by Belinda Lui | Dec 9, 2013 | Business Success, Latest
I was shown a video last night that I wanted to share with you: found on the VICE website, this video shows a man, Sun Jifa, who lost both his hands during a fishing explosion. He couldn’t afford prosthetic hands – so he made a pair for himself out of iron. His bravery and perseverance in overcoming this devastating accident is already worth mentioning – but what makes this story an even more encouraging one is that he now dedicates his life to making prosthetic arms for the less fortunate in China. It’s a story about overcoming challenges.
Overcoming challenges isn’t only about helping yourself, but to help those around you overcome them as well.
He doesn’t do it to make money – he charges his clients a minimal amount (that is usually given to the clients from Government aid) so that they can continue working to sustain a family. He does it because he knows what it feels like to be handicapped and not be able to afford the things that can help him lead a normal life.
We can all take a page from his book when we consider the bravery and perseverance required to overcoming challenges; in the workplace and in life.
Oftentimes, it is easy when faced with a challenge to turn and run the other way. Adversity is a gift, if you can appreciate the lesson. I agree that it is easier to see a difficult boss, a daunting task, or even a conflict with a colleague as a deterrent to going in to work with enthusiasm – but perhaps facing these challenges with tact and dedication will prove fruitful in the end.
Taking it a step further, if you can turn your challenges into doing good for those around you (offering encouragement to a colleague, taking on extra projects to relieve your teammates, even research possible new developments to give back to your community) then you might just find yourself a happier person, more successful and fulfilled in the knowledge of the betterment of yourself and overcoming challenges.
I hope the story of Sun Jifa serves as an uplifting motivation for you on this gloomy Monday morning, and for every time you feel as though there is a challenge too difficult of overcoming.
To watch this video, click here.
by Belinda Lui | Dec 8, 2013 | Events, Latest
Some of us look forward to the season’s festivities — the get-togethers, the delicious food, the abundance of alcohol, to name a few. Along with the holiday dinners there are the work parties that a lot of us are obliged to attend — and 9/10 times, it isn’t always the most anticipated event of the month. Proper business etiquette can be tricky at parties; mostly because a lot of us may feel uncomfortable about how comfortable to be in these situations: what to wear, what to say, how much to eat or drink.
Here is a quick guide for proper business etiquette to ensure that you’re a hit at this year’s work holiday party:
1. What to wear:
Dressing for success isn’t limited to the workday. Of course, you probably won’t wear something you’d wear to the office, but you do need to put considerable thought into your attire. When you attend the company party, avoid wearing anything that is too revealing or shows too much skin. You don’t want your managers to think you lack discretion.
Consider where the party is being held before choosing your outfit. If you are celebrating at a restaurant, follow the establishment’s dress code. If the party is at a private home, and you are still unsure, ask someone you trust for advice.
2. Food:
Enjoy the food at the party, but avoid looking like a glutton. The size of the hors d’oeuvre plates will give you an indication of what you are expected to eat. Don’t overfill it, and never double-dip anything after taking a bite. Know which utensils to use and when to use your fingers. Regardless of how delicious the food is, don’t ask for a doggy bag. A more appropriate thing to do is request the recipe later.
3. Alcohol:
If you drink alcohol, do so in moderation. Otherwise, you might say or do something you will later regret. This can get you into trouble or alter someone’s favorable opinion of you.
4. What to say:
Speak to everyone at the party in a positive, friendly tone, but don’t forget that this is not the place to say something negative that may get you into trouble later. If you find this difficult, make the rounds, greet everyone, and find an excuse to leave early. You should never say anything you wouldn’t say at the office.
All of us here at 3H Communications wish you a very safe and happy holiday. Please enjoy yourselves responsibly and use these tips to make the impression you want at this year’s work function!
What other business etiquette tips would you suggest for a work holiday party?
by Belinda Lui | Dec 6, 2013 | Advertising, Latest
I took a few courses at Seneca @ York University in Creative Advertising before pursuing a degree in Communications, and my favourite project while I was there was to create an ad for Social Responsibility. Without a pre-existing ad, my group designed copy and creative for Miller Genuine Draft. The 6 teams in my class would be able to present their pitches to my professor, and the winning team would be able to present the pitch to the actual company (with a possibility of being chosen). My team won — but it wasn’t the most rewarding part of the project: cause advertising that encourages social responsibility was. The concept was to encourage taking public transit after having a few drinks and the hope was to appeal to the emotions of people who have lost loved ones to drinking and driving.
