Skin Care A la Mode – Extracts from my Imaginary Business Plan

I’ve been working on 2 skin care brands lately. Not too hard to find out which ones if you’ve been reading my blog. I was working on a CRM/segmentation plan for one of them and find myself typing in my powerpoint slides the following: “to move our base-level segment users to more advanced segment of whitening products, we use these trigger points…” I paused. I thought again. I cannot believe I’m writing this.

I grew up in an environment where people got discriminated for the colour of their skin. My friends with dark skins would get hassled by the guards while I get a bow from them. Girls lacking confidence due to dark skin, hence going to absurd measures to ‘get fair’. I suddenly hear my ex-mother-in-law reporting on a girl “nice girl, with 2 degrees, good family, but.. dark skin”.

Tonight we were cranking out some late-night stuff for another brand with some herbal properties making marketing claims and positioning themselves against their competitors. My job, right?, plan the message, position it, turn into tactical plans.

Then it dawned on me.

I discovered 3 years ago that no matter what cosmetics I used, my skin stayed more or less the same, ie a problem and a pain. Only through my own research and blood tests I discovered that food was the cause of my problem (wheat and eggs). Not only my skin improved, but it was goodbye to all the headaches, after-lunch slumps, period cramps and colds (yes, no colds for past 3 yrs).

I somehow think dermatologists know this, but choose to ignore it for the big bucks. After all, anti-inflammatory antibiotics is big business. Girls on it cannot get pregnant, but hey, side-effects is something we were taught to live with.

So, if you ask me “Magda, what is the one business idea you would put all your money, heart and brain into?” As for today, I will answer you: “My brainchild is a skincare brand that is a starting point to a life transformation of a consumer. A total LIFESTYLE change she has to undergo, starting with FOOD. “You are what you eat” said Socrates. I would create a brand that enlightens consumers on food-skin related perils, exposes all the derma-hidden secrets, resulting in teens dumping Oxy, women loving not wearing concealers, girls getting confident about their glowing skin. They will love the brand for being reasonably priced and having an incredible level of integrity which ultimately forms the emotional bond … so they buy me ;) . Hey, remember Anita Roddick?

All right, this is my business plan for the night. Got the dough? email me!

What is Real?

I’ve been recently inspired by how various virtual tools have changed my friends’ lives.

There was firstly Match.com with Ann meeting, marrying Andrew and producing Tamara, Catherine hooking up with her man and planning to get hitched in April, and now Jennifer finding The Man. It not only gives me great joy but also inspiration on how the internet has changed our lives.

Then I met someone who said his Second Life name was X. “Say what?”. A week later I saw an article on FT titled “Get a (Second) Life” .A virtual reality world; as close as it gets to the real thing. Latest feature includes buying properties. And yes, they have their own currency, laws and police. Intrigued, not only did I read every word of the article, but registered too. Molonese Wardhali was created on (yes, they gave me a surname). OK, so here it comes; amazing user experience, totally great usability, highly intuitive navigation, almost-too-many features but easy to master after a while. I did not like getting dressed up, but got captivated by the scheduled real-life concerts. I checked out the groups – most very sex-driven, cannot get into one of the groups, but I get into the a dance lounge, I’m the only one not revealing much skin, a guy walks up to me asking me to salsa with him. I panic looking for the ‘dance’ function button, fail to find it in time, he dumps me. There are so many functions here, I’m confused! I try chatting with a few people, most ignore me after 2 min. The public conversations going on are shallow and non-engaging, they remind me of the ICQ days. Oops, the guy who asked me to salsa just took off all his clothes and dashed off to the dance floor. My luck, I guess. The background music is great, I can change it on the fly. It all looks so real, it’s amazing. I look at the lounge walls- very empty – the advertisers have not gotten here in a big way yet.

Was I acting any different from what I would have in a real dance bar? Not really. Did I come any close to meeting a ‘friend’? Well, no, but I have not given it enough time (spent 1 hour there).

Overall, I must admit there was a level of fascination I found about Second Life. I will log on again and give it a try, more probably for my geeky internet fascination or part of my job, whatever sounds rig again. For the one experience, I have to also admit I felt rather lonely there, and therefore the prospect of hooking up with my real friends in Shanghai this weekend is a highly appealing one.









Trying to join a group...


















Dance Lounge on a Thr nite:

Ann & Andrew: on love, house and caterpillar

Ann and Andrew met on match.com, fell in love, have a lovely Tamara and a house to admire. People tell Ann she's lucky. I don't think it's luck. She just does the right things in life and so the right things come to her.

It's a great feeling to spend the weekend in your friends' place filled with positive vibes and happiness. I sat at the pool one evening, looking into the house, watching Ann and Andrew go thru some old photos, hugging and kissing.

Ann's latest biz venture has turned into another success. Caterpillar is where kids stretch their creative imagination by learning how to salsa, play drums, bake and just become great kids! Also, a place for moms to drop the kids and vanish into 3 hrs of vanity.

Go Ann, go!


Ann & Andrew's House


















Caterpillar

Monika & Soraya

Tennis, squash, dating, dancing, partying, holidaying was what Monika, Soraya and I had in common. Today we do none of these together as our lives are very different. But, the bond remained and I just cannot hide the fact that going back to KL feels like going back home and seeing my sisters all over again.

KL House

Picked up the keys to my KL house 2 weekends ago. Still weighting the options of what to do with the house; rent, sell, let it be. 3,500 sq ft of space, and little plans to go back to KL. I guess I should start working on my 5 kids to fill it up, maybe one day ;)

A Great Weekend - Best Practices

Yeah, what a weekend. I've got a big work week ahead and finding good distructions to keep me away from getting things on track.. (best practices amongst them..)

Alice and friends organised a weekend at Tai Long Wan, a surfer's beach in Sai Kung. We camped out there overnight. All good ingredients coming together; great weather, less-than-usual haze, cooking on the beach, beach games, booze and more booze, sleeping under the stars, chatting till wee morning hours, being woken up by hungry dogs, watching the sunrise, morning sea swims, sun basking, 6-ab surfer boys catching the waves and the great company of a few very fun people.

A weekend to be repeated!