i shall not stop writing.

So... I received this in my mail today... as a good Toyota Merit member, I was offered 3 vouchers for RM1,000 discount for Camry, Fortuner & Wish, RM800 discount for an Altis, Innova or Rush and RM500 discount for Avanza, Vios and Hilux. Apparently, it is offered to me and my immediate family members.

Little did they know that I've let go of my Molly months ago when we've decided that I'm staying home and don't think I would live 'comfortably' with a Molly and new baby in tow. Furthermore, I was able to become a Merit member because the former company I was working with had paid for all the maintenance and the monthly instalments. So, it was easy breezy then.

I've come across many clever marketing strategy as this, with many sounding as fake, as this too hehe. Well, I guess the voucher would be handy if any of my immediate family member would want to get a Toyota. And I guess they are less fake as the vouchers are valid til end of the year.

Anyway, talking about marketing strategy, I think another one that sounds really fake is Hong Leong Bank. They already sent me 2 mailers to spend around RM4k every month for 3 months, all in order to get a free luggage bag or something for free. The thing is, if I can spend RM4k a month every month, don't you think I can buy one on my own? I could even just spend that few hundred bucks on a luggage instead of spending a total of RM12k for 3 months!

Recently, they sent another mailer asking me to spend more in order to win other stuff.

I think they should hire a new set of marketing staff for their marketing department. They should all in fact, hold other credit cards especially Citibank or say, CIMB, and such, so that they are aware of the other many more subtle marketing strategies. When I saw their mailer, they all go straight into the bin. They sound so fake and very insincere... not something that they should reward their loyal customers with.

To be fair to Toyota, I think their marketing bit is wonderful, on a whole. My brother owns a Honda but they don't get all these 'personalised' stuff. Since I own that piece of Altis 2 years ago, there were so many privileges offered. Even simple things like inserts into duit raya envelopes before raya and personalised post-it notes on my birthday are stuff that binds brand loyalty. What made me sayang Toyota so much is the very efficient support service for emergency situations like if you meet with an accident or your battery suddenly go dead. The operator gives you very useful tips and advise and will always call you back when they say they would. The maintenance guy will come promptly and calls you direct. Very assuring service.

Unfortunately, when I let go of my Molly for a comfy SAHM life, the Rush is too much for a SAHM and a Vios is waaay too small for a soccer mom. But, the one and I have agreed that the next time we buy a car, we'd definitely get a Toyota simply because they have such an original way of thanking their loyal customers and they set such high standards that goes along well will their reknowned reputation.

In other developments, brand-loyalty wise, we have also switched from using Buds to Johnson's & Johnson's for little jj. We were told during our ante-natal classes of the benefits of using Buds as opposed to other baby products for the early stages of a baby's growth, simply because of their safe ingredients (no mineral oil, sans parabens and stuff). But it gets a little too frustrating since a couple of months ago when they seem to show so many distribution problems maybe... or that they have not managed their inventory efficiently. We are always out of her body lotion or diaper cream and that sucks. Recently, even the body wash seem to be out of stock every where we go - the many Mothercare outlets, Mamours, and even those baby shops in 1U. So, since little jj is coming into her 6th month this month, we would like to believe that her skin is already pretty strong and it wouldn't hurt to use J&J, a brand name that has been with us since we were babies... I mean, as long as I don't use their Baby Oil that contains mineral oil, I should think we'd all be fine.

So, last weekend when I was in the baby section of Jusco, I went bonkers on the many scents and types of product on one range. I mean, she's becoming like mommy now, with different moisturisers for different time of day - she's using the original pink lotion during the day and the night time moisturiser after her evening sponge. And I love, I love, I soo love the night time powder as well. The smell is so amazingly relaxing and I really think the product works since she'd always want to go to sleep immediately after we prep her up after that evening sponging.

I especially love her smell after we layer her with minyak telon and the bedtime powder. She smells so heavenly, errr except when you smell the back of her head... she still has that musty baby smell. Hehe.

See, even the famous minyak telon can be found almost everywhere. The thing is with wanting to be a good brand, Buds should also reconsider their distribution channels and a more effective way of managing their inventory. A loyal customer can easily get frustrated especially since there are many other good brands out there with the many range offered.

Urrghh... I gotta cook lunch already.