I Heart Hamburg :)

It’s been two months since I arrived in Hamburg and I have been enjoying every single day of it ;)  It’s a great city and I’ll be here until the end of September..so tell me if you happen to be around :) Tchuss!!!

Feels like yesterday.

Some short videos of me and my little brother, taken by my dad, a looong looong time ago. One was taken in Bali, and another one in D.C. My outfit, my hair..my my my..all so HILARIOUS, ha! I looked like Ronaldo, the infamous Brazilian soccer player :P  And my oh-so-cute brother parroting my words and following me around. Ah he adores me! :) Time flies so quickly it’s creepy.

Things to be grateful for.

Life is cool:

1. I have new friends from work. They are awesome.

2. I am going to Indo in a couple of weeks. Really looking forward.

3. ….will probably go to Bali with my best friends during my holiday.

4. Work is getting more and more challenging. Have been learning loads.

5. I don’t have to ask my parents for money anymore.

6. I  started to go to the gym.

7. I am healthy.

8. ….and so are my parents and brother.

9. Just watched The Dark Knight. Great movie.

10. It’s weekend.

Alhamdulillah. :)

Graduated and it feels so good.

My name is now Farrah Almira Ali B.Com :)

And the grade is….

AN 8.5 OUT OF 10!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! ALHAMDULILLAHHHH :D :D :D

It is with pleasure and deepest gratitude that I acknowledge the contributions of the following individuals and groups to the development of my dissertation. First and foremost, I wish to thank my academic supervisor, Drs. Donald C. Ropes for his tremendous efforts and support. His expertise, guidance, and patience added considerably to the development of my dissertation topic. I am especially grateful to Tim Werkhoven from British American Tobacco for taking time out from his busy schedule to serve as my external supervisor. I would also like to thank Cees Foet and Julie Munstermann for the interviews that clarified my thinking on this matter. I am indebted to Andrew Land, Kemal Supelli and David Cinanni who contributed to my dissertation with their editing assistance, informal reviews and fixes. Their professional collaboration has meant a great deal to me. I also want to thank my family for their love and for their tangible and emotional support. Many friends, in various ways, provided support and inspiration. I thank them all, in particular Fira, Dilla, Diar, Karin, Dewi, Cici, Chaki and Dimas. Last but not least, my special thanks go out to Akbar for his motivation throughout my study and stay in The Netherlands. My dissertation would have never been brought to fruition without their support, comments and care.

Done.

I am now approaching the end of an era. If everything goes as planned (amiiin), I will end my life as a student and start working full-time in July. Well…nothing is 100% sure yet. I guess we’ll find out really soon. My teacher will e-mail me the collective grade of my thesis and presentation on Thursday. It feels really good, ya know, came home after defending my thesis and just relaxing without having to think of what else I should do for my thesis and stuff. I never enjoy waiting, of course. But at this point, there is nothing left to do but playing the waiting game. A little bit about the presentation yesterday, all in all it went pretty well. The atmosphere was pretty laid back with minimal “deadly” questions. It was even better and more comforting to have my housemates (Kemal and Chaki), classmates (Andrea and Roxanne) and Akbar watching (thanks guys :D). One of the teachers said that I was talking a little too fast and had a bit too much of information in my presentation. But despite those minor technical problems, the messages I was trying to get across were well understood, so it’s ok. Summarizing a 40-something-page report into a 15-minute presentation was definitely not the easiest thing to do (at least for me). But anywayssssss….it’s over..for now! And right now, I have to focus on this report that I must deliver to my managers before next Tuesday. Gee I need a holiday. Am really looking forward to going to Hamburg and Berlin next week..yaay…! oh and to watching John Mayer next Sunday…yippy!!! and to getting my grade on Thursday…uh-oohh..! people please pray together with me!!!??? :)

One heck of a super active weekend

Friday: Straight from work, went to Assendelft to attend Cem’s BBQ party. Stayed until around 11pm and arrived at home around 12am.

Saturday: Worked on my oh-my-god-I-am-about-to-have-a-nervous-breakdown dissertation before going to Yoga’s b’day party at his place. Stayed until 12.30am.

