Friday 29 April 2011

A Right Royal Moneyspinner


Forums of the world are buzzing with talk of the Royal Wedding. The event has gone live to almost every country in the World (except Belarus apparently..) and the extensive coverage has been worthy of such a significant event. The now married couple are beaming radiantly, as are the families on both sides of the matrimony. Seemingly a great ceremonial event.

But the real wins from the Wedding come in the form of showcasing British Business and efficiency. It has been a shining example of what we can achieve as a Nation and as Boris Johnson explained during a BBC interview on the day, the Wedding will be a good test of the UK in terms of infrastructure and capability in advance of our Olympic challenge next year. All in all I think we have demonstrated that the nation is a force to be reckoned with.

On a different note and as many of the commentators have eluded, it has been a great day for British Fashion after the revelation of Manchester born Sarah Burton as the designer of Catherine's dress. This combined with the veritable catwalk of other outfits modelled by various dignitaries has provided an unparalleled opportunity to broadcast our clothing lines and world-class designers.

Likewise the market for Kate and Will memorabilia has been booming since its release in January of this year. Everything from chocolate coffee dusters in the face of the couple, to "knit your own wedding" kits have been flying off the shelves. A great revenue stream for the retailers and eventually many of the items will become collectables worth inordinate amounts to Royal collectors, so everyone is a winner! (Particularly purchasers of 'Crown Jewels: Condoms of Distinction')

London's pubs, hotels, restaurants and clubs will be clawing in Millions of pounds of revenue over this weekend and the general hubbub across the nation has also encouraged more liberal consumer spending due to the glut of recent Bank Holidays and general holiday feeling.

So all in all a great day where Great Britain has gone some way to affirming its grandiose title. It is not all black on the balance sheet however. Small Business owners have been shuffling uncomfortably at the prospect of staff cobbling together an 11 day holiday with but 3 days leave. There are predictions that loss of earnings could rack into the Billions, and that's not to mention the cost of the wedding alone (£50 Million + according to some estimates)

I have no doubt there is much debate surrounding whether the Wedding was "value for money", these will be framed in the scene of wider questioning of the Royal Family as an institution. Personally however, I think the return on investment for our most recent of Royal Extravagances would be rather admirable.

Thursday 21 April 2011

The Age of the Micro Celebrity (that's you)


We live in an exciting age where the internet and social media have yielded a new type of fame. Blogs, fan pages, and Twitter accounts are the root cause of a status that I am going to call Micro Celebrity.

Not two decades ago the only way to achieve 'fame' was to break into the bastion of television or Film. You needed to do something significantly noteworthy to grant you some elbow room on the compact and crowded stage of public attention. Such fame was characterised by widespread recognition, fans hanging on every word spoken by our hero, and a pervading respect for whatever facet of human kind which they had so eloquently demonstrated.

However times have changed, and every few minutes, a Micro Celebrity is born. I am talking of course about those who have, sometimes unwittingly, built themselves a significant online presence and substantive following of the public who offer many of the hallmarks of success which I outlined above. 
Geeks are branded Gurus, the shy have become peacocks, and the sceptics have become sharers.

It is becoming an increasingly common facet of polite society to digest your life and inner monologue into a pithy media showcase. Students rocket to being celebrities (and sometimes millionaires) with viral online videos like songifys Charlie Sheen Winning. We have the infamous City Boy who became an overnight success with his columns giving an anonymous insider view of the London Money markets who now maintains a suitably intriguing website. Comic twitter pseudonyms such as @Queen_UK enjoy national following and thousands daily enjoy engaging 'Elizabeth Windsor' with jovial comments and exchanges.

So we have moved on from the purely A-grade domination of Celebrities seen in the 80's and 90's. We have even moved from our fetish for endless D-Listers in the Big Brother dominated years of the 00's. We have a new breed, and I think they might be the best one yet. Who better to idolise than someone of humble origins who simply has something genuinely interesting to offer? They promise delivery of value before having praise heaped upon them rather than leaving us cold like so many generic A-D list counterparts.

These individuals are also working examples of brilliant use of social media and the full power of internet blogging tools. A genuine bubbling enthusiasm for a topic provokes their conception, and the discerning eye of the connected public consciously selects them for a place in the internet hall of fame.

I recently read an article suggesting that social media such as Facebook, Twitter, Blogging sites etc. are in fact improving the collective publics ability to represent and share their character. Far from being a nerdy or antisocial persuit, sitting at your computer or smartphone can be extremely fulfilling. And what better boost to your confidence than putting your genuine character 'out-there' and it being broadly embraced by a wider community?

