Blog Entry #2

We had our second meeting with Made Real SG's co-founders Robin and Roslyn on 12 May 2015. We headed to their office at Aljunied on sims drive to meet with them at 10.30am. The picture below is of us with Robin in their sims drive office.

In the meeting, Robin told us that she wanted us to target mainly the poly market in SP, to raise brand awareness for them, during our partnership with them. She asked us for our opinion on the possible issues with targeting the poly market. After giving our feedback, the issues were narrowed down to price point, credit card availability and taste demand.

Robin also introduced us to the idea of conversion rates for social media marketing. She explained that a conversion rate was the amount of people who followed them on Instagram and Facebook vs the amount of people who actually took action and bought their product. She told us that her aim for us was to have a conversion rate of 10%. Since SP has roughly 15,000 students, a 10% conversion rate meant a target of 1500 new followers on their social media platforms.

Subsequently, we started planning our ideas for the campaign to raise brand awareness for them. We decided that instead of just having a big main event we would have smaller milestones to work up to the main event. We came up with the idea of a roadshow for the main event and silent flash mobs for the smaller milestone events. Robin and Roslyn did warn us that planning a big event such as a roadshow would require a high level of commitment but the whole team was willing to put in the effort to plan the event. Robin and Roslyn were very willing to guide us on the planning and said that they would send us their past event proposals to reference from. We were grateful that Robin and Roslyn, despite their busy schedule, were willing to put aside time to guide us in planning the event.

Blog Entry #003

12th May

  On that day, we headed towards MadeReal office. We gathered at Aljunied MRT again at 10am when the meeting is at 10.30am. At that point of time, we headed towards their office with only me, Qi Wen, Ging Yang and Roseann as Zheng Yi is still a bit far and Zhong Wei overslept. Once we reached their office, i was surprised that it is actually that large and looks very professional.

  Zheng Yi soon arrived and we started our meeting. We first talk about the things we have read up on which are approaches to improve Social Marketings. Next, is the main part, we talked about what we are going to plan to do for MadeReal. Whether should we do by milestone method which is making many small event along the way, or make a large event such as roadshow at the end of the project. We first thought of small events such as making contests and other plans to improve the Likes and Follows on MadeReal social media account to generate awareness for their brand.

  We then proceed to talk about the roadshow and how we are going to do it. We were thinking about having the dance group of SP to generate attention and form then on, make MadeReal brand known to the others. But this seems quite lacking. So, our plans are not that clear yet. Then Robin, the co-founder of MadeReal, suggested a Silent Flash Mob. And we build on it like having a small flash mob every 2 weeks leading up to the main event.

  We plans to do that flash mob while our members hand out poster regarding the event and inform them that if they want to know more, follow MadeReal on their social media. This will generate anticipation and attention from the students. While in the process, MadeReal followers will increase leading up to the final highlight. We plans to give the instruction of having the students the instructions to do on the day itself via a song streaming website. Some simple instructions like, saying thanks to the person they feel helps them the most, patting their best friends or some simple stuff. The main point is to make them remember this day.

  Then at the end, we will inform them of a photo-booth by MadeReal at a location and take a selfie to remember and maybe MadeReal will offer free snacks if they hashtag the picture. This generate more awareness to MadeReal. The specific details are not confirmed yet as we will discuss further during the June holiday.

Blog entry #2

5th May 2015 (Tuesday)

My group members are me Zong Wei , Wei Jie , Zyi , Qi wen and Roseann. On that day we plan to meet Robin and Roslyn to have a meeting. However, we did not manage to reach their office and have meeting because we boarded the  bus 125 from near Aljunied Mrt station. I, Qi Wen and Wei Jie reached Aljunied Mrt first, follow by Zong Wei and Roseann, Zyi didn't go for that meeting because she have to accompany her mother for medical appointment.

 We alight at the 4th bus stop and we couldn't find the exact route on how to go to Made Real SG main office located at LHK Building. Therefore , we went a long route like having adventure finding their office, we walked along a cannel during 10.30am and the sun was extremely hot and we went along to kept finding LHK Building and we went to the overhead bridge and contacted Robin and Roslyn that we couldn't find their office and lost.

They said that they would drive out and fetch us to their office, however, time was limited, we went to the main road and didn't manage to spot their car and it was about 11.45am, thus we board a taxi and go back to Singapore Poly to attend Ms Dora lesson on Social Media Marketing from 1pm to 3pm. We decided to have a Skype meeting at 8pm, however on that day I have to attend the trail out for table tennis cca , Zong Wei and Qi Wen also need to attend the trial out of their cca. Thus, we didn't manage to have the Skype meeting. Therefore we decided to have a meeting on the following Tuesday which is 12 May 2015.

12 May 2015 (Tuesday)

My group members are me Zong Wei, Wei Jie , Zyi , Qi wen and Roseann. This time round, we decided to walk to the Made Real office instead of taking bus services. Finally, we managed to locate the Made Real office and have a meeting with Robin. Zong Wei was not able to attend the meeting because he forgotten to set the alarm, thus he decided to have a Skype call and we have a meeting. Robin asked us on what kind of campaign ideas can we have for them to increase their brand awareness and reputation. 

As we are the year 1 students of Singapore Poly, Robin think that we will have the same wavelength with the poly students and decided to target on Singapore Poly students. We think that the current Made Real snack box prices are too expensive for poly students to purchase as some poly students are not independent on the financial ability, some poly students may need to use their parents credit card or debit card to order the snack box online, thus parents might not agree to buy the snack box for their children. Thus, we think that if we have a $10 snack box and reduce the snacks to 3 – 4 items specially designed for the poly students. It will definitely be affordable for the poly students to purchase it and thus will let Made Real to have new group of customers (poly students) because currently Made Real customers are working adults or elderly and a small group of teenagers.

