Eye care and i go way back. I required eye sight correction/aid at the tender age of 5 and the degree of my myopia was worsening at an exponential rate. Hence, by the time i was in primary 5, i took part in what was considered to be a new treatment (at least in Singapore). I still remember the name of the eye drop i used for almost a decade of my life: Atropine 1% dispersa. Partly because i used it every night and partly because Atropine was a drug used in a movie i loved back then: The Rock. It was an experimental drug used to some how neutralize the corrosive effects of VX gas. I really related to it since i felt like i was undergoing some kind of "experiment" too. The eye drop had various side-effects: Long-sightedness and sensitivity to sunlight since it enlarged my retina. As a result, i had to wear dark glasses when i was outdoors and also bi-focal glasses. This had a serious effect on my self-esteem especially when i had to put on the sunglasses when i went to school every day. I would be very conscious of what other people are saying, almost to the point of being paranoid, thinking that they were talking about how strange i was. I could almost imagine them saying, "Is he trying to act cool?", "Does his school allow him to do that?"and so and so forth. Perhaps that is why i developed a pretty defensive attitude in life, being ready to defend myself, should anyone ask me why i wore dark glasses.

The medication worked wonderously and the deterioration of my eyesight was arrested, until i decided that it was time to stop the treatment prior to National Service. Surely the SAF (and i, for that matter) would not want a soldier running around in sunglasses. I would get too much flak from any superior i met and would need to show my excuse letter everytime(as i did in school). However, as i was going through check-ups to ensure that i was withdrawing from the drug well, the doctor found out that i had open-angle glaucoma. "What is that?", you say. It is basically high blood pressure in the eyes and is one of the main causes of blindness in Singapore, especially when untreated. This meant that i was unsuited for strenuous exercise since too much blood going to my head was expected to expand my blood vessels and crush the optic nerves in my eyes. There were no symptoms, except that i started noticing that i had headaches or retinal tears (seeing small, tear-shaped flashes of light across my vision) occasionally. In fact, there was nothing i was really excused from since "strenuous" exercise was ambiguous. Nevertheless, i was downgraded from Pes-A (the fittest category for enlistees) to Pes-E (just about the worst). It was a blessing in disguise and i had a meaningful time in the Ministry of Defence as a clerk as a result, picking up event management skills there. I was eventually discharged near the end of my National Service as my pressure had dropped to an acceptable level (even though it was still high, compared to that of a normal person's)

Nowadays, i still have floaters in my eyes and occasionally feel headaches, most recently when i took a "gentle" roller coaster ride while i was at Ocean Park in Hong Kong. I wish that there would be greater awareness about Eye Care in Singapore, beyond that of eyesight correction or contact lenses (which i consider to be mostly about vanity or convenience, not health). Hopefully, there would be more over-the-counter drugs too, that can do more than just ease dry eyes but also help lessen floaters (they have these in other countries, but not here yet) This is especially important since office workers make up a majority of the population here and there aren't many things to do in Singapore that allow us to look afar. When given the choice between traveling half the island to get to the beach/park and sitting in front of the computer or tv after a day or a week at home, i believe most Singaporeans would choose the latter.

I long for the day that eye-care education and products that actually promote eye health would be made more accessible to the lay man. When that day comes, it would definitely have my whole-hearted support.

Lifestyle electronics used to be the domain of the "rich brats" and "vain" youngsters who either have too much spare cash or have a perpetual need to be in the limelight. However, Apple has flooded the market with Macbooks and iphones, and at affordable prices too! Kudos to Apple for grabbing significant market share in an industry with so many established competitors like HP, Dell, Acer and Lenovo. However, one wonders how long the novelty factor would last. Would Apple products lose their "halo" one day? It seems that one way for lifestyle electronics to maintain their positioning is to introduce new products on a continual basis, to be at the forefront of design, even if the previous product had yet to be "milked" dry.

This trend can be seen in Apple's rapid introduction of newer models of ipods and even the much-debated launch of the ipad, hardly 2 years after the iphone. However, how often is too much? What is the most effective way of maintaining the hard-earned classification of premium/lifestyle electronics?

