Internet Advertising

So, I'm reading an article which says internet advertising is the next big thing (if it isn't already). With google and amazon and all that good stuff, I guess maybe that's true huh? Just show ads of what people want to see and then pay up only when they click, isn't that just so simple? It is simple I guess, but too much of an engineering solution?

Well I'm afraid maybe internet advertising may not be the panacea its made out to be. For starters, advertising is an art, there are no engineering solutions! So you provide links and ads of stuff that the customer happens to have searched for all the time, and you expect a sale, simple as that, providing the solution to the question, easy as ABC. Maybe not. I mean firstly, oftentimes when the customer already has that item, he don't need it anymore maybe? And he'll be more interested in random ads? That's exactly what Amazon pisses me off with. I buy a book or dvd on one topic, and forever they are introducing similar books to me! I already have that book, why the heck would I want another one? First time its amusing, second time... enough is enough!

Same with search engines. Sometimes you just want some entertaining ads of random stuff pop up while u are searching, not just the same 'ol! You won't make much out of me if every ads related. I've been hanging out in bookstores lately, and I've realised I only make a purchase when I walk around randomly and find something interesting. And why do I have to go down? because the online advertising isn't doing a good job.

Is it a myth that the whole world uses the internet all the time in their free time and so internet advertising is the way to go? I used to think so. As a college student, the internet was my life. In freshman year, I did not have anything other than a computer! No TV. No radio. I got my music from the internet, downloaded tv from the net, watched movies from the net, paid bills online, talked to people on the internet too! However, since starting work, I realised that working people are spending LESS and LESS of their free time online! The more they work, the less time on the internet, even watching tv would be a higher priority. And why is that so? Well the usual gripe is that you stare at a computer screen all day at work, its just so depressing to stare at a computer screen at home. Heh, bet some people didn't figure that. So maybe its only the Singaporeans who don't use the intenet much, I mean after all, we aren't as First World as the Americans huh? Guess what? My American friends spend much less time online that any of you reading this right now. Just look at how often they update their blogs! There you go....

So. I'm heading to the US of A soon, and I'm thinking of getting some gifts for my friends that are unique to Singapore. But guess what? I can't really think of very much! I guess food would be unique, but I don't think I can get it through the customs. I've asked around others what they think, but I just get a blank look. Maybe there isn't very much that's unique other than a few trinkets huh? Local books? I managed to find one or 2, but mostly its quite dismal, I can imagine it being junked after the first read. Cheong Sam? You could probably get it for half the price in SF chinatown. I can't possibly ship the Uniquely Singaporean durian-shaped Esplanade over can I? Maybe there isn't really anything that is unique and representative.... Bring a Malay and Indian friend over to show we are multi-racial and don't kill each other? Guess I can't afford the air tickets. What about an SIA girl?

Okay lets say trinkets. Trinkets of any monumental building? Hell I've never heard of any of them being a widely sold item. Not the pricky durian for me... I mean overseas you got trinkets of the seattle space needle, eiffel tower, liberty bell, statue of liberty etc (I've got em all). I guess we got the merlion, but seriously, it is quite ugly, and not that many people associate the merlion with Singapore anymore. Used to in the old days maybe, but not anymore. It's small, publicly accessible (not like the liberty bell), been moved couple of times (so its not exactly an artifact), and there isn't really any historical significance to start with (what does the lion have to do with a fish? Did Sang Nila Utama catch one?)! I might still end up buying merlions for everyone, but that's kinda sad man......

Oh I take a little trip around the Singapore Town
To see the Singapore City Sights
To see Coller Quay and Raffles Place
The Esplanade and all of us

Well Coller Quay is gone, or almost gone, so that's out. Raffles Place, er, why was that an attraction ever? The Esplanade ah, it was featured in that song cos of the rows of satay club and all the greenery by the bay, but today it really is a concrete jungle, too ang moh to be representative (come on anybody prove me wrong there!). if I were an ang moh, I would not want to come all the way to Singapore to visit some ang moh arts club, or some ang moh theme park at Sentosa (unless I'm looking for the SPGs, but then you only need to head to Chjimes and save on the entry fee). I would want to see what makes Singapore unique. And after writing all this crap, I think what's really unique is the coffee shops and hdbs in the heartlands, the yellow box smoking zones (in the coffee shops), the hoards of smartly dressed office workers heading to hawker centers for lunch, public transport thats really not so public (talk about monopoly haha!).... Maybe we need trinkets of hdb flats and coffee shops. Oh yes, a trinket in the shape of the whole east coast park! Never has anyone man made such a huge reclaimed plot of land and left it to wither until it looks like its natural (those ppl in the gulf reclaim a lot but come on, it looks too artificial). But guess what? it's actually better in its "natural" state, but finally the authorities wanna do it up into some Dubai like paradise.... sigh.

So Mr Brown has finally crossed the line. And the cops are looking out for the 30 or so people who turned up in public all of a sudden wearing brown, supposedly in protest. In Singapore you don't protest. At least not loudly like in San Francisco. So how do we know that it wasn't 30 brownies just wearing their club t-shirt? Why is it definitely a Mr Brown protest just because 30 people are found in public one day quietly wearing brown? I wore brown when I was a venture scout, there were 50 of us, maybe we were protesting Mr Brown too, 10 years ago. I tell you why. Because someone out there was already on a lookout to catch anyone who would possibly be showing support for Mr Brown, thats why it was so easy for the cops to suddenly spot a group of people in brown and immediately point the finger at them. Seriously, this is rather childish, ban Mr Brown if you want, but please make sure our cops are spending their time more wisely catching those illegal cigarette peddlars on Woodlands road near Sungei Kadut and not catching people in brown!