Some sexy new Costa Coffee in store co-branding
Posted: January 6, 2011 Filed under: Business, Tech, Telecoms, Wi-Fi | Tags: comp, costa, costa coffee, free, free wi-fi at costa coffee, Wi-Fi, wifi Leave a commentbecause we are all about the pretty……
It’s wrong that NI Water boss has had to quit
Posted: January 6, 2011 Filed under: Business, Government, Interesting, Northern Ireland | Tags: chief exec, laurence mackensie, ni water Leave a commentLet’s have a look at the facts over the past few days.
1. The company was criticised for failing to prepare properly for disruption following December’s heavy snowfall.
2. Half-a-million litres of water had to be sent from Scotland to Belfast as supplies began to run out.
3. There were complaints from the public about a lack of information from Northern Ireland Water as 40,000 homes and businesses were without supplies at one stage.
4. Phone lines were jammed and the company website lacked up-to-date information.
5. There was more than 10 days of distribution.
OK, so it’s not looking good for NI Water but things fucked up. What NI Water then did was scramble to fix it ASAP and ten days is not to shabby given the problems we had. In an ideal world, this would not have happened in the first place but that’s life. In Dublin, things are much grimmer, their water crisis has been going on 6 weeks and continues so in comparison, NI water did not to bad a job.
What they need to do now, is get their house in order and learn from their mistakes so it doesn’t happen in future and what better person to do this than Laurence MacKensie who has been this all first hand.
A company in crisis needs a good leader and a company that need’s fixed needs a leader that knows what has gone on and can get to the ‘fix’ quicker. A new chief exec will need 3 months to settle in and get his head round what happened before he can make any changes what so ever. 3 months, that is after a 3 month recruitment process.
Know who your customer is
Posted: January 4, 2011 Filed under: Business, Do something Now is good, Government, Interesting, Northern Ireland | Tags: Business, debenhams, harvey norman, marketing, new business, new marketings, sales Leave a commentI had a meeting this morning in a hotel lounge as I often do and as I waited for my client I eavesdropped on the table beside me (again as I often do)
Beside me sat two gentlemen discussing where would be the best place to launch their ‘new and exciting’ cookware range. They were doing the google dance, listing down potential outlets for their gear.
Garden centres, hardware shops, cooks shops and restaurants were all jotted down but it was settled that the best places to start was the department stores and off they popped to the car to put together two samples sets to take to Debenhams in Belfast and Harvey Norman in Holywood.
What a waste of time, what a waste of money.
Had they bothered to do some more research they would know that both these stores buy centrally. Debenhams in London and HN in Dublin (with Australia pitching in too). Giving a sample set to a store manager in Belfast is a complete waste of time, if it even reaches the purchasing manager he (or she) will think they are idiots for not coming direct to HQ in the first place.
The point I am making is simple. Businesses waste too much time going after the wrong people, if these lads had have spent a little more time researching their potential customer they could have found out who the purchasing people were and set up a pitch meeting. Much more effective and a much better use of time.
It can be daunting going to big firm buyers but know this. It’s buyers jobs to……….. Er buy! But they can’t buy what they don’t know about.
Some achievements in 2010 and some points for 2011
Posted: January 3, 2011 Filed under: Do something Now is good, Interesting, Northern Ireland | Tags: Northern Ireland, personal Leave a commentThis is the second time I have typed this post, the first one got lost in the clouds somewhere. Isn’t technology wonderful?!
Some statistician somewhere worked out (or probably made up) that over 95% of New Years Resolutions are broken within 5 days. To that end I rarely bother making any at all. However last year I did make one, which was that on 1st February I would do my utmost to lose 2 stone in weight, then take it from there. Come 1st February, I stuck to my word and over the course of 2010 I lost over 5 stone but I will write more about that in a future post.
I wanted now to take just a few moments to note some achievements in 2010;
1. Lost over 5 stone (again more on that in a future post)
2. Impregnated my wife with our soon to be 2nd child, I know that doesn’t sound like a huge deal but sometimes these things are not as easy as you might think.
3. Didn’t buy a new car, again this may not sound like much however this is the first year since I have been 17 that I have not purchase a new car. It marks contentment for me with what I have instead of constantly upgrading for a bigger/better model. Plus my car is shit hot!
4. Work wise, I had a good year and secured some major coups for the company which should see us right for a few years.
5. Climbed Donard (more than once), Fat Russell would not have been able to do this.
6. Enjoyed time with Nicole (my wife) and Hannah (my first child). They are truly wonderful people and they deserve medels for putting up with me.
7. Built upon friendships. I have a great circle of friends of old and new from work, scouting, OpenCoffee and CMS. They (along with my family) make me who I am.
8. Became a District Scouting Commissioner. After years of constant moaning, someone called my bluff and put me on the board, with the help of my team, we have achieved much but there is much more to achieve.
9. Visited some wonderful cities, towns and villages across the UK and Ireland. More than I care to count, my word allows me to stay in some wonderful places and I am happy to enough them when I am there.
10. Read more books than the rest of life combined.
11. Got a new dog, Lucy, to annoy my other dog, Jack.
I don’t want to make any New Years Resolutions in 2011, not that I am not happy with the success of 2010’s resolution but because I want to take some more time to evaluate things properly, I have however though, made some points in which a plan for 2011 with formulate from;
1. Loose more weight, about about 1.5 stone will do nicely.
2. De-Clutter my stuff (more on this in a future post)
3. Read more (it’s good for the soul)
4. Write more (it’s also good for the soul)
5. Be more active
6. Love my family more (if it’s possible)
What does todays kid’s TV really teach us?
Posted: January 2, 2011 Filed under: Do something Now is good, Funny, Government, Interesting | Tags: a-team, bob the builder, childrens tv, fireman sam, handy manny, kids tv, ozo, peppa pig Leave a commentI’ve been watching a lot of children’s TV of late. Not because I am mental or anything but because I have been off work for the past two weeks and it seems to be the main theme of the family TV these days, what with having a tandrum loving 2&1/2 year old in the house.
What I have noticed though, is a difference between the TV I watched as a kid and the TV of today, the shows we watched as a kid taught us some great life lessons. Super-Ted taught us to cross the road, Fireman Sam taught us how to call the fire brigade and not waste their time, hell even the A-Team taught us you don’t have to kill people to do the right thing.
Let’s have a look at some of my Daughters favorite show’s and what I’m learning from them.
Peppa Pig – All Dads are idiots, deal with it. (To be fair, this is probably quite right)
Bob the Builder – It doesn’t matter how many times you lie or cock things up, you will never be fired. It also teaches us that there is enough business in a small town for a team of builders to live off, which is clearly not correct.
Postman Pat – I don’t know where to start with the new version of Postman Pat but if it took a postman a full day and the use of a helicopter, 3 vans and a motorbike, not to mention the help of practically everyone in the village to deliver just one parcel The Royal Mail would have went bankrupt years ago (wait a minute) In short, Postman Pat teaches us that every Government employee is wasteful with resources and incompetent (spot on then really).
Special Agent Ozo – This guy really is Special. Certainly no James Bond, Ozo is the sort of MI5 agent that would leave his laptop on the train. Another example of Government employee’s being incompetent.
Handy Manny – It’s the show’s that are loosely about someone who runs his (or her) own business that annoy me the most. Handy Manny is the mexican version of Bob the Builder I suppose but how Handy Manny expects his business to last more than a year when he spends his days doing favors for friends is beyond me, and why he has a shop when he spends 95% of his time ‘in the field’ is another mystery.
In short, all these shows are teaching our Children that is quite all right to be a complete moron in life.