What do we want our brand to stand for?

Wayne Rooney put Manchester United ahead against Bayern Munich after 62 seconds.

Manchester United and England fans love Wayne Rooney for what he does.

We, marketers, continuously try to define the brand we want very closely, and we use a combination of research and intuitive judgements to reach our definition. Basically we are all trying to answer the question: what do we want our brand to stand for?

Apple is not about making computers and iphones but liberating human creativity. Disney is not about making cartoons, but about creating magic for kids of all ages. The Apple brand is young and challenging; the Disney brand is an ageless child.

Back to Rooney...people use many different words to describe Rooney's key attributes: commitment, determination, hardworking, relentless. And they used phrases to match: "The English bulldog gives 110%." Rooney may not have the natural flair or charisma of Eric Cantona or Lionel Messi, or the electrifying skill and pace of Cristiano Ronaldo, but his dedication has been his biggest asset

Simple thank you notes

"We would like to give you the opportunity to comment on your stay at Starlight Suite Hotel Salzgries for possible inclusion in our customer review section online," the email from Starlight Suite Hotel Salzgries read.

Making a customer starts with these simple thank-you notes. Maintaining this contact will surprise and flatter most customers.

It is a generally ignored fact of business that it is far, far easier to sell more to an existing customer we have than to sell to a new customer.

Ask the market

Our 3+9 review meeting is due in 2 weeks time.

I was looking for a solution to the market share troubles. "Why not ask the buyers in the market?"I wondered aloud.

It's all too easy to focus on the wrong things. At the end of the day, it is the right products/services, the right place and time, and the right price that are the keys to attaining market share.

Creating self-managing teams

"People born in Taiwan in the 1970s and 1980s are commonly referred to as belonging to the "Strawberry Generation" reported Jenny Chou, "meaning that they are less able to withstand pressure and that they aren't able to work very hard."

Each generation is different from previous ones. Gen Y'ers have a set of life and work values that are very different from their parents and grandparents. Most of all, they are less tolerant of bosses. They believe they are entitled to a "good job". In other words, the newer workers are not satisfied to report to work merely for the paycheque. They have an acute need to be treated as valuable and respected contributors and to be given an opportunity to learn and develop.

I believe my leadership style of creating self-managing teams answers the needs of the new generation of employees. I break down the traditional, hierarchical, boss-based system and my team members control and manage themselves.

from left: Rae, Eleen, Stephie

We reap what we sow

"Arrived - wanting to go back to nature. Departed - not wanting to go back home" Up popped the ad banner on Yahoo News.

That ad made me think of a native invention of Australia - the boomerang. As a principle of life it holds true anywhere.

What ever a man sows, he reaps. It is silly to plant a mango tree and hope for durian.

A leader doesn't see things from his own point of view. If he's a salesman, what are the benefits to the buyer? If he's an employee, how can he help his company stay competitive and remain excellent? if he's an employer, what else can he do to empower his employees and staff for peak performance?

Shiver-giver

I was on SQ325 from Frankfurt to Singapore. I noticed that the airline had omitted the 13th row on the plane.

Millions of us are superstitious or believe in luck charms. Why is a "black"cat unlucky - when cats of other colours are pretty much "all right"? Friday is not the shiver-giver; the number 13 is! What is 13? Just another number!

The desire for "good luck"has brought about huge buying audiences for such items as luck charms and rabbits' feet. It seems the only thing unlucky about a rabbit's foot is the rabbit.

Superstitions can be enjoyable when we treat them lightly and laugh about them. They do us no good when they close our minds, start arguments, paralyze our opinions or get us upset.

Find a mentor

"A good mentor gets personal satisfaction from helping others to learn and grow," Barbara wrote in her report. "They can be compared to a good teacher."

I believe everyone in life should have a mentor - someone around 20 years older than oneself. I have been blessed to be able to regularly tap into the wisdom of the late Lau Kong Beng, Charlie Goh, Steve Ong, Christo Diamandopoulos. I cannot think of anything I have done in my earlier days with first consulting one of them (and there are many things I haven't done because I heeded one of their advice). It helps to talk with someone who has already traveled the pathway of the journey before me.

