Filed under: Corporate Social Responsibility, Good Samaritan, Green, Kuwait-Based, Public Relations
I have found out today about the Alternative Energy Applications’ event taking place this week. I am thrilled Kuwait Society of Engineers are being proactive with our dependence to fossil fuels, however something is annoying me in their communications.
The slogan that was used is “Option or Necessity? ضرورة ام خيار؟”, which is accurate not to assume that everyone understands the damages from carbon fuel emissions. I still feel that we should be pass that stage, we shouldn’t be wondering if it is an option and be more assertive with it. The ad as you can find below, is designed with emotional intelligence: children faces from different ethnicity and with the main copy that reads طاقة آمنة لمستقبل مشرق translates to Safer power source for a shining future. I have personally used this approach in the 350 walk, where I would go to parents and let them recognize that outdoor playgrounds are a thing of the past. Alternative energy is a necessity.
This ad was taken from today’s Alwatan newspaper page 27.
Filed under: Blogroll, Good Samaritan, Let's get political, Marketing, Sociology, consumer guide, kuwait
I have to break my silence. I have been away for so long with both the London and Bahrain trips and I had to compensate for work that was piled up. Blogging..? What’s that? But there’s something that got me back to my readers, a ray of inspirational light. Ladies and Gentlemen I want to talk you about E-books. Ever since the invention of PDF (Portable Document Format) by Adobe, reading is not restricted on paper, books and libraries, now any book can be electronic. The revolution is in how we will be reading books in future. The situation got even hotter when Google has taken the initiative of digitizing books and to open an online book store to compete with Amazon. E-book devices have been appearing and becoming popular such as Amazon’s Kindle, Sony Reader, Android’s Nook, and even Apple’s iPhone / iPod touch reading applications. You can carry as many books with you anywhere. What does that mean? The Waterstone’s bookstore in England is promoting their online bookstore and introducing the Sony Reader to its visitors. Barnes and Noble is doing the same with Nook in the US. Since Kuwait’s bookstores are not that popular and their collection is being suppressed by customs, would they survive this?
Filed under: Marketing
Last week I have managed to take a plane trip to Bahrain to see the guru himself Philip Kotler. I will add to this post later…
I couldn’t believe it when I saw this ad in page 11 of the Al-Qabas newspaper today: Philip Kotler himself will be having his first seminar in the Middle East. When it comes to marketing Philip Kotler is a leader, and an author to many Marketing books including my Marketing textbook that I studied from. He will be talking about 1- how B2B should be done in critical economical times 2- How should marketing, sales and advertising take a leading role in these times 3- Reaping the opportunities during this period. This will take place 12 October in Bahrain and I need to be there! (wishful thinking)
A friend of mine approached me… (That’s how it usually starts) “Hussain, you know it is not easy being a man with responsibilities in today’s world. Settling down, conforming to the wife’s needs, buying a home all does not come cheap. And our day job is not enough to achieve what we would love to achieve”. Well that’s the intro to convince someone to get into network marketing. Network Marketing is system that sells its products directly to the consumer and taking out the middle people (Dealership, Distributors, Wholesalers, Retailers). 
To me this is a very controversial topic it makes sense on one side but somehow I do feel like I need another idiot to fall for this scheme so I could make money off of him. Back when I was in college the popular ones were Biznas and My 7 Diamonds. My problem with them is that they do lack tangibility. I have joined Biznas back then after months of convincing from a friend (btw Biznas now does not even have a website) just to see what the hell they are selling; all I remember getting is a 10 Mb email capacity (which was impressive at the time) and a CD that I never used. What I really disliked about network marketing is that lack of transparency. Today my friend wanted me to join Questnet and according to their website they have been around for 10 years, it wouldn’t be possible for them if they haven’t listed their products.
Interesting example: There is a quiet store in the ever-busy Salmeya area that sells medical supplements and herbal extracts called DXN, for you to purchase their products you need to have a code (which shows who’s your referrer in their system) and with this code you could buy in any of the DXN branches internationally.