So we can all be Micro Celebrities (not always welcome as in the case of this besieged Australian woman). Many of you will know some already within your spheres of Work or University. They are people who have a kind of bubbling subtext to their presence from what they have been doing online. The real asset we have is the open and good-spirited community of sharing and communication which has developed. Long may it remain, just don't expect to get mega rich from being micro famous.

Thursday 14 April 2011

You can't put a price on an Entrepreneur


The word is abound. Not too long ago the French-bred term was consigned to the ranks of The Dragons Den and The Apprentice. Bold characters with hefty bank balances wheeled out to perform for the viewing public who marvelled at the seemingly strange creature.

No longer however. Apparently Entrepreneurs are now all around us. Dragon Peter Jones (@dragonjones as he likes to tweet) recently wrote that "50% of the population want to start a Business but only 5.8% ever do". So, do we have a veritable army of future dragons in our midst, poised on the brink of unleashing their innate Business ability and smashing revenue targets like plates at a Hellenic wedding? Well the sobering reality of only 5.8% who actually get off their behind might quash this idea but even so it gives me a mildly warming sensation in the pit of my stomach. I don't get romantic about many things so this must be significant.

The great thing about the rising profile of Enterprise and personal endeavour means it stops becoming a black art or a dirty word. With the Government pushing through Startup Britain and sticking to their guns in times of stark financial uncertainty and high-profile Entrepreneurs like Peter Jones furthering their vision vicariously through schemes like the "Tenner Tycoon" (which I think is a great idea) the walls are being broken down.

So what could be the best possible outcome of all this cash and effort going towards getting us up and out of our pension-clad comfort zones? Well personally I feel that starting a Business in your own image is actually the most natural thing in the world. Every gripe of every employee, every frustration with an inefficient system, every cog that needs oiling, and every manager who bumbles through a day. These are all screaming invitations for dogged Entrepreneurship (or at the very least Intrapreneurship) in order to improve a situation which you as an individual can see is not optimal. The best outcome is therefore that next time someone in this country feels a pent-up frustration at their working environment, they take their issues by the scruff of the neck and have a stern word in the form of getting out and doing it a damn sight better on their own.

However, there is a downside to the rising profile of individual Enterprise. It is an alluringly vacuous topic in the wrong hands. Unfortunately the remaining 44.2% who never start their Business will spend that energy just talking about it instead. I am a little concerned that cash and credance sometimes goes to the hollow vessel of an ostensible Entrepreneur who makes the most noise. The more you sit around and talk about endeavour, the further you get from its true application, much like chasing a lilly across a pond with frantic splashing only pushing it further away. My mentor Mike Southon will tell you the same. Armed with nothing more than a beermat he has a great strategy for getting up and on with your Business without getting bogged down in unnecessary committees and hot air.

Another peril is the bizarre trend of attempting to quantify how Entrepreneurial an individual is. Last time I checked it wasn't a competition (that would be something you have once you actually start your Business..). As far as I am aware there is also no convenient and cast iron 'top trumps' scale for employers or peers to measure your spirit of endeavour, and until there is, I say follow your gut, make sure you take all the advice you can get, and then disregard most of it. That's what this game is really about.

Good luck to you.

Sunday 10 April 2011

Dont Bank on it.


The UK banking sector has been the seething battleground for a cold war of contempt in the last few years. I have recently changed banks and am joining the yearly migration of students into graduate finances and "the real world" as it is continually referred to by every brow-beaten worker I speak to. This got me thinking about the overall experience of banking in the UK.

From early teens we begin to feel the pressures to lock our money up safe in such an institution and often become lifetime customers. Indeed it would still seem that signing up with a bank is marginally better than stuffing cash into a mattress, although there is a fine line. Special offers, account rewards, AER's and credit limits, the language of the industry. Real question is do they actually give a monkeys or do they just put up with us much akin to a parent humouring a child when "looking after their pocket money"?

Natwest have been attempting to up their game recently with their 'Customer Charter'. From what I can make out they are dragging the organisation and their firmly 1980's styled uniforms kicking and screaming into an age of reasonable consumer expectation. A cursory twitter search for Natwest yields sentiment similar to my own, which is that their charter is superficial at best. Bold claims are made: "We are committed to listening" and "We are committed to helping when you need us", which is nice to know considering they might be sitting on hundreds of thousands of pounds of your money. Personally I had the worst customer service of experience in my entire life with the Navy-clad polyester lovers at Natwest. After putting a fraud stop on my card without telling me, and then fobbing me off with a spotty 18 year old who distracted himself from his Xbox long enough to rise to the lofty position of their Customer service manager, I rapidly made for the exit and closed my account.

