Never ditch your guests at a party, period!

This blog is about me ditching my guests, consisting of work colleagues and friends, at a dinner party that I co-host with my flatmate, Avital. Not only I woke up with a minor hang over this morning, I also woke up with a sense of guilt and shame. I have embarrassed myself again!

Towards the end of the dinner party, I unintentionally, went to bed without saying good night to my guests. My behaviour is inexcusable! I cannot say enough how shameful and embarrassed I am about my party etiquette. Yes, it had been a long day. I had an appraisal meeting with the Head of the Division and School, I had two lectures to deliver, and I had to prepare and cook the dinner. Still, I should have never, never ditched my guests at my own dinner party. Other than apologising, how else I can redeem myself?


Pic 1 - starters


Putting my inexcusable sleeping behaviour aside, I think I have cooked a nice dinner for my guests. For starters, we served dim sum (Sainsbury's), crumbed Mozzarella (Sainsbury's), and prunes wrapped in prosciutto (homemade) (see picture 1). For main courses, I cooked satay chicken (satay = a Malaysia peanut-chili sauce), Pad-Thai prawns with seasonal vegetables, and stir-fried pak choys with cherry tomatoes (see picture 2). For dessert, Avital made tiramatsu and it was very yummy.

Pic 2 - Pad-Thai prawns

Going back to my little saga, there is a number of lessons I can learn from it. First, I will discipline myself in terms of my drinking in future parties. I will really pace how much I drink even though there is a plenty of free alcohols being served at a party. Second, I will never desert my guests at a party. I will stay alert until the end of my party, say goodbye to my guests and probably give them a hug. Third and final, I will help cleaning after my party. Poor Avital, she tidied, put the dirty dishes into the dish washing machine, transferred the leftover to the containers, emptied and put the wine bottles into the recycle bin. Thank you for the hard work, Avital.

'Smart' use of smart phones by university students

This blog is about how university students 'smartly' use their smart phones in seminars, and the other possible applications of smart phones in facilitating students' learning and social experience at universities.

26th November, I conducted three seminars for Marketing Principles (an undergraduate level 1 module). In the seminars, students were divided into groups and asked to create a brand name for a moisturising cream. The main purpose of the seminars was to demonstrate the complexity of creating a brand name. Hence, when developing the brand name, students were asked to consider four key criteria: it should be distinctive in terms of its personality; it should convey the product's benefits and/or attributes; it should be easy to pronounce, remember and recognise; and it should be expandable to other product lines or categories. During the brain storming process, at least one student in each had naturally taken out his or her smart phone and started searching for ideas or information on the Internet. One group had even use the smart phone, as a prop, to assist with their presentation. This phenomenon fascinates me because it suggests the possible use of the smart phone in facilitating students' learning.

It is common knowledge that young people frequently use their smart or mobile phones to engage in social activities (e.g. texting friends, checking messages on Facebook, chatting on MSN or Yahoo Messenger). However, we have little knowledge on how young people also use their smart phones to assist with their research or learning activities at the university (or at the school).
In the retailing sector, many retailers (e.g. Tesco and Amazon) have created mobile applications (e.g. websites) for smart phones in order to entice their customers to engage with their brands more frequently and to encourage them to spend more. Perhaps, universities should follow suit of this retail practice. That is, universities should consider developing mobile applications that will enhance the learning and social experiences of their customers, namely, students. Examples of mobile applications that universities can create include:

• library database which students can easily browse for journal articles on their smart phones;
• timetables which students can easily check the room and time of their seminars (many modules tend to have seminars in alternate weeks);
• academic calendar which will remind students about assignment deadlines, exam dates, and major social events, and last but not least;
• digital discount bar codes which students can use to get discounts for meals and/or coffee on campus.

It is no denial that we have become more and more dependent on smart phones in our daily lives, and this is more obvious among young people who are born and bred with information technology. For this reason, universities should start thinking and acting like major retailers (eg Tesco and Amazon) by embracing this digital technology i.e. smart phones and devising plans that enable them to use this digital technology to add value to their customers' experiences, either learning or social experiences or some mix of both. After all, students will be paying a lot more for their education (the tuition fee may go up to £9000 in 2012) and, thus, universities need to find new ways to serve them better. The use of smart phones can be one of these new ways.

No one to blame, but myself!

On the 21st November, I came home at around 1710 after visiting some friends in Newbury (Berkshire) over the weekend. Like usual, I went to my room to drop off my travel bag and netbook. At first, I did not notice anything unusual in my room. But, a few minutes later, I realised that my Lenovo laptop had disappeared from my study desk. The laptop was unplugged from the power cord and the mouse. I got a bit annoyed as I thought one of my flatmates might have borrowed my laptop without telling me. I would not mind lending my laptop to any of them. But, he or she should have asked for my permission or should have, at least, informed me. I 'hate' people borrowing my stuff without telling me.

Call me a control freak if you wish, but I would like to know who is borrowing what from me and, preferably, when the stuff will be returned. Harbouring my annoyance, I thought I would unpack my travel bag first before questioning the flatmate whom I suspected to have borrowed my laptop. When unpacking my travel bag, I found some coins it. As usual, I tended to 'transfer' the coins into my work bag so that I can use it to buy coffee or snacks at university. Right at this moment, I realised that my work bag has also gone missing. That is really bizarre! I doubted that any of my flatmates would have borrowed my work bag in addition to my Lenovo laptop. It did not take me long to realise that my room has been broken into. The burglar(s) must have entered my bedroom through one of the windows and taken the laptop and my work bag. Neither of the windows in my bedroom was shut and locked. I seldom shut my bedroom windows, an act which now proves to be unwise. My bedroom is facing the backyard garden and I often get breeze flowing into my room. For this reason, I like leaving my windows to catch the breeze.

