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Why Agencies Should Get Into Bed With VCs

As appeared in AdNews 13th April 2012

By Lach Hall and Matt Houltham

  We’re missing out on a big opportunity. Australian agencies are experimenting with different remuneration models but there’s one we’re yet to fully embrace: venture offshoots. Equity share (at the core of the idea) is nothing new. In fact at Naked we’ve been doing it for years. But as an industry it’s an offering we only dabble in and dabble in behind closed doors. Overseas however they’re formalising the approach and promoting it as an agency offering. Agencies like KBS+P and Weiden + Kennedy have created venture offshoots where they’ve partnered with venture capital firms to launch new ideas, invest in others and gain an edge in the VC market. While it’s still early days to determine the success of such endeavors it wont be long before we see the models emulated in Australia. And collaborations involving the local tech scene seem like a good place to start.

  The most promising VC/Agency investments from abroad follow a certain formula. They’re digital, scalable, early stage and stand to win big from agency networks. For all involved the idea makes perfect sense. It’s digital and early stage so it’s cheap to get a prototype up and running, you’ve got expert brand builders on tap to set the marketing right from the start and most importantly you’ve got a product that can be plugged into an existing agency network that can fast track revenue generation. A great example of this is KBS + Partners investment in Adapt.ly, a business which allows brands to deploy ads simultaneously across social media ad platforms. The other less obvious benefit of following this formula is that from the agencies perspective, the whole endeavour is an exercise in education and branding. Not only does the agency look innovative for simply offering such a service but in a market moving more and more towards digital every day, investing in digital startups means that whether or not you back a winner you a) appear on the cutting edge, b) expose yourself (and your clients) to knowledge and innovation and c) you commence conversations with the clients of tomorrow.

  Like abroad, the emerging tech scene in Australia presents the greatest opportunity for agency/VC offshoots. Last year sites like 99designs and kaggle made headlines raising millions in US venture funding and now there are lots of Australian funds hunting for their successors. We’ve got early stage “accelerators” such as StartMate, AngelCube and PushStart, tech development partners like Polenizer and Blue Chilli and various other more traditional funds all focused on Aus start-ups.

  But like the US scene, there’s danger of overcrowding. With every new VC fund that enters the market, the competition for promising start ups becomes more fierce. This is where Australian agencies have an opportunity. Whilst Australian VC programs are currently promoting legal partnerships and marketing “mentors” none have leveraged the extensive expertise and commercial contacts found in an established ad agency (not to mention the agency’s own brand). I don’t think it’ll be long before we see this hit the Australian scene.

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Trapping Girls and Marketing

My friends and I gave up looking to meet girls in bars and clubs a long time ago. It was ineffective. Too much demand not enough supply. Classic market forces killed our chances: the increased demand made it hard to be heard and worst of all, it over inflated the supply’s value…  

We wanted a new method. We wanted to stop chasing and have the girls come to us. What we came up with was a sneaky little method of introduction that we now jokingly refer to as laying traps. We’re not monsters. A trap for us is simply a tool that lands us in a position where we can have a friendly chat without the hurdles. No yelling across a crowded room, no preconceived suspicions, just an opportunity to demonstrate yourself. If they want to buy in, they can.

Classic traps would be along the lines of hosting parties or playing in bands. More inventive traps might be helping your sister sell her clothes at a market stall or running ads offering to help English language students in return for their Spanish.

I've got a few online businesses. On a junior marketers wage I can’t afford to shout the loudest across the room, so I lay traps. I create places where my customers want to visit, start conversations with them and if they like me sometimes I get lucky. 

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10 Questions With Michelle Power, Founder of Ziilch

Of all the Collaborative Consumption startups spawned in Australia in the past few years, Ziilch in my opinion is the most promising. Why? It's not just a "nice idea" a category many collcons startups fall into, it solves a real need. A need that's as current now as it was 50 years ago and will be 50 years into the future - people need to get rid of their junk. I caught up with Michelle and asked her ten questions.

1.What is Ziilch?

Ziilch.com.au is a free reuse and repurpose website for people to give away stuff they don’t want anymore to other people that can use it. Ziilch is devoted to leading the way towards a more sustainable way of utilising old, unwanted and pre-loved items rather than throwing them into hard waste or bins that may ultimately find their way to landfill.

2.Where did the idea come from? Are there similar sites around the world?

