Once a pride of Singapore, Dr Doris Phua, Singapore's women Entrepreneur of the year in 2001 and 2002 is now the center of the news. And you guess it, its not good news, but a rather bad one.
News after news, the high end furniture store DaVinci furniture is under the spotlight now for products that are not really from the "country of origin" as stated... Which is not from Italy or USA, but rather .. Made in China.
Furthermore, there are reports that are coming out on forums, and discussion boards on the wood which they claim, used in their products made from high density board, rather than real wood.
News like "Furniture retailer to face press"
"Furniture retailer Da Vinci under fire "
Chinese Upset Over Counterfeit Furniture
Picture gets worse for Da Vinci
"DaVinci is the place to go for Versace sofas, sumptuous Fendi Casa calf-skin couches or stylish chaise lounges stamped Made in Italy. A DaVinci bedroom set can sell for $100,000. "
That same day, however, customs officials in Shanghai said they had evidence that DaVinci was temporarily storing Chinese-made goods in a Shanghai warehouse, including cattle-hide sofas produced in nearby Zhejiang Province. The officials said that after a day spent in Shanghai’s Waigaoqiao Free Trade Zone, the products — with the paperwork duly filed — were imported back into the country.
From the news reports, interviews and the myriad of blogs bashing DaVinci furniture, Davinci furniture's reputation will probably take a long time, if ever, to recover.
However, in digging deeper, I realized that the Chinese search and even in English forums, there was much talks about the quality and authenticity of the furniture.
Along with perception, news and other social interaction, this fueled the situation into a crisis, one could have prevented if DaVinci Furniture actually monitored and engaged with their supporters in conversations.
There are a lot more op-eds bashing "DaVinci Furniture"
Will DaVinci Furniture's reputation recover from this incident?
Will there be more scandals from the foreign import companies in China?
Only time will tell.
-- Robin Low
Tuesday, July 19, 2011
Monday, July 11, 2011
KFC employees playing with your food.
Malaysia's Version of "Playing with your food"
If you have been following the Social Media crisis that happened to Dominos in 2009 (or 2010) 2 employees shared a series of videos about their disgusting behavior in the kitchen when they played with your food. Well, there is a Malaysia version which involves KFC employees now.
In June 2011, someone uploaded these videos and there was an uproar. Although KFC Malaysia may have acted on this crisis, their reputation of having flies in their restaurant and "slow moving" employees that give bad service does not really help them in dealing with the crisis either.
En. Mohammad Alwi, KFC Malaysia’s Director of Restaurant Operations, made a personal address to the public in two languages – Malay and English. In the video, he apologizes and ensures customers that KFC Malaysia has taken action to prevent the same incident from happening. Here’s how:
1. Cameras in kitchens: KFC Malaysia has installed cameras to make sure that the kitchen team can be held accountable for their actions.
2. Appoint supervisors: One lead cook will be appointed at every kitchen to supervise the food preparation process.
3. Improve the training program: The training program will be made more rigorous to ensure employees understand the value of KFC and food hygiene.
----------------------------------------------------------------
This is a lesson that many companies in the world must learn. No matter how big or small a restaurant chain is, it is important to have a social media policy and good training guidelines on the consequences on behaviors on social media.
It will take years to build your reputation, and with a small antic and video on YouTube, the confidence you may have built will be destroyed.
A lot more may be mitigated if KFC Malaysia engages regularly with their fans and supporters, and build up a community who can help monitor and defend its brand. Leveraging on staff, and empowering them as the voice to reach out, I really doubt such an incident will happen. Perhaps poor training + badly treated staff without background checks.
---------------------------------------------------------------------
I felt that the reply video from the director of operations was not sufficient. The case does not seem resolved and there seem to be not enough actions taken by authorities to the staff involved to show that there was any serious consequences.
The Malaysia Food and Safety board did not even investigate, and this is even more troubling as it shows that the food safety level in the country is pretty much no present!
My guess is that this is not became a full blown crisis as the Dominos crisis yet, and as such, not much is done, and there will probably be more to come as companies are still slow to embrace social media.
But for those who do, at least they will be well prepared and hopefully their staff will not create a social media crisis for them.
-- Robin Low
If you have been following the Social Media crisis that happened to Dominos in 2009 (or 2010) 2 employees shared a series of videos about their disgusting behavior in the kitchen when they played with your food. Well, there is a Malaysia version which involves KFC employees now.