Because of my carelessness for not locking the windows, I now have to pay for the price. That is, a burglar has entered into my bedroom and nicked my belongings (a Lenovo laptop and a brown canvass bag). In the bag, it also contained my staff card, office keys, and a digital audio recorder. I have reported the burglary to the police. An officer named Ed dropped by last night to take a statement. Another officer named Eddie came by this morning to undertake the forensic test. This afternoon I also received a call from another officer (I cannot remember his name) hoping to meet me at my residence to talk about crime prevention procedures. Unfortunately, I was unable to meet this officer as I was at university preparing my lecture for this Thursday. I wonder if he was called Ed or Eddie. Edward seems a popular name in the Surrey police department.

This burglary has provided me with a learning lesson. That is, unless you have a sensor alarm at your residence, you should never leave the windows unlocked when you go out or go away for the weekend. I just wish that the burglar will treat my Lenovo laptop well as it has been a very good laptop (it seldom breaks down) and it has travelled with me to many places (eg Australia, Malaysia, and Switzerland). I have had this laptop for many years. Goodbye Lenovo, may you rest in peace!

How long will you wait for your Starbucks?

In a cafe, how long are you willing to wait to be served? Do you have a maximum duration that you are willing to wait until you will wait no more and leave the cafe and probably feeling annoyed? Last week I visited some friends in Newbury (Berkshire). Since we had no idea on what to do on Sunday, we drove to the Newbury Retail Park to have a bit of wondering around and kill some time. One of my friends, Ian, suggested to check out the new Starbucks at the Retail Park. Ian is a big fan of Starbucks. He thinks Starbucks is a fantastic cafe. Sadly, I do not share his passion for Starbucks.

This Starbucks at the Retail Park is not the first one. There used to be a Starbucks on the second floor of the Borders bookstore. But, the bookstore closed down in June this year so did the Starbucks. I presume this new Starbucks is the one from the Borders bookstore and it has made a geographical transition from a bookstore to a fashion retail store. This new Starbucks is located on the second floor of the New Look store. The collaboration between Starbucks and New Look is pretty novel, at least to me. I have not seen many Starbucks built inside the New Look stores, not in London, Oxford, Reading, and Guildford. When we arrived at this new Starbucks, it was not that busy. There was a queue next to the counter and a few people were waiting to be served. There were two female staff, also known as coffee barrister, serving behind the counter. Looking at the ratio between the number of waiting customers and staff members, our impression was that it would not take long to get served and to acquire our coffee. Sadly, our impression was wrong. Instead, we waited for around 20 minutes to get served. After placing our order, we waited for another 10 to 15 minutes for our coffee. More shockingly, the staff member had forgotten one of our order. It was my order actually.

After we had got our coffee, the queue extended from a few people to, at least, 10 or 12 people. I was surprised to see that these people were willing to wait for their Starbucks. This incident raises a question in my mind, namely, how long are customers willing to wait to be served? Is there a maximum duration that customers are willing to wait before they leave a retail premise before acquiring anything? I compared this incident with the incident of people queueing for hours to purchase an iPhone 4. I can understand why people are willing to wait for hours at the Apple store in either Covent Garden or Regent Street to buy iPhone 4. This is because the Apple store in Covent Garden and Regent Street are the few places you can buy a contract-free iPhone 4. Otherwise, you will have to sign a contract with a telecommunication service provider like O2, Vodafone or Orange if you wish to have a iPhone 4. The contract generally lasts between 18 and 24 months.

I do not understand why people are willing to wait for, at least half an hour, to have coffee at Starbucks. Unlike the iPhone 4, the types of coffee offered by Starbucks, I think, are not unique or innovative. You can acquire similar types of coffee, let it be cafe latte or iced coffee, at Costa or Cafe Nero. Going back to the incident at the new Starbucks I mentioned earlier, I noticed that people were queueing for a long time to have their Starbucks. No one, I mean no one, retreated from the queue. People did not seem bothered with the queue at all. I cannot help wonder why. Was it because it was a Sunday and people were not in a hurry and/or they had nothing else to do? Or was it because they loved Starbucks so much and thus they were willing to wait for the coffee? Was it because they perceived the coffee or experience at Starbucks was so unique and they could not get it somewhere else? Neither at Costa nor Cafe Nero. Maybe, I will find the answers for my questions from my friend, Ian. After all, he is a die-hard fan of Starbucks. Ian, can you tell me why people will wait for their Starbucks? How long will people wait to be served at Starbucks before heading to the exit?

A series of events between June and Oct

It has been a while since I update my blog. I have just checked. My last blog was published on the 27th August. So many things or events have happened since that date.

Completion of my PhD. On the 26th June, I submitted my PhD. But, you never guess how and where I submitted my PhD. I submitted it in Lausanne, Switzerland while I was attending a teaching workshop at IMD. I submitted it through email. The night before my submission, I hardly got any sleep. I finished my training at the workshop at around 5, I had a quick bite with my parents, and then I continued working my PhD until 3am the next day. I had, technically, two to three hours sleep. Then, I emailed my thesis to the Office of Research and Higher Degree at USQ. Off I went to attend the teaching workshop. I was dead tired, but I still managed to concentrate at the workshop.

Mum and dad visiting in June/July. While I was striving to complete my PhD in June, mum and dad visited me in June and they stayed for a month. Having mum and dad here gave me extra motivation and moral support to complete my PhD. We travelled to many places such as Brussels (Belgium), Lausanne and Geneva (Switzerland), Rome (Italy), and Paris (France). They were very relieved that I finally completed and submitted my thesis as they had been waiting for a long time. It was a great experience to travel with my parents. Of course, there were times I wished I were travelling alone as I could dictate what I would like to do and where I would like to go. Travelling with your parents, you need to put them first. Hence, I tended to plan the travel plan around their interests. Nevertheless, I enjoyed the experience of travelling with my parents as it was a great opportunity to bond with my parents and to get to know my parents better. Our travelling plan was hampered by an unpleasant incident in Rome. Dad's wallet was stolen and this had left a 'bad taste' in our travelling experience. This incident had also taught us a great lesson. That is, you should never take the train in Rome during peak hours, especially from the airport to the city, and especially when you have huge luggage. These are tell-tale signs that you are a tourist and, thus, you will become an easy target for the 'pick-pocketing' gang. Mum and dad left on the 16th July, and I missed their presence once they had gone.

