Broadband, Tourism and Priorities in Ireland
When I studied Business Information Systems in UCC one of the rights of passage as a first year student was that you had to watch Guy Kawasaki’s Standford presentation of “Rules for Revolutionaries”. Kawasaki is a fantastic speaker and it’s certainly recommended viewing for any would be software entrepreneurs.
Priorities
Of my favourite parts of the presentation is when Guy tells the story of a professor teaching his students about priorities. The professor takes an empty mayonaisse jar and fills it to the brim with big stones and asks the class “is the jar full?” To which they respond “Yes”. The professor proceeds to fill the spaces between the stones with gravel and asks the class again “is the jar full now?” The class once again say “Yes” and the professor then adds sand into the jar. He asks the class is it full for a third time and they realise where it’s going and say “No”. The professor then fills the jar with water and turns to the class and asks “What is the message I’m trying to communicate?”. A student naively answers “no matter how much you have on your plate you can always add a little more” .
The professor sagely turns to the class and says “No it’s not, if you want to put the big stones in then you have to put them in first!”.
Tourism Ireland
This story came to mind for a few reasons, firstly Damien was continuing the much need debate on Broadband in Ireland and secondly that I saw that Tourism Ireland were having a St. Patricks Day Parade in Second Life.
The logic for the St. Patricks Day Parade in Second Life appears to be more about column inches rather than business logic. For a semi-state agency to pursue such a strategy is reprehensible. The media coverage seems to be as concerned with Tourism Ireland’s Central Marketing Director Mark Henry as it they are about the event. “Mark Henry…will be represented at the Second Life Dublin parade by his online avatar. Meanwhile the real Mr Henry will be present at events in New York.”
We are very excited about the world’s first virtual St Patrick’s Day parade — it’s an innovative and interesting way to present the island of Ireland as an attractive holiday destination to a new audience,” “Once they have experienced the simulated Ireland, we hope these potential visitors will come and see the real thing”.
Mr. Henry’s strategy does not appear completely foolish at first glance. Get the people from the online version to the real version. We know they are on Second Life so they must have some spare time and some money. If we show them online Ireland maybe they’ll want to spend time and money here.
My gut instinct is that people who spend hours in a virtual world are not the biggest spenders in real world vacations. We know that this audience are very tech savvy people and they will be taking their laptops with them on holiday. My question is has Mr. Henry ever tried to get on the internet in an Irish hotel/guesthouse?
Broadband
I have tried to do so on several occasions and have been either unable to do so or charged through the nose for the privilege (Up to €20/day for Wifi!). I would love to know how much the spend on Second Life has been for Tourism Ireland and how many Wi-Fi hotspots that could have paid for in Irish Hotels/Guesthouses. If anyone actually visits Ireland as a result of this promotion surely we are just setting them up for disappointment.
One tech savvy person to be disappointed was none other than Mr. Kawasaki himself. Guy Kawasaki was in Dublin at end of last month for the Irish Software Association conference. “Been without Internet access in Dublin for the last 14 hours. It’s killing me.” - Guy Kawasaki, Dublin (February 26, 2008). For one of the top 50 bloggers to say that certainly doesn’t do Ireland’s reputation any favours and highlights the problems we have. If a technology evangelist can’t get Internet access when he is over for a Software Conference then surely our priorities are skewed.
Before Tourism Ireland are allowed to spend another penny on Second Life I would urge whoever is in charge to try and put the big stones in place. It may be outside the traditional role of marketing but free wi-fi in Irish hotels and hostels is an amenity that is becoming of a country that prides itself on it’s IT capability. A St. Patricks Day parade in Second Life looks like one man trying to make a name for himself.
{My problems with Tourism Ireland spending money in Second Life are admittedly based on opinion and I welcome any one with hard facts that agree or differ with my position. }
Posted 14.03.08New BBC Homepage Goes Live
Yesterday saw the long awaited introduction of the new BBC Homepage. A countdown calendar had been in place for the preceding days building up to the big launch. Having already seen the near complete version in Beta testing the new homepage is not a major shock, but I imagine it is for the casual web user.