Filed under: Advertising, Blogroll, Marketing, Public Relations, R & D, Sociology
Last week me and my boss did a department assessment to divide the work and to accommodate a new member, so part of the process my boss asks me “So what would you wanna do?”. There was an empty slot for projects since my current ones are ready and eager to be handed down to my colleague. “Well I want to handle communications via social media” I said. “Blogs, wikis, social networking sites, and forums”. That is something I am really interested in since I have already read two books about it and the third on is on my shelf (Groundswell, The New Rules of Marketing and PR, and Plugged In) I am looking for the opportunity to implement. I have full trust that companies in Kuwait should be more proactive in that area. Case Study: The recruitment team are all expatriates and they are looking for a certain demographic “Kuwaiti Nationals” so one of the recruiters have approached me asking if I could post something as a facebook note. After awhile I removed the note and I had friends messaging me asking about it.
I found this video on the Viral Video Charts for YouTube titled: Social Media Revolution
“How do you expect to approach your future in-laws if you don’t read the newspaper?”
- My mother.
When it comes to being a (male) Kuwaiti living in Kuwait, social pressures just create a huge fuss if you do not have an opinion about the Parliament, Stock-market, and new policies. I honestly do care about all that but I just get carried away with work.
The other day my aunt asked me something and she used a term that I just did not understand, so I asked what did she mean and she asks “Why? don’t you read the newspapers? its being going on for the past 6 months.” (later I found out she was talking about cut-backs on jobs due to recession but that’s just plain old news to me, I work in the HR department).
Reading newspapers on a daily basis is rather empowering. I was an intern at PR agency and I had to do some media monitoring to look out for the press releases if they are published and anything that our clients might be interested in, and for the first time I felt like I knew what was happening in the country, hell I could buy stocks without looking at the balance sheet and know its a good choice (figuratively speaking). So I am going to conform to my gender-role and start reading the newspapers… in the evening. Or just switch jobs to place where its the norm to take time off for the morning paper. Maybe by then I could settle down and have a decent conversation with my in-laws. *eyes rolling*
Filed under: Uncategorized
It all started with two women, Katharine Cook Briggs and her daughter, Isabel Briggs Myers wanted to help women during World War 2 to enter the industrial workforce. Their goal was to help women to find the profession that they are most comfortable and effective in based on an assessment of their personalities. Based on the works of C.G. Jung, the two psychologist developed the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator questionnaire back in 1962 and it is considered today as “the best-known and most trusted personality assessment tool available today”. I took the online version of it and found out that I am an ENFP (Extroversion, iNtuitive, Feeling, Perceiving). All you need is those 4 letters and then you are set to find out more about what is advised in relationships, career and how to utilize your strengths. Well now I just google those letters and the studies start flowing in.
Reference:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Myers-Briggs_Type_Indicator https://www.mbticomplete.comFiled under: Retail Industry
This can’t be… I need to weigh it before I head to the airport or get another suitcase and carry them on my hand held luggage… maybe I should send them by courier? The shopping craze has got to me in both The Mall of the Emirates and The Dubai Mall. I walked in to Borders bookshop where I gathered some books, AND I sat on a table to do some screening to see which ones I should take but that didn’t help… I took them all. I wish I didn’t feel that deprived (مو شايف خير) when I walk in to these stores but then again where can I find these books in Kuwait? The same thing happened to me in Kinokuniya Bookstore (the scene of the crime), I just could not resist. Even the books that are allowed in to Kuwait end up to be low in stock (eg. Black Swan). I am currently readying OSHO, this guy is a fun read if you are into life coaching gurus. Until then readers 
Filed under: Marketing, Packaging, Retail Industry, Sociology, consumer guide
I caught an ad in the newspaper that Alghanim Electronics will be having an ‘up to 75% off’ sale. Well coming from this local electronics retailer, I understood that there will be selling dented items that lost their warranties due to damaged packaging. Even though it is going to be from 7:00 am on a Friday morning, I said ‘Why not?’. I managed to wake up early and reach the location at 6:45 and I was shocked with crowd waiting for the doors to open. The sale was on an open ground something like a flea market. There was something interesting about the products being sold, they were absolutely fine and the only problem is that the carton packaging is damaged or missing. The prices of these items dropped only because the packaging is compromised, and this just shows how much premium is being charged on presentation. Seeing an ad for the product, having an attractive packaging, getting celebrities to to provide testimonies on the product does create a sensation transference (coined by Loise Cheskin). Sensation transference can equate to branding in a way, it is when consumers can’t separate between the product from the brand. Getting a Sony Plasma TV for almost half the price can be a huge deal.
