Incredible Connection Blog | Dedicated to Technology, Dedicated to You

Fred Roed first started teaching people how to build their brands in the digital economy way back in 1998. Fred is currently the CEO of digital marketing agency World Wide Creative, and is also the co-founder of The Heavy Chef Project, which educates audiences about Marketing & Technology. Fred is brand obsessed – with side habits of pizza, Hawaiian shirts, movies, Danish beer and fine wine. Fred also happens to do a mean version of ‘Angie’ by the Rolling Stones at 3am in any randomly selected Korean karaoke joint (feel free to search for it on YouTube). Fred has worked with some great global brands, and is available to present on the ‘new tools of branding’ in public speaking forums, company presentations and in the Heavy Chef Courses.

What cellphone are you currently using and which apps are you using on it?
I’m running Gmail and Fring on my Nokia E90, which is a bit of a brick. I’m waiting patiently on stock of the new iPhone 3Gs, which nobody seems to have in this country.

Do you own any gaming platforms and what current games are you enjoying?
I’ve got a Nintendo Wii at home now (it’s actually on loan from my business partner Mike). My 6 year old son and I kick each other’s asses in Wii Sports.

If you had 30k to spend on gadgets, what would you buy?
Wow, that’s a great question. It’d be hard to choose between a gleaming new 17” MacBook Pro or Home Entertainment Centre. I think my wife would sway me to the Home Entertainment.

Oldest gadget you own that still works?
It’s got to be “The Rock”, which is legendary around the World Wide Creative’s studio. It is my previous laptop (I currently use a Toshiba) which I got from Rock Direct in the UK. I used it at work for 4 years before finally giving it up. It was beautiful – a gaming machine, way ahead of its time. It’s currently being used my wife and kids at home. It’s old, broken and helluva grumpy. It sounds like a washing machine on high spin when it starts up, and regularly overheats… when running two programs at once, you can fry an egg on it.

What one gadget can you not live without on a daily basis?
It’s probably my 3g stick. I love the idea of being mobile at work. As CEO, I’m really just a salesman, tasked with growing the business. Internet on my phone is also pretty cool, but nothing beats a full screen experience – for example, yesterday afternoon, sitting at Dunes Restaurant at Hout Bay beach, with the waves crashing in front of me while I worked on a proposal.