In June 2011, someone uploaded these videos and there was an uproar. Although KFC Malaysia may have acted on this crisis, their reputation of having flies in their restaurant and "slow moving" employees that give bad service does not really help them in dealing with the crisis either.
En. Mohammad Alwi, KFC Malaysia’s Director of Restaurant Operations, made a personal address to the public in two languages – Malay and English. In the video, he apologizes and ensures customers that KFC Malaysia has taken action to prevent the same incident from happening. Here’s how:
1. Cameras in kitchens: KFC Malaysia has installed cameras to make sure that the kitchen team can be held accountable for their actions.
2. Appoint supervisors: One lead cook will be appointed at every kitchen to supervise the food preparation process.
3. Improve the training program: The training program will be made more rigorous to ensure employees understand the value of KFC and food hygiene.
----------------------------------------------------------------
This is a lesson that many companies in the world must learn. No matter how big or small a restaurant chain is, it is important to have a social media policy and good training guidelines on the consequences on behaviors on social media.
It will take years to build your reputation, and with a small antic and video on YouTube, the confidence you may have built will be destroyed.
A lot more may be mitigated if KFC Malaysia engages regularly with their fans and supporters, and build up a community who can help monitor and defend its brand. Leveraging on staff, and empowering them as the voice to reach out, I really doubt such an incident will happen. Perhaps poor training + badly treated staff without background checks.
---------------------------------------------------------------------
I felt that the reply video from the director of operations was not sufficient. The case does not seem resolved and there seem to be not enough actions taken by authorities to the staff involved to show that there was any serious consequences.
The Malaysia Food and Safety board did not even investigate, and this is even more troubling as it shows that the food safety level in the country is pretty much no present!
My guess is that this is not became a full blown crisis as the Dominos crisis yet, and as such, not much is done, and there will probably be more to come as companies are still slow to embrace social media.
But for those who do, at least they will be well prepared and hopefully their staff will not create a social media crisis for them.
-- Robin Low
Wednesday, July 6, 2011
Asia getting on Social Media
I've many friends who asked me about how Asia is getting on social media and all the data I've got, they all point to very strong growth in the region.
With strong growth of mobile technologies and mobile broadband in Asia, it is not really a surprise that it shows in the pick up rate of social media here.
As more people try out Facebook and Twitter, it is no doubt that they will be curious about the other social powered tools that leverage on crowds. If you own a business and you want to find out more about things like Foursquares, Facebook Pages and how to use Twitter to engage the public, there is a course tomorrow in Singapore.
1) Aventis Social Media Marketing Professional Certification program (Stage 1)
This is an extensive course which introduces you everything about social media, to engaging the public and measuring success. With this course, you can plan and start your social media campaign for your company.
And if you already think you have enough knowledge about social media, there is a second part of the course just on Real Time Marketing and new ideas on Social Engagements. Get information on actual case studies of companies that succeeded and failed, so you can learn from these examples and do have to run into the same mistakes.
2) Real Time Marketing and Public Engagement (Stage 2)
I just arrived in Singapore after running the course on the Eastern Coast of United States, and the course in Singapore starts tomorrow, be sure you check it out!
-- Robin Low
Monday, May 9, 2011
Yam Ah Mee
When you think about the elections, whether it is Nicole Seah or Tin Pei Ling. The loss of George Yeo or getting Show Mao into parliament, if you are following the trends of social media online, you suddenly will know about this man.
YAM Ah Mee.
Not only is he an unknown before the election, this man now has a fanpage, that will exceed 15,000 fans soon.
In time to come, when you start to recall the election and what exactly happened, you will probably remember the 2011 elections as the year of Yam Ah Mee.
And now we know that he is:
The People's Association (PA) Chief executive director (CED) The Harvard Club of Singapore's Volunteer program and the President of the Harvard Club BG (NS)
He is one of the most unlikely social media superstar!
He is here to stay!
-- Robin Low
YAM Ah Mee.
Not only is he an unknown before the election, this man now has a fanpage, that will exceed 15,000 fans soon.
In time to come, when you start to recall the election and what exactly happened, you will probably remember the 2011 elections as the year of Yam Ah Mee.
And now we know that he is:
The People's Association (PA) Chief executive director (CED) The Harvard Club of Singapore's Volunteer program and the President of the Harvard Club BG (NS)
He is one of the most unlikely social media superstar!
He is here to stay!
-- Robin Low
Friday, May 6, 2011
Social Media vs Controlled Media.
Today is the day for Singapore election.
Social Media vs Controlled Media.