Sisters visiting in Oct. This year must be the year of visiting Jason. Sam and Nat visited me in October. Unlike mum and dad, they stayed for two weeks only. They arrived on the 1st October and left on the 15th October. The next day after their departure, I flew to Spain, San Sebastian to be more specific, for a guest lecture at the University of Deusto. Since the teaching semester at Surrey started in early October, as compared to mum and dad, I had lesser free time to travel with Sam and Nat. Nevertheless, I still managed to travel to Amsterdam and Paris with them. They also travelled to Brussels, but on their own. It was an interesting and novel experience to travel with my sisters as we never did that when we were younger. I guess it was because we did not have the disposable income. Besides Amsterdam, Brussels, and Paris, Sam and Nat also visited London, Bath, and Portsmouth Harbour. They were very keen to explore the shopping outlets in these cities.

Guest lecture in Spain. As I mentioned earlier, I flew to San Sebastian for a guest lecture at the University of Deusto. Since there is no direct flight from London to San Sebastian, I stopped over in Madrid for two nights. I love both Madrid and San Sebastian as both cities are unique in their own ways. Madrid is very vibrant and dynamic, whereas San Sebastian is very relaxing and coastal. This guest lecture was a great learning experience for me as, before this guest lecture, I had never taught at a Spanish university. I was told by a Spanish colleague at Surrey that Spanish students are quite passive in class. Having this pre-conception, I was worried that the guest lecture was going to be very boring as I would be doing all the talking. Surprisingly, the students attending my guest lecture were not as passive as I had imagined them to be. On the contrary, they were quite participative and chatty. I had chosen experiential marketing as the focus of my lecture and Starbucks as the case study. The attendance was quite satisfactory as there were around 40 students attended the lecture. The coordinator at Deusto with the attendance rate.

Passed my PhD with minor revision. 1st November is a big day for me as this was the day I received the result of my PhD via email. To my greatest relief, I have passed my PhD with minor revisions. Out of the three examiners, two recommended minor revisions and one (an author I have quoted frequently in my dissertation) recommended major revisions. Based on these results, the independent reviewer at USQ, Professor Ronel Erwee, recommended minor revisions for my dissertation. Thanks, Buddha. I have passed my PhD finally. I never thought this day would ever come as I had spent a long time on my PhD. While mum and dad were extremely pleased and excited with the result, I felt mostly relieved than anything else. I am glad that the PhD journey is nearly over. Once I have completed and submitted the revisions and the Associate Dean of Research has approved the revisions, I should receive my PhD degree. I cannot wait to end this PhD journey so that I can start a new journey.

What is it like to be a MSc supervisor?

This is a reflection on my recent supervision experience with a group of MSc students. I must say the experience has been challenging and, yet, not very rewarding or stimulating. The experience has been very challenging because I have to work extremely hard just to get my students to produce a 'passable' dissertation.Very few of them, in my opinion, will get top marks (i.e. 70 and above). But, most of them should pass their dissertations if they work hard. Many of them are clueless on how to conduct a research project and how to write a thesis. Since they have to submit their dissertation in early September and many of them did not start writing until mid-April, I as a supervisor, basically have less than five months to guide my students on how to conduct a research and how to write a 'decent' dissertation.

The supervision process could have been less challenging if I only had two or three students to supervise. Unfortunately, I have nine students this year and some of my colleagues have twelve students. Each of my students has a different research topic and, thus, this has made the supervision process more complicated and demanding. As a supervisor, I basically have to familiarise myself with nine different domains of marketing literature, ranging from consumer involvement and consumer attitude to consumer experiences and consumer decision making process.

I do not mind the supervision experience to be challenging as long as it is rewarding or stimulating, especially, in an intellectual way. Unfortunately, the supervision experience so far has not been rewarding or stimulating. Many of my students seem to lack the ability to exercise independent and logical thinking. Many of them have constantly asked for 'advice' and their definition of 'advice' is 'tell me the answers' or 'tell me what to do next'. Many of them just want to be spoon-fed. Many of them tend to choose the easiest way to seek the answers for their questions, that is, emailing me. Very few of them will take other initiatives to seek the answers for their questions such as reading journal articles or textbooks.

As a human being, I do, sometimes, get frustrated with the flood of emails I receive from my students. As much as I try to be patient in guiding them through the research process, some of them do not seem to get it. Some of them do not seem to understand why they need to provide a theoretical framework in their Literature Review chapter, why they need to develop an interview protocol before conducting an in-depth interview, why they need to have a Data Analysis Strategy section in their Methodology chapter. Their lack of understanding on these basic research issues makes me wonder about the knowledge they have learnt from their undergraduate degrees (and other degrees). Surely, many of them would have studied a research module in their undergraduate degrees.

Maybe, I am being too harsh on my students. Maybe, I should blame the educational culture in their origin countries. Many of my students are international students from China and Thailand. In these countries, pupils are accustomed to being told what to do and what to learn by their teachers or lectures. In these countries, pupils are not encouraged to challenge the views of their teachers or lecturers, but merely accept whatever their teachers or lecturers say are correct. It is this kind of educational culture that have created a problem for their learning process in a Western country like UK. That is, they lack the ability to think for themselves, both independently and logically. Throughout this supervision experience, I do sincerely hope that my students have learnt to be more confident with their own ideas or opinions and to be more independent in problem solving. Am I hoping too much from my students?

Murketing - what is it?

