Christmasly presence @ Cellcity

Had a little fun today putting up some deco around the office with Patty!

From the big Cellcity logo at the entrance...


To a ding dong bell at our desks...


Lots have changed over the past year, we worked on tight budgets and we watched our products developed into something better.

Sometimes I wonder why we continue to stay on during the down turns. I had trouble but I had fun too. :) Just hoping for a better outcome I guess?

May we all have a great Christmas.

Same Name - Same Logo - Different Company

I signed up for Social Mention alerts to inform me of any "Cellcity" presence out there in the online social community.

BTW, every company should be doing this - keep track of brand name mentions and keywords - stay connected with your potential customers the quick and easy way. Social Mention is a handy tool for brands to monitor and analyze their influence/presence in the social media - blogs, Facebook, Twitter etc.

So anyways, I received an alert this morning, which brought me to this page. It's a Facebook Fan Page for a US wireless retailer called Cell City. Despite the name being identical to my current company in Singapore, trust me that we have no relations to this US company at all. Having the same name is actually still quite acceptable - 1. the name has not been patented and 2. as we are both in the wireless industry, it's not hard to think of our businesses as "a cellular city" or "building a city in the cellular world" - thus "cellcity". You can't really tell if anyone did copy the other. But to have the same logo (or very very similar) is a little freaky.

Cellcity @ Singapore:

We have been using our logo (plus a couple very minor variations) for at least a year now. I particularly liked the little city landscape captured in that "cellphone" on the right of the text. And what's also so neat about it is the iconic properties of that "cellphone" shape.

Cell City @ US:

This logo is taken from the Facebook page I found. Almost identical to ours, except for the font type and color (tbh, we had this shade of golden yellow/orange in our earlier variations), plus they used a real cellphone image for the icon with the signal sign instead of a city landscape. Other than that, the style of the text (bubbled letters and how "cell" is white and "city" is colored) and the idea/position of the cellphone icon are identical. This logo was uploaded onto the profile May this year. Another logo was used previously if you check out their Profile Pictures album.

Not really pointing fingers here as I don't have any actual evidence of plagiarism here (who came first??) But just a "sigh" at the professionalism of either designers or companies. It's one thing being inspired by another company's logo, but it's another thing when you actually copy 80% of it, tweak the remaining 20% and take it as yours. Hard for me to believe that these 2 examples are actually genuine and original concepts from two different designers for two different companies. Can you?

Widget development @ Cellcity

Can't remember when I last blogged about work. Since the very beginning, I have moved from gathering data for website content, to managing part-timers for that same purpose, to creating and managing a presence on Twitter for website content promotion. Plus some other duties on and off, like sending out eDMs and updating the coupons on our website. Now, I'm on widgets testing!

Our current main product line is a series of GO widgets (mobile applications), breaking our original DC2Go content into GO EAT, GO PARTY, GO SHOP, and GO EXPLORE. Primary features include browsing and searching for merchants, check out driving directions using GPS, click-to-call for reservations, and share the info with friends via SMS or email.

The Marketing team has been assigned to QA the end products before they finally get published online across various app stores. Recently, we've just approved our first batch of GO EAT widgets for Nokia's S60 5th Edition family. Hopefully they will be up on the Ovi Store shortly. (Nokia still has to test and approve..)

We already have two free apps on the Ovi Store. :)
1) Buses@ Sg A Singapore bus guide lets you know which bus to take and when it will arrive.
2) Check Flights Suitable for any traveler, live updates on flight schedules.

We also worked with DBS Bank in Singapore to put together a free DBS Indulge mobile app! (If you are familiar with DBS promos, DBS Indulge has been ongoing providing DBS debit/credit card holders exclusive dining discounts..) This app is also on the Ovi Store and linked from the popular Hungrygowhere.com DBS Indulge Foodster page.

Couple weeks ago, I also attended, as from a mobile developer perspective, MDA's FutureMobile initiative launch event, where partnering networks (Nokia, Singtel, Microsoft etc.) put together a presentation & demo session to call for talented mobile content and application proposals in mobi lifestyle, games, and healthcare. The objective is to build Singapore into a mobile publishing hub.

Zingmobile caught my attention in particular - they have signed rights to the Jay Chou IP!!! :D So want to see what Jay Chou apps or mobi content people would come up with. I can't decide what I would do either, perhaps I should start my own list. hehe

That's all for now. Hope to bring more status updates on our mobile apps development soon. :p

Office Tea-time!

Yum yum yum~ Don't know where exactly these came from, but we've had a nice little tea-time (minus the tea) in office yesterday!