She also showed us some videos about the silent mob. We summarised the possible campaign on the paper. We decided to have a Road show in the mid-August, and we want to have a small milestone on creating suspense and let Singapore poly students to be curious about Made Real and to have the feeling of wanting to know about Made Real more.

Homework for the meeting,

1.       Need to prepare a proposal before the meeting on Monday 6pm to 7pm (18 May 2015)

Below is the we-fie that we took during the first meeting with them.

Blog Entry #3

12th May 2015

  Today, it's our first official meeting with Robin at the office. I was a little late in the morning so i had to head my way down to the office all by myself. It took me only about 10 minutes walk to the office from Aljunied station, it was a walkable distance, however it was really hot at that period of time, i was perspiring when i reached.

  I found out that my group mate Zong Wei was absent for the meeting, so what we did was to put him on the phone and discussed and communicate with him through 'Skype'.

  Together as a team we've came out with a final campaign idea, ' Silent Disco Flash Mob ' . This event is more well known overseas such as in London and had never occur in Singapore before. We've also thought of small milestones such as a Mini Flash Mob whereby we will collaborate with SP Dance Club for a short 3 minutes flash mob to attract students as our target is the Poly Market.

  I felt that today's meeting was extremely productive as we've actually came out with many ideas, concerns, timeline and a to do list before the next meeting.

  I'm looking forward to our next stage of planning for the event and really excited to hold this event successfully.

  In my opinion, i do actually think and feel proud that my group members is working well together as a team and contributing to the group.

Here's a 'we-fie' before leaving MadeReal office!

Blog Entry #2

11th May, 2015

After weeks of discussion through Instant messaging and staying back after school, our group had finally came out with a draft report based on our company MadeReal. We've yet to visit MadeReal's temporary office located at LHK Building, thus more information and images will be added. 

After knowing the requirement and expectation by MadeReal for us, I've Searched and read up articles based on marketing research, strategies for marketing and the beginners guide to online marketing. I can understand the contents in the website mostly while i have a little difficulty in understanding a small portion of the article. However i felt that throughout this project i'll definitely learn and experience a lot. Instead of just reading and understanding, i'm able to experience more hands on work.

Every Tuesday 10.30am is our meeting with Robin & Roslyn at their office, thus tomorrow will be our first official meeting session as the previous meeting last Tuesday was unsuccessful. I'm looking forward to visit the office and check out their workplace. 

Blog Entry #2

28th April 2015

  We went to SMU early in the morning at around 10am. After we meet them, we went to City Hall MRT area to have a breakfast meeting. After settling down, we started our discussion. Prior to that, we had to research about A/B testing, Virality and Google/Facebook Advertisement.
  I started to talk about the A/B testing idea and how it can be used by changing part of the message to two groups of equal number of people. And using the result from how many people from each group buy their products, we can decide which layout or changes we should do to the messages. This allow future advertisement to be more effective.
  After that discussion, we were thinking about how to improve their brand awareness. Some of the common ones are sharing events and posts on social media. While i thought about the interesting concept we can do to their Monthly Subscription box. Currently, the look is just plain cardboard box and the items inside are fixed. So i was suggesting about making new design for the box each month as the theme changed monthly also. This help attract people to the attractive box design. Other than that, i was suggesting the theme of Anticipation by putting in extra snacks, movie tickets or lucky draw. This increase more people to buy their products and increase their sales. After the discussion ended, we went back to Singapore Poly.

5th May 2015

  We decided to meet at 10am at Aljunied MRT before going to MadeReal office at 10.30am. However, Zheng Yi could not go with us as she had to go for medical checkup. Me, Ging Yang, Qi Wen arrived first and we decided to go off first as the time was approaching 10.30am as we are waiting for the rest.
  The three of us went and boarded the bus 125 and alighted on the 4th stop. We received message that Roseann and Zhong Wei are arriving soon so we waited while i check the direction to the office. However, it seems we took a wrong bus as the office as seen in Google Maps is quite far away. Once all of us met at the bus stop, we followed the direction but there was a big drain blocking the path. Then we walk along the drain trying to find a bridge to cross over. However, after we crossed, there was an expressway blocking our way again. We messaged to MadeReal for help with directions and they said they will fetch us to their office, so we made our way to the main road. Yet again, we are unable to communicated well about our location and we couldnt met, by that time, it was long past the time we set to end the meeting. Then we apologised to them via Whatsapp and took a taxi back to Singapore Poly. They told us that next time, they will fetch us to their office instead from Aljunied MRT. So that time is saved for meeting and we will not be lost.

Blog Entry #1

28^th April 2015

     The time had finally come for me to get off the fence and stand up to do something, as much as I dislike it….. We had a meeting with the very young co-founders of Made-Real that were about our age to discuss about what we were supposed to do for the internship programme.

     Our group consisted of Qi Wen, Me, Ging Yang, Wei Jie, Zyi and Roseann. Qi Wen and I were assigned to research on virality and how to make posts on social media popular and effective while Ging Yang and Wei Jie were in charge of the websites and Roseann and Zyi were the social media posters. They gave us a couple of links to start with and honestly speaking, they helped a lot. After seeing the “hype” that Ging Yang brought to the team, I decided to work harder and dig a little deeper for my research.

     So far, after visiting the website called “Virality Explained”, I learnt that for a good viral video, it must contain a good and easy trigger. For example, a trigger to a video is something that reminds you of the video. Other viral videos such as “Gangnam Style” all have successful triggers as they are being repeated over radios and supermarket speakers. Successful videos also contain emotional elements such as cute animations or animals that tug at the heart strings. I am planning to share my findings in the next meeting we have so as to give them ideas on what kind of a video to make.