Singapore Government discusses new media

After watching PM Lee’s national day rally on TV a while back, I’m really impressed with the way the Singapore government has adopted the use of new media. Embarrassingly, as a Singaporean, I hadn’t realized these efforts made.

He started by showcasing examples of the current US elections between McCain and Obama and the use of social media, then showed how Korea’s new media influenced its decision against its president’s beef decision and the wild rumors of mad cow disease. Malaysia’s political scene being battled online was also illustrated as an example.

Topics hot on the reach homepage of the S’pore government was also covered by the PM and shows that these topics being mentioned aren’t just put for show. He also admitted that while the past communications was done by pushing out information, the new 2 way interaction of web2.0 is being utilized and studied by the government.

This is truly wonderful news to me or as a undergrad who’s deciding on a future btw marketing and PR, the fact that the government is embracing this new form of media rather than being restrictive about, it is a great way forward for Singapore and the region.

While this is a short post, I’m just really gald our Singapore government is accepting and understanding the freedom this new media brings about. I can’t wait to see what reccomendations will be made in the future for the restrictions of the use of social and digital media. I know we wouldn’t end up like China’s great firewall, but i’m glad to see that we’re moving one step forward! Singapore Government pave the way!!

Plurk timeline

Plurk.com

Omega and the Olympics

Moving down the list of TOP Olympics, we have Omega of The Swatch Group Ltd. Omega is the official Time piece (for example, watches, clocks and official countdown clocks), timing systems/services, and electronic timing, scoring and scoreboard systems and services for the games.

So as the offical timekeeper for the games, what are some of their marketing efforts?

1) From online mediums, they have this flash animation scroll thingy which traces the history of Omega and China. Further, it also traces bits and pieces of the Olympic history.

While slightly cliche, it does bring some interesting facts from the past to today’s generation who are too engrossed with Michael Phelp’s 8th gold medal. Things like the “Flying Housewife” and the “Czech Locomotive” are great stuff to know from the past century.

You’ll probably see some of these in the shops selling Omega watches as well being displayed…

Sadly, this site is solely one-sided with little interaction or use of social media…. Would be great if they could have included other great moments in the Games voted by the ppl, which Omega was there to capture the winning timings…

2) What’s a brand without an ambassador? You can check out the list of ambassadors they have here, heck, they’ve been sponsoring Phelp’s since 2004, good shot at that one considering how his market value is going up.

Even James Bond is one of ‘em, lol….

3) Lastly, like most brands in the Olympic Green, they have a pavilion built which showcases their watches and other neat stuff. Read more about it here.

It’s a pretty normal marketing campaign considering the amount pumped in but i guess they should know what they’re doing since they’ve been doing it since 1932.

Would like to see a heavier usage of social media considering the history they have with the games and how they could connect with the people then.

Another thing I would like to share is how Olympics can help a country as a brand and you can read more about that from this article here. What’s most important i think in an Olympic sponsorship is that it not only helps a brand being a TOP, the brand must also help the country. This would allow the brand to have a stronger association wit that particular year’s games and build its brand presence in the host country.