In every industry, no matter the product or service, we have a part to play in raising awareness for social responsibility.
Here are a few of my favourite campaigns for social responsibility:
1. Coca-cola – Arctic Home
Raising awareness of climate change and how it’s affecting our Polar Bears.
2. Telus – Habitat for Humanity
Encouraging ‘community’ and helping each other build a better world.
3. Dove – Real Beauty
The vast differences between the way we see ourselves and the way others see us.
4. Red Cross – When You Give, We Give
Helping families rebuild their homes and lives after they have been struck with disaster.
5. Levi’s – Go Forth
A Campaign that encourages every individual to be the change they wish to see in the world.
For an ad campaign to be considered socially responsible, the advertising used in the campaign must meet an ethical standard. Corporate social responsibility marketing has been a focus of several major ad campaigns, but if the ads used in the campaign are seen as deceptive by the public, the company is unlikely to be considered socially responsible regardless of the theme of the advertisements.
What are some of your favourite social responsibility campaigns?
by Belinda Lui | Dec 5, 2013 | Latest, Management
Ever wonder what makes Google the holy grail of productivity and creativity? There’s no magic in the drinking water at the Mountain View, CA company. The tech giant draws from what Google’s chief social evangelist, Gopi Kallayil, calls the nine core principles of innovation.
Kallayil shared his insights at this week’s San Francisco Dreamforce summit.
Here are the nine rules that any enterprise, large or small, can adopt to steal Google’s culture on innovation.
1. INNOVATION COMES FROM ANYWHERE
A medical doctor on Google’s staff argued persuasively that Google had a moral obligation to extend help to those typing searches under the phrase “how to commit suicide.” He ignited the charge to adjust the search engine’s response so that the top of the screen reveals the toll free phone number for the National Suicide Prevention Hotline. The call volume went up by nine percent soon thereafter. The same change has been adopted in many other countries.
2. FOCUS ON THE USER.
Worry about the money later, when you focus on the user, all else will follow. Google improved the speed of its search capabilities with predictive analysis so search suggestions come up after the user types a few keystrokes. This Instant Search feature saves the user a few microseconds with each entry. Google sales reps were concerned that this shortened the time customers would view ads, but the company went ahead and believed that it was worth the risk.
End result? Thanks to Instant Search, Google estimates the time saved is equivalent to giving back mankind 5,000 years after a year of collective use. “Create a great user experience and the revenue will take care of itself,” says Kallayil. In addition, more customers will be attracted to your product’s increased benefits.
3. AIM TO BE TEN TIMES BETTER
If you come into work thinking that you will improve things by ten percent, you will only see incremental change. If you want radical and revolutionary innovation, think 10 times improvement, and that will force you to think outside the box.
4. BET ON TECHNICAL INSIGHTS
Every organization has unique insights, and if you bet on it, it leads to major innovation. Google engineers, not the auto industry, came up with the idea of driverless cars after seeing that millions of traffic deaths come from human error. Working with an artificial intelligence team at Stanford University, Google engineers have produced experimental cars that now have travelled to Lake Tahoe and back to the Bay Area and have given the blind more independence by driving them to shop and carry out errands.
5. SHIP AND ITERATE
Ship your products often and early, and do not wait for perfection. Let users help you to “iterate” it. When Chrome was launched in 2008, every six weeks Google pushed out an improved version. “Today, using that approach, Chrome is the Number One browser in many countries,” says Kallayil, “You may not have perfection in your product, but trust that your users will get back to you.”
6. GIVE EMPLOYEES 20 PERCENT TIME
Give employees 20 percent of their work time to pursue projects they are passionate about, even if it is outside the core job or core mission of the company. “They will delight you with their creative thinking,” Kallayil promises.
7. DEFAULT TO OPEN PROCESSES
Make your processes open to all users. When Google created the Android platform, it knew it could not hire all the best developers on the planet. For that reason, it “defaulted to open,” and encouraged developers outside of Google to create apps for the one billion people using Android devices daily. “That is how an ecosystem is formed,” says Kallayil. In marketing, Google asked users how they would market its voice search app, and children sent clever videos that rivaled the campaigns of the big ad agencies.
8. FAIL WELL
There should be no stigma attached to failure. If you do not fail often, you are not trying hard enough. At Google, once a product fails to reach its potential, it is axed, but the company pulls from the best of the features. “Failure is actually a badge of honor,” he says. “Failure is the way to be innovative and successful. You can fail with pride.”
