice of foods and remember to advise the client to steer clear of powerpoint presentations.
 

It is very important to have trustworthy partners when you are conducting an overseas event. Communication becomes especially critical when your event is held in a non-English speaking country. Hence, it is necessary to have multilingual directions, just like in our eDM invitations. It is often difficult to trust your partners to accurately relay your message to your delegates.

These partners’ scope of work will usually involve RSVP, serving as onsite secretariat as well as providing technical support. Although it is cost efficient to hire technology partners’ in-country, I find you cannot rely on them to perform their role satisfactorily.

I personally feel that technology partners play the most crucial role in executing the event successfully. At Firestarter, our preference is to bring along the main project manager from Singapore so that he can provide guidance for his team there.

This service requirement is particularly essential when dealing with clients from a technology vertical, who have higher than normal expectations. Nothing could be worse than having a technical “blackout” halfway through the event.

To mitigate the risk of overseas events, the planning process is handled more stringently. Rather than relying on hotel brochures and online sources to determine the appropriate venue, Firestarter does on-site inspections in South-East Asia.

We meet our overseas suppliers regularly to keep up to date with the latest developments in the events field.
 

When the Firestarter site was first created, my vision of staff contributed content was 300 word pieces, published as traditional articles. And no pictures.

Not so. User feedback uncovered our client service team wanted a blog instead, to publish shorter entries. This idea was foreign to me, as I was a believer that corporate blogs were inappropriate.

Creating a blog gave the team more than an opportunity to publish non-traditional article content. It gave them a legitimate space to share their spirit and personality with our readers. In addition it is building corporate history and profiles of our people,  through the projects they complete.

We have a few simple rules governing its use, and a moderator who checks the presentation of the content weekly.

What are your criteria for choosing the right person / people to face your guests? How important do you think your emcee is?

Sure, looks are subjective but I think being presentable and eloquent are prerequisite qualities in a good emcee.

Just recently, I came across the SingTel Grid girls contest and was left to wonder how the heck these girls were chosen. These girls are representing our country in front of international media. Shouldn’t we be a little bit more critical? Take the Beijing Olympics for example: the committee took ages to select the right female stewards. When the event was telecasted, everyone was simply amazed by how the amount of effort the Chinese committees went through to impress the viewers.

See article from Reuters

At Firestarter’s, we ensure that our conference coordinators are trained to present themselves well. Looking from the client’s perspective, you’d also like someone presentable and charismatic to be your emcee. This person should be able to bring laughter to the crowd and get them excited to be at the event. This goes a long way in breaking the ice and making the guests feel more in-touch with the company. So instead of immediately hiring a professional emcee (which can be costly), take a look around, is there someone who fits the criteria?

After doing so many events with Google, I can’t help but write about our most amazing emcee. He’s funny, loveable, interactive and creative. DARREN KEPPIE!!! Everybody, from the agency to the guests, is captivated from the moment he steps up the stage and makes the introductions or does a presentation. If you have been to any Google event with Darren being the emcee, you’ll be nodding furiously as you read this blog. Darren, we’ll miss you from above (read: the equator) – Singapore.

Everyone of us at sometime have been in a meeting where there is a disconnect between the speaker and the audience. The speaker is not aware of the audience, and the audience aren't listening to the speaker.

I think these bad habit starts at universities, where students are conditioned to think of a presentation as a horse race. When you hear the gun, you bolt, and you don't look back.

Presentations of course are not a horse race. To influence the behaviour of your audience, you need a dialogue. A dialogue is a two-way conversation, where both parties learn and come to understand one another.

Firestarter client service strive to make our corporate presentation, a dialogue, so client learn about what is most relevant to them.

As part of our services, we create powerpoint decks and presentation materials for clients, designed to provoke dialogue. Take a look at a sample of our presentations which include flash and video effects.

See my full article in Marketing Magazine, published April 2008.

The geo-code data may not be as good as Streetdirectory yet, but maps.google.com.sg comes with a superior user interface you'd expect from a Google made product.

Google Maps features everything a map provider ought to, like streets and driving directions (sometime soon it will have street video). However what differentiates Google Maps from the pack is My Maps.

My Maps allows users to share experiences through text, pictures and video, according to where the event took place. By permitting 'place' to be the pivotal point of the story adds context, making the story told more powerful.