The inspiration for ziilch came when my husband and I were undertaking home renovations in 2009. We had a number of renovation materials and items stored in our garage that were unsuitable for donation but deserved to go to new homes. Rather than being discarded in a skip or left out for hard rubbish I believed that a forum such as ziilch could revolutionise they way we manage unwanted items and keep good things out of landfill.

There are certainly some similar initiatives world-wide, which simply reinforces that people are re-thinking their roles as consumers. The most interesting interpretation of the concept is a travelling vending machine called Swap-o-Matic which allows people to donate, receive and swap items without spending money.

We’ve found that there are a lot of buzz words floating around at the moment: collaborative consumption, unconscious consumption, perceived obsolescence, sustainable living; but at the core of this, the success of sites similar to ziilch will be based on a combination of people wanting to be environmentally responsible and the reality that the current economic climate has changed peoples perceptions of spending and saving money.

3.What does it take to get something like this off the ground? Any major setbacks?

Ziilch has been an enormous investment in time over the past couple of years and passion has driven all of the ziilch team to make the website a reality. We have had number of small set backs but this was to be expected with a project of this size and nature. Recently some national exposure on A Current Affair brought our website crashing down for almost a week as it couldn’t deal with the large volume of visitors. I must say that we were worried about the fallout but our ziilch community was so supportive of our situation and instead receiving negative comments in our inbox, we received letters of encouragement.

4.Who are the people behind Ziilch? 

There is a small but fabulous team behind ziilch who have kept the wheels turning over the past couple years.  The ziilch team currently includes myself, Richard Milne in Business Operations and Development; Kevin Nugegoda our Technology Manager and Don Milne our Social Media Manager.

5.Has the site taken off as you had imagined? What’s been the response to Ziilch?

Ziilch has been steadily building momentum over the past few months. To date we have almost 13,000 members and we’ve had over 9000 free and wanted listings. The response to ziilch has been very positive and we’ve had some incredible listings on the site; from a pile of sand to a Jacuzzi! The ziilch community is very strong and we have a very loyal member base.

6.What’s been the most challenging thing for you with regards to running the business? 

Time management. Ziilch can be all consuming and I have personally needed to balance my priorities between a young family, my role at Visual Unity and my passion for ziilch. Ultimately it means I work a lot of late nights but I love what I do.

7.Any interesting stories from the site? Valuable items posted? Weird/interesting items?

We have had some touching stories emailed to us. One was from a member who was a victim of the Black Saturday fires. She has managed to get a large number of items from ziilch to help rebuild her life and home. It’s great to see, as a community, people’s generosity and compassion. However, ziilch is not just for people who are looking to save money, decluttering      their home or need a hand setting up their house. We have a number of ziilch members who are committed to doing their part for the environment. We have listings from members who pot their garden cuttings to give away and other members who have been doing “road-side rescues” and listing the items on ziilch. People are passionate about keeping good stuff, which can be reused or repurposed, out of landfill.

8.Do you have plans for major growth? Have you had external interest from investors?

We are currently focusing on building our membership base across Australia. We have a loyal following in Melbourne and we hope to replicate this across major cities and regional areas.

9.What do you think of the explosion of tech start ups around the world and in Australia? Where do you think this comes from and which sites do you think are the most promising?

Well it’s quite obvious that these days you don’t have to move to Silicon Valley to pursue your tech dream. Australian companies are finding that overseas investors are scouting startups locally.

There are some great Australian online startups I am personally very fond of who are pioneering the collaborative consumption movement in Australia: www.meemeep.com and www.openshed.com.au

10.Who / What inspires you? 

Many things in everyday life inspire me: books, quotes, colleagues, family and friends. However, if I’m looking for a quick fix of entrepreneurial inspiration I often click through to readitforme.com or thestartupdaily.com

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10 Questions with Georgia Beattie - Lupe Wines

Georgia Beattie is on the brink of something big. In fact it already is big. At just 25 she has experienced successes most people only dream of. I caught up with her for a coffee and walked away inspired. Lots of entrepreneurs have lofty ambitions. Georgia doesn’t. They are real and she is almost there.

1. What is Lupe and where did the idea come from?

We’re a single serve wine packaging company with a house label product called Lupe. The idea came to me when I was at the bar of a Melbourne festival and realized they didn’t serve wine. I asked the bartender why this was to which he replied it was just “too difficult”. “With beer and spirits we can throw them on ice and serve them up in no time”. I immediately saw the opportunity for wine in more accessible packaging.

