Postgrad & what it entails

Getting a postgraduate qualification is quickly becoming the norm in today's society. Whether it's a temporary "shelter" from the gloomy global financial crisis or an inevitable route that many people take to get ahead in the corporate world continue to bring an array of controversial viewpoints.

I remembered vividly before enrolling into my Masters course and received quite some feedbacks  that practical work experience is still more highly valued in comparison to the theoretical knowledge gained in a classroom setting. I had my apprehensions, and for the longest time deliberated if the benefits would outweigh the setbacks of staying in the workforce.

Now that I am towards the completion of my course, I can confidently say that a postgraduate qualification is worth the time and effort. My disclaimer here is; Only if you set the intention on studying, and make sure you make the BEST out of this once-in-a life time journey. Additionally, Masters is quickly becoming a differentiating point in the increasingly competitive job market; it shows persistence, discipline not to mention a valuable boost to the CV. 

A couple of note-worthy points (purely from personal experience);

1) Trade-off aka Time

Although one may think that 1.5 years is a relatively short period of time out of the workforce, the brutal truth is that so many things can change within this span of time. Afterall, the only constant variable in life is change. From the volatility of the global economy, to (worsening) job market.... it's important to constantly keep abreast with changes and anticipate what lies ahead of you. The old adage of "The people who weathers the storm best are the most prepared ones". In my case, a recent news clipping revealed that job openings in Malaysia has been cut by 35% due to the companies who are less optimistic of the global economy. So, the "storm" that lies ahead of me would be the 35% less positions available by graduation. 

2) Social capital

One of the most valuable experience during my study here would be the people and contacts that you know. Melbourne is a great city, with an array of people from all walks of life and countries all in one place. While university is also a great avenue to get in touch with like-minded people, I personally believe it's important to get yourself out of your comfort zone and immerse in different social settings that my home country would not have otherwise provided. My personal observation tells me that a lot of Asian students, coming from a collectivist culture, tend to form "in-groups" and only mingle around with Asians/same home country. I guess one of the valuable opportunities of studying abroad would be to develop interpersonal skills of communicating with a wide array of people from all walks of life and cultures. 

3) Make full use of additional services offered by university

Depending on which university you're enrolled in, many faculties offer additional services that complements  postgraduate studies. There will be leadership/personal/career development/networking seminars that may initially make you think "Mehhh, why waste my time going to such things ?". Truth is, as I've mentioned earlier; If you set the intention of getting/learning something out of it, you almost always do gain something out from it. 

4) A business postgraduate qualification teaches you to think and communicate differently

While this point did not occur to me until I was in my second semester, I remembered being in a convo with another student who told me this. This propelled me to reflect, and I have to agree with her. It's true that the syllabus encourages critical thinking, and in the area where I was specialising (International Business), it's almost a MUST to form an opinion on a particular issue. Students are expected to contribute ideas, which forms a synergistic collection of knowledge in a classroom setting. The topics on the assignments are often very broad, with no definitive "correct" or "wrong" answers. After countless submissions, I can certainly say that to do well in management units, it's important to constantly challenge yourself to present a myriad of views and then take a stand on what you believe is right.

5) Don't forget to have fun !

Last but not least, study really hard... but also don't forget to have fun. Get out your comfort zone, immerse yourself in situations that you would not have otherwise done so, go volunteer, talk to different people, pick up a new sport, open up your perspective for the world is such a BIG place, and our knowledge is only so limited. The irony of this is that the more we see, the more we realise we only know so little (or that we have so much to improve on !). Last but not least, while the grades we get on the paper conveys the ROI (Return on Investment) of the tuition fee, we are more likely to remember the good (or perhaps the BEST) times we had along the journey. 

Education is probably one of the best investments that one can make in their life... so absorb all you can like a very thirsty sponge. The knowledge gained will stay with you throughout the journey of life, and NEVER goes to waste. 

If you're ever contemplating to embark on a similar journey, think carefully of the prospects and where the qualification would take you....and most importantly, once you're enrolled in it, make the best out of it, and make a gentle promise that you'll come out of it with so much more than just another additional qualification.