Sunday: Went to Pasar Malam Besar in The Hague to eat good food and watch Slank. Stayed until 10pm and arrived at home at 12am.

…resulting in terrible exhaustion and bankruptcy..*sigh

Tears of joy.

After more than two weeks waiting, I finally got the answer today. The answer that I didn’t expect I would ever hear. I thought there was no chance whatsoever, and (thank God) I was proven wrong. Thanks to Allah SWT for giving me this opportunity. I won’t brag, but I’m definitely staying in Holland for at least another year, for a good reason. Alhamdulillah :)

It’s spring and I’m oh so corny.

The best season of the year finally comes. I love to feel the warmth of the sun on my skin, to feel the warm breeze on my face. The flowers are blossoming beautifully in ocher and turquoise. The birds are chirping frantically in the clear blue sky. Life seems so beautiful and glittering. Happy spring!

I see trees of green, red roses too. I see them bloom for me and you. I see skies of blue and clouds of white. The bright blessed day, the dark sacred night. The colors of the rainbow so pretty in the sky. Are also on the faces of people going by.

And I think to myself what a wonderful world.

Sekolah Kami

A short clip from “Perempuan Berkarya” about Sekolah Kami.

If I was a president…

My mother sent me an email yesterday telling me a story about what had recently taken place in Sekolah Kami. Last week, a number of student union members from SMP 252 came to pay a visit to meet the children in Sekolah Kami. During their visit, they held a session where each Sekolah Kami student was asked to stand in front of the class to say out loud their “If I was a president” aspirations. My mother was there watching when an 8-year-old conveyed his wish. The little kid said, “Andai Aku jadi Presiden, aku mau buat SEKOLAH KAMI yang banyak biar lebih banyak lagi anak2 miskin kaya aku yang bisa sekolah”, my mom wrote in her email. My mom burst into tears when she heard such sincere hope coming from an underweight 8-year-old whose parents work as scavengers. Apparently I had the same reaction just reading the lines in her email. An 8-year-old with a heart larger than life. The naiveness and the unselfishness of his dream touched my heart to its deepest depth. He has been given the chance to go to school. And he wants other kids like him get the same chance. Do not just rely on the government, together we can also help the children of our nation achieving their noble dreams, in any possible way.

Cause-related Marketing (CRM)

“Social responsibility is emerging as a new theme in today’s marketplace. In the past few years, discussion of companies’ social responsibility practices have moved from reports and websites to supermarket shelves and retail stores” (GAP CSR report 2006)

Today, the choices consumers are faced with are enormous. There are a great number of products with many similarities in terms of price and quality. Moreover, consumers are demanding more value for their money. They are more aware of social issues and expect businesses to be more socially responsible. Ptacek and Salazar (1997) argues that the changing attitudes of customers have driven marketers to find new ways to make marketing relevant to society, dialogue-seeking, responsive and involving. In the ever-increasing need to differentiate themselves and their products, many companies are now pursuing the cause-related marketing (CRM) route as a valuable marketing strategy in order to obtain and maintain competitive advantage as well as to build a good reputation. In its simplest form, cause-related marketing is often referred as “the tactics of companies linking the purchases of their products with donations to charity” (Wymer and Samu, 2003). According to Joanne Fritz (2007) “…today, companies are fully embracing what is called doing well while doing good. Cause-related marketing may become the principal way that businesses express their social responsibility”. The (PRODUCT) RED scheme is an example of a successful high-profile CRM campaign. So if you buy, for instance, a Red iPod Nano or Red GAP t-shirt, you actually donate a certain percentage of its price to people with AIDS in Africa. The downside of CRM, however, company benefits first before any obligation to donate is accrued, and therefore the consumers may perceive this as self-interest rather than altruism. If so, this type of promotion could backfire and result in a loss of goodwill toward the company. In a nutshell, my thesis provides an overview of GAP’s approach to CRM , especially its communication strategy in promoting its participation in (PRODUCT) RED. Also, how it affects consumers’ purchase intention and perception towards GAP. Finally, some strategic recommendations will be provided for GAP to avoid or overcome consumers’ skepticism. Well my friends, pleaseee wish me luck!