Personalised communication

"I would like to settle down in the United States," Marija (with a J) acknowledged. "It is a melting pot."

America is not a melting pot. It is a mosaic.

Survival in the micromarketing environment today requires a strong product mix - and, most importantly, mutually beneficial relationships with customers. I always keep in mind, too, that customers are insisting upon more personal service and customization and more honesty.

What drives me?

"Every great tree starts as a small seed," sang the graffitti artist in Prague.

Karl Heinz Rummenigge said in response to the European Champions League Quarter Final draw which pits Bayern Munich with Manchester United, "We will have to reach our limits and even exceed them."

In every job, the one thing that drives me most is the desire to find my limits - and extend them.

Over the years, I have discovered that virtually every internal limitation I have has been created by my own mind. My ability to achieve is magnified tremendously when I define "me" as my team and I. When I merge with a team of warriors, my fear fades and my capabilities increase geometrically. When I expand myself by "becoming one" with the team, I personally incorporate all the strength of my team members. When I add this collective strength to my own, I become virtually "superhuman."

Enjoyment as emotional appeal

"SEA's 1st Universal Studios theme park, opened to enthusiastic crowds Thursday in Singapore," the report on AFP went. "Hundreds of visitors including foreign tourists lined up to be among the 1st into the park."

We not only want life - and not only a healthy life - we want a good life.

Go through the pages of any leading national magazine. Of all the ads - for all kinds of products - about half of them show people using the product and having fun.

As a marketeer, I often use enjoyment as an emotional appeal for my marketing campaigns.

I have laughter in my heart

"I am sure with Paul Er you guys had a great time," the email from Moreno read. "He is a great person and I know him for a long time."

I laugh throughout the day. I laugh while I am alone and I laugh in conversation with others. I believe people are drawn to me because I have laughter in my heart. The world belongs to the enthusiastic, for people will follow them anywhere!

Job titles as negotiation tradable

"I am 56 now and job titles are not so important for me," BeRt mentioned in between munches of croissant and nutella. "But you are 45 and they should be more important for you at this stage in your life."

Job titles are extremely important. That's why banks and ad agencies have so many VPs.

Important customers want to deal with "someone in authority."

Sometimes an ambitious employee will settle for less of a raise if a fancy job titles comes with the job. Use this as a negotiation tradable. The world lives on pretense.

Discipline by cooperation

"Parents should have at least as much patience and self control as they expect from preschoolers and teenagers," Carla Marie Boulianne wrote in their article.

Discipline works by cooperation. Natural consequences and a sense of fairness are our tools. I negotiate with my 10 year old. We can't make a 10 year old do things by force - but we can provide so many services that our bargaining power is huge!

I want to learn more

"Hi guys, when is our next meet? March 26th Friday 7pm, ok?" Jaya emailed to a list of us from St Joseph's School Class of '81. That email brought me back to my secondary schools days for a few seconds.

Looking back at it, I only really became a student after I finished school. I suspect that is true for most of us. Education was a means to an end; it allowed us to work in the shop of life.

I am not being critical of our educational system. For the most part; it equips us to be productive. Only when i hit my 30's did I finally begin to understand that life becomes richer when we are students and narrows when we stop learning.

One of the great tragedies of civilization is the transformation that takes place in a child's attitude toward learning. At some point in the schooling process, they pass from childlike learning eagerness toward learning to a passive resistance toward gaining knowledge. Perhaps it is inevitable.

I am unashamed to admit I don't know everything, and that I want to learn more. I am willing to become an amateur in a field I haven't mastered.

Caring

"Can I pass you a box of sweets to bring to my dear girl in Singapore?," Marek requested after finishing all the crepes. "That'll really surprise her."

Everyone needs to depend and be cared for, and receive nurturance, from time to time. There is nothing quite like knowing that another person wants your happiness.

