Destiny Steps

Marketing when executed in its most brilliant strategies & tactics, it can bring a company its unexpected heights. Just look at how Air Asia has achieved its branding and now how MAS is trying to revamp itself. It is a cruicial part of a business. If you have that expert brain in  this area, talk to me.

An IT MNCs listed in both UK & Australia, is adding to its team a regional marketing role. This is a regional role to align the Region’s marketing programs in line with the Corporate marketing programs such as website, advertising, media release, case studies and targeted marketing campaigns.  Manage sponsorship and events across Asia.

This person will require to work closely with the Regional MD, and the Sales team :

• to plan the development of product marketing strategy campaigns for Asia
• Implement, manage and deliver on the marketing strategy and budget
• Responsible in aligning marketing output with sales strategy
• Writing and ongoing coordination in the preparation of advertising, brochure ware, case studies and media placement.
• Manage events such as conferences, gala dinner, trade shows, fundraising, and Kick Off to achieve maximum impact.
• Implementing e-marketing campaigns using the website and html
• Overseeing external branding: order and purchase of event merchandise and collateral; develop exhibition design in line with corporate guidelines; oversee correct logo usage at sponsored events and on external websites
• High degree of awareness of the cultural sensitivities in the different countries in Asia, and ensure activities/ campaigns do not affect the sensitivities of the locals
• Preparing and managing performance against budgets for activities
• Internal education on brand awareness and company marketing guidelines
• Coordinating market research and market intelligence data as required
• Managing Asia database administration and the categorisation of data for effective marketing campaigns.
• Coordinating the review of the contacts, sales and marketing data management system.
• Participating in co-marketing concept development with partner organisations
• Manage and maintain the media monitor account and distribute relevant items to Management, Sales, and Solution specialist teams.
• Manage vendors across all marketing activities when necessary

Requirements 

• A Tertiary education is required, preferably in the marketing, but is not a must. Track record will be an excellent evident. 
• At least 7 years related industry experience.
• Has Strong background in marketing campaign creating brand awareness witth business acumen and ability to relate marketing to sales and the bottom line
• Ability to manage marketing budgets and reports
• Strong creative writing skills
• Ability to clearly articulate internal and external communication messages
• Strong project management / multi tasking skills
• Creative flair to maximise impact on all marketing activities
• Extensive MS Office product knowledge, such as Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook
• Multimedia,- Adobe etc

I do not normally read forward email. What I do with them is “delete” !!! But this one caught my attention with its title : “Can A Family Man With Salary RM3000 Survive In Malaysia”

Here goes the content of the email for your thought :  

Let’s do some simple calculations here.
 
In Malaysia, the average family income is RM3,000 /month where father works, mother doesn’t).
 
I understand there are many families whose monthly income does not reach RM3,000, but, to make things simple,

Let’s take RM3,000 as the figure. Ok lah, right?
 
Okay, let’s start rolling with a family which has Papa, Mama, 1 daughter and 1 son. Ngam-ngam ….
 
Calculation starts…
 
Electricity and water bill: RM100 (No air-con, No home theatre, No water heater … ok?)
 
Phone bill ( Telekom): RM100 (Internet streamxy RM68 + land line RM25 = RM93, round-up to RM100 la)
 
Meals for a happy family: RM775 (3 meals on RM25/day 4 persons. Forget about makan in restaurant ya)
 
Papa makan / teh-tarik during working hrs: RM155 (RM5/day, RM5 … can eat what?)
 
Car repayment: RM400 (A proton saga aeroback, 7 yrs repayment)
 
Petrol (living in city, traffic-jam) :RM300 (go to work, bring son to school, only can afford one car running. NO YET CONSIDER PETROL INCREASE 40.8%)
 
Insurance: RM650 (Kids, wife and self. Forget about insurance la..no money to pay, lets drop
it)
 
House repayment: RM750 (low cost housing repayment for 30 yrs, retired still have to work to pay!)
  
Tuition: RM80 (got that cheap meh? i don’t think so)
 
Older children pocket money @ school: RM20 (RM1/day, eat bread?)
 
School fees: RM30 (enough ah?)
 
School books and etc: RM100 (always got extra to pay in school)
 
Younger children milk powder: RM50 (cannot have the DHA, BHA, PHA one, expensive)
 
Miscellaneous: RM100 (shampoo, rice, sauce, toilet paper, saman, etc)
 
Oh wait!!! I have to stop here, so…
No Astro,
no movie @ cinema,
no DVD,
no CD,
no toys
no computer,
no KFC, no McDonald,
no insurance
no jalan-jalan makan angin (vacation)
no chit chat on phone with grandparents, and etc…
nothing breaks down for repair
 

Let’s use a calculator to total up… WALAO EH! Shit!RM2,960already…
 
EPF belum potong, income tax lagi…….. oledi RM2,960 ….
 
How to survive lah tuan-tuan dan puan-puan sekalian ???
 
Our Deputy Prime Minister asked us to change lifestyle?
 