Dumb Ways to Die: The clever campaign aimed at train safety

Some of you who takes the train may have stumbled on this campaign (I mean, come on, how can you NOT, when the posters are basically plastered all over the Metro?). A quick Google search revealed that this is one campaign created by advertising power house, McCann, that is targeted to address train track suicide rates in Victoria. Statistics revealed that Victoria has the highest rail suicide in whole of Australia, averaging one death on Victoria's tracks every week.

The video features an upbeat catchy tune that addresses Melbourne Metro Train Transport safety.

While suicides are a prevalent and worrying issue, this is not widely spoken and the effects are not only for the victims, but extends to families or witnesses of this tragic event. Whether their deaths are intentional or not, I must admit that the trauma it has on witnesses (and drivers) has life-time traumatic effects.

This prompted international marketing powerhouse, McCann, who came up with the ingenious, and hilarious campaigns that gets an otherwise taboo message across to youths and the public. Named as "Dumb Ways to Die", the campaign lists all kinds of death-inviting behaviour by setting hair on fire, having "private parts" eaten by piranhas and inviting a psychotic killer into the house.

Since its release in November 2012 the video has gathered over 62 million views (as of this time) and parodies popping all over the Internet. The campaign also attracted worldwide's attention, winning 7 awards-all gold with 2 Grand Prix at the Cannes Lions International festival of Creativity, 14 nominations at London's D&AD awards, and is the first campaign that received it's own Wikipedia page.

Controversially, the campaign also received some critics, reasoning that it suggested and glamorises creative ways to die. In fact, the campaign was banned in a few countries, including the Russian government who stated that :

“The song’s lyrics contains a description of different ways of committing suicide, such as: using drugs beyond their expiration date, standing on an edge of a platform, running across the rails, eating superglue and other. The animated personages demonstrate dangerous ways of suicide in attractive for children and teenagers comic format. The lines such as “hide in a dryer” and “what’s this red button do?” contain an incitement to commit those acts. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dumb_Ways_to_Die).”

My two cents on the phenomenal success of this campaign is that it tactfully delivers an otherwise taboo message across in a hilarious manner. Whether the campaign has received success cannot merely be measured with "views" on the Youtube (or basically any superficial statistics), but the REAL impact it may potentially have in saving any lives or in preventing anyone from committing suicide.

How businesses are making an impact with Vine's 6-seconds video

There’s a lot that can happen in 6 seconds. You could send a very important email, create the first impression, as well as rate people’s potential as a romantic date (well, according to a study done here.)

Given this, the launch of Vine-which is also affectionately dubbed as Twitter’s new son allows businesses to promote bite-sized video contents and incorporate it into part of their marketing strategy.

Similarly, the 6-second video app also caters to our limited attention spans. Unlike conventional marketing platforms, this new platform holds great potential for businesses to utilize the video app as a free marketing platform (gone were the days where businesses are given the luxury of millions for an advertising campaign!).

Below is a compilation of numerous (and growing!) campaigns that caught my eye;

1    1)      How –to-Clip by Bacardi UK. Who says that you need bar-tending lessons to create good cocktails ? Bacardi shows that you can (apparently) create similar results under 6 seconds !

2    2)      One of Unilever’s brand, Dove, quickly utilized this platform that features a bar of Dove soap ‘bowling’ towards a few of its shower products.

3    3)      ASOS, the largest online retailer in the world incorporated Vine as part of their strategy to make a clever twist on the limits of online shopping. Researches have revealed that customers ultimately still prefer in-store shopping experience, and the look and touch of the product. Somehow, getting a rectangular box delivered to your mailbox does not seem, as, ummm, glamourous. This quick video shows how online shopping can deliver that element of surprise when customers open their packages.

4   4)      General Electric satisfies the inner scientific geek of its audience by posting this video that features a 6 seconds science series. In here, corn starch and water are mixed to produce rather cool effects.

5    5)      In the video below, Oreo shows us a creative way to turn its conventional package into a “milk cup” and cookie storage. Talk about multi-purpose to a whole new level or also known as “hack” your “pack”;

And here are the 5 mini-clips, hope you enjoyed them !

