June 26, 2012

Langham Hospitality at Web Wednesday

On 27th June, highly experienced online travel marketer, Sean Seah, will be taking the hot seat at Web Wednesday's popular networking event to discuss, "Travel 3.0: Selling dreams via real-time, sharable media". We will talk about how the five stages of travel (see Google interactive link) are being changed by websites, mobile, ebusiness and social media.

Let us know that you're coming via the Web Wednesday Group event on Facebook. We kick off at 6:30pm at Bisous, 9/F, LKF Tower, 33 Wyndham Street, Central, Hong Kong. HK$100 entrance fee includes one complimentary drink and the chance to meet the Creme de la Creme of Hong Kong Digerati.

Learn more about Sean via his LinkedIn profile. He has worked as the eCommerce Manager for Air New Zealand, General Manager for Zuji Singapore and Zuji Hong Kong and is now the Vice President eBusiness, Loyalty and Partner Marketing (Global) for Langham Hospitality Group.


Some interesting statistics from Google:
  • Dreaming: 68% of business travelers watch travel-related online videos. Among them, 68% are thinking about a trip.
  • Planning: The average traveler visits ~22 travel related sites during 9.5 research sessions prior to booking.
  • Booking: 37% of leisure travelers report that the internet prompted them to book, up from 28% two years ago.
  • Experiencing: 70% of business travelers check into their flights/hotel with their mobile device. Almost 1 in 4 hotel queries come from a mobile phone.
  • Sharing: About 1 in 3 business travelers have posted reviews online of places they've been.
Sean pioneered the production and marketing of a set of short films recorded using an iPhone (with a fancy lense) and shared over the internet. See them for yourself at mywaymyplace.com.

This video shows how the short movies were directed by Yamanyamo, an emerging new media studio in Hong Kong.



June 25, 2012

Winners of Battle of the Apps III

On 30th May, 10 brave contestants took to the stage at Bisous to present their latest app creations in our quarterly developer challenge, fondly known as "Battle of the Apps". [Read more about the first five contestants here, and second five here].

After one hour of patiently listening to the presentations, the audience of 100 guests took to the vote. (We went analog, using smiley face stickers on white cardboard).

And the winners are...

In third position, a highly popular virtual butterfly catching game (combining  GPS, Motion Sensor and Augmented Reality technology): iButterfly. Find them on Facebook.


In second position, learn how to cook popular Chinese recipes with Chi Fan. Find them on Facebook. [Note the cheeky QR code on the cover page - how long will Zuckerberg let them get away with this obvious call to action?].


Wait for it...the top prize goes to...an app for competitive types Coach's Clipboard! Find the creator, J Plus Corp, on Facebook.


Congratulations to the three winners! We hope that the rest of the contestants enjoyed the battle, made some good contacts and that Web Wednesday has helped nudge awareness of your creations up a notch or two! Our next Battle of the Apps will be held in late August 2012.

June 20, 2012

Entr-app-reneurs to the Battle

Time has flown past since our last Battle of the Apps but I've found a spare moment to gather some info on the second lot of brave contestants at who joined the fray on May 30th. [Read about the first set of contestants here].

Our 6th contestant, Doctor Hung's Healthy Soups (洪醫師-湯來自有方) teaches you how to make medicinal soups following old Chinese recipes. Ditch your burgers and live long with this app!

(Developed by Crossover International and download from iTunes).








Ever wondered how cracking eggs can improve your maths? The folk at Tiny Tapps have come up with just the game for you (and your tots). Smash your way to genius! [Download from iTunes].

Continuing with the theme of learning, the British Council has developed a set of interactive stories designed to help children who are learning to read and speak English, under their "LearnEnglish Kids" phonics programme - they're also using Twitter (@LearnEnglishKids). Let "super spies" Sam and Pam show you the way to phonic enlightenment. [Download from iTunes].


Enough about education already. Let's get outside and catch some butterflies. Ditch the net and use your smartphone! Conceived by the famous Japanese advertising firm, Dentsu (Media Palette), and produced by Hong Kong's home grown Cherry Picks, iButterfly has attracted more than 350,000 downloads with over 8 millions virtual butterflies caught so far! Build up your collection and follow them on Facebook too. [Download from iTunes or Google Play/Android].


 And, finally, an app for the B2B crowd: Busification - "Make Fun Work".  Using game incentives, this app enables businesses to manage work, motivate staff and analyse performance in an interesting and challenging way. Launched in beta at Web Wednesday, we hope to see this start-up grow beyond its wildest dreams.