MO SEETUBTIM

A WRITER & BLOGGER OBSESSED WITH BRANDS

5 min readApr 20, 2014

WRITING FOR BRANDS

Back in April 2012, I had a chance to do a brief internship at Interbrand. I was totally stoked to hear I got the opportunity to witness my childhood’s branding idol in action and immerse myself in the branding world, learning about the process and the principles behind all the beautiful branding that I see.

During the internship, I discovered the beautiful art behind branding and how emotional branding really is. And I absolutely loved it!

At the end of my degree, I won L’Oreal Brandstorm 2012 in Australia and was flown over to Paris for the International Final. That was the moment I was inspired to move to a bigger, busier city, Sydney.

I got offered a job in Strategy at OMD, assisting the National Head of Strategy and senior strategists in new business pitches and on various campaigns. Being there helped me connect the dots between who and who, what and what in the advertising world. I learned a great deal about media, especially in how Google thinks and Big Data, how media companies work, and how we look at the consumer journey and their media consumption habits.

However, to be honest, I felt like it was a little dry. I missed the creative side of things where you work with words, typography, visuals, and all the things that make an advertisement a piece of art or an entertainment rather than a marketing message. I also missed playing with disruptive technologies. Pretty much all the things that wow people whether it’s because it sounds rhythmic; it touches hearts; it moves very intuitively; or it does things people never thought of or seen before.

So since then, I briefly joined an Innovation agency led by an ex-What If director, realising that they mainly do consumer products which is not my niche. Then I started exploring the tech startup scene and have been involved in a couple of tech startups up to date — namely, Issue.by which is an iPad magazine platform that helps brands turn their brand content or brand stories into a beautiful ‘shoppable’ magazine, Sherpa (not yet launched) which is basically Uber for couriers, Chartie (not yet launched) where passionate people connect, inspire, and are inspired, Post-A-Vox app that lets people easily put in complaints to companies like Telstra and Sydney Trains, and Innovation Bay.

So back to writing, I started blogging again when I finished at OMD. I’ve been gaining amazing momentum where I now get up to 200-10,000 visits to my blog per day (depending on the post). Writing is probably the best form of expression. It helps you structure your thoughts as well as conveying your messages in a creative way — in a way that you know people would like to read and click ‘like’, in a way that people feel inspired and moved by words, in a way that it has opened up angles in the way you see things.

Here are some of my most loved and shared pieces;

The Trick to Manipulate Your Own Mind

(It drove over 10,000 visitors to my website after sharing on Reddit. It also got ‘featured’ on Slideshare — instantly received 3,000 views in 2 hours.)

Quora — Long-form deep stuff about life and wisdom

Tumblr — Creative short-form content like quote photos or book quotations

Medium — Long-form conceptual content with lots of visuals

I am a Maverick and a Go-Getter (according to Good.co). I thrive on challenge and I want to learn and grow as much and as fast as I can.

I LOVE branding. So much so that sometimes MY HEART SHIVERS when I read about branding. I can actually cry when I talk or think about the art of branding. I know I start to sound a little creepy but it’s true.

And as a writer, I like to be able to craft messages that touch hearts, tell stories that inspire and move people with words, and change attitudes, shift mindset, and belief with what I say — pretty much change the world to a certain extent.

It is one of my childhood dreams to inspire people to live with passion. And I think this is why I am so moved by branding. A brand has a passion — a passion about its vision, its purpose, and its reason for existence. A brand wants to inspire and relate, yet, be unique and distinctive.

I see myself as a brand, and that’s why I am also known as “Brandmentalist”. The name started because I was looking for a word that says “This girl is very passionate about branding” and there I found it — available as a domain name and as usernames on all social media channels.

Writing is my best friend. And instead of writing editorial pieces for sponsors or reviews on events, I’d like my writing to make more impact than that. I want to change the world through my writing which is my art. I love beautiful typography and words well spoken (I even love Californication purely just because how words on the script are very well worded).

Are you planning on building a brand (not just a business)?

Are you looking for someone to help you craft beautiful brand content?

Are you trying to turn what you know into an engaging, inspiring story that connects?

Are you looking for a guide on brand development?

Connect with me on Twitter @BrandMentalist

More thoughts on The Art of Passionate Living: BRANDMENTALIST.com

More musings on marketing & branding: Socialmediastrategist.co