I just finished a book titled 'I'm with the brand'. This book is written by Rob Walker, who is a columnist for New York Times Magazines. This book is not of those (boring) branding textbooks, which typically focuses on branding theoretical frameworks. This book is about the relationship between branding and consumer culture. Hence, this book covers many consumer-centric issues, ranging from rationale (not rational) consumption, self concept to media consumption, sub-cultures and ethics. I have mixed feelings after reading this book. I feel 'refreshed' and  'inspired' as Rob has put forward many ideas that challenge the current thinking and practice of marketing. I feel 'informed' because he has provided many examples about how companies constantlt tap into consumers' sub-cultures to acquire novel ideas and inspiration in order to develop their branding strategies.

Besides feeling positive after reading Rob's book, I also feel 'ashamed' because I realise that I am, what Rob described as, a typical 'rationale' consumer. Rob discussed the concept of rationale thinking and consumption in Chapter Three. Rob put a strong emphasis on the distinction between 'rationale' and 'rational' consumption. Rationale consumption is about consumers making a purchase based on their self-generated rationales or justifications. Put it bluntly, consumers convince themselves that they need to make purchase. On the other hand, rational consumption is about making a purchase based on one's needs, rather than, one's wants or desires. Hence, rational consumption, strictly speaking, should be based on an objective and functional evaluation process. According to Maslow's hierarchy of needs, our basic needs are generally related to food, a shelter, some clothes (to keep us warm and protected) and, maybe, an automobile. But, do we need to have more than one pair of pants? Two automobiles? Three types of breakfast cereals? Four jackets or blazers? Five underwears? Six pairs of socks? And, a dozen of shirts or t-shirts?

Because of this rationale consumption, it sparks the emergence of MURKETING. Let's get back to the key theme of this blog ie Murketing. Rob introduced this terminology in this book to highlight the fact that consumers and marketing often intertwine with each other. The distinction between these two entities is consumers and marketing is often murky. Rob argued that many consumers might like to claim that they can see through marketing or they are immuned from marketing, but the reality is no consumer is immune from marketing. We, as consumers, are part of marketing. We are, in fact, living in a marketed society. Most of us, knowingly or not knowingly, are the marketers of many brands, especially brands that we like. Look around your living room, kitchen and/or garage, many products or merchandises occupy in these spaces have brands. Perhaps, a Samsung or LG flatscreen tv, a Nintendo Wii, an iPhone or Blackberry lying on the coffee table, a BMW or Fiat parking in the garage, a set of Tefal cookwares in your kitchen's cabinet, a box of Kellog's cereal on top of your fridge and so on.

Inception - how does it relate to advertising practice?

I went to watch Inception last Sunday. I must say the movie is very interesting. It is about extracting (secret) information and implanting (manipulated) ideas in people's dreams. After watching the movie, I was a bit horrified, not by the movie, but by what science can do in the future i.e. manipulating people's dreams. My movie buddy told me that some scientists are researching in this area.

I know I may be being melodramatic. I surely do not want some strangers to 'poke' around in my dreams. What if I was having a wet dream? How embarrassing will that be? Similarly, I do not want some strangers to inject ideas in my dreams so that they can manipulate me to behave the way they want me to.

A large part of the movie, Inception, is about how a group of 'professionals' (I was not sure about their backgrounds as the movie does not go in detail in explaining that) 'hijacked' into a young businessman's dream. This group of 'professionals' attempted to manipulate this businessman's behaviour by implanting an idea in his dream and, consequently, his memory. I use the word 'hijack' because this group of  'professionals' did not seek permission to enter into this young businessman's dream. Instead, this businessman was drugged and then 'hooked' to a dream-manipulating machine.

Whilst I was a bit horrified with the possibility of our dreams being manipulated, I was also fascinated by this idea, especially from a marketer's perspective. Will not it be a golden dream for any marketer if he or she can manipulate the dreams of target customers? The notion about 'implanting ideas into people's dreams' is, indeed, parallel to the advertising campaigns of many products such as luxury products (e.g. Louis Vuitton and D&G), vodka (eg Russian Standard) and holiday destinations (e.g. Thomas Cook). These products constantly strive to motivate people to dream about the person they apsire to be (e.g. a successful, handsome business man in the Russian Standard's ad) and the holiday destination they desire to visit (e.g. relaxing, having fun and making love with your lover on an exotic island in the Thomas Cook's ad). By promoting these dreams, marketers hope that consumers will then take necessary actions to fulfil these dreams. Stated bluntly, by promoting these dreams, marketers hope that consumers will buy a Louis Vuitton product, purchase a bottle of Russian Standard or telephone a Thomas Cook branch to book a holiday. After all, that is the main objective of many advertising campaigns. That is, to influence consumers' minds (cognition) and hearts (emotion) so that they will act(behaviour) upon the idea communicated by an advertising campaign . Many advertising campaigns are designed to manipulate consumers' cognition, emotion, behaviour or a combination of these three components.

To give you an example, I will use the Russian Standard vodka ad, which I have seen many times in the cinema. The ad features a fairly young, good looking man asking for a shot of Russian Standard vodka at, what appears to be, a high-end night club. After a sip of the vodka, he started to visualise a series of dreamlike events such as being seduced by a gorgeous, blond-hair female, escaping with this female to a country side and ice-skating in Russia. The ad obviously uses a fantasy appeal and aims to provoke several dreamlike fantasies or desires such as sexual seduction, escapism, thrill and mystery.

What is your thought on manipulating people's dreams?

• From a marketer's perspective?
• From a consumer's perspective?

Where to park my shopping trolley?

I was shopping at Tesco (Guildford) yesterday. At the car park, I saw a lady leaving her trolley to a corner. At first, I was not paying much attention as that is what we, as shoppers, do after finishing our shopping. We empty our trolleys and leave our trolley at designated trolley bays. Then, I got curious because the corner where the lady decided to 'park' her trolley is a not a designated trolley bay. Instead, it is the corner that some patrons have randomly chosen to 'park' their trolleys after finishing their shopping trips. The corner happens to be a 'busy' corner which automobiles must take in order to exit Tesco.