With each approach/solution comes new questions but just like the age-old adage that many chopsticks are harder to break than a solitary one, a repertoire of tools are required for branding and image. Business school introduce students to pricing, advertising, market research, consumer behavior, PR campaigns and R&D. However, what is possibly the most important thing is to be able to keep an eye on the market. This includes being updated on design trends or preferences, competitor movements. Beyond that, however, is a tight communication loop between a company's stakeholders and itself. Now the electronics company has many tools to listening and engage its increasingly knowledgeable and influential stakeholders like tech gurus and bloggers and even the common consumer.

While companies like Sony and Apple keep churning out new innovations and designs in an attempt to spark off trends and stay relevant, a shot-gun approach to whatever target groups these companies have just is not cost-effective. While niche and highly customized offerings like those of Bang and Olufsen may not be what these companies are ultimately aiming for, staying highly visible and sought-after requires a greater effort to communicate with the market on their part. The question is, where does the focus of such companies lie?

Digital Media across Asia

Asia is a large and fragmented market. Each country has a different internet, pc and mobile penetration rate, and internet policy. Even demographics and culture affect the use of social media. However, apart from a few mature markets like Japan and Korea, there are immense growth opportunities for Digital Media across the rest of Asia. Therefore, this calls for much organized research and finding ways to get others to research for you, using the right tools, practices and attitudes.

Steps to effective use Digital media in Asia

• Media penetration and usage rates
• The internet, pc and mobile penetration and usage rates of different countries may be found on the respective statistics bureaus of the different countries.
• The higher the penetration and usage rates, the greater the potential reach of social media.

• Know what your audience is doing online
  
• Certain search engines like Google show the top visited sites of different countries.
• Different statistical bodies also show you what different age groups and even genders do online.
• The Forrester customer profile tool allows users to determine the social technographics of different age or gender groups.
  

• Government and internet policies
• Certain countries restrict different behaviors and digital media tools and favor others. E.g. Using Facebook to reach out to China, which blocks the use of it, would be a completely ineffective move.

• Be involved in the social media scene, know and be linked to the right people
• There is a need to be personally involved in social media of the target countries to both find out and be linked to the right people.
• A google search may help uncover a few influential bloggers or players in the Digital Media Scene.
  
• Keeping an RSS feed, following their micro-blogs and exploring the sites of these bloggers links you to even more relevant people.
• Interacting with these people on a personal level allows one to eventually seek help through these "weak links".
• You can also uncover the Digital media tools they use. Not every country favors Facebook for its Social Networking needs nor do they all use Twitter for micro-blogging.
  

• Be organized
• Following so many bloggers and websites from different countries and industries can be confusing. The best thing you can do at the start is to come out with a format in your RSS aggregators that allow you to categorize your feeds well for easy data organization and retrieval.
  

• Demographics and Culture
• Obviously, a younger median age, together with the technology penetration rate indicates a population more likely to be involved with social media.
• Some cultures favor or frown upon different behaviors, even in the virtual world. For example, Australians dislike all authority or individuals who stand out, hence feeling the need to put them in their "right place". This is called the "tall poppy" syndrome. Such behavior cannot be determined until one starts to become involved in the social media scene of the different countries and trying to understand the country via RSS feeds or interactions.

One of my very few photoshop productions...

We were supposed to come up with a collage for our Strategic Brand Management class, just like the  ZMET study done by Nestle on some consumers about how they associate/feel about the bar.

Hope we have an interesting case discussion tomorrow!

Resumes flood digital space as well as HR offices and i hear that it is a pain for those who have read enough resumes to last them 20 life times. Therefore, i'd like to introduce myself to potential friends and even employers in a slightly different manner.

A picture says... well more than 225 words. Which is why you'll find everything i'll be saying and more in the attached picture.

However, to apologize for my novice design skills, please allow me to introduce myself with a poem

Gareth is a doer he does more than just plan
He is the ever skeptic until he sees the facts
He likes to play with phrases he's bilingual in truth
And next are his experiences so don't stop till you're through!

He's planned and pulled off events he's skilled with office tools
He's into games and roadsters and wants to sell them too
From army to a tech firm and eyecare MNCs
Gareth has had some training, just ask him and you'll see!

A soft spot for optometry he has due to his eyes
He'd like to promote eye care so others won't go blind
He listens and makes music, likes cars and anime
And lastly he loves felines and has been saved by grace.

And there you have it, Gareth Liew within 225 words!

Hello, Web 2.0!