Want to be famous?

Ok... it has been a tiring tiring month so far, with the one and the baby taking turns to get sick, infecting me in the process and to top it all up, little jj got the chicken pox, which was very frustrating since she was just 2 weeks away from getting vaccinated. Nevertheless, I truly felt grateful as I realised that I shouldn't have questioned the benefits of breastmilk from the beginning since she didn't get any fever prior to the chicken pox... the only fever she got was triggered by the strong anti-viral medication she was taking, which was too much for her system and inducing vomitting after every feed, total loss of appetite for solids and hence, loss of weight.

In all those ruckus, I managed to slot assignments in between with the latest project requiring me to travel heavily. The only best part was that I was in control of the travel schedule and was given the authority to determine places the photographer and I, would visit. Thus, everything was in order. However, due to the many events happening almost simultaneously, this tough cookie may have crumbled a little from the stress.

And, if you must know, little jj has fully recovered and is back to being cheerful again. Yeayy!

Anyway, I am called to write on something that was sent to me and I hope I won't get my friend in trouble for touching on this topic. Sorry, I just can't help it....

See, I was tagged in a message in facebook by a friend on an opportunity to become a telco's 'ambassador' for their latest 'hot' device (trust me, I tried googling for the right adjective to the device and none are really an accurate description). 20 'ambassadors' will be selected for a video shoot where you will be talking on what you like about the device and which application is your favourite. That is not the only highlight for the invitation - for one, you must already be a registered user of that device with their special package and that's not all... for a highly reputable organisation that makes billions of Ringgit a year, the remuneration for any selected 'ambassador' is a surprise gift worth RM100... very contradicting don't you think?? - That you are an 'affluent' group who could afford those small luxuries yet be rewarded with something of such inferior value for the service you provide for them. Yeahhh... talking about their package IS a service for them, as you are basically helping them to promote what they are selling.

My question is, do they really know the true meaning of the word, Ambassador? Or are they just playing with an exaggerated meaning of the word, Testimonial?

Yet, they banked on the possible chance to anyone who is interested on becoming 'famous'. Aha... I should be an English teacher, right?

Like, can you be famous simply by a video shoot? Heck, it is not even a TV commercial. So, how is it do you think a person can be famous? Might as well they hire new actresses/actors who badly need an exposure.

No, seriously. This is a frank observation.

When I was working in the insurance industry back then, one big boss wanted me to organise a press conference. When I went to him to get further details on what I should shout about to the media, he said, we would have a pool of fund worth RM100,000 for any policy holders plagued by SARS. Being a responsible PR person, I went to my boss and voiced my honest concern as I didn't believe in the campaign. I mean, how can a company who's a member of a huge conglomerate who makes billions and billions of dollars a year would simply put aside such minute chunk of money for a SARS fund, a worrying epidemic at that time. With that point, we voiced it out to the CEO and he immediately upped the total to RM1million instead. We had a blast with the media for being the first responsible insurance company to come up with such good news.

In this instance with the above-mentioned telco, I thought the invitation was highly insincere and really proves to all of their lack of consideration for their subscribers and highly manipulative as well. Of course, if you are condoning this for a short exposure of possible fame, that is really up to you. For me, being a former subscriber who once thought of the telco as the best in the country, I am once again disappointed by such lame move.

I mean, before writing this, I did some homework on the telco and am thoroughly surprised that there are way too many negativity being written on this once highly-regarded brand. I had even made the one convert from his telco to this just so we could enjoy the family package and smooth network. But, you might have read before what happened and how frustrating it was with their customer service, making the one having the veto power to convert me to his former telco. I must say, that was a move that was truly helpful especially since I was able to keep my cari makan number.

You know that ad on TV earlier this year where a comedian had those first 3 digits on his t-shirt and the ad stating that those numbers are now on another telco? I believe that claim had the statistics to substantiate their declaration. I mean, with the one's family members alone, with 14 of us mobile users (inclusive of son-in-law and daughter-in-law), 4 of us have already converted to another telco, originally users of this above-mentioned telco. If family members alone shows such big statistics (it could be larger if my parents-in-law would use their phones not just for calls and smses), I am sure this telco should worry of their dwindling numbers. Of course, I believe they still have a big share among the younger market due to their cool prepaid branding and their 'it' factor, very important among teenagers and youths to relate to the brand. Still, I do believe another younger telco is slowly eating that share.

And I find it really amusing that they are still harping on that regional success that they achieved 3 years ago. Can I get the statistics of where they were listed 2 years ago? What about last year? This year?

Come on lah... come up with something that can redeem your self-worth. Hire some really responsible people, and listen to your customers' opinion.

This campaign is considered a very important tool for them since they need to display how their customers are very happy with what they are offering. So, is that the only best reward you can give to your happy customers?

But, as much as it sounds truly lame to me, I do not own such device and I probably do not understand the hu-ha that comes with owning it. Heck, who knows, them users are probably even happy to do it for free! Hehe...

Well, I am just writing out my thoughts.

3 comments:

Azmir Ismail said...

aisey .. which telco ah .. ? hmmm, is it the blue, green or yellow one ? Yr current number is the green one kan ?

Norliana Abdul Rahman said...

glad to hear little jj dah baik..
today is her birthday kan?

emly2175 said...

if it's the blue telco, i don't pretty think highly of their marketing team. Not after the former CEO AWO had left. They are hubby former employee and his daily work involved more & direct communication with the top persons. Thus, it's frustating to see the mindset of some old school of thoughts there..