ministry of food

i am a new MOF convert and today me and steph supported went to the mof branch at suntec city.

my food: seafood toji




steph had the tempura udon. her hands are in the "itadakimasu" pose =P


and because rice felt too heavy, i ate the toji on its own and had to order a little something extra to fill up my stomach: the daikon radish salad



both of us left the place satisfied but this time round our stomachs had no room for desserts. actually is because my stomach is still in the process of recovering from gastroxxxxx <-- cannot read doc's scribbling and not that keen to ask (=3=). if not i would have a dessert no matter how full i am.

matthew made all of us lol with his side a side b joke during lunchtime.

blowing hot and cold

the hair on my head. I.HAVE.NOT.DONE.ANYTHING.ABOUT.IT.YET.

it's so messy, that as a passing remark, fiona told me to tie it up, while i passed by her on my way to the washroom getting ready for the vvips. LOL

the vvips' blazers must contain air conditioning. they looked unruffled while me and stella, donned in blazers too were sweating buckets.

it's really not easy being a translator.

the superstar disappeared. i hope he returns soon.

the weather, is too weird. yesterday was cold, today is very warm. don't make me fall sick again ok?

picture of the day today is:

feb fab raining

i do not like being under the sun. maybe that's why i tend to prefer the rain to the sun.

the recent rain spell is such a warm (pun, pun, pun) welcome to the hot sun that was bearing down before.

work has been somewhat fun this week because of the random camwhoring session, e-bitching afternoons and as a grand finale, we had a weekend bitching-packed dinner gathering earlier on, with the addition of jacob, jw and grace's friend chris. otherwise our bona fide superstar would be the only male there and it would so be like his personal harem! LOL. the gathering is also a farewell party on our own for vv who will be taking to the skies for her career. we are so going to miss her, that stand-up comedian =P. and needless to say, this was another session of serious camwhoring.

i wonder what time the rest of them left cos me and jw left earlier than them....

Looking forward to seeing the photos taken just now.

SingTel selects BBDO as strategic creative agency

Adapted from Marketing Interactive:
http://marketing-interactive.com/news/4488

Singapore - BBDO has come back from the dead and snatched the $30 million SingTel business after being ousted from the pitch process late last year then invited back in after Saatchi & Saatchi and Leo Burnett dramatically pulled out.

SingTel this afternoon selected BBDO as its agency on the creative business from a shortlist including Ogilvy & Mather, and BatesAsia.

BBDO Singapore MD, Jean-Paul Burge said that it is a fantastic opportunity for a space to be owned by SingTel, an opportunity that can be maximised by a big idea that goes well beyond communications.

BBDO's Proximity will also handle the digital side of the business.

The agency had initially been eliminated from the ptich in an earlier round but was invited back into contention after two agencies withdrew in November. In a statement, SingTel CEO, Allen Lew said that BBDO came up tops in the rigorous selection for excelling in creativity, strategic thinking and account management.

"In the near future, our customers and the public can look forward to a significantly different communication style. They can expect simple, effective and differentiated advertising aimed at meeting their needs in an engaging and memorable manner," he said.

SingTel's advertising account came up for review on 13 September 2007 with 19 year incumbent Y&R declining to pitch for the business. The pitch was managed by R3.

Adapted from Singtel


Singapore, 14 January 2008 -- Singapore Telecommunications Limited (SingTel) today announced that it has selected BBDO as SingTel’s strategic creative agency after a global pitch that started in September last year.

Mr Allen Lew, SingTel’s CEO of Singapore, said: “We are excited to welcome BBDO on board as SingTel’s strategic creative partner. BBDO came up tops in our rigorous selection as they excelled in creativity, strategic thinking and account management. They demonstrated the ability to leverage and deliver SingTel’s brand values effectively across all our customer segments in a highly competitive market.

Mr Lew said that it was a very tough decision to make as all the agencies that participated in the global pitch have excellent credentials.

“My marketing teams and I look forward to working with BBDO in reinforcing and extending SingTel’s brand leadership, and pioneering breakthroughs in shaping the fast-paced converged world of communication, infotainment and information technology.

“In the near future, our customers and the public can look forward to a significantly different communication style. They can expect simple, effective and differentiated advertising aimed at meeting their needs in an engaging and memorable manner,” Mr Lew added.

Mr Jean-Paul Burge, Managing Director of BBDO Singapore, said: “We believe there is a fantastic opportunity for a space to be owned by SingTel, an opportunity that can be maximised by a big idea that goes well beyond communications. For the last six weeks, we believe that we cracked that creative idea which SingTel can rally behind. The entire BBDO team is delighted to be working with SingTel.”


I wonder will they scrap the singtel logo and replace with a new one that is more attractive.

With starhub entering the market years ago, singtel no longer holds the sole monopolizing power in the telecommunication of singapore. chunks of consumers flocked (and are still flocking) towards starhub, unlike m1 that failed to create the same kind of competition when it entered the market even earlier on.

After ditching the old agency, many eyes will be on how bbdo can bring singtel to greater heights in terms of branding and its image to its publics. granted singtel's advantage is its history in singapore, history can also be its greatest enemy, rendering the image rather .....bland.

And talking about brand almost always link people to the logo, although a logo is never quite the complete synonym to a brand.

Singtel's logo, one may argue it to be the significant icon that has been the representative of its long standing dominance in the market, and a new logo for it may prove to be disastrous to its credibility as the old genie in the market. if i were to recommend, i would tweak the logo to look young and trendy, without losing its core design so that it will still look like Singtel and remain that way in everyone's mind. aesthetics can be powerful in this sense, you know and i know too.

Tweaking the logo and yet stick to the fundamentals of the old design, it is going to be very difficult. and i am just talking about the logo; i haven't gone into and i'll be crazy to go into discussing other communication aspects at all.

It's never easy to create something brand new and wow others, but it is always a feat to recreate something existing such that its essence remains. and will bbdo be good enough to be the apostle? it will be worth the watch, i guess.....

top 10 agencies

finally, the worm in me decided to retreat for a short while to complete the december issues of the marketing interactive magazine sent to me a few days ago. the annual special edition contains informative marcom material and knowledge rolled in 1 issue that i foresee myself as a newbie to keep referring to.

while i am just a super casual industry watcher (read: lazy), names like O&M, Leo Burnett, Batey, BatesAsia are not new to me. However, the agency of the year Saatchi & Saatchi is definitely new to me. not in the name, but more of it as an agency.

in the 1980s, i remember trips to oriental emporiums and other big clothing/handbags stores and seeing the name satchi on leather handbags and such. the memories were all fuzzy cos i was still very young and all. all i could recall about the brand was a yellow background and the black leather products that seemed to make the tags on them stand out. however, i am not too sure whether i got the spelling and design right or not.

so i thought saatchi & saatchi is related to this satchi. apparently not. in fact they are miles apart, in terms of recognition and the industry they each fall under.

news about O&M will never fail to trigger my dashed hope of working in O&M, in fact i never even made it to the interview. well, O&M is like THE place to work in for mass comms, mainly advertising students. while i don't even have a specialization, if O&M made such a huge imprint in my mind, it really is that ommph-ing.

i need to brainwash myself that there isn't just O&M. As big as O&M is, there will always be competitors on the same playing level as them.

and for saatchi & saatchi, my interest is to be continued.

being the worm that i am, i am so not going to link all the names in the post. please see the relevant links below:

marketing interactive
O&M
saatchi & saatchi
leo burnett
batey
batesasia