Fooling Nobody

Tuesday 28 August 2012 branding , business trends , ethics , having deep thoughts in New York 0 Comments

It was like a dream that had finally been realized. This night scene photograph that I picked to be used for my faculty magazine in my sophomore, is still fresh in my mind. The all-white pillars magnificently stood as the base structure of the Memorial Hall, and the dim yellow lights solemnly bathed the Statue of this great man, Mr. Abraham Lincoln, in his regal sitting position, in between two pillars inside the hall.

Lincoln Memorial at night

And now, after more than two decades, I stood yet again before the Statue of Lincoln with a better idea of its proportion, and with one of his famous quotes always lingering in me, "You can fool all the people some of the time, and some of the people all the time, but you cannot fool all the people all the time."

Even though there are 44 Presidents since the US’s independence in 1776, the greatness of Abraham Lincoln is still distinguishingly highlighted in the State that was named after its first president, George Washington. Even the tour guide spent more time on this 16th President, showing the spot he got shot, and the hospital he was admitted in after the assassination in April 1865. What made Lincoln the greatest American president? He ended slavery, guided the country through the constitutional, military, and moral crisis – Civil War.

No man is born to be great. What makes a man great depends on what he did in his lifetime. The same for a brand, to become a great product or a great brand, you need to have something extraordinary to deserve an appraisal of greatness. And one good thing about brand, unlike human beings that have a biological lifespan, it can last long when all the factors are right.

Fooling Nobody

As a brand in the Internet era and social media technology that widespreads everything in the speed of light, the famous quote of Lincoln has to be upgraded to a more stringent level to “you fool no people at any time”. And you take no chance, because any wrongdoing can hurt your brand almost instantly.

Last two weeks, a leading Chinese newspaper in Malaysia was uncovered with plagiarism in its editorial article, and the news spread fast on Facebook. Within two weeks, readers exposed another 20 more plagiarized articles by simply using Google as their investigative tool. The newspaper demonstrated the worst kind of response by merely publishing a perfunctory apology on its Facebook fan page, but played dumb in its printed dailies, to limit the right to inform their readers, as a damage control solution. But I dare say you fool nobody in the Internet age. The virtual world and the real world coexist and are interactive, insincerity would eventually rebuke and haunt your credibility.

Wall Street Bull

To summarize my US trip, it was a pleasure to have met our FingerTec partner in New York, to exchange ideas, to better understand the local market, and to explore on how to expand the FingerTec brand in North America for the coming years.  

Overall, I had a pleasant stay in New York this summer. The weather was not too hot, especially in the breezy sunny days, wind blew with an unexpectedly soothing cool air, and walking in the vibrant metropolitan city was quite enjoyable. I even managed to visit The Metropolitan Museum of Art and MoMA, the Museum of Modern Art, besides some other popular tourist spots.

by Teh Hon Seng, CEO, FingerTec HQ