This trolley incident makes me think about people's learning behaviours. This lady, obviously, has observed other Tesco patrons parked their trolleys at the corner and, thus, she decided to follow suit. But, has she wondered or questioned if it was 'appropriate' to do so? Stated differently, was it logical to leave a trolley at the car park's corner which cars must take to exit a supermarket? After all, the corner is not a designated trolley bay. By leaving trolleys at this corner, it can seriously hinder automobiles exiting Tesco. More seriously, some automobiles may hit the trolleys 'being parked' at this corner and, subsequently, damage their automobiles. If it did happen, did the patron(s) involved have any right to claim compensation from Tesco?

Many psychology theories have talked about people learn by observing others such as children learning from their parents and/or siblings. But, I am also surprised to see that we, as adults who are supposed to be more cognitively mature than children, are also easily influenced by others' behaviours. We, as adults, seem to follow the behaviours of other people and, sometimes, without questioning if the behaviours are 'appropriate' under certain circumstances. Have you ever done something because others do it?

The lady who I mentioned in this blog, next time, please park your trolley at the designated trolley bay! You should question if a behaviour is 'appropriate' under a circumstance and avoid the 'other people do it' mentality!

The mightiness of David Beckham

If you google David Beckham and brands, it is no surprise that you will get an exhaustive list of results. After all, David Beckham is a very popular and 'busy' celebrity, who has licensed his name and image to many brands in different product categories. To name a few, these brands include Adidas (sport product), Gillette (skin care product), Pepsi (soft drink), Police (fashion accessories) to Vodafone (telecommunication) and Giorgio Armani (fashion).

David Beckham has recently added two more brands to his endorsement list, namely, Yahoo and Young's frozen fish. Please see the attached picture. As a celebrity, does David Beckham still command the persuasive power that he used to enjoy? Has he not over-sold his brand name to the extent that he, as a celebrity, has lost its persuasive power? Looking at the brands mentioned earlier, he does not seem to be very selective of which brand(s) he will or will not endorse. Instead, he seems to be a 'brand prostitute', who is happily willing to offer his 'service' (i.e. his name and image) to any company that can sign a big fat cheque.

Many marketing texts identify that the persuasive power of a celebrity can lie on three domains: credibility; attractiveness; and expertise. David Beckham is a talented soccer player and, thus, he is a natural choice for sport brands like Adidas. He is also fairly good looking and always dress well (as seen in magazines and television) and, thus, he seems a good choice for fashion brands like Giorgio Armani. But, what does he know about online search engine and frozen food? It does not seem a good fit between David Beckham and these product categories?

During the FIFA period, some companies (e.g. Yahoo and Young's) seem to believe that David Beckham can truly help to promote the brand awareness and stimulate the sales of their products. To verify if this is the case, I will be very keen to look at their sales figures and talk to their customers. These companies do not seem to give much thought about the 'good fit' between David Beckham and their products. Is David Beckham the only celebrity that companies can use to promote their products during FIFA? Is David Beckham is as mighty as he appears to be?

Is the glass half-full or half-empty?

Visualise this: You were made redundant a few months ago. You had been looking for jobs, but the outcome was less than encouraging. The responses to your job applications, so far, were rejections. The rationale commonly given by companies was 'We like you, but you are too qualified for the position'. The reality was that the companies had found someone cheaper i.e. someone who was willing to accept a much lesser salary. The person might have less qualifications or experiences than you, but he or she was more economical.

Things appeared to be turning around. You went for an interview today and you had been offered a job on the spot. But, the salary was much lesser than what you used to earn in the previous job. Let say, £12,000 less. However, the company, which had just offered you a job, was willing to increase the advertised salary by £4,000. Hence, if you chose to accept the job offer, your annual salary would be £32,000. However, as much as you would like to accept the job, you were unimpressed with this salary and, more importantly, the daily driving to the head office (around 1 hour drive from your home to Heathrow). To check if you could survive on this salary, you estimated the figures of your monthly expenses and then deducted the figures with your monthly income. The result was 'grim'. After covering main expenses (e.g. rent, petrol, car premium, mobile phone bill etc), you would probably only have £500 each month for grocery or food. Since you would be travelling to and from Heathrow each day, it would escalate the mileage on your car and, thus, would cost you some maintenance fee (eg brake maintenance etc) on the car. Based on these figures, would you rather reject the job offer and hope that a better offer will emerge later? How would you perceive this situation? The glass was half-empty or half-full?

Art or vandalism?

I went to visit some friends in Berkshire this weekend. To get there, I took a train. While I was waiting for my train in Platform 5, a train heading to Alton pulled up at Platform 4, which is across Platform 5. A 'painting' on the body of the Alton train captured my attention. See picture. Then, an interesting question popped in my head. Is the 'painting' art or vandalism? Or is it a combination of both? A bit of art and a bit of vandalism?

It is art, I think, because it requires an artistic mind to visually sketch the outline before he or she can skilfully spray-paint on the train. Also, it is an art because it requires a great control of a spray can in order to execute such artwork. On the other hand, it is vandalism because the ‘painting’ was executed on someone else’s property i.e. the train. The ‘artist’, unquestionably, has not sought permission from the owner of the train before executing his or her artwork.


I am not suggesting that painting someone else's property with graffiti without the owner's consent is a good thing. If I had a car, I would not want my car to be 'spray-painted' without my consent and knowledge. But, we cannot deny that graffiti is an art form in its own right. Graffiti, in a way, creates a 'zest' to the usually boring-looking South West trains.