2. What’s your background?  Did you always want to run your own business?

Yes, for as long as I can recall. I’ve always wanted to be my own boss. The concept of growing someone else’s business seems foreign to me. I come from a family of wine, my father has a winery and a string of boutique bottle shops so delving into this project I had some natural advantages. I also studied entrepreneurship at RMIT which helped me achieve the right mindset but in reality, the skills that would have really come in handy in setting up Lupe would have been in engineering! Luckily I was able to find some investors that were trained in this area.

3. I understand part of your course was spent in the US. How does the entrepreneurial scene differ between here and there?

Yes, I spent 8 months at Babson College which is a highly regarded entrepreneurial school in Boston, MA. The people there were incredibly inspiring, many of which had projects which had gone on to successful IPOs. There’s a tremendous culture of entrepreneurship over there that we don’t really have in Australia. Everyone’s so encouraging and open in sharing contacts and information. Here on the other hand, it seems entrepreneurial endeavors are often frowned upon for being too risky, entrepreneurs themselves are quite cagey with their ideas and when you make it, you’re often shot down due to the tall poppy syndrome! It’s a massive difference in culture.  When I look back at my time at Babson, simply being around such an inspiring culture I feel it gave me the confidence to ‘go in hard’ with my idea when I came home. And in reality it’s the only option you really have.  If you don’t back your idea 100% and go all in, who will?

4. Who’s in the team?

In the immediate circle there’s myself, my two principle investors looking after the production, my brother in sales and five employees on the production line. We then have our distribution partners in Japan and Singapore.

5. How did you go about raising VC and bringing the product to life? How long has it taken?

When I first had the idea 2 years ago, I went about trying to produce a prototype on my own which turned out to be incredibly difficult as the injection moulding technology needed to produce the appropriate wine glass didn’t really exist. The company supplying me the lids put me in touch with a business in the UK who were working on a similar project and had custom built a machine capable of producing what we were after. Within two weeks I had been to London, negotiated the Asia Pacific rights to the packaging technology and had a machine custom built for my own purposes. So there was an initial outlay required from myself to get it ready to pitch.

Once we began pitching the idea to investors, the word spread very quickly since the idea had legs and we weren’t after a ridiculous amount of money. I soon realized that lots of people were willing to throw money at the idea but what I really needed were investors with appropriate experiences that would add value to the business. In particular I needed investors with manufacturing expertise and distribution connections in which I was lucky enough to find.

6. Where do you see the market for Lupe?

In Australia our main focus is on outdoor events where serving in glass is prohibited and quick customer service is essential. We’ve already been in discussions with some of Australia’s biggest festivals all of which have replied “it’s about time”. We also see retail as a secondary opportunity.  We’re cautious however in how we position ourselves there. We’re sensitive to the traditional nature of wine the product and the rituals that go along with it. My father’s bottle shop has proven an invaluable resource for testing what works and what doesn’t in this regard. We’re also taking cues from other markets a little further developed than us. In the UK the product has been very well received in theatres and cinemas so we’ve recently begun conversations there. 

Our biggest opportunity however, and where we spend most of our time and effort is in Asian retail. We already ship 1-2 container loads a month to our distributors in Japan and Singapore and we’re in negotiations with South Korea and China as we speak. The reason for the demand is twofold: the Asian wine market is experiencing tremendous growth as they become more westernized and since it’s less established they’re far more open to the new packaging format. For them, the idea of buying a 750ml bottle of wine to share at a restaurant makes perfect sense, but to buy for your home, where you might only have one glass a night, seems strange. We aim to have setup a manufacturing facility in China within the next two years.

7. Are you a packaging business or a wine business?

Good question. We are a packaging business. Lupe, (our house brand single use wine)  is a consumer facing brand but in reality its just a tool to prove the concept and the demand of our packaging solution and capabilities to the established wineries.  We don’t have the capital, time or experience needed to launch and distribute a new wine brand. In saying that I do believe that there is room in the market for a brand of wine with a more youthful character to it such as Lupe but it’s not our priority or core business.

8. What are the best and worst things about having you own business?

The best is the challenge itself and the little rushes you get when you get that little bit further down the track towards achieving your goals.

There really is no worst thing. If I was to say anything it would be that it’s hard not to get emotionally involved in the business when it’s your own. You take it to heart when someone dismisses the idea or you get down on yourself when you’re spending time on something un-business related when you know there’s so much work to do. You can never really switch off. And sometimes it’s hard to level with people about your challenges because so few people have been through what you do. To counter this, I’ve set up a range of mentors who constantly kick my arse in to line and remind me to see the business from a birds eye view and remember how simple it really is what Im doing and not to get bogged down on the little stuff.