The PAP does not engage on social media. They have their fans write good things about them, and delete negative posts. For their YouTube Pages, no "likes" or comments are allowed.
The PAP does very well on the controlled media, as reports after reports, focused on their leaders and agenda, even on "cooling day" The rest of the opposition is covered much less than the PAP.
On social media front, the new candidates like Nicole Seah seemed to be fantastic! She has more than 60k fans on Facebook, and she replies to feedback and comments.
For most parts, Angry Singaporeans numbering thousands bashed PAP online, and the sites theonlinecitizen became a very popular source of info.
Most dormant Singaporeans share their stories and blog about their thoughts freely. The PAP indeed lost out on the social media front.
So the big question is, will social media affect the results of the election? How much of a role will social media play to determine the results?
Only the results will tell!
-- Robin Low
Social Media vs Controlled Media.
The PAP does not engage on social media. They have their fans write good things about them, and delete negative posts. For their YouTube Pages, no "likes" or comments are allowed.
The PAP does very well on the controlled media, as reports after reports, focused on their leaders and agenda, even on "cooling day" The rest of the opposition is covered much less than the PAP.
On social media front, the new candidates like Nicole Seah seemed to be fantastic! She has more than 60k fans on Facebook, and she replies to feedback and comments.
For most parts, Angry Singaporeans numbering thousands bashed PAP online, and the sites theonlinecitizen became a very popular source of info.
Most dormant Singaporeans share their stories and blog about their thoughts freely. The PAP indeed lost out on the social media front.
So the big question is, will social media affect the results of the election? How much of a role will social media play to determine the results?
Only the results will tell!
-- Robin Low
Tuesday, April 26, 2011
Dirty Politics may back fire.
Vivian Balakrishnan is playing the gay card, and yet all the media in Singapore, the controlled media is printing Gutter news like this as headlines.
Dr Vivian's involvement in this fear-mongering and hate-mongering attack on Dr Vincent's character and political "motives" is simply "Dirty Politics". To condemn homophobia and the wild and false conflation of homosexuality into "sex with boys" is wrong like this video.
Well, in the news yesterday, the carefully edited video posted by an Astroturfer who just registered the account and posted 1 video was shown.
Here is the full video and it does not show that Dr Vincent was a homosexual nor did it show he has an agenda. (YoutubeUser: JohnTan88888 joined 1 week ago and uploaded only 1 video.)
Vincent Wijeysingha clearly does not take a stand on either these two issues!
This smear campaign is not done right as there seems to be not much engagement on social media end of the PAP, just broadcasting.
What's worse, there is more Astroturfing on the PAP site.
Is this how "fans" are manufactured to support your point of view?
It is indeed sad to see the incumbent party doing such low brow tactics to try to gain support in their losing social media battle.
This is not how you engage, things will only get worse if you do not plan and do it the wrong way.
-- Robin Low
More links.
SINGAPOREANS OUTRAGED BY VIVIAN’S DIRTY TRICKS
Vivian Balakrishnan and the video that cannot be named
What's your douchebag agenda, Dr Vivian?
PAP's statement on Wijeysingha disappointing
Vivian’s bomb goes boo boo
Build trust! Don't Astroturf.
Monday, April 18, 2011
Engagement is crucial
The government of Singapore is doing many things well. Great transportation system, relatively good education system, great financial system. The political system is stable, and for 30 years, it has brought much progress.
Since the popularity of social media where people can share their opinions and feedback, many aired their views freely online.
With the government not willing to engage as shown in their actions on their YouTube channel, and Facebook page, it is very hard to win people over when you are not willing to hear them out.
Feedback is crucial, taking in the good, and fixing the failures, it is all in a days work to build trust and relationship. Obama was very good at using the crowd to create awareness, and luckily for the PAP, the opposition was not able to be as influential, however, there are a few sites which are very popular, no thanks to the government trying to Gazette it as a political website.
The online citizen is now an official political website and it has since drawn much crowds to its Facebook and Webpage. The conversations are genuine and people are allowed to share views about their likes and dislikes. Some of the posts do not hit the mark, and some do, and through feedbacks and comments, they are able to learn and carve out views which most of their viewers would like and share.
The current situation, the Internet is a big enemy. Nearly all posts about "PAP" online, whether it is on their official news site, on YouTube or on Facebook, you get to read about some very negative comments and after the heavy monitoring, a lot of the comments are deleted.
If this continues, I would think the opposition has a strong chance of getting angry votes.
Please do the right thing, enable comments and listen to our feedback. You need to engage!
-- Robin Low
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)