A whole box of cute and soft chocolate cupcakes. :D
(Someone ninjaed one before I took the picture T_T)

A poodle. (or sheep?)

A bear.

A butterfly.

Which is your favorite?
I like the poodle most. :)

The deco tastes a bit like dough but is candy sweet! And the chocolate cupcakes (base) were made just nice - not too sweet, soft, and not too dry either. Truly delicious! - I sneaked one out for wx in the end. hehe

PS: Gave me some ideas for next cupcakes session with my niece... :p

@ ad:tech singapore, june 9-10

update:

• Thanks to @misenscene for sharing his Twitter analysis on the ad:tech show. Go here to download!
• Found @mashable's 8 Ways to Create Paperless Business Cards. Exactly what I needed! I could have made use of this at the show. ><

The ad:tech Singapore ended after two days of keynotes, panels, and workshops, touching on the hottest trending topic in the digital marketing world. There were a number of interesting topics I wanted to join in, but unfortunately, it's still a normal work day for me and I only hold a free visitor pass, so I'm usually out after the first keynote presentation of the day. :\

Don't know what the ad:tech show is? Visit www.adtech.com.

My experience

Considerably my first "official" attendence at a conference, which I went in Cellcity's name but didn't have any name cards to exchange! ><; Yes, so the one thing that I failed most at this show is networking. & What a great opportunity to meet lots of people with the same passion! Definitely need to get my cards made for the next show.

* Many of the tweeps I was following were there too, like @claudia10 and @belindaang, but didn't find a chance to say hi. :\

Part of the reason was probably because my attendence was a "last-minute" thing. I only learned about the show a week ago. It was much related to the online/social media direction that Cellcity is going into, so there wasn't much of an "agenda," just listening in to see what can be learned. I took more of a personal interest attitude to the show, but it did help me to rethink certain issues of Twitter and of social media/mobile marketing in general.

The two keynotes I attended were:

• Digital Consumers & Interactive Marketing in Asia Pacific - The State Of Play by Steven Noble, senior analyst at Forrester Research (jun 2)
• The Power of Digital Branding through the Lens of the Obama Campaign by Scott Goodstein, external online director for Barrack Obama's presidential campaign (jun 3)

My thoughts

Digital Consumers & Interactive Marketing in Asia Pacific - The State Of Play
As the opening keynote of the show, I was a little disappointed with the quality of the presentation, to be honest. While it might have been a good statistical introduction to businesses outside of this trade, I think the insiders would expect a little more insight on the future trending of digital marketing. Steven also appeared to have a specific focus on China and Australia, rather than Asia Pacific in broad, throughout his speech. Perhaps a quick comparison with the trends in North America or the Europe might be an interesting addition to the presentation? Or so I thought..

Still, there were some interesting numbers and consumer profiles to share. And the discussion session (interview + q&a) was a lot more exciting - specifically on the use of social media and mobile marketing! I always enjoyed Don Knox's (VP of ad:tech Global) interview sessions, where he posed key hot questions displaying his clear understanding of the audience and the objectives of the show.

You can download Steven's presentation here.

The Power of Digital Branding through the Lens of the Obama Campaign
I'm sure you've heard a lot of talking about the success Obama Campaign by leveraging the online media, social networks in particular. Much expectations were generated around this talk, and I thought the outcome was a satisfiable one. Scott talked about various key factors in engaging social media and mobile in campaigns, the evolution of online marketing and where it's headed to, using his experience in the Obama Campaign as core case study. In the q&a, he also gave strong advice to young businesses who were still rather new in social media marketing. My favorite word from Scott - tastemakers.

Read about @bleongcw's interview with Scott here.

There was another small talk by the Global CEO of Acronym Media (one of the sponsors) - Anton Konikoff. Real straight to the point, Anton gave his audience compact but valuable and insightful overview of the search marketing revolution(-ing) and the impact of social media, based off their Global KDM (keyword-driven marketing) Officer's - Mike Grehan - new whitepaper New Signals to Search Engines.

The whitepaper is available for download here.

Twitter intervention
Now here is a real-time great example of the power of Twitter and microblogging. The best of ad:tech Singapore were live on Twitter! All thanks to @claudia10, @uniquefrequency, @summerisque, @danielgoh, @youareonvisual, and @armchairdude for filling me up on the discussions I missed out on. :)

You can still read the old tweets on #adtechasia. Other great tools life streaming are TweetGrid and twazzup. Try them out the next time!

