Marketing / Sales

Uncrate is a kind of super-blog that doesn't sell anything online. It's like those glossy magazines that pretend to journalism but are really there to advertise the latest shade of lipstick or a new hair gel. Or, heaven forbid, the latest colour iPhone. But Uncrate is honest: it doesn't pretend to journalism, there is no fake editorial and no click-bait stories promoted via those annoying "around the web" things at the bottom of so many web pages. It's an open, clear and honest business model, mixing blatant advertising with interesting things they've found, even though there is no advertising contract in place. So why are so many people bitching about the way it does business?

Burger bar McDonalds has started its seasonal TV advertising campaign in Malaysia. It's for Chinese New Year which happens at the end of January. Wot? No Christmas?

It all started as a bit of propaganda. Young Chinese who were not in settled relationships were fed up with being marked out as being a bit "odd." So they announced "Singles' Day" (a day for singles) to celebrate the fact that millions of Chinese are, well, single. Retailers, in the mid-year doldrums after all the various festivals have finished and with several months to go to Chinese New Year, got behind the idea with special offers and promotions. Within a couple of years, aided by the fact that the target audience is tech-savvy, it's turned into the world's biggest shopping day, dwarfing even the famed "Black Friday" in the USA.

We spotted this Samsung advert right inside the main door of a large electrical shop in Kuala Lumpur several weeks after the Galaxy Note 7 was recalled and just after airlines started banning it from flights.

I should, I suppose, feel a little sorry for the senior management of Pantai Holdings Berhad: they own some fine hospitals that provide excellent care. Unfortunately, someone there has chosen some seriously dodgy characters to undertake their telephone canvassing.

<b>Nigel Morris-Cotterill</b> documents an afternoon stolen by unprofessional and, arguably, criminal canvassers - and the harm it can cause a company that has worked hard to build its reputation.

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