I reviewed the Beta version of the BBC Homepage last December and to be honest not much has changed. Noticing the differences is a Where’s Wally style game of looking for minute changes in colour and shape. Read More
Posted 27.02.08New NME Website Design
I have to say I’ve been waiting to review this one for a while. The new NME website design has been in the pipeline for a few months now. Before the site was remodeled this week the new look and feel was debuted on their news page about 3 months ago. Such a prolonged roll out is rare to see these days but it has been worth the wait as the new design is a great improvement over the last website.
A bit of background first: NME or (New Musical Express) is a music magazine catering for the 16-30 age group. It has been around since 1952 and been going strong ever since. It is a controversial magazine, dividing music lovers opinions. Some say they seek to generate hype rather than publish balanced opinion while many people enjoy the sensationalism and energy in their journalism. Read More
Posted 15.02.08Blog Quality Vs. Quantity
I’ve always felt that life is about trade-offs. If you choose one course of action you forgo another course of action. For instance the World’s best tennis player is unlikely to be the World’s best boxer. By choosing to focus on being great in one field you forgo the opportunity to be great in another. Read More
Posted 04.02.08Illy - Website Design Classics
Sometimes I find reviewing websites is like meeting people. This is especially the case when it comes to reviewing our favourite products or companies. We are often told that we should never meet our heroes but I’ve never had much meas for that myself. Today’s website is that of one of my favourite products, Illy Coffee.
As any barista will tell you, Illy make excellent coffee. Whenever I’m in a foreign city I look for the Illy sign to dictate what coffee shop I should call to. Not only do I like the product but I also appreciate the way Illy handle their branding. Their logo is simple, distinctive and clear. Their packaging leads the way not just in terms of aesthetics but in functionality - those famous silver tins preserve coffee much better than highly stressed tinfoil. Read More
Posted 22.01.08The Hippies TV Show - Lessons to be Learned
I sometimes get asked why you would call a company Atrier given that clients look for results and not effort. Well I try to be up front with people and from experience I know one can only try. Success in life is never guaranteed.
When I think of a good example of lots of effort but not much success I think of “The Hippies”, a sitcom that was on BBC for one series in 1999. The series was about of clueless British Hippies who ran an underground magazine out of a basement in Notting Hill. The Hippies was created by Father Ted writing partners Arthur Matthews and Graham Linehan who were at the time riding the crest of a wave. The show had a great cast including Simon Pegg, Sally Phillips, Julian Rhind-Tutt and Darren Boyd who were the four main characters. Read More
Posted 11.01.08World Darts Championship - Marketing Genius
Last night saw the conclusion of the PDC World Darts Championships in Alexandra Palace. For 2 weeks Sky Sports covered every throw of this competition, with John Part finally taking the title last night. I watched quite a lot of the championships last night and was spellbound by how the organisers got everything about this competition so right.
The first thing that I should highlight is that darts is not an easy sell. Darts is not the most dynamic of sports. The protagonists are not cut like Greek gods. Greek salads might be more appropriate but for 2 weeks the organisers made them look like sporting colossuses. Read More
Posted 02.01.08Happy New Year
I’d like to wish all the people who visit this site and all Atrier’s customers a very healthy, happy and prosperous 2008.
I’m going to do a more complete review of 2007 in a few days time and maybe make a few predictions for who and what to watch in 2008.
Posted 31.12.07Happy Christmas!
Ah Christmas, time to take a break from work put the feet up and catch up on some R and R.
I’d like to wish everyone a very Merry Christmas. While I’d like to take a complete break from the work I have a few on going things I have to keep on top off.
My current plaything is a bit of Self Promotion under my athletics hat. (In my spare time I’m a member of Ireland’s 4*400m relay squad). So if you would like to see our fledgling website and perhaps give some link love or add a comment - it’s http://www.project400.net
Posted 24.12.07New Car Magazine Website Review
Car Magazine, is arguably the worlds finest publication for automotive enthusiasts. For decades they have been an institution and a standard bearer in terms of journalistic quality, photographic excellence and exquisite packaging. For many years whatever Car Magazine did with their publication, other magazine and journals followed. However while being an icon in the print world, Car Magazine were incredibly slow to embrace the online medium.
This changed about 18 months ago when they launched their first venture online. While the journalistic quality was very good and images by in large excellent, the design of the site was disappointing. It was not a bad website but not in keeping with the quality of design in the printed article. As I have stated before, integrating off line and online is the name of the game. Harrods do an excellent with their website, so I was glad to see yesterday that Car Magazine have spruced up their website. Read More
Posted 17.12.07