I was looking for some information about graffiti online. Wikipedia claims that graffiti is a form of pop culture existence which is often related to underground hip-hop and b-boying. Wikipedia also claims that graffiti is often used as a gang symbol to mark territory or to serve as an indicator or 'tag' for gang-related activity. How fascinating is that? Is graffiti art or vandalism? I am sure the debate will continue for a while. What is your take?

To tell or not to tell?

In my previous blog, I mentioned that I gave myself half-a-day off and visited the town centre. I went to the bank to collect my new, shiny bank card. After that, I went to my favourite, little cafe (Coffee Culture) to have a nice brunch. Something interesting happened. The incident began like this:

I arrived at the cafe and I did my usual routine. I went to the shelf and tried to choose a panini that I would have. At this moment, a group of Greek guys walked in and, unexpectedly, they just 'cut in' in front of me. Without saying 'excuse me', they just stood in front of me and blocked my 'eye contact' with the shelf and interrupted my decision making process. How rude was that? Luckily, I was in good mood. I didn't make a fuss to them. I thought 'they are young and, obviously, still have a lot to learn about manners'. 'Never mind' I said to myself. I waited patiently for them to finish their orders and then I placed mine. I ordered a small cup of Gingerbread latte and a chicken, bacon and tomato panini. If you ever came across with Gingerbread latte on a cafe's menu, please do try it. It is actually quite nice.

While waiting for my panini to be toasted, I went to find a seat with my gingerbread latte. Outside of the cafe. I sat down, tried to get comfortable and was waiting eagerly for my panini. Thinking of the chicken and bacon of the panini made me drooling. Besides I was quite hungry as I did not have any breakfast. I waited and waited, my panini never came. So, I went to the counter and checked with Waitress A. She looked at my receipt and apologised for the delay. Waitress B, who took my order, looked puzzled and, sort of, mumbled to her workmate that 'no, I toasted it'. I labelled the waitress by alphabets to highlight that there were two waitresses working at the cafe.

I went back to my table and, once again, waited patiently for my panini. It seemed that the waitress did deliver my 'first' panini, but to the wrong table. Guess which table she had delivered it to? The Greek guys. They obviously knew it was not their panini, and yet, they said nothing. They just let the panini sat on the table, while they were conversing with each other. No, they did not take a bite of the panini. But, why didn't they say something to the waitress?

If you were reading my blog, I have a question for you. Who was to be blamed for this panini incident? Was it the waitress? Was it the Greek guys? Were the Greek guys 'obligated' to inform the waitress about the unexpected delivery? Hypothetically, if one of the Greek guys did eat the panini, could the waitress charge him for it? When someone consumes a dish that is accidentally delivered to him or her, will you consider such act as 'stealing'? After all, he or she does not pay for the dish. As a conclusion to this blog, will you do if you receive a meal that you do not order at a cafe or restaurant? Say something? Or just eat it?

Why have I been slack?

It has been a while since I update my blog. I apologise to my followers out there. Life has been very hectic, with work and study. I just finished revising my literature review chapter. I did not go to bed until 2am the night before. At the same time, I have 80 assignments, 10 final year projects and 1 resubmitted thesis to mark. 20 more assignments are on the way (the assignment is due today). I work constantly, either on my teaching stuff or on my study. How do I manage? I guess I just keep ploughing. The more I put it (work) off, the more I have to do later. As my honours supervisors constantly said to me 'Just Do It'. She was and still is right. Sometimes you just have to 'Just Do It'. I hope Nike will not sue me for using their slogan, which they are going to ditch soon (I read it from a marketing magazine).

 So, I finished revising my literature review chapter. I felt quite accomplished with myself. To reward my (self-claimed) accomplishment, I decided to have half-a-day off by visiting to the town centre. I needed to go my bank anyway. I needed to collect and activate my new bank card. In my previous blog, I mentioned that my replacement card was sent to Australia, an action from my bank which I could not fathom. I finally got my new, shiny bank card after a week. I must say, without my bank card, I actually spent less and managed to save some money. Also, it made me realised that I spent too much previously. I need to start saving money if I were to buy a property and settle down in UK. I know, I may be daydreaming. The properties in UK are so expensive. With my salary, I doubt I can even save enough for the deposit of a house, unless I won lotto or received a lump-sum inheritance from a multibillionaire relative. Of course, I do not have such relative. Enough of these daydreaming, I better get back to work. Now you know why I have been slack with my blogging!

A week without debit card - How do I cope? (cont)

1st May - I travelled to Berkshire to visit some friends. I bought my train ticket, some groceries and a bottle of wine (Pinot Noir) with cash. I still manage to spend even without my debit card.

2nd May - I paid my haircut with cash. I bought some newspapers on the way home and paid with cash as well. I did not spend a dime after that.

3rd May - I went back to Guildford. I worked in the office a little bit as I had a number of MSc proposals to mark. I went to watch Iron Man 2 which was 'so so'. I had lunch at Wagamama which was my second choice. My first choice was Nando's, but the waitress was rude to me and also they ran out of chicken. What would Nando's sell when they ran out of chicken? Beef burgers? I paid all my expenses with cash.

4th May - I had an early workout at the gym. I went to Tesco to get some food for dinner, including kebabs, tomatos and wild rocket. I also bought some breakfast from Tesco as I was starving my gym session. I went to work as I had a MSc meeting. I spent £1.30 on two chocolate bars. I came home at around 5ish and went to the shop to get some milk and a bag of fresh fries. Again, I paid all my transactions with cash.

A week without my debit card - how do I cope?