Sometimes under pressure of day-to-day life, partners become less giving, or worse still, they don't notice or appreciate what is routinely given. They start to take each other for granted.

Better care for one another interchangeably.

Creative idleness

"I did not find the fountain of youth," Liang Chye said. "I was borned with it."

We all know that there is no real fountain of youth. Growing old is a natural process. It happens to all of us. What does actual age matter when we have a personality which is alive and interesting? We will always seem younger than we are to people.

Having leisure time is one thing, using leisure time is another. Don't let time slip through our fingers like sand. I use leisure time constructively. It is my opportunity to refresh myself emotionally and mentally. Our mind and body both benefit from the change of pace.

After a period of creative idleness, I find that I think more clearly. I return to my work with new vigour.

Impossible not to communicate

"You cannot not communicate" the title of the article of iridium consulting's pdf file read.

Our marriages are either duels or duets, sometimes both, depending on when you look in.

I believe there is a corelation: the depth of love existing between partners will largely depend on the amount of depth of their communication.

It is true the saying "it is impossible not to communicate." We speak volumes when we refuse to say a word. the shouts of silence are heard very clearly. When a man is silent, wives feel it is because he doesn't care. When wives are silent, many men feel they are angry.

It is more important to think together than to think alike. We will never think alike and that's fine. To bring to different ways of thinking together adds perspective and strength to our relationships.

Learning from other people's mistakes

"The 'Tiger Woods' of Singapore," screams the headlines on Yahoo Singapore today. "Localmedia are comparing Jack Neo to Tiger Woods even as a Minister wades into the controversy."

We are all trying to make the best of our marriages and maintain the love and affection that compelled us to take our vows in the 1st place. Whether we are high-profile celebrities or just hard-working everyday people, all of us, at some point of our lives, will find ourselves face-to-face with the choices that can save or break our marriages.

One big danger is letting problems go unresolved and unnoticed. All couples must grapple with the same issues and concerns. The only difference is that some couples take the necessary steps to address and solve their conflicts while others wait until it's too late - in other words, until divorce is their only option.

I learn from everyone who has lost in the marriage game and try to understand the factors contributing to their divorces. I learn from their mistakes so as not to let them become my own.

Strong headlines

Walking down in Kurfuerstendamm tonight, I saw the window of a shop with these words, "Sex Sells....unfortunately we don't sell sex." The shop is Levi's.

We've seen ads in magazines with a full page of small-print copy. How can an ad like that work? Who would stop to read it? The answer: the headline is what pulls in the reader and keeps the reader interested long enough to read the entire ad.

Invariably, the headline is in bod type and teases the reader with an intriguing question or statement. In fact, the headline may very well have taken more time to write than the entire ad. It's that important.

Headlines that work are short, crisp and easy to read.

Mine-detect regularly

"You have been at your current place for 3 years now," Roger Said on this 1st day of ITB. "You must be doing well."

Doing well can be dangerous; we may leave ourselves open to conflict triggers simply because we don't think we need to guard against them. We may not even notice that the vulnerability factors are building up. We need to mine-detect regularly.

Intimate love is childlike

"We grow up, but do we ever grow up?" Natalie said reflectively before starting on the lamb stew.

When love is expressed in uninhibited, freewheeling joy, it is that rare childlike state of having fun and feeling good, light and happy. Smiles or laughter are not held back and we feel them through our entire body.

Intimate love is fun, sexy, romantic and inspiring. Whether w have it in our relationships has little to do with how many years we have been together, but depends instead on how often and how deeply we share ourselves with one another.

Failures can lead to success...if properly accepted

I arrived into Germany this morning on SQ26.

Which reminds me: Eistein was expelled from school in Munich because he showed no interest in his studies and later failed to pass this test for a polytechnic school. Failures if properly accepted can lead to true success.

Success is never a success when measured wholly in terms of $$$. Life is a becoming, rather than a having. A poet has said, "Beware of the man of one book, for he is always talking about it, instead of proceeding to write another."