9. HAVE A MISSION THAT MATTERS
“This is the most important principle,” Kallayil says. “Everyone at Google has a strong sense of mission and purpose. We believe the work we do has impact on millions of people in a positive way.” Each person should have his or her own story.
(Information taken from: Fast Company)
by Belinda Lui | Dec 4, 2013 | Latest, Social Media
Designing a Facebook marketing campaign can be tricky: you need to start with research and analysis, implement riveting creative, and post engaging content. It may seem overwhelming, but there is a way to kick-start your Facebook strategy: knowing these 7 important statistics will help you increase your following and engagement.
For optimized engagement: more than knowing when to post, it’s important to know what to post:
1. Photo posts get 39% more interaction
Posting photos are more engaging than posting videos, links, and text-based updates: so much so, that it accounts for 93% of the most engaging posts on Facebook.
2. Shorter posts get 23% more interaction
Writing shorter posts isn’t just handy on Twitter. Keeping your posts below 250 characters can get you 60% more engagement than you might otherwise see. You can even get up to 66% more engagement if you cut it down to less than 80 characters.
3. Using emoticons increases comments by 33%
If you thought emoticons were only for teens, you might want to rethink that idea. According to AMEX OPEN Forum infographic, emoticons can make a big difference to your engagement rates. Not only do posts with emoticons get 33% more comments, they also get shared 33% more often. Even better: they get liked 57% more often than posts without emoticons.
4. Engagement rates on Thursday and Friday are 18% higher
This is generally speaking – depending on the demographic of your following, the days with the most activity may vary. Fortunately, Facebook provides the information on which days get the most activity from your followers, so be sure to establish that before you create your Facebook marketing calendar.
5. Question posts get 100% more comments
If comments are the kind of interaction you’re after, questions might be the way to go. According to an infographic by Kissmetrics, they get 100% more comments than standard text-based posts. HubSpot shares a similar finding, although this data points out that question posts often get fewer likes and shares than other types of posts.
6. 35% of Facebook fans like a page so they can participate in contests
If you’re chasing down new fans, a contest seems like a fairly good way to encourage likes. A report from earlier this year showed that 35% of Facebook fans liked Facebook pages specifically to compete in contests. Contests obviously solicit interaction by asking for people to enter. It turns out this can work, as “caption this photo”-style contests actually bring in 5.5 times more comments than regular posts.
7. 42% of fans like a page to get a coupon or discount
According to Socially Stacked, 42% of Facebook fans like a page in order to get a discount or coupon. A study by Wildfire Interactive showed that coupon-based campaigns received the highest engagement rates. Giveaways and sweepstakes came in just behind coupons as highly engaging post types.
What are some of the ways that you have increased engagement in your Facebook strategy?
(Information taken from: Fast Company)
by Belinda Lui | Dec 3, 2013 | Advertising, Latest
I was watching a TED talk from Rory Sutherland, the Vice Chairman of Ogilvy Group, and his lesson was on the power of perception as it pertains to real value and perceived value. We’re all probably aware of the fact that Advertising is an influential force behind consumerism, but what I want to explore in this post is the root of that behaviour: perception, and how the real-value of things is less significant than the perceived value of things.
The power of perception can change almost everything; from what we eat to how we drive:
1. The Potato
Frederic the Great was very keen on the potato being adopted into the diets of Germans. He tried to make it compulsory and people were executed for refusing to grow potatoes. So he changed his strategy and made it so that potatoes could only be grown by Royalty (and would be guarded as such). The reaction was that if something was good enough to be guarded, it’s good enough to be stolen. He changed the perception of Potatoes.
2. Shreddies
Canadian intern, Hunter Summerville, thought of a way to re-launch Shreddies: he thought of a way to add intangible value to a product without actually changing the product itself. Changing it from a square to a diamond. It was a refresh in how Shreddies were perceived, even though it was only tilted slightly to become a diamond.
3. Speeding
Instead of showing your speed, the sign would flash either a smiley face or a sad face. These signs cost about 10% of a speeding-camera but prevent twice the amount of speeding collisions. It goes without saying, knowing your speed might deter some people from speeding, but when speeding was associated with a sad face, people were more likely to slow down.
What I’m trying to illustrate here, is that perhaps like most things in life, it is our perception of things that make them valuable – and less about what the actual value is.
What are some of your examples of real-value versus perceived value?
