The Four Pillars of Comms

TC is well versed in The Four Pillars of Communications.

What are these, you may ask? They are Journalism, Public Relations, Marcom and Advertising.

In Journalism you learn to listen, ask pertinent questions, write an incisive piece (if not entertaining). In Public Relations, you are on "The Other Side" (a common phrase used by journalists). As a PR professional, you learn to handle media relations, write an effective press release, organise a press conference and help launch products. You'll learn to communicate to a 'public' to get your client's message across. You'll learn crisis management as well. In Marcom, you let the world know your company's brand, solutions and products in an effective and positive manner. You make target a market with awareness campaign using all kinds of media. Or establish a beachhead for the folks in Sales department to wade in easier. You might just sustain a company's presence in an area or perhaps work a CSR (corporate social responsibility) program (perhaps done in concert with a PR plan). In Advertising, you use all kinds of media in a creative manner to effectively sell a company's product and slogan. The end game is to capture both mind share and market share. With Advertising and a suitable budget, you can surely create and sustain a market's attitudes toward your client's organisation, products and solutions. 

Thus a person who has experienced these Four Pillars of Comms will be better placed to help an organisation stand out in a public's mind and how it might engage it in the short and long term. And how a budget for such PR,  Marcom and Advertising can be effectively disbursed.

Besides the Four Pillars of Comms, TC has also a certificate in Project Management - Scheduling and Budgeting in Telecoms awarded by renown PM guru, Dan Ono. And he was nominated for a National Technology Award for an extreme time-saving solution - a first for the Engineering sector in Singapore.)

1) Journalism

- As ITAsia writer, editor (ChannelsAsia), columnist;
- As chief editor of two leading PC mags;
- As writer for a travel trade show daily; 
- As writer for university sci-tech R&D magazine (distributed at all trade missions); writings include medical, biosciences as well;
- As writer for retail, food and tourism for a data provisioning company;
- As editor of a book on ancient Chinese architecture; 
- As writer for various white papers: Telecoms, contact lenses, enterprise networking, ultrawideband technology; asset management; etc;
- As writer for sales team customer success stories;
- As writer for project publications (e.g. trade show highlights/interviews) and advertorials.

2a) Public Relations

- Done press releases for major telecom company, high-tech start-up, satcoms company, roadshow, shopping centre launch, health products;
- Done white papers for various products and industries;
- Ghost wrote speeches for CEOs and such;
- Ran press conferences for telecom company, satcom company (even in China), high-tech startup (even in Germany), assisted in roadshows, etc.
- Done crisis management for leading telecom company as well as fast food giant;
- Helmed or assisted in various product launches, roadshows; 
- Experienced in corp PR as well as agency PR;
- Familiar with suite of PR work such as Corp Branding, Business Advantage Marketing, Relationship Build, Crisis Management, etc.
- Effective in media monitoring and press relations;
- Familiar with placement article write-ups;
- MC of events.

2b) Event Management

- Organised and ran a seven-subsidiary bowling competition that stretched over two months;
- Organised and ran an inter-subsidiary Engineer's Retreat for 3 days 2 nights. With close to 300 participants. Acted as emcee as well for the event;
- Organiser and builder for a major Art Fest live role-playing fantasy game;
-  Organised region's first ISDN broadband professional conference with heads of infocomm R&D in Europe and China attending;
- Organised various staff functions and activities as part of company social/recreational unit;
- Developed a well-received concept of Time Tunnel for a defense science exhibition;
- Attended many events in defense, IT, enterprise networks, mobilecomms, industry standards, data mining, etc. A fave conference was 'How to teach a robot to design a poster.' - by a renown ad-man from Italy.

3) Marcom

- Helmed marcom for a high tech start-up with complex technology;
- Wrote very effective press releases that were picked up by magazines and newspapers around the world;
- Created a technology-partnership program that included rewards;
- Created massive presence at both local and overseas exhibitions;
- Executed guerrilla-style marketing campaigns that were both cost-effective and media savvy (i.e. start-up budgets being conservative);
- Assisted in patent write-ups and process;
- Advised companies on marcom set-up and workflow;
- Wrote and revamped major software company's development tools website for better marketing and member relationship build;
- Advised huge Canadian IT company on media strategy and planning.

4) Advertising

- Was involved in campaigns in banking, e-banking, IT, enterprise IT, retail, disk drive, etc;
- Done campaigns for both ATL and BTL work;
- Done corporate branding for SMEs as well as major corp;
- Wrote user handbooks, white papers, copy for print and website, etc;
- Done media placements for data recovery company;
- Ghost-wrote speeches for publication, etc;
- Organised investor relations meetings;
- Advised on the naming of a suite of CRM products (i.e. customer relationship management);
- Supervised in quick time website development and web-based contest;
- Developed accounts in men's beauty products as well as concrete prefab.
- Done or advised on company annuals, anniversary publications, etc;
- Advised on advertising design matters;
- Familiar with both long term and short term media planning.

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