Tony Fernandes CEO Blog

In New York city for the entire day. And meeting media and building the brand is part of the agenda. Have attached some of the interviews that I do abroad and it touches on many issues which includes important topics such as how do we build a worldwide brand. Recently, I had tea with The Economist and thought it might be something that you would like to see.

Here's another that I ran through with Mike Gascoyne and BBC on the Lotus F1 dream. We need to be at the forefront and be ambassadors of our brand and be passionate about our involvement. The link for BBC is as follows:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/motorsport/formula_one/8362515.stm

The essence of brand building is that we must first embrace what the brand means and what it should symbolise to the world. Armed with that, we go out with conviction and we preach that far and wide with all the latest technology and with the most effect we can.

Hope you enjoy these videos and fully embrace the value of integrating mass media with your brand. Be passionate about your brand and be all you can be. Will check back soon from New York. Have a good day all.

It was back in September when I launched a competition on my personal Twitter and Facebook page. Simply tell me where and what route you would like AirAsia to fly to and you win free flights for a year. The response was overwhelming.

I know it’s been a long time coming and most of you are probably wondering when the winner of the competition will be announced if at all. Today, I’m going to announce a date. 8 December 2009 to be exact. On that Tuesday, I’m going to call some of my media friends to come along as I unveil the winners to the world. Have been tinkering with technology a bit lately and we’re going to try to experiment with Cover It Live at the event itself. So mark your calendars as I unveil the winners of the first competition on Facebook and Twitter to a year of free flights.

All I’m going to say is that one of the winners chose an Asian destination that we’ve been eyeing for a while now. Will see you on 8 December 2009. It’s all happening live. Let the drums roll.

Well, it’s been five weeks into the season and the hoopla seems to be catching.

I’m talking, of course, about the ASEAN Basketball League (full disclosure: I’m chairman of the ABL). It has taken us just over a year to get the ABL started. It was tough going at times, but we persevered and it was great to see the first regional sports league in ASEAN tip off in Jakarta. Five weeks into the season, and it’s great to see the response from fans.

I’ve always felt that it’s not enough for us here in ASEAN to merely follow the fortunes of sports teams from elsewhere – be it in football, basketball, F1. We need to create our own teams, cheer our own heroes, celebrate when we win, curse when we lose and given the diversity in ASEAN, we can do both in a variety of languages and customs!

It’s also about nurturing talent and providing opportunities for our people to compete against the best in the region – and eventually, the world.

All the team owners are dedicated to developing the game in their respective countries. We want to show the young, the talented and the committed that you can create a future for yourself playing the sport that you love.

The six teams involved – from the Barracudas from Brunei, KL Dragons from Malaysia, Satria Muda from Jakarta, The Philippine Patriots from Manila, the Singapore Slingers and the Thailand Tigers – have been putting on quite a show.

The fans are turning out in growing numbers at the stadiums where the games are played. There were 1,000 people loudly cheering at a game recently between the Singapore Slingers and the Philippine Patriots. And why not? It’s affordable family entertainment. The action is fast and furious with teams consisting of locals and a limited number of imports playing with passion.

The ABL games are also broadcast live on ESPN on weekday nights and late afternoon on Saturday. You must have caught some of them while channel surfing at home. If you haven’t, tune in some time. Better yet, come on down to the stadiums and catch a game live. Who knows? You may one day be able to say that you watched a future Michael Jordan in action!

Head on over to aseanbasketballleague.com for more details. Hope to see you at a game soon!