DOUBLE DOUBLE…





I’ve been asked this question a lot of times. "If you’re such a hard core Manchester United fan, where’s your say on the DOUBLE?" Honestly, I am still lost for words since that fateful night!


Somehow I sense it has to be a double or nothing at all for Manchester United. We had planned earlier to watch the game somewhere. ‘We’, referred to not only United fans but a Chelsea fan as well. OHhhh there was also this sesat Liverpool fella who joined the Chelsea Supporters coz he was really sore about United being in the final. He would rather see Chelsea win the Champions League, the team who kicked Liverpool out of the semi finals. How sad! That’s why they always walk alone!


I joined Rahul (hard core Red Devil), Stephanie (new found love in United), Jon (the Liverpool fella I was talking about) and Theresa ‘Blue Angel’ Soh (the Opposition) at the mamak stall for dinner before heading back to Rahul’s for the game.


Before the game started, Rahul and I concurred that Manchester United will win if we observed the following customary superstitions:-

United will win in the home red AIG jersey, white shorts and socks.

Rahul must not wear a United jersey, instead he has to stick to a red t-shirt.

Andrew must be wearing his 1968 European Cup winners jersey, with no. 7 and Best printed on it.

Manchester United has never lost when Rahul and myself watch it together.


The build up was really intense with all pundits including our very own Shebby Singh voting for Chelsea to win 1-0. Jon, Rahul, Stephanie and myself were entertaining ourselves with ‘drinks’ as Theresa had earlier went in to the bedroom to have a nap before the game at 2.45 am.


After the ceremonial parades, the Champions League Finals officially kicks off. Chelsea, a first time finalist in the history of the club was expected to give a tough fight to Manchester United. First half was dominated by the combination of United’s young talents and old guards with almost 65% procession of the ball. Rahul and I literally brought house down when Ronaldo scored but Chelsea equalized through Lampard just before half time. Darn!! Back to equal…


Second half was more intriguing seeing Chelsea having more of the procession in their attacking play. Eventually they hit the post twice before going into extra time. Extra time saw both teams playing cautiously and not to mention that Drogba was sent off for slapping Vida… I mean how idiotic can he be? That c*** must be fuming mad coz Vida sticks to him every time he gets the ball. But for a guy the size of Drogba, he falls way too easily. What a w***er!!! Anyways, Giggsy almost had it in the dying minutes of extra time only to be denied by Terry.


Penalty Kicks!!! OMFG…


Ronaldo missed the goal at the third kick, allowing Chelsea an advantage. At that time, we thought that's it for United.


Captain Terry stepped up to the spot to take the kick for the first title in the history of the club…but he slipped and missed… how unlucky was that? A lifeline for Manchester United. Giggsy and Anderson subsequently scored for United and Anelka fumbled the last shot as van der Sar guessed the right side.


And there you have it, MANCHESTER UNITED ARE CHAMPIONS OF EUROPE for the third time in history.


I vividly remembered Rahul was jumping with joy, Jon was sitting quietly (he just lost a hundred bucks to Rahul), Stephanie was also excited and Theresa, being the only supporter of Chelsea and Terry, was speechless. As for me, a heavy breath of relieve.


We were literally walking zombies the following day at work but we still took the productivity level to the highest. (Just in case the bosses are looking at this!!)


My heart goes out to John Terry for missing that penalty. It took a lot of guts to be the final penalty taker. Having said that, I am still very much an ABC (Anything But Chelsea)…


To all you Red Devils out there, I present YOUUUUU the Champions of England and Europe.

Glory Glory Man Utd!!!

Puffery...

Many strategists would agree that an effective marketing communication strategy, if targeted to the proper audience using the right form of media or channel may have an impact on the sales of product and increase the brand awareness...
*Of course it has to be other factors as well la... advertising and promotions alone will not solve business problems right??*


But then again, how effective is effective?


Do you proclaim that your brand or product is THE BEST, THE MOST RECOGNISED, THE TOP???
*Do you? Do you not?*


Think again...


Are there any justifications or proof to claim that you're best or the top? If you claim that your product is world acclaimed, which part of the world that says that?


In communication terms, this is what they call as 'puffery'... as the word suggests, it is how a brand or product boost itself as being the best in order to influence the public to buy their idea.
*The longest, the shortest, the widest, the clearest, the biggest, the smallest....*


Now how ethical is that?


So if brand A says that they are the most recognised and brand B claims that they are world renowned, which one would you most likely pick?


I read with great interest this lil' piece of advertorial I saw today on The Star about this college advertising one of the programmes they offer. I say it is more of an advertorial rather than an advertisement because there are a whole load of 'puffed' textual information in there...

It goes:
Malaysia's ONLY accredited architecture degree*
If you read the fineprint, the asterix means 'By Private Institution'... so meaning to say that they are the only private college where their archi programme is accredited. Fine!
*If you've been offering that for so many years, obviously it would be accredited, wouldn't it?*

Then comes the interesting parts:
Accreditation unmatched by other institutions in Malaysia with half the staff being industry practitioners.
PUFFERY!! How do you know that you're unmatched by others? Maybe the others have 75% of their staff from the industry?
*Heard so many of their so called 'industry practitioners' have left??*

Benchmarking by Consortium of International Universities testifies to global standards.
Now if the Consortium is made up of your own clique, then it's like telling them to mention "Please say we are of global standards". There are actually no testimonials.
*Geez, no comment*

And the best one!!

Global Experience makes you a global graduate, world culture savvy, multi skilled, talent and confident.
If I had financial difficulties, then there will be no global experience. If you meant global experience as to be studying with foreign students in hot sunny Malaysia, there isn't much of a global graduate capabilities that I will have... So what you mean by that??
*No comments either*

So the conclusion is, Don't say what you're NOT. If you're yellow, please don't say you're black...

Tappin' Their Design Potential...

How many times do you choose a product based on its sleek and stylish design although it costs you more?



LIKE ALWAYS!!!!





Would you rather have this??




Or this??


In the modern world that is filled with a multitude of products, many businesses rely on outstanding design to create a strong identity for their brand and stand out from the competition.


The Design School @ Taylor's recently organised the Creativity Encounters Workshop for over 80 youths to learn about the importance of design in the business world and explore their design potential. The workshops allowed participants to understand and maximise their personal creative and design capacities as well as understand the career opportunities available in the creative industries.


Thanks to their participation in the workshops the youths discovered that creativity is not a trait of which only a select few possess. But it is inherent in most people and can be developed in an enjoyable and interactive manner.




The Tower Challenge...



Sketching...



The Participants...