The Musings Of An Opinionated Sod [Help Me Grow!]

I saw this guy eating at a restaurant near my office today [the photo’s blurry because I couldn’t exactly stop to take the pic close up!] and the question is whether you think any man of 45 years of age should have hair like this? 

[Putting aside the fact that when you look as tough as this bloke does [he has a skinhead all over except the mullet at the back!] you can look however you damn well please!]

OK, after all the stupidity of yesterday [which I take full responsibility for] I thought I’d try and regain some semblance of order and write a post not featuring Andy, children encountering food incidents and/or Wayne Rooney’s other half.  Fingers crossed I can pull it off … and yes, I have finished the preso that I was procrastinating over! [Thanks John!]

Singapore is an amazing place … it is a country that has demonstrated incredible vision to get where it [so far] is and I’d go as far to say that it is one of the best examples of ‘creative thinking’ in the World.

I’ve written previously about some of the things the Government has done to ensure the countries continued prosperity … however recently I spotted something that truly demonstrated how it is a dictatorship operating under the guise of democracy to ensure the continued support of International investment.

Let me introduce you to Singapore’s biggest newspaper, The Straits Times … a paper that has had multiple awards bestowed upon it across all of Asia … awards it proudly presents on it’s front page.

However on closer inspection you soon realise that rather than being praised for its journalistic quality/integrity, their awards are all for design or photography elements.

That’s abit like Ferrari getting acclaim for its indicators or Virgin Atlantic being praised for its plastic glasses.

You see the Straits Times isn’t a newspaper, it’s a Government propaganda machine …

Sure, it’s not as bad as you experience in China … however the stories it produces are either skewed to the Governments particular viewpoint or have no newsworthiness in them at all.

[Past front page stories include classics like ‘FOOD COURT LAKSA WARS’ and ‘PEOPLE WHO DON’T WASH THEIR HANDS AFTER A BATHROOM VISIT’ – I kid you not!]

And this leads to my point … what is news?

No, I’m not talking about the thing you read in papers or watch on the telly/internet – but the sort of thing companies spend millions of dollars telling the World about.

You see there’s still this outdated belief that you can only communicate to the masses if you have something ‘new’ to say and because companies realise developing ‘new things’ is not only very expensive, but not guaranteed to achieve success, they end up spending outrageous amounts of money on minor and/or irrelevant pieces of information/product evolution [ie: their product now comes in pink, has exciting new packaging, celebrates another birthday or won a totally irrelevant award in a totally pointless ceremony] that ultimately has little relevance, benefit or impact on the public but at least didn’t cost them that much to ‘develop’. 

[Some companies can still benefit with ‘minimal news‘ but they have to earn that right – and know they can’t rely on it working over and over again]

What a waste of fucking time and money – best exemplified by the mounds of clutter you get everytime you buy a fucking magazine. Hell, I bought ARENA yesterday and there were more ‘leaflets’ than pages in the bloody thing!

Many consumers believe most companies see them as ‘walking wallets’ … so unless organisations are happy to spend more and more money in a desperate attempt to brainwash consumer action, they my advice to them is to either save their money, develop news that really is of interest to the public or invest in building real consumer desire/loyalty.

I’ve said it before but I still reckon Tesco’s is the best example in the World of a brand that innovates interms of true consumer benefit and if you need a reminder why/how, I suggest going back to my original A[P]SOTW assignment.

PS: For all those of you outside of Singapore who want to experience Dictatorial Democracy, you can check out the Straits Times by going here. [and make sure you check out the ‘SNAP POLE’]

One of the things I love about planning is finding out what caused things to happen.

Talking to the weird and wonderful in society … inviting contrary opinion … looking at where the World was/is to see how it influences actions … taking nothing for granted but not losing sight that in many cases people make decisions due to routine, simplicity or downright apathy … just being an inquisitive little fuck basically.

With all this in mind, I have a game for you and it all starts by you looking at this cute little boy …

Nice isn’t he? What an angelic little face he has.

Well can you see those 3 little dots along his nose?  What I want you to do is use your powers of deduction to work out what you think could be the cause of them.

I’ll start you off …

A marker pen?

Chicken pox?

Birthmark?

Three bee stings all in a row? [There’s a clue there!]

Go on … you think of some and when you’re done, scroll down to see what the answer is.

Come on, have you really explored all the options?

What about it being a tribal tattoo?

Or maybe early acne?

OK … OK … scroll down to the answer …

OOOOOOOOOH, that must of hurt like fuck – poor little bastard.Alright … alright … I admit this whole post was just built around the fact that …

1 I wanted to show you these ‘food injury’ photos

2 Wanted to ensure there was enough space between the pics for maximum impact

… but if there is any ‘lesson’ in it [of which I admit there isn’t, hahaha] it’s that planning needs you to always look/think/collaborate with breadth and depth because otherwise you could be missing out on what the real ‘answer’ is to solving your particular problem.

Hahahahaha, that is the most patronising thing I have ever written, I’ll kick myself in the nuts on your behalf but I was just trying to desperately justify this post of which I now realise there was no need. Or point.

Alright, alright … that’s not really him, however this is the only photo I have of him [from our creds] so it is both out of date and rather flattering, ha!

Oh, and here is one of him with some of the cynic boys in NYC.

Note how they look mortified because their boss is dressed like a freak from the ’80’s!

[I’ve taken the comment feature ‘off’ because it’ll frustrate the fuck out of Andy knowing he is not able to ‘respond’, ha!!!]

Apparently it’s all you can eat!

Yes it’s childish and immature humour … but hey they started it when they decided to call their restaurant that name!