Those who boast of their success are not successful and those who pride themselves on their perfection are not saints.

What goes around comes around

Last week, I saw 2 boys on bus service 65 promptly giving up their seats to a mother with 2 young children.

My hope is that my son develop good, solid values. As a parent, we can only do so much. I'm constantly telling him that "what goes around comes around." I hope he's listening, because I firmly believe that good things come to good people - not always immediately, but I feel that if we work hard enough for something it will happen.

Think in a Problem-solving way

"The crocodile pit activity will take 45mins,"Shah's powerpoint slide indicated. "The learning outcome is creative problem solving."

We all have problems that centre on typical, everyday kids of conflicts and unsatisfied needs and/or desires. That's natural. While we may want to neighbour to keep the corridor tidy, an adolescent may want an unobtainable date, anda 4-year-old may cry for a toy he can't have.

What's different about all these "wants"is how each person tries to obtain them.

As a leader, i have discovered that people who can think in a problem-solving way are more likely to find success and are better adjusted socially than those who cannot think that way, or who haven't yet learned to.

Excuses don't work

There is a big statue of Adam and Eve in Resorts World Sentosa, which brings to mind a lesson I've learned.

I learned a long time ago to stop making excuses for my stupidity. A good apology goes a lot farther. Excuses began in the garden of Eden. Ït's not my fault, God. This woman you gave me is the problem." Excuses didn't work for Adam and eve, so I don't think it will work for us.

The statue. Note the small apple on the base by the side of the statue with the hand raised

Our kids tomorrow

"The only thing for me to do,"Chung said after coming back from his dinner. "Is to pray for my kid's exams results to be good."

We all hope that things will work out and our kids will grow up to be decent, thoughtful, caring and responsible adults.We boldly assume that our kids will someday become mature adults capable of being trusted with the task of raising their own children.

Lost coolness

"The last time I went out with my girlfriends, an old man tried to act cool and came to chat with us," Stephie said mockingly before talking in a mouthful of minced pork noodle. "He wore tight fitting tee and baggy pants."

The best thing to do is to accept the reality that the baton of coolness has somehow mysteriously passed to another generation.

The worst thing we can do is to make a desperate pathetic attempt to reclaim our lost coolness. I have seen guys try to do this, and it is not a pretty sight. Some guys buy fast cars and bad toupees. Some wear tight-fitting Speedo swimwear at the pool, apparently hoping that mere fabric will turn them into Olympic-class lookalikes, when in reality they look as though their sagging bodies have been jammed into toddler swimwear.

This is so sad. And it never works. These guys just get silly, or worse, pathertic, or even worse, vile.

Life's passages

My son was adamant that he doesn't want to go on his shcool excursion to beijing in May...until I had a man-to-man talk with him over the weekend.

Nothing is harder for a parent than getting our kids to do the right thing. There is a such a rich variety of ways for us to fail: by using threats, by using bribery, by using reason, by using example, by using blackmail, or by pleading for mercy.

Turning the tables around, the question is: why should we listen to our parents? especially when we grow older.

Here's why: we gain wisdom to avoid the hard lessons our parents had to learn.

As our parents give me advice, I sometimes, put myself in their position. When I am their age, would I rather be treated as a constant burden or respected as a blessing to the family?

Over the hill? The hill has moved

"Age is only a number," Yim cracked after his first glass of Shiraz. "But when you are 90, it is a real number."

I am moved to share some thoughts on aging with you, in case you happen to be getting older too.

What, after all, is old? To a child of 7, 10 is old; to my son who is 10, 25 is middle-aged and 45 is an archaeological exhibit. Although reaching 45 has not traumatized me, it has left me with disbelief about the flight of time. It seemed only yesterday I was 15 and old people were people in their 40's who were going someplace to sit down. Now I am doing the sitting.

Am I over the hill? Let me tell you: the hill has moved, people are younger than ever.