You can put them on your own website, and create a mash-up. Like what Penguin Retail Books did when they invited six authors to reinterpret classic stories into an interactive format.

The site www.wetellstories.co.uk uses Google Maps to give the context by tracing the steps of book characters as they move through the streets of London. Overlays of text give readers insights into the action and thoughts of the character.

See my full article in Marketing Magazine, published May 23 2008.
 

Portrays the love-hate relationship between the consumer and advertiser – personified.

I love such quirky videos; they intrigue and set off my inquisitive mind about the ever-changing and sometimes chaotic advertising world of today.

Sometimes, when you think you know the consumer because you have dissected all his/her demographics and psychographics, you simply forget that he/she is a real human being too. By objectifying and analysing him collectively with his group of fellow homosapiens, we think we understand what’s best for them. Question, is that really the case?

Perhaps, it really is time to ‘bring the love back’ and start a dialogue. Like the video says, 'Small chance, miniscule, but tactically still a chance’!

I'm an avid subscriber to the top wine podcasts include Wine Spectator, 3 Wine Guys and the egotistical fellow who's name I can't remember (I unsubscribed from his casts months ago).

Wine Spectator is probably my pick of the bunch - it is visually the most interesting and has good story content. However, it is a little dry and lacks personality, something which is essential when discussing wine.

That was until we filmed the first of a series of podcasts for Rubicon Reserve Wines, where we unearthed some serious celebrity talent.Starring none other than wine enthusiast and connoisseur David Coleman, the podcast is a virtual wine tasting and conversation where David's gets up close with Three Miners Pinot Noir 2006 from Central Otago, New Zealand, and unearths a cracker - the Tinazzi, Numero 3 - Opera 2005 (Exclusive) VdT 2005 Corvina, from Italy.

I was glued watching the entire 15 minutes of footage. There was not a single word we could cut. you can find a sample in our creative.

If you love wine like me and want something more than regurgitated content you find lying around the web, then get onto his podcasts.

You can subscribe to them from iTunes by clicking here or doing a search on 'Rubicon', or if you happen to be holder of an American Express Platinum Charge or Centurion card, you can watch them by visiting www.wineaffair.com.sg.

It is not every day we get to work with partners who provide us value like Jason does. Jason Ho has been shooting and directing video for years. Recently he has become our preferred partner for podcast video and audio content development.

He would be working for one of the big agencies, but he's too independent. So he runs his own show. Together Firestarter and Jason make a good team. Unlike a lot of video guys out there, Jason really pushes the conceptual boundaries.

Featured right is Jason and I. This photo was taken at the Wine Affair podcast shoot which happened last month. You can see a sample of the video in creative.

By understanding what people are searching for gives marketers and product developers market insights. Google Trends and other Google tools can provide some of the cheapest, most immediate research you can get your hands on.

We can postulate what consumers are thinking about, just by what they are keying about.You can almost reverse engineer a product offer, based on what people are keying in.

For example, a company selling alcohol wants to understand people's preferences on beer. If you research 'beer' using the Google's keyword tool, you will discover 'kegs' rates as a popular search term. So a firm which wanted to get more clicks to its site may offer kegs of beer, and then cross sell visitors to other products. They may try to optimise a page for 'kegs', to try to achieve a high search ranking for this term.

Even if the profit margins on the keg are low, the keg serves as a teaser in the product strategy.

Like the Keyword Tool, Google Trends also provides interesting data, by indexing search terms daily and geographically. For public relations firms monitoring dialogue, Google Trends provides some great stat tools to observe patterns.

Click here to check out last Friday's most popular keywords.

You must know by now how we are huge advocates of brand narrative. No matter the size and nature of your event, we believe in the value in creating your own unique event and building your brand story around it.

Sure, pure execution secures a pass; but we take it to the next level so that the legacy of the event lives on. Case in point: the product launch of the 2nd Generation Ergorapido 2in1 by Swedish brand Electrolux, a global leader in home and professional appliances.

We knew to avoid something dry and tacky that most run-of-the-mill product launches are victims of. A launch that showcases the sleekness, versatility and ergonomics of the Ergorapido.

Together with the PR agency – EastWest we conceptualised the launch with inimitable style that befits the brand. And leveraged on the natural home setting and Swedish origins of the venue - Swedish’s Ambassador – Mr Par Ahlberger’s residence to set up the show.

