Building bridges in a digital world

Pei Wen Wong was part of the technology world when mobile phones were the size of bricks. Since then, the challenge for telecoms providers has shifted from getting consumers mobile to getting them to upgrade to handsets with an ever-longer list of capabilities. However for Wong, vice-president of brand and marketing for O2 in Asia, this is where most of the competition has gone wrong, focusing too heavily on a product's specifications, while failing to make it desirable. Wong's career history, including stints at StarHub and O2's former parent British Telecom, has been a learning path in how to bridge the gap between people and technology. She has got her biggest kicks launching new technology models where there is no precedent about what will work and what will fail, such as the free internet service for StarHub. "With free internet, nobody could tell you how to do it, how to deliver it, what success means. To be successful in a situation was a real thrill." Wong has learnt that one of the keys to success, equally applicable to advertising and telecommunications, is not to get so wrapped up in your own product that you start to lose perspective. "Someone said to me before, 'don't believe in your own bullshit'," Wong remarks. "A lot of this applies to advertising. You really need to put the customer at the heart of your planning and thought process." In its new regional marketing push, 02 is urging consumers to 'See things differently', and is positioning its X range of products as the ideal combination of fashion and functionality. Work so far includes a TVC showing the XDA II mini as a snowflake and a dandelion. One of the key differentiating factors between O2 and its competitors, Wong says, is the way its products look and feel. Aesthetics have been forgotten by most other PDA producers, she says, and no one wants to look like a geek, no matter how much their gadget can do. "O2 is a brand that's very fresh and fun," says Wong. "And we believe that when you see things differently, anything is possible." It's even possible to sell PDAs to women in significant numbers. O2 is expecting 40 per cent of XDA II buyers to be women thanks to the sleek look and range of multimedia features. "This is a good time to penetrate the female segment because PDA phones are past their infancy stage, and the female market is now ready to spend on phones that comes with more digital entertainment features," Wong says. Wong speaks with some personal experience -- although she confesses to using a range of different devices in the past she has been captivated by the new XDA II mini ("I know it sounds corny," she admits). She feels she is a good barometer for how the public will take to the latest innovations, technologically aware but not obsessed. Outside the office she opts for the active outdoors life, taking up wakeboarding and rollerblading. "I am learning to balance on both land and water," she quips. Wong feels if she can get to grips with a new technology there is a good chance the public will too. Wong's career spans cultures as diverse as one could imagine. After graduating at the University of Texas, she has worked in the US, Japan, Singapore and Indonesia. She was senior product manager at StarHub before joining British Telecom (BT) four years ago. O2 demerged from BT in 2001. Throughout the time she says her career has provided a string of highs, overcoming successive challenges in what is largely uncharted territory. "It's not just been one proud moment," she says. "It's been a whole series of proud moments." Additional reporting by Mike Savage