Entry 2: Be a Manager

Ben and Jerry's Chunk Fest



Singapore’s first ever Ice-cream festival; Chunk Fest, was held at Fort Canning green on the 6th of December, a Saturday.

The objective of this chunk fest was to promote and introduce 12 new flavors which had not been launched in the Singapore market. Besides selling the 34 flavors in total, colorful minivans were stationed along the sidelines selling souvenirs, snacks and drinks. It upholds to their fun-loving image where their ice-cream agenda is filled with punk and enjoyment.

Besides, grooving to the music of the best local bands, participating in other activities such as crystal ball and tarot card readings by gypsies, face painting and many more, most people would not forget the main objective of this festival; which is to have fun and eat their ice-cream! An ice-cream eating competition called ‘Vermonster’ was held, record time being 1 minute and 5 seconds!

The Djs made the people danced to music with the new ice-cream flavor ‘Jamaican me Crazy’. The organizers did not slacken in the entertainment area and made sure every corner is filled with joy and colour.

The date for this event was well planned. It was during the year end holidays which justified the whole happy-go-lucky mood. Ben and Jerry’s is extremely popular amongst teenagers and young children. However, there is no doubt that there are loyal adult fans too. Basically, it attracts anyone who loves flavorful desserts and their famous chunky pieces of add-ons in their ice-cream.

Publicity for Chunk Fest was not heavy. There were not any newspapers or magazine advertisements. Neither was there television or radio broadcasts. However, patrons who visit Ben and Jerry’s stores often would come to know about it through posters and flyers which were given out.

Staffs at their store would also give patrons gentle reminders to head down to Fort Canning Green during that Saturday to participate in Chunk Fest. Besides that, online forums and Ben and Jerry’s official website announced the festival several months before the event.

I presumed that it was the word of mouth which was most effective that had gotten the information around about Chunk Fest. Therefore, I do not belittle the word of mouth as the situation becomes more personal as it is told to you by someone familiar and therefore tend to be more believable and reliable. Thus, the success rate of a turnout of about 8,500 people at the Chunk Fest despite a slight downpour in the early afternoon proved likewise.

I was pretty shocked to realize that there were few or rather no media coverage of this event even though the draw of the crowd was quite impressive and activities organized were interesting and thorough throughout the entire event.

I assumed that the reason why the media did not cover this event was because the whole festival felt very private. From that I meant that Ben and Jerry’s did not advertise it publicly. It could probably mean that only regulars and enthusiasts of their brand of ice-cream would have heard of this event.

Even though I did think that media coverage before the event would help boost the coming crowd, I liked the idea of how they made Chunk Fest feel very special and had this homely feel, as only the real Ben and Jerry’s fans would know about it.

I personally feel that this event was a great success. The aim was definitely achieved. The atmosphere was there. New flavors were promoted. Thousands of Ben and Jerry’s ice-cream scoops were sold. The entertainment was a blast and people certainly had fun.

Depending on the turnout rate which was planned and expected before an event, I would positively continue to keep such low key publicity if I want a crowd of about 8,500. However, I would make more queues for the ice-cream seeing how long the people had to queue up for. Make the people happy, make them buy more ice-cream. Wouldn’t that be great?

justin, alethea and I

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Individual Assignment 1

The Manager

Looking at Mr. Henry Leong, one cannot help but wonder what knowledge he had kept within him throughout all these years working in the IT line.

Sipping from a cup of English breakfast tea, the mood was relaxed, perfect for an interview. The jovial 47 year-old who was sitting across me wore a pair of silver glasses, had thinning hair and donned a light blue long sleeve business shirt. Looking alert and ready for another day’s work, Mr. Leong smiled and with no doubt, looked friendly and approachable.

Having been in the company, Computer Associates (CA) for 18 years, Mr. Leong rose from a mere engineer, to a director within the company.

CA is a MNC company dealing with computer software and it is one of the largest company in the world in its field. Offering business solutions mainly in managing infrastructure and monitoring of the operating system, their clients range from banks, retail and government institutions. It is like a computer data centre where they head and control the client companies’ computer systems.

The interesting thing about Mr. Leong’s job is that he does not only work in Singapore. He is an avid traveler who flies to the Thailand headquarters in Bangkok almost every week to manage a team there. He returns home to his family only on the weekends and he reveals that at times it could be really taxing on him with the constant travelling.

However, Mr. Leong said that he would not show any signs of fatigue in the office as he knows he is a role model for the whole team and he should carry himself well at all times. “As a manager, your staff looks up to you. You can’t expect your staff to give their best when you are not yourself.”

One of the difficulties he faced when based overseas was the language barrier. As not all of their local employees have a good grasp of English, sometimes instructions get misinterpreted. Thus, Mr. Leong would send detailed emails, in which the instructions typed there would be clearer to follow.

Another difficulty he faced as a manager was to get the right person to do the right job. Many a-times, different people have different strengths and weaknesses and it was not easy to allocate suitable tasks to suitable individuals. So, it is important to know each subordinate’s plus points so that when they work together, it enables them to produce the best quality work.

Keeping good staff may seem like a challenge to managers too. When an outstanding staff becomes a valued worker in a company, other companies may also want to ‘hook’ him or her away. It would definitely not be a good idea to lose a good staff.

“I have team of consultants under me to meet the client, understand their needs and present the company solutions to them. And I trust that they do their best.” Mr. Leong added.

He encourages his consultants to share ideas among themselves so that they can keep improving and get better, fresher perceptions. He also emphasized that it is important to constantly praise his staff when they did well so as to motivate their sometimes tired mind, body and soul. Mr. Leong said that he would send emails to the respective staff to compliment them in recognizing their good effort. He would also recommend the staff that excelled for bonuses and incentives.

Mr. Leong would always buy his staff drinks and desserts as he said it creates better team bonding when everyone gathers together to take a break. There, they would chat and de-stress from work for awhile and talk about other topics besides office work.

However, he stressed that as a manager, he has to be firm with the guidelines. Ultimately, to deliver satisfying results is the most important objective in every company. ‘There is always a time to be serious and get down to work’ he explained.

Mr. Leong is thus unforgiving when it comes to staff that has repeatedly made the same mistake. “When chances are given, it would be disappointing to not learn from the past and fail again.” Mr. Leong recalls the time when an ex-staff refuses to take his work seriously after making several mistakes.

Like what Mr. Leong puts it, to always be levelheaded, understanding and having the willingness to share are the main attributes that builds a good manager.

Mr. Henry Leong