Working closely with our vendors, the event was themed to Ergorapido’s signature product colours – Magenta, Tangerine and diamond sand. Guest basked in the theme coloured ambient lighting, waltz and network with their rose-tinted beverage and canapés in hand - served butler style. While theme coloured fresh flowers, free-flowing organza and candles light up the evening with a touch of subtle elegance.

To tie in with the marketing of ‘Sheldon’ the Butler as the face of the product, we engaged a Butler to play the dual role of the Swedish Ambassador’s personal butler and also the emcee for the event. The Ergorapido was unveiled through a modish and exhilarating dance performance to the upbeat music of Daft Punk’s Around the World; combined with intelligent lights and smoke effects.

Delicately planned and conceptualised, the stylised dance routine embodied the unique style, functions and features of the product in the choreography, costumes, and make up. Guests appeared genuinely delighted as the dancers shuffled and interacted with them in the space.

As guests made their exit with the media kit - brilliant works of a fellow agency - and the complimentary Ergorapido in their hands; we knew the experience was complete, committed to memory and the narrative will spread.

Sometimes, going to an intimate meeting can be quite boring. The only thing that perks you up is the food and maybe the booze. So when it comes to planning such meetings, it is not the compatability of the venue to the brand that matters most; rather, it is the yummy-nessof the food that  is most important.

With good food & drinks, the host of the meeting can use the food as an ice breaker topic and kick off the meeting. As they say, "the best way to a man's heart, is through their stomach".

Knowing that the event industry is a growing market, there are now many restaurants which provide an event space /  private dinning area to cater for such usage. But how would you know which restaurant suits your clients best?

For me, I love going onto www.hungrygowhere.com to look for the newest F&B outlets and pick out restaurants which I can potentially use for my events. By going to this site regularly, I can update myself on the newest and coolest dining locations so that I'll be able to advise my clients quickly on the best place for their event.

Don't you guys think that having events in a hotel meeting room or ballroom is getting boring? Even evaluating these ballrooms is getting really dull for me. I go through the same repertoire of questions: do they have high ceiling... any pillars in the centre of the ballroom... is their foyer space large enough, etc?

Well, I always believe that as long as there is a space (outdoors / indoors), holding an event is never impossible. Even a plain old 4- wall venue can be transformed to look amazing. So squeeze out all of your creative juices and let's start to impress your clients.

Recently, we held one of our events / seminars at HOUSE @ Dempsey. In order to accomodate our target size of 80 pax, the event was held in the Wassily rooms. Instead of adopting the usual theatre style setup with banquet chairs, we stuck with the existing colourful cushions in the room.

Not only did these cushions provide a comfortable setting for our guests, its colours also complimented the corporate colours of our client. Talk about killing two birds with one stone. Heehee...

At Firestarter's, we believe that each venue should be carefully chosen to fit the intended "feel" of the event. In this case, we took a longer time to find the right venue, BUT... it was all worth the effort since our setup turned out to be minimal and yet achieved the quirky feel that our client desired.

An event planner’s main goal is to make your event successful. Even in the smallest way. As I began to take my baby steps in learning the rope, I stumbled on one very important thing - That is the schwags your client gives away in an event holds a lot of power. Using the ‘right’ schwags at the ‘right’ event is equivalent to converting your guest’s experience into long-term memories, almost forever unless they lost it.

One of our client’s giveaways for their travel industry briefing was an airplane silkscreen with their corporate name at the tip of the plane. In this case, can you spot the correlation between an event and the schwags?

The main concern is choosing the best schwag to address the message that the client wants to send across. The process of deciding on the right schwags requires a lot of understanding from the client’s brand, its business objective, target audience and product functionality.

With the right schwags, years down the road attendees from that event will still be able to recall, "Oh, I got this plane from the Google Travel Industry Briefing that I have attended." Pretty sums up the little thrill I wish to get as an event planner, to be remembered (for all the good things) rather than to remember. 

We all know that delegates are one of the important stakeholders in an event. They are the ones who drive the event. But with so many different characters and personalities among the delegates in a conference, how can we satisfy all of them? As an event manager, you should consistently deliver their physical needs (comfort, safety and security).

Remember to create a comfortable environment for delegates to sit in the conference. Just imagine having to sit in the same room for almost 8 hours (*omg). I'm sure at least a comfortable chair will do the delegates good. As an event manager, the least you can do is to ensure that the gap between each row is sufficient so that the delegates can stretch their legs while listening to the speakers.