January Babies Birthday Party @Cellcity

2nd blackforest birthday cake I had yesterday. Tastes not bad actually.

5 January babies in the office!! 2 of them were missing. And the cake still barely made a piece each. Cake cutter Roslinda now has more cake cutting experience for next month's feast. ;)

P.S. I randomly took a beer from a colleague. >< And got a scolding from 祥祥... ah he was scary. :s That was the first time he ever really yelled at me for something I did. sobs.

name card design 101

Earlier this week, I have scanned over 480 business cards and more than 200 businesses in one and a half day. Quite an accomplishment I would say, considering how much errors the card scanner made. So essentially, I am looking at 960 profiles: 480 during the scan, and 480 during the check. :p

The scanning was not the most boring part (the editing was) because I got to enjoy the 200+ different designs. Some which I liked. Editing was the killer. Can't really put the blame on the card scanner, it's just that most business cards are just not electronic-friendly enough!

These are a few card designs that I picked out, for various reasons:

• ueeeu. I just thought it had the strangest company name. How do you even pronounce it!? For such a cute name, I would expect its card design to be more creative than conventional as it is now


• wilsin. Roughly 6cm on its sides, a diamond shaped business card. Quite unique, but card scanners are not smart enough to detect rotated text. You will have to scan the card at 45 degrees (ie. align the text - not the edges - to the scanner).


• aerodox. Black background with neon white/green text, embossed. Looks cool, but the worst thing to scan. Scanned images retained 0% information. Might have worked with a better and color scanner. The one I used was black & white.


• yeahpoint. When I designed my first name card, I used a similar concept. Cut-out dot from the "i" in "Yeahpoint". This one's actually better, as the concept incorporated the logo as well. Rounded rectangle makes it a very handy size and hard backing makes it more durable.


• wego. Heh I like this. Really cute font and clean design. Text is big and clear, makes it easy for the scanner. But its awkwardly rectangular/ovular shape is hard to align properly.


• upstream. Most interesting logo from the stack. Looks like a fish in the waters, or those mail validation stamps you see at the postage area.


• mapicurious.com. Simple, clean, rectangular slip, like a small bookmark. Picture on back. Includes twitter, blog information.

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Rather than relying on the technology of card scanners (technology is advancing, but there are still limitations), we can actually make a little effort to improve the effectiveness of card scanning.

What constitutes a good business card:

1. Design. Yes, you want to stand out, make an impression amongst the hundreds of other business cards. Be representative and unique of your trade. Step out of conventionality. As a good start, try to incorporate your logo into your card design (colors, shapes, etc). Although traditional rectangular sized cards are best for scanning (easy to align), but I personally would give in for a nicely shaped business card. I'm thinking of a circle now... :p


2. Font type. Business cards contain important information. So they definitely need to be readable, not only by humans but also by computers. Even the smallest scale businesses will use a card scanner to electronically keep their business contacts. How to ensure that font you pick is font that works? Take note of font spacing and font size. For example, Arial Narrow will not be a good pick for most business cards, unless the words are huge enough in order for the scanner to distinguish spaces between the letters. Same situation when the words are too small.


3. Content & Layout Probably best to keep things simple for now (aligned text). For best results, stick to having just one piece of information for each line. If you really want to have two side by side, note the spacing between them. State clearly what each information is. (ie. If it's an email address, use headings like "email:" instead of "e." These tend to be mistaken as part of the email address.)

That's all for now. Will add when more comes to my mind. Happy designing! :)

imma macau guru.

I have visions that Cellcity is turning me into a Macau-knows-all guru! For the past week, I've been crunching in geo-coordinates and Portuguese-named streets into our Macau city info database. Not a difficult task, but certainly TIME + ENERGY consuming. And this week, I'm getting the chinese version into place. If you're planning on a trip to Macau, perhaps I could share with you some insights on where to visit. ;) Or you could just wait till our Macau city guide is launched. I'm not so sure when that is though.

Sometime in between the tedious and mechanical data entering work, I got an overview of Cellcity's future web 2.0 strategy. Parts of it are still in development, but it sounds exciting enough already. We also got a new eDM platform, waiting to iron out some technical issues. I hope I get to be involved more in our mainstream marketing activities asap. Slowly getting there, little by little.

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This database work is taking too much of my time though. I heard that this job used to be done by part-time students. But due to the controversial quality of content, it has been taken in-house, helped out by various colleagues. Macau has been handed down to me to fill up all the bits and pieces (which turned out to be a lot). In the near future, I will be building more databases like this (from scratch). There are.. after all, 50 cities in total you see.