Date: Sun, 22 Sep 1996 06:24:23 +1000
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Thought some of you may be interested in our release on our media
coup.....the stories and pics themselves are on http://www.apic.net/news
cheers.../bala
bala@apic.net
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Malaysian Goes For Sydney2000 Gold.
Sydney- Sunday September 22 1996
The Sydney Olympic Games organisers probably choked on their Skippy Corn
Flakes when they opened the national daily newspaper "The Australian" on
Wednesday September 18th. Having launched their new AUD$ 1 Billion marketing
campaign to raise money from merchandising and licensing the night before,
rather than find a big photo of Olympics Chief Executive Dr Mal Hemmerling
and a glowing story; there was the somewhat cheeky Asian face of Malaysian
Internet strategist, Bala Pillai with the bad news that the Aussies did not
own the Internet address sydney2000.
The Australians had failed to register the Internet address "sydney2000.net"
and Pillai an Internet pioneer, had jumped on the opportunity. This was an
extraordinary oversight given the success of the Atlanta Internet site and
the possible commercial opportunities to exploit interest in the 2000 games.
There has been a lot of political infighting with the State government and
the Olympics Committee in recent times and senior executives have been going
through a revolving door. That could explain the oversight which could make
Pillai enough for a gold medal or two of his own.
When asked why he had applied for the name, Pillai said "It is the strategic
use of the Internet that marketeers will have to learn. The key to success
is relating very complicated high technology to real human need and bringing
it within the grasp of the ordinary consumer and not just sophisticated
computer experts" "What this means is having a logical address for the
consumer to find someone or something they are looking for without doing a
degree in computing".
"Because management has devolved the Internet applications to the computer
department, the value of clear concise Internet addresses have not been
obvious to computer people who are comfortable with the most complicated
computer codes".
"For example a computer professional with UNIX experience, would find the
expression 'http://www.jki.3kl.my/bkr/wangKL2.html' very comfortable (it
means the money page ), but this is of course totally beyond the
comprehension of the average consumer. "That is why we applied for and are
surprised that the organisers had not already registered for the address
'sydney2000.net'"
This oversight or lack of interest has created two important marketing
opportunities for Pillai and his APIC business.The first is to sell
subscriptions to Internet email service to Australian Internet users who
will become more enthusiastic about the sydney2000 email address as the
Olympics approaches.
Secondly it enables APIC to provide links to corporate customers who would
like to associate their company with the interest in the Olympics by
sponsoring information pages and information about their own services.
For example, a guest house may not be able to afford international marketing
or official Olympic association but could have an Internet address of
guesthouse@sydney2000.net and a web page of www.sydney2000.net/guesthouse.
"In the end with the Internet, the marketing and sales foot soldiers will be
required to really win the Internet war and that's what we at APIC feel we
are - footsore and tired but winning the battle" says Mr Pillai.
When asked if he had any other hot sharp ideas up his sleeve Mr Pillai said,
"we a have a few, my Southeast Asian friends may be amused by the fact they
can email me at bala@durian.com".
Sydney resident, Mr Pillai,38, was born in Seremban, Malaysia. An alumni of
the University of Virginia, USA, he now owns The Asia Pacific Internet
Company Pty Ltd (APIC) which provides strategic Internet services to leading
corporates and non-profit organisations in Australia and Asia. Prior to
founding APIC, he was Regional Manager (Online Publishing) Reuters Asia in
Hong Kong and Reuters Australia & New Zealand in Sydney.
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bala pillai bala@apic.net * For instant info on APIC send blank
chief netballer/ceo * email to info@apic.net
the asia pacific internet company sydney & kuala lumpur
ph: +61 2 417 8824 fax: +61 2 417 8871 http://www.apic.net/
cybercommunities, cybermarkets, cybercash and more. email us.
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