Even us non-engineers know that power points are limited in some venues. So as we connect the wires over the venue floor, please remember to tape your wires down properly to the ground. It is SO important that these wires are taped down well. Otherwise we will get a lot of bruised knees. I know of an amazing technique to tape wires down safely and neatly (call me if you wana know).

Security is not just having guards hanging out overnight taking care of your laptops on display. Those are tangible items which can be easily replaced. Your delegates, on the other hand, are the priceless assets of a conference. We know that there can be walk-in registrations which make it difficult to distinguish between an invited delegate and a busybody.  It is therefore important for registration staff to act on their initiative to consult the event manager should such an ambiguity arise. We wouldn't want an over-enthusiastic insurance agent to wander in and start selling policies to our delegates.

By taking care of these comfort, safety and security issues we hope to connect with the delegates' emotions and make the event a memorable experience for them. Surely we wouldn't want our dear delegates walking away judging the event by how good the goodie bags were.

When a company rebrands, it is common for management to give the look and feel a lot of attention. However, when you consider where the logo can, and cannot appear, the logo and the associated colour palette is only part of the brand.

A logo can provide marketers recognition and recall. However, in mediums where the logo cannot be seen, how does the brand stand out? In a blog entry, an editorial piece, or in conversation between two people, the logo has no presence.

In these instances, it is the story, or the narrative surrounding the brand which is being communicated. Therefore, a brand with a narrative has a competitive edge over one without.

It can simply go further and penetrate deeper in the hearts and minds of the target audience. With each brand Firestarter creates, we try to apply brand narrative.

Google is a name synonymous with search. However, what you may not have heard, is Google offers an equally remarkable suite of business applications, like Google Analytics. If you wish to track visitor behaviour on a website, this is an application worth examining.

A few months back Tien Beng and I sat in on a few sessions with the Google team and got some training on Google Analytics.

You simply set up a gmail account, install some code on your site, and immediately begin understanding how many people come to your site, the amount of time they stay, your most popular page, and which search engine was most often used to find you (google even shows you yahoo!).

Best of all it is free, and on average takes only half a day to install the code on the site and create a custom dashboard.

This month, Analytics told me 4 people found the firestarter website.

Learn more by visiting the official analytics page.

Firestarter is not short of ideas. When a friend of mine talked to a few months ago about creating a brand for his kebab shop, we came up with an interesting concept to sell kebabs online.

The idea was to turn a simple kebab purchase into an experience, using a humourous interface. On homepage were the faces of different animals to represent different types of kebabs.

By clicking a face, you could start building your own kebab, and submit it online to be delivered to your door.

The idea was interesting enough to attract people who'd never bought a kebab to consider buying one, and interesting enough to make the curious who never bought one to tell someone else about the site. Very viral.

If you are a business owner seeking to turn ideas to turn a buck, call us! These are the kinds of interesting ideas we'd like to bring to life.

The Catholic Church was not conservative when it went about constructing its places of worship. Crammed on every facet, join, ceiling, wall and floor are daring metaphors advertisers wouldn't play with.

Frustrated artists like Michael Angelo, who were given dull tasks like design the canals of Milan, must have worshipped the client who gave him infinite time, budget and creative license to build his version of heaven on earth.

Only humans driven by obsession could have created monuments of such beauty and excellence. An equivalent by today's standards is an Agency retaining Nokia globally.

In an age where most people lived in wooden huts, standing in these enormous galleries of carvings, frescos and must have made God's word pretty convincing. Even by today's standards, the accomplishment is magnificent.

Even if I didn't walk away a devout Catholic, it reinforced my belief that average work was not acceptable then, and is not acceptable now.

This week a new employee began with us. The candidate is one of several senior appointments made by Firestarter in the last 6 months.

Senior appointments are not easy game. Expectations for both the employee and employer are high. You have to strike the right agreement to make it work both ways. Unfortunately, an interview can only reveal so much about a candidate, especially when you are interviewing someone to fit a sales role.

They may be doing just that, selling.

It is not until they start do you know what will happen. And after our first day together, I knew he hadn't oversold himself. In meetings with clients he had ideas, expressed them clearly and when necessary was empathetic.