HSBC happily transferred over my current account (with all standing orders intact) and have been positively competent ever since. However they do seem to have an alarming desire to sign me up for Business loans and multiple mortgages every time I sneak into a branch to cash a check. I am no financial analyst but it seems a little over zealous in light of the recent lending crisis. Its not all plain sailing though, a friend recently told me that HSBC closed his account without notification because he was a few pounds overdrawn, nice to feel valued isn't it?

So you have chosen your Bank and have your fingers crossed. You want to transfer money I hear you cry? BACS payments between accounts have historically taken 3 days to clear, with the money only actually moving anywhere on the third day. In an age of fast moving Business this is pretty laughable, and as this thread points out, the only justification seems to be profiteering from the banks with Europe suffering no such delay.

On the wider topic of banks and their inescapable role as pillars of our economy, the credit crunch debacle is only now being put to bed with occasional skirmishes cropping up on the assurance that it wont happen again. It amazes me that measures such as 'ring fencing' of core banking services (e.g. preserving the basic infrastructure and assets allowing us to buy beer at Tescos) are still only being debated. Surely any good Business should compartmentalise their operations so that we don't have any more Lehman Brother style house of cards?

Personally I think we as consumers need to be more mercenary. All too often we feel as though the bank is doing us a favour by protecting our hard-earned cash from theft and affray. But when interest rates on borrowed funds spike above 20% and interest on savings struggles to even beat inflation, you could be forgiven for shouting scrooge. At the end of the day its your money so make sure you shop around. 



My tip of the week for those who are looking to put a little aside is Santander's E-saver with a tidy 3% Gross AER and no faffing around if you want to get the cash out. Its no money spinner but it still beats hiding it under your bed and brandishing a baseball bat... Just.

Monday 4 April 2011

A little bird told me...


I am a recent convert to the church of Twitter. I don't mind admitting I used to think it was a vacuous waste of everyone's time which offered nothing to the mix that wasn't already catered for many times over by existing social networks. It would appear that in the most part, I was wrong.

Having just discovered the @mentions tab of the web interface (it took me a while) and begun to engage brain with what goes into my tweets I have realised that it is very much a case of "give and you will receive". Twitter is quite literally buzzing with a kind of incestuous activity. End users, multinational companies, and celebrities all slugging it out together in a world of 160 character text shots, with little of the social trappings or hierarchy which govern everyday life.

My feeling is that the concept has been ultimately successful due to the element of anonymity. It allows an outlet for theatrical like outbursts and prodding of multi-national companies alike. Users need only a few details to sign up and can proport to be whoever they like if a name is not already taken. Once you have your twitter wings you can speak to the community of some 50+ million active users (interesting read here, some creative accounting on the total number of users but its still pretty impressive for a fledgling network..)

Twitter's success has got the corporate buy-out buzzards circling, however the organisation and its newly re-instated founder Jack Dorsey (BBC story here) have a struggle on their hands. Twitter is posting some pretty weak profits compared to competitors (Business Insider take a look) and is riding off a whole lot of intangibles surrounding the brand and the concept. On Friday Google was reported to be closing in on a $250 million dollar deal to buy the network, perhaps they will have the magic touch to make advertising revenues work without killing the buzz.

For those of you looking to up your involvement on Twitter some of my personal favourite songbirds include: @Queen_UK, @ProfBrianCox, BillBailey, WiredUK, and not forgetting the recently infamous Bronx Zoo's Cobra which has been a consistent stream of chuckles for the last few weeks. Not least because a fictional account for an escaped cobra managed to achieve 200,000 more followers in a week than the Bronx zoo itself has managed in a lifetime...

But by far and away the most suprising and empowering thing about Twitter is the ability to drum up responses from the mere whiff of a brand name. Having seen social media marketing efforts from the corporate perspective, I know that the majority of switched on organisations have a dedicated person scouring Twitter for a mention of their products, be it positive or negative. As an experiment over the last few days I have been firing out some requests for help, complaints, and promotions of brands which I have encountered. Within a few hours I recieved a response to every single mention. Could this be the end of being put on hold whilst an automated librarian tries to fob you off with stale advice? Why not cut to the chase and badmouth the CEO on twitter, he will probably give you a call...

Follow me @peterwillb



Update 8/4/11: Twitter adds Fortune telling to the mix.. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-12976254