9. What’s been the biggest thing you have learnt throughout your journey

The biggest is never to assume anything. When planning I've found I need to consider all possible outcomes and strategize appropriately.The others would be around looking after my health - healthy body, healthy mind. De-stressing and moving forward from an issue is really important too. I can do this over a morning jog most of the time. 

10. Who /What inspires you to do what you do?

It’s not really someone or something, it’s the challenge. I love the game. I’m chasing an empire and every day I can’t get out of bed quick enough to start chipping away at it.

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“If no one is criticizing you, it’s because you’re not doing anything important.”

It’s very easy to avoid criticisms in life-do as Elbert Hubbard says, “Do nothing. Say nothing. Be nothing.” If you’re being criticized, it’s because you’re actually on the radar, and not laboring in obscurity as most men are. The bigger you get, the bigger target you become, and the more arrows will come your way. Instead of seeing criticism as a reason to change, celebrate its arrival as a marker of your success.

Excerpt From "Being Your Own Man" Article in The Art of Manliness

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Fridge Magnets and Other Unsexy Ideas

Fridge magnets work. Stickers work. Flyers work. But as marketers we never think of them, or if we do, we never suggest them. Small business owners do. And they do because they’re cost effective and get results. For us, they’re just not sexy enough, not new enough not “techy” enough, whatever.

We work in an industry obsessed with creativity and ‘one-upmanship’ which brings out the best and the worst in us. It’s a dangerous place to be where proven solutions aren’t brought to the table due to fears of how you’ll be perceived for bringing them up or how the agency will be perceived for executing them.  We are after all here to solve problems. Problems don’t care how sexy their solutions are. 

(I had an image of a fridge full of magnets here but took it down cos it was too ugly.)

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10 Questions with Will Emmett

This is the second interview in my series of chats with the people behind some of Australia's most interesting new tech start ups. I caught up with Will Emmett of meemeep.com and was impressed by his intelligence and his vision for meemeep and the collaborative consumption movement. At 23 he's wise well beyond his years. 

1. What is MeeMeep? When and where did the idea come from?

Meemeep is a social network that connects people on the move with people with things to move.

The idea came to my uncle three years ago who noticed all the empty space in the cars and trucks next to him whilst driving. He investigated the idea and found that the courier market was quite over inflated and saw a huge opportunity existed for a shake up in this space.

2. How long has it taken to implement? What has been the biggest setbacks along the way?

It’s taken three years to bring the idea from concept to reality. The biggest setbacks have been operational like trying to create a great user experience on the website, but we’ve also been challenged with building trust and safety into our brand as well as communicating what is effectively quite a complex offering.  

Some of the difficulties we have faced stem from not having much to model the idea on. You know when we started out, the term “Collaborative Consumption” didn’t even exist to describe the business model we were trying to achieve.  It wasn’t until six months into the project that Rachel Botsman released her book and the term and the idea was popularized. In fact I remember listening to talking business on a Qantas flight and hearing her being interviewed about “What’s Mine is Yours” which had just been released and I was instantly able to draw the links between what we were attempting to achieve and  the “Collaborative Consumption” movement she was describing.

3. What are your thoughts on the Collaborative Consumption movement?

I look at the Coll Cons idea as having two sides. The first being the movement itself and the people that are championing it and secondly the outcome of what Coll Cons actually achieves.  I think it’s important to note that the outcome of the idea itself is so much more powerful than the actual movement at the moment. When you think about it Coll Cons really is a perfect economic example of creating shared value amongst a huge range of people.

  4. Where’s Coll Cons at in Australia currently? Are the consumers ready?

Australians are such a strange bunch. I’ve actually had this exact conversation with a number of people in the Coll Cons space over the last few weeks. I think for the size of our country we’re actually a fair way along the path. I think there’s always going to be leaders that are in front of Australia but I think we’re gaining in the Coll Cons space pretty quickly as far as our adoption to the use of it is concerned.

(Are we at a disadvantage with our low population density?)

  We’re less dense, we consume more, we have a much bigger impact on the environment than most other countries in the world. I think we are a little bit disadvantaged but where there’s disadvantage there’s opportunity.  Using meemeep as an example, the low population density and the great distances between cities means that travel is more expensive for us and that we also drive more often and cover further distances than