This blog is to document how I 'survive' without my debit card for a week. This situation occurred because my bank (don't ask, won't tell) has sent my replacement card to Australia (where I used to live). To make things worse, my current debit card expires today, 30th April. I thought I would have until the end of today (12 midnight) to use my debit card. No, it has been deactivated already. While I have ordered a new replacement card, it will take around 4 to 6 working days to arrive. Hence, I need to live 'creatively' without my debit card for a week. I need to find alternative means or ways to pay for things like my phone bill, train tickets, groceries etc. This situation makes me realise that, perhaps, I can live without my debit card for a week or longer. Perhaps, you can live without your debit (or credit) card for a week or longer. We, as consumers, seem to have become so dependent on our bank (or credit) cards and we forgot that people (like our great grandparents) in early days used to live without any card. No debit card, no Visa card, no Master card, no Amex card etc. Another reason that triggers me to write this blog is to keep a record of my spending behaviours. I would like to know if I would spend less without my debit card. I would not label myself as a shopaholic, at least, not a 'serious' shopaholic who spends hundreds of pounds each week on clothes, shoes, skin care products etc. Maybe, I am more like a 'benign' shopaholic who spends £20 to £50 per fortnight. Everyone needs a hobby, right? One of my many hobbies is shopping. From today onwards, I will document how I cope with my daily life without my debit card for a week.

30th April - I visited the TK Maxx in Guildford. It is a brand new store as it was only opened last Monday. The official opening is tomorrow, 1st May. I spotted a brief case and knitwear that I like so I decided to buy them. I used my 'about to expire' debit card to pay, but it was declined. At this moment, I realised that my debit card has been deactivated. I was not panic. I used the cash I had in my wallet to pay for my purchases. Luckily my purchases were not that 'costly'. The total price was merely around £40. While I was leaving TK Maxx, I realised that I had a phone bill to pay this week, otherwise I would get a penalty. Without a debit card, I was not sure how I could do that. So I rang my telecoms provider and asked for advice. The customer service officer suggested me to use a friend's card or go to a branch of my bank to pay for the bill. She gave me the sort code and account number of her employer (i.e. the telecoms company). With this information, I found out that I could actually pay my bill online. With some cash and the internet, I managed to cope with the day.

Spring = 'ultra-mini'skirts?

I feel that I have to write this blog to reflect an interesting observation from last night. I finished my swimming lesson at around 10ish. Instead of walking home in the dark, I decided to take a bus. The bus departed from the sports centre (Surrey Sports Park) and went through the typical university route i.e. Manor Park (university accommodation) - University - Town Centre. At Manor Park, the bus driver picked up a group of 4 young girls, obviously university students, aged between 18 to 20 years. All of them were wearing stiletto and ‘ultra-mini’ skirts. What I mean by ‘ultra-mini' is the skirt length is just enough to cover the 'front-bits' and 'back bits'. Then, at the University, the bus driver picked up another group of young girls, around 5 or 6 of them. Interestingly, all of them were, again, wearing stiletto and ultra-mini skirts. Not that I was eavesdropping (at least, not intentionally), but I did overhear them saying that 'I told you that we are going to wear skirts' or something like that. It was apparent that these two groups of young girls know each. It also seemed that they had coordinated their outfits for the night out. Right at this moment, a question popped up in my head, 'is it a girl thing that they like to coordinate their outfits for a night out?' I cannot imagine a group of guys will do that, unless they were going out for a buck's party (I have seen a group of guys dressing up like golfers on a buck's night out). This coordination of outfits for a night out highlights an interesting, albeit not new, social phenomenon, namely group identity. This group of young girls seemed to feel the need to conform to the identity of their 'sisterhood' (the social group) by collectively wearing ultra-mini skirts. Obviously, peer pressure is a key factor for the conformation to group identity. Another factor can be self-confidence. I hypothesise that if you are confident about yourself, you are less likely to feel the need to conform to your sister- or brotherhood. I am sure some well-known scholars would have researched on this area. I am just too lazy to look up at the library databases. How about age? Do you think young people (e.g. teenagers) are more likely to succumb to group identity than 'mature' people (e.g. middle-aged or senior people)? I use the word 'mature' to signify life experiences, not necessarily old age. This question is based on my many observations at shopping centres. I have noticed that young people tend to wear the similar outfits as their friends as compared to ‘mature’ people. Maybe, I am wrong. I think group identity will be a very interesting research topic. Anyway, it's time for me to dash as I have some study to do before my day out with my flatmate. Maybe, I should coordinate with my flatmate and have ‘ultra-mini skirt’ day out?

A 'nippy' night out in Guildford

After living in Guildford for a year, I am still a novice of the nightlife in Guildford. I have not explored Guildford much at night. Maybe, I was being lazy. Maybe, I didn't have anyone to go out with. Maybe, I didn't want to bump into my students while I was getting drunk and silly (I laugh a lot when I am drunk). There are a lot of maybe. The point is I don't go out much at night in Guildford. Last night, I decided to break the mole and went out with my flatmate for a drink and a meal. Honestly and sadly, we only had one drink. Our night out was brief. We would love to stay longer and had more drinks, but it was freezing in the pub (White House) or, at least, at where we were siting. We were sitting inside, but facing the outdoor area. The partition separating the indoor and outdoor areas was wide open. While it is now spring, the temperature at night can still feel like winter i.e. freezing. Because of where we were sitting, we were constantly being 'attacked' by the winter-like draught. We couldn’t migrate to another table as the pub as pretty jam packed. It was Saturday night after all. As much as we tried to be 'tough' (we were wearing our jackets), we could not bear anymore of the 'cold attack'. Having cold beer in a cold environment was too cold to handle. After an hour at the pub, we decided to call it the night. Although our night out was brief and cold, we had a good time. We had a nice meal and a huge glass of Peroni (an Italian beer). Therefore, it was 'nippy' (speedy and cold) night out in Guildford.

Sunrise - a sign of hope

Try this: If you ever feel that your life is going pear-shape, feeling frustrated with your study (that's how I am feeling at the moment), feeling overwhelmed with your workload (that's how my flatmate is feeling at the moment), feeling that you don't seem to have a life (that's how my flatmate and I are feeling at the moment), STOP! Stop feeling that the world is grey and that your life is crap! It is not!