For the first time in many years, I felt substitutable - liberating yet comforting feeling. His real identity will be revealed to you soon, as he begins taking over many of my responsibilities.

I'm glad he chose to join our company, and really grateful to the person who introduced us. Fingers crossed, he's the boy wonder we've been looking for.

Let me tell you, if you sit in this chair, you wear approximately five hats. Account service, project manager, art director, human resources, new business (the list goes on).

Even as we approach becoming a 10 person firm, at time s I still take out the garbage and check the mail.

After 2.5 weeks living in Italy where the locals wake up at 10 and sleep again in the early afternoon, I'm wasn't sure I was glad to see it again.

Took me an entire day to psyche myself to get back on the saddle.

News is, I'm back on. Q3 and 4, here I come!

What is the obsession with branded goods? Is there no difference between owning a genuine or a fake good? Women spending thousands of dollars on an original, when they could get almost the same from a replica.

After all, since they are of equivalent quality, who's to know the difference?

Well, we do. We know it is an imitation we purchased, and we know we paid far less than we should have.

To purchase a branded good is to make a statement about our success and station in life. Fakes have become a problem for the legitimate few, who, can no rely purely on brands to describe their station in life.

Brand goods are more than a mark of quality. The choice leathers and originality of the designer's thought are assumed. Brands is like a scepter, an icon of power and distinction.

Now that so many luxury brands are  being undermined, perhaps we need a second brand to authenticate the luxury brand.

Being creative during a photoshoot is a very different beast than being creative in the studio. In the studio, you have more time to think, plan and execute. But on a shoot, you have extreme time factors and environmental pressures.

To deliver good creative during a shoot, you have to be extremely focused and on your toes. Every minute counts. Your subject is becoming distracted; the client is anxious. You know if you don't pull off a good performance, the video will suffer in post.

Preparation is important. Contingency plans help to. If you are shooting outdoors, what will happen if it rains? And have clear roles.

Working with Jones Lang LaSalle marketing team on a recent shoot, we defined roles. During the shoot, each of us contributed what we were good at. I saw a real boost in the results.

Every events manager will need a supportive crew. I'm proud that we at Firestarter has a group of great supportive part-timers. With little instructions, initiatives and heaps of energy in them... they make our perfect team.

Its so important to have their support. Most of the time during the event, as the project manager, you're basically looking at the event at a macro level. However there other minor problems that will arise which anyone can attend to. If you have a supportive crew they can help narrow down the things you have to do. In this way, you can client service and solve larger problems.

As much as most project managers will like to entrust the responsiblities to part-timers, they are afraid things will screw up in a student's hand. Well I'd say, trust them but at least know what the problem was. Otherwise you'll have too much on your plate and when larger problems arise, you cannot focus.

So thank you crew, I'm glad you guys have been always behind me.

Whenever I get a new laptop or notebook, I simply enjoy just dressing them up. Thou I know it is company's property, I still can bring my creativity to these items right? they just don't have to be permanent.

This is what I think, we're a creative agency, we propose ideas to our clients. So how do we present them at meeting... with our laptop. Exactly! If your laptop is interesting and eye catching, it'll naturally break the ice on the first meeting.

Client: "Wow, your laptop is so interesting. Where did you do it?"

This is moment I'd like to boast. "Nah I did it myself. I went to scrap booking shop, bought paper & stickers and just using tapes, I tape it down."

Client: "That's very creative of you to design your laptop this way"

Thank you thank you, before I start the presentation I've already presented my personality and of course my creativity. True or False :)

So, here are my works, simple but I like it this way.Don't you guys think it brightens your day?

PS: ignore my happy toys on my desk

So this is the iteration of our next business card. If you develop a solid brand narrative, you can extend the narrative in different ways, like we have here.

Despite technology improving communication, well designed business cards and business card etiquette are still in fashion. Read the full article I published in ST701, February 2008.

Real matches you can strike. Only problem - we can't find anyone who can produce them short run. So they are a few months away from being a reality.

We've documented the firestarter brand, so you can check it out.

This was a controversial campaign. Like it or not, it was by far one of the most successful house campaigns Firestarter ever conceived. The email sent to our client base and prospects had a 70% open rate, associated firestarter with events and created several opportunities.

With Jas-zy joining, we wanted to announce we were offering not only event concepts, but event operations. However, we wanted to release this news in very creative way, to reinforce the position of our brand.

