20 May, 2007

Veni, Vidi, Vici

Last week's annual media party-cum-table footy competition at Text100 happily coincided with Alphabet Media's 'Dress Roman Friday', and so Caesar's legions jumped on a number 153 bus down North Bridge Road to show off some serious wrist-action against all-comers.


Against some very stiff opposition, and much intimidatory braying, we failed to live up to the high standards for which the Roman Empire was famed ... but we were given a consolation prize, for having the best legs in Singapore's media scene, I think.






08 May, 2007

The Duck of Luck


Some of you out there have asked to know the secret of Alphabet Media’s success. To be honest, there are a few reasons. The region’s largest database of public sector and public safety administrators is a bit of a trump card, as is the unparalleled relationships the editorial team has managed to build up with our reader community over the last four years.

But if you want to know what really makes this business purr like a finely-tuned Triumph TR4a, then I give you … money plants, and the Duck of Luck.

The money plants have been with us for a while, and I’ve been quite active in ensuring that there are pockets of greenery scattered throughout the office. However, seeing as I’ve not really been giving my own pot plant much TLC, and that it has been wasting away for some time … I’m tempted to say that the real reason for our success, particularly of late, is: The Duck of Luck.

James2, our Sales and Marketing Director, has brought many innovations to the company since he joined us at the end of February. Friday afternoon magician tricks; a rakish telephone manner; his perma tan; the smack of firm discipline – all fine and dandy contributions to ‘the Alphabet Way’. But nothing has had quite the impact of his plush toy Mallard duck.

Watching him coaxe the right kind of ‘quack-quack’ out of the toy prior to key sales meetings is one of the true joys of working at 43c Beach Road, as Minky and Kelly will vouch for.

So if your sales team is faltering, and you feel they need a bit of motivating – or perhaps if you’re prepared to suspend rational scepticism and trust to the power of the Duck of Luck – let me know and I’ll order you one. £57.00 (inclusive of postage & packaging).

01 May, 2007

The Analects of Captain


These PRCs … they can’t open their mouths without pearls of wisdom spilling out. In the case of our mild-mannered Dalian design guru, Wang Zhen – or ‘Captain’ as he prefers to be called – he has turned into a font of sage advice ever since he decided to tread the path of singlehood.

No quiet moment in the office is complete without his husky Liaoning accent proffering some homespun riddle or other.

It is a little known fact but Captain is officially “the nicest man in China”, or rather he was until he left four years ago to find his future here in Singapore. He really is impossibly nice, volunteering to stay in the office all night at the drop of a hat when there’s work to be done, and always cheerily smiling even when you know he’s not quite caught your gist. He’s also Singapore’s finest arm-wrestler, as we have already commented upon in a previous post. But to prove that he is not just a man of feeling and action, but also of wisdom – I present to a wider audience for the first time – the Analects of Captain:
  • "True love is bull shit"
  • "All my best friends are girls"
  • "She calls me babe!"
  • "All humans need sex"