Red, Hip, Powerful

In 20 months, the Global Fund has collected USD50 mil. A portion of the profits from the sale of 11.6 mil (PRODUCT) RED goes to the fund.

Product (RED), the brain child of Bono and Bobby Shriver, manifests innovative approach to social cause and the immense viral marketing power of new media when used creatively to further social causes.

The innovation - like their business model, the marketing strategy of PRODUCT (RED) is seamlessly executed. The firms behind the (RED) brand, Wolff Olins and Buzztone, have managed to roll social networking, shopping, philanthropy and celebrities all into a brilliant cross-media campaign. Described by analysts, the key to PRODUCT (RED) is that it’s not just a cause, it’s a brand. Combining style with an altruistic message gives immediate status to a product especially when it’s endorsed by stars.

Using new media, PRODUCT (RED) has done so well virally, does a great job of keeping a consistent brand throughout all media channels and have generated widespread visibility from a massive international cross-marketing push. The viral success is already showing on the (RED) blog and (RED) Myspace page.

Most inspiring is to see traditionally bureaucratic institution, the UN, experimenting with new media and succeeding at exploiting the vast potential.

In promoting Stand Up 2006, the UN successfully used the viral video, YouTube. Celebrities ranging from Dave Matthews to Shakira to LonelyGirl15 are featured in 1 – 2 minute video segments that have been uploaded into Google Video and YouTube. The reaction from YouTubers was tremendous. Here are a few of the thousands of user-created videos that have been uploaded in response to Renetto’s Stand Up video.

In addition to the viral videos, the UN also promoted Stand Up in Second Life. The Millenium Campaign hosted Stand Up events at virtual kiosks and in 2nd Life’s “Midnight Plaza”. For the less avatar-savvy, the Stand Up website has a list of events that simultaneously took place in real life.

The response (RED) has gotten on Myspace is certainly impressive. Their network is currently increasing at a pace of about 16,000 new friends per hour. Teenagers and young adults have submitted comments to show their support, many of them sharing personal stories about their (RED) products or celebrity sightings.

If nothing else, (RED) on Myspace and Stand Up on YouTube show just how receptive Gen-Yers are to cause marketing, and the potential of social media for non-profit organizations and similar impactful coverage for other health, literacy, poverty and environmental issues.

Putrajaya Could Happen A Different Way

If there is any place in Malaysia that can be our eco-city, it would be Putrajaya. Putrajaya is a place where people live near their workplaces while good clean public transport makes every area accessible. Designing and putting up buildings for mixed use, combining work and residential areas will minimise commuting. Putrajaya's network of cycle and footpaths will help the city achieve close to zero vehicle emissions. A buffer zone of managed wetland between the city and the natural wetland helps maintain a balanced ecosystem. All these already make it easier to create a community with low energy consumption that is carbon free. Putrajaya Corporation needs to do more:

• While the city's buses are powered by natural gas, clean technologies such as hydrogen fuel cells must be used power public transport.

• Buildings must be designed to help reduce energy use, making efficient use of energy sources and generating energy from renewable sources. It is easy to have buildings with photovoltaic solar panel cells. Wind turbines, too are practical ways of harnessing energy and the technology to do so is already available and used elsewhere.

• There must be processes to capture and purify rain and all buildings should be fully insulated to minimise the waste of energy.
• Organic waste such as recycled city waste, palm oil biomass, rice husks and vegetable peels must be recycled to generate electricity. Organizations like Boustead Plantation and LaFarge Cement have developed and are using technologies that efficiently recycle waste for energy.
  

Some of these stuffs I learnt from Chilean, Alejandro Gutierrez, an architect and urban designer for engineering and design giant Arup.

Reminders of Sex in Prague

When in Prague, you'll definitely be one of the many hanging out in front of the astronomical clock, Old Town Square, waiting for it to chime. The clock was built in 1410, and refined in 1490. No clock has ever been built that rivals this one.

Every hour, when the circles in the circles line up on the face of the clock, a little skeleton appears, ringing a bell, then a succession of apostles parade by a couple of little open windows. The skeleton keeps ringing his bell and you, among the people below take pictures while considering your mortality. Well, at least I thought I considered mine.

Upon considering your mortality, stop by the nearby 3-storey Sex Machines Museum, on Melantichova 18. Officially described as "an exposition of mechanical erotic appliances, the purpose of which is to bring pleasure and allow extraordinary and unusual positions during intercourse."

You'll wonder the practices of those who invented the objects on the top floor, which include whips and chains and masks and outfits that can get your skin crawling. There are all kinds of seriously perplexing stuffs. The furnitures are definitely incomprehensible. You'll certainly spend some time trying to figure out how they are supposed to be used.

When you've seen it all, you'll likely realize that the "pleasure" element is largely subservient to the "extraordinary and unusual" element and that it takes a lot of guts and reminders for some people to have sexual intercourse. Sex is apparently not a very pleasurable activity for some.