So we made this graphic especially for us.

The idea was to create real medallions we could hand to Clients after we 'pimped' their event. We haven't gotten around to creating them.

A spanking new website spells 'new' beginning for all of us at firestarter. And I thought I'll initiate my first article with something more personal. I wrote the following some time back and thought it'll be nice to share.

When I first stepped out of University - fresh-faced with a great passion for marketing - I was hit with a broad range of choices in the field. But I wanted to be in a people's business, and that’s why I chose client-servicing in the creative industry.

The more involved I am in the job, the more compelling it becomes. It’s an odd sense of teeth-gritting satisfaction and blood-shed joy. Some say, I should know better. But at this juncture of my budding career path, it all feels very positive and exciting.

I play the vital binding force between the Client and the Agency. Sometimes it’s loose and free-rein, other times it feels like I’m walking on a tight-rope. I am still grappling to comprehend the full-proof dynamics of the relationship; but I am glad to say my slave principle of always-two-steps-before-the-Client hasn’t let me down so far. Account management, popularly known as client servicing, is a major asset in any advertising agency. I think excellence from an account service standpoint, is in being able to facilitate communication, build rapport and trust with the Client. In relationships that are project-based in nature - phenomenon common to boutique agencies – makes excellence harder to achieve. After all, the success of a short-term campaign or project is an infinitely open-ended equation that is subjected to a number of unknown guesses and biases.

But I try to be chummy with my Clients. Chummy with a great sense of respect. That has worked out fairly well with Asian clients, mainly because we pretty much think along the same lines. But for expatriates, it works out a little differently. I think it’s to do with the way our minds are wired that makes converging harder. Nonetheless it’s a fascinating learning process, which I’m lapping up. This is what makes client servicing challenging and fun.

Then there is the other difference that stems from organization size. From incumbents like CapitaLand, National University of Singapore, American Express, to flexible players like Google, to newly-minted brands like The Bottle Shop and Sandalwood, the difference in attitudes, turn-around rates, and creative demands all play out to be a pretty senseless and bizarre plot on the graph.

I found the cutest illustration of an account manager's bizarre sense of responsibility and commitment towards his projects.

It’s hard to nail the success formula for an account manager. Multi-task, patience, time-management, excellent proposals and briefs, strong attention to detail, and commitment are just some of the skills I’m learning and perfecting. It takes time to gain snap-of-your-fingers kind of knack and knowledge to deal with Clients from varying backgrounds and industries.

My motto is to learn and grow as you move from one account to another. With the right passion, you grow the right fire. And with the right fire?

Things can only go one way - up.

Recently in the month of May, lucky us we've got the opportunity to be part of the launch of Carte Noire (a french coffee brand). Have anyone of you heard of it or seen their TV ads? Its amazing. I mean the brand itself.

The brand is all about intimacy, aroma and class. There's abit of sensuality but its really a thin line. Becos of that thin line, in our creatives, we had to be really careful. Picture speaks a thousand words so I'll show you what I mean. But before that let me tell you the concept:

Project Name: 'Sip with Carte Noire'

Client: Kraft Foods

Concept: French Fashion, Art, Music and Coffee

In picture 1, the model's skirt was much higher than the 2nd picture. The client thought the positioning of the model was awkward and her skirt was too revealing, hence they wanted to change the picture. But becos we really felt that the picture fits the concept, we did a little touch up - brought the skirt downwards. By just a little tweek, we made both parties satisfied with the final artwork.

In the end we were able to keep the brand image of sensuality as well as keeping our event concept. The execution was a success!

GS Wealth commissioned Firestarter team to come up with a corporate ID for their firm. After several workshops, we nailed what they were after.

Simple, unique type, signifying different business units by applying different colour.

In addition, we helped their team shape their tagline 'Knowledge first', to make them distinguishable from other wealth management companies.

A Noogler is a "new Googler," or a new employee of Google. Former Google employee Doug Edwards claims to have invented the term.

According to a source, he was director of consumer marketing and brand management for Google between 1999 and 2005.

Apparently he got sick of saying 'New Googlers', and coined the term 'Nooglers'. At some point it caught on institutionally, as all new Googlers - Nooglers - wear caps like this one.

We just wrapped up a powerpoint for Prudential. The slides included new brand elements to make their Asian funds more appealing to Middle Eastern investors.