Prankvertising: Carrie's telekinetic powers over a cup of coffee ?

I was researching on a share-worthy viral video, and accidentally stumbled upon this. Dubbed as the latest version of advertising.... the "Prankverstising",  this is one clever marketing ploy for the upcoming release of Carrie, staring Julianne Moore and an adaptation of Stephen King's 1974 novel classic. In the new version- to be released in Australia on 28th November- an outcast high-schooler with telekinetic powers is played by Chloe Grace Moretz.

Carrie, an upcoming 2013 supernatural horror film

and is the 3rd adaptation of Stephen King's novel

Like in the movie, Carrie, the lead character is a girl with supernatural or also known as 'telekinetic' powers. The video started off to show how the prank was set up, and has currently earned over 23 million views on Youtube over the span of TWO days. The 2-minute plus video, which was set in New York, showed the team of crew erecting a fake wall in the coffee shop and positioning themselves behind it to carefully execute all the stunts.

Similarly, the tables and chairs are remote-controlled, and the bookshelves are spring-loaded to create the special effects. The video started off with a typical coffee shop with "actors" and some real customers. The 'story' started when a man accidentally spilled coffee over a girl's laptop, who in this case is known as "Carrie", the one with telekinetic powers. This revealed her powers, and literally threw a man across the room-without coming into contact with him.

The video also managed to capture the (priceless!) expressions of some customers, including a couple of dogs when they witnessed this 'event'. Ofcourse, these customers absolutely had no idea that this was a purely set up prank.

A genuinely shocked customer

"What the HELL was that ?!?!"

This brilliant idea sets the precedence of future creative advertising. The form of "Prankvertising" which recently went viral was the "LG Ultra HD TV Prank-End of the World Job". The video can be viewed below;

And, thank god that no buckets of red paint or pig's blood is involved in the making of the prank !

How Do You Like Your Vegemite & The One Billionth Jar Campaign

Mention the word "Vegemite" to any Australian, and they'll reply that it's the iconic condiment in every Aussie pantry. So, when the household penetration started plummeting for the first time in 20 years, Kraft (the giant food company that is responsible for managing this brand) sought the help of Royce Communications to ensure that every Australian retain this on the breakfast tables of every home in the country.

Vegemite: The iconic condiment in every Australian pantry

Both Kraft and Royce collaborated and created an innovative campaign known as "How Do You Like Your Vegemite" and "One Billionth Jar" campaigns on the social media platforms. The first campaign, "How Do You like Your Vegemite" is targeted to explore new market potentials. In here, through an integrated campaign, people were driven to a dedicated website where they registered their favourite ways of eating Vegemite. The website also asked consumers to answer a set of questions so that the data could be demographically segmented to the town level. And the objective of this ? To give excellent data for a localised regional public relations campaign.

The team took the data and developed national, city and town level media materials that explained each area's favourite way of eating Vegemite. the team then used the quirky segmentation opportunities (cutting data with hair colour and occupation) to create more interesting news material. The tangible success of the campaign can measured by its Facebook membership which rose from 17,000 to 45,000 members upon its first month, and 112,753 number of website visits for a 6-week campaign.

The second campaign, "One Billionth Jar" was to carefully analyse years of historical data and prove that the brand has reached its One Billionth landmark. In this campaign, Kraft started the event in Port Melbourne and followed by sampling and events across major cities in Australia.

The results of the campaign is as summarised below;

• The biggest EVER month for Vegemite shipments - almost double the shipment for the same month of the prior year (194%) driven by the One Billionth campaign (supported solely by PR)
• Scan sales up to 12.9% on the previous year
• Household penetration up by 2%
• Consumption growth grew by 6%
• The PR campaign circulation of 20 million set a new industry standard
• 112,753 unique visitors to vegemite.com.au - up 347% on the average monthly site traffic

Oh and below's a quick personality test on how you eat your Vegemite. 

Mine's  definitely Vegecadoer ! What's yours ?

And a quick video for those of you who are interested;