How to change? Don’t eat? Don’t work? Don’t send children to school and study?
Besides that, I believe in Malaysia population, there are millions of rakyat Malaysia which still don’t earn RM3,000/month! !!

What is this? Inilah Malaysia Boleh…Sorry… it should be Malaysians Boleh, because we’re still alive and kicking!!
 
Our politicians must be mad!!!!
 
Please forward and comment boleh or tak boleh. No wonder so many Ah Loong around lah….

End of email.  

By the way, I hold fast my opinion that the biggest AH Longs is the BANKs with the legal license to “professionally con, threat & take away” the livelihood of people, enslaving them for 25-30 years, all in the name of helping but sucking the very blood & life of people.

I am sitting here infront of my computer and also my TV at the same time. Yes, I am multitasking, on my computer continuing a little more of my work while I catch up with whatever news or something that is empowering in the TV (is there any ? :)).

And today, it happened to be Oprah. She often has interesting & empowering topics and today, the topic is relating to the biggest thing of our day & society - CONSUMERISM.

CONSUMERISM is a term used to describe the effects of equating personal happiness with purchasing material possessions and consumption. True ? No ? Just look within & look around.

Some of the questions raised during the  show :

• Are you buying to feed your ego ?
• Do you need it ?
• What are you working for ? to enslave yourself to more loan, credit ?

On the show was a 6 figures income professional who woke up to the reality of consumerism after her virgin trash tour trip with the FREEGAN group and now she lives the FREEGAN way. She was not the only one. A newly wed doctor & a civil engineer who certainly can afford their daily living chose to live the FREEGAN way too.

What is FREEGAN ?

FREEGAN are people who employ alternative strategies for living based on limited participation in the conventional economy and minimal consumption of resources. How do they do it ? One simple way, they dig in to trash. I can hear the Ewww and owwww from you…because that was my first reaction too. But when I think back to the days when I was trying to earn extra pocket money at McD, yes, there are plenty of food being tossed away just because they are over the time limit set on the tray. The workers are not even allowed to pick them up & take home. 

Watching the trash tour trip on the show,  there were so much good food being tossed away way before expiry date and these were mainly from trash bins near bakeries, grocery stores, etc.

 Well, am I endosing the FREEGAN way of picking from trash bin ? Not really, but the bottomline is still the fact that we don’t need a lot to survive, to live. So often I have candidates who told me they need to move in their career because they have heavier commitment. What do they really mean ? Well, what they really mean is they have gotten themselves in to MORE DEBTS. So, let me echo the question asked in the show : What are you really working for ? To enslave yourself into more & more debts ? Think about it, seriously think about it, especially during a time of sky rocketing inflation. Stop getting your financial education from corporations such as the banks, I mean the biggest legal ah long bullies. :p They are the drivers of consumerism that sqeeze every ounce of your hard earn money, getting you into debts with them so that you are enslaved with them in the mid & long term.  Wake up folks.

For further information on FREEGAN
 

Position Responsibilities :

• Provide pre-sales engineering support of the Company’s supported products and services include data networking products (Cisco routers and switches), firewalls, IDS/IPS, anti-virus, content filtering, and e-mail security. Duties include client meetings, following up technical questions, presentations, RFP responses, proposals write-up, conducting proof of concept, and the design of custom solutions.
• Understand and define customer requirements, including understanding the existing customer network and how the company’s solutions will add value to it.
• Answer technical questions regarding company products and solutions as well as questions about the integration and impact of company products with other systems.
• Fully understand and be able to explain the benefits, applicability, and superiority of the company’s product in an articulate and concise manner to an audience of varying technical and non technical backgrounds
• Take responsibility for a technical action item list at meetings and presentations, based on customer questions, and areas of interest/concerns.
• Conduct proof of concept activities at customers’ premises, with user acceptance test.
• Create and deliver customized, high quality, professional presentations covering:
  • Company products, solutions, and services – technical details, features sets, benefits to the customer
  • Company’s technology direction and latest roadmap, in order to demonstrate thought leadership in newer areas like Enterprise IP, Security, Applications, and Compliance.
• Generate responses and proposals to RFP questions. These responses shall be:
  • Technically accurate
  • Well written, concise, and easily understood, with clear, professional graphics
  • Geared to promote Company’s strengths and minimize our weaknesses
  • Responses shall be current with the latest product releases, and must be delivered in a timely fashion, in accordance with the RFP schedule.
• Design customized solutions that meet the needs of the Company’s customers. These solutions will range from optimization of standard product configurations to small design projects involving integration of 3rd party products.

Requirement : 

• A degree in IT preferred.
• No less than 3 years experience in providing security and data solutions to customers.
• Excellent verbal and written communication skills, and be able move easily from one level of detail to another.
• Excellent interpersonal and time management skills.
• Detail oriented, multi-tasking, and able to deal with tight deadlines and stress.
• Ability to work with people from diverse backgrounds and experience levels
• Proven ability to learn new technologies quickly.
• Must naturally take initiative, and have a desire to always learn and do more
• No less than 3 years experience in designing and delivering security solutions.