We added only simple elements which we thought would not detract from the Prudential brand.

The powerpoint was built to be user friendly. It included graphs with preconfigured colours to make it easy for reps to keep slides consistent, and several templates to accommodate different content.

Incidentally, we did a nice e-card for the client Christmas 2007. take a look.

Earlier this year we created The Bottle Shop brand with David Coleman and his team. This month they commissioned us to do some packaging. So we created single and two bottle packs, as well as 6 pack boxes.

Common among all the material is the two-tone stripe, which is on the business card and website as well. For the creatives reading this post, you'll notice the gold we chose, has a green tinge, like a brass.

We did not want the brand to be too upmarket, instead we felt the white and gold would appeal to everyone.

You can view all the work we have done for TBS including the corporate ID, website, coasters by clicking here.

We just completed an iteration of a website for The Bottle Shop. The sites features a simple, but robust e-commerce engine, designed to make the purchase of alcohol online a cinch.

If you haven't already been to site, check it out. There are some great specials on favourites drops from the UK, Australia and NZ.

What I liked about the Carte Noire media launch for Kraft, held in Singapore’s 2902 Gallery, was the foam art. Participants were invited into a room to experience how to make a great espresso, and learn to decorate their brew.

Using utensils and a bit of imagination, the group created some really interesting works. Some of Singapore’s most notorious bloggers were present, including Danny Pang.

He took some lovely pictures.

Leveraging the Kraft's existing brand narrative, and found a way to bring French art and intimacy into an an event. We gave the event a name – Sip.

Check out examples of the creative on our site.

This is one of the few photos
I have of Win Lin and Jasmine.

It was taken at the Electrolux
Ergorapido launch in Singapore
this year.

While Jasmine and Win Lin were busy planning the Ergorapido event for Electrolux, I was given the responsibility of creating costumes for the dance routine they had in stall. We decided the piece should be skin-tight, and cover most the body with a one hue, just like the product.

In the fabric we chose something shiny, and used a variation of the material to pick up highlights.

The first prototype created did not come out like we expected. On paper it looked fine, but it was far too patchy, and the asymmetrical front zipper deviated from the Ergorapido's clean lines.

As the dance routine was the focal point of the launch, the costumes had to be well designed, and embody the product. They were in fact, a personification.

The second prototype was much better (featured right). It had few lines, a symmetrical look, and the accent areas were more integrated.

The final designs were rolled out in three colour sets for 12 performers to wear. Featured colours were diamond sand, magenta and tangerine. As a finishing touch, the product logo was printed in silver and applied to the upper left of each of the costumes. 

The reason I liked building this site so much, was because it was an example of what excellent client/agency team work can produce. There is nothing I love more than working with a client who is ambitious.

Although Sandalwood brand guidelines were still being written during design phase of the site, we succeeded in telling a compelling brand narrative. www.sandalwoodretail.com - take a look.

More to come with the Sandalwood team.

This is by far the quickest way to get your life back, and begin planning you day. 

As much as I love the function, I find that most decision I need to make in response to a client query require me to be at a computer. I have to search, find, attached to answer effectively.

So I apologise in advance to anyone who expects me to have it on. 

The most you will see at the bottom of my emails is 'sent from his Thinkpad computer'.

Ever since Denise bought me an ipod (the Classic, not the Touch), i've been hooked on podcasts. i think Mac missed a big opportunity marketing their iPod as a music device.

To me, it is an educational . I record training sessions and play them back to review progress. I subscribe to over 50 channels, and on  average download approx 200mb of material a week. i watch all of it. i don't like all of it. but i watch it all.

My favourite titles include harvard business ideacast, asia pacific business, Cool Hunting Video, China Watch, Deloitte Insights Podcast, Entrepreneurial Thought Leadership, Internet Busines Mastery, Marketing over coffee, Wizard of Ads and Best of YouTube.

As we are building a wine site for a client at the moment, i'm also watch a bunch of wine pocasts including Wine Spectator, The Oz Wine Show and 3 Wine guys.

For our client we are creating their very own podcast series on wine. Take a look at this article i wrote on how companies can own their own media.

By the way, if you are wondering how i fit in so much time to watch podcasts, it is because i dont watch  TV. With my iPod, I surf over 50 channels and watch any episode I fancy.

Podcasts are reported to being seven times more effective than television.