Instead of whining or whinging, why not try a more constructive, cheerful approach? Let say, why not wake up 6 o'clock in the morning (that's what I did this morning), go to your rear garden (provided you have one, if not, front garden is fine), look up at the sky and smile at the sun. Stand still, close your eyes, take a deep breath, and enjoy the golden sunlight reflecting on your face, while listening to the birdies chirping. I can assure you that you will feel much better after this constructive activity. Oh, I forgot to mention that you need to say this to yourself, either out loud or in your head, 'I am grateful of everyday I have'. If this constructive approach, for whatever reasons, does not work for you, there is no money back guarantee. In case you wonder what my rear garden looks like, I have attached some pictures for your 'pleasure'.

A sense of tranquillity

Just finished my 2km run, I went back to the Guildford Cathedral to warm down. Luckily, there was no silly girl to shake or push me this time. Nevertheless, there was a group of young teenagers (3-4 of them) playing scoccer and mucking around. I was standing on the rear side of the Cathedral, overseeing the Guildford countryside. It was amazing. The sun was glazing on the houses and the green field. I felt so calm and relaxed. I just wished-I know it was a wishful thinking-that I had wings. So that I could fly up to the sky, circling around the countryside and enjoying the sunshine in the sky. Won't it be nice to be able to do that? So that you can experience the sense of tranquillity that I had enjoyed at the Cathedral, please see the video.

I want to fly away...

Have you ever fantasised jumping into a hot air balloon and fly away? Fly away from your daily problems or issues? Fly away from your daily routines? Be direction-less and just let the hot air balloon floats in the air (senselessly)? You will land wherever the wind will take you?
Some of you may think I am a 'nutcase' and living in a 'la la land'. Some of you may think I am a 'coward' as I am running away from the problems or issues instead of facing them upfront. Maybe, I am a bit of both. But, sometimes I just want to run away or escape. I want to be free and spontaneous. I want to be free from thinking of my PhD, work, money etc. Of all these issues, I definitely want to be 'free' from my PhD.
I have been doing my PhD for a while now (don't ask, won't tell). In late March, I thought I was nearly close to complete and submit my PhD. Out of the blue, my supervisor gave me a new conceptual model to analyse, and major revisions on my results and literature review chapters. Do not get me wrong. I am not objecting to these major changes. I am sure she just wanted to make sure that I produced a high-quality thesis. But, why the last-minute notice? Did she realise the adverse, both mental and emotional, impact on me? Yes, I nearly went mental as well. I felt so de-motivated and upset. I acknowledge that I may not be as smart as her. But, I do work hard and learn fast.

My first swim at Surrey Sports Park

Woke up at 6am, walked and arrived at the Surrey Sports Park by 7am. Surrey Sports Park is a new gym in Guildford, which is developed by the University of Surrey. Today is the official opening day of the gym. I had a half-an-hour induction and, then, off I went for my first swim at the swimming pool. Overall, I think the gym is pretty impressive with a massive 50m, 6-lane pool, a massive workout area equipped with fancy workout machines (e.g. weight machines which tell you if you are lifting your weights properly or treadmills which you can watch free-view TV programs or plug in your iPod and watch your music videos), a gigantic basketball court (which can also be used for badminton, netball and indoor soccer), a huge indoor climbing wall etc. I was annoyed with one thing though, as I did not get to finish my 2km swim in the pool. It closes from 8am to 8.30am for pool division. In other words, the pool is being divided into two 25m pools. I will probably go back to the pool to finish my swim. Some of you may think I am persistent, and some of you may think I am a nutcase. Anyway, I may as well enjoy it while it is new! I will get bored with it eventually.

Push a jogger - it's funny?

Visualise this: You have just finished a 3km run. You are warming down on the top of a cathedral, overseeing the (Guildford) town centre. You are trying to have some tranquillity. To warm down, you are stretching one leg (backward) and standing on another leg. You are trying to manage your body balance. At this moment, two young girls (aged between 18-24 years) are walking past. Suddenly, one of them is trying to shake you and saying that 'Stay balance and don't fall down' or something like that. Will you be annoyed by her behaviour? I would be. In fact, I was extremely annoyed by her behaviour. I frowned, stared at her and asked 'Why do you do that?'. She looked at me strangely and casually replied 'I am just trying to be funny'. Sorry, I did not think it was funny at all. The two girls giggled and, then, walked away. Since when it is socially acceptable to shake or push a stranger while he or she is warming down? If I were to repeat this behaviour to a female jogger, she might shout 'sexual harassment' or, worse still, she might give me a slap on my face. If I were to repeat this behaviour to a male jogger, he might give me a punch (not a fruit punch for sure). What was the young girl thinking? What fun did she get out of it? If she wanted to have fun, go for a run, go to a movie or gossip with her girlfriends. Shaking a jogger who is warming down is, definitely, not a fun thing to do. Young girls out there who are reading this blog, please DO NOT push a jogger while he or she is warming down. It is not funny, I can assure you that!

Why do I finally choose to be a blogger?

After all these years, I have finally set up a blog account. I never thought of blogging because I used to think blogging was for people with plenty of (disposable) time on their hands. Obviously, I was wrong. Sorry, my blogging fellows. Now I am putting my blogging prejudice aside and ready to embrace this technology. I am aiming to use blogging to improve my writing skill and thinking process. Being an academic, I need to write constantly, either a research proposal, a conference paper or a journal paper. Every time I try to write, I feel frustrated and fear. I feel frustrated about writing because it always takes me longer to say what I want to say, maybe, it is because English is not my native language. My mother tongue is Cantonese. I am fear of writing because I always scared of writing the 'wrong' things, using the 'wrong' words and presenting the 'wrong' arguments. These frustration and fear have constantly hindered my writing process. I am determined to be a better writer, a more eloquent writer! So, if any of you is reading my blog and has some goods tips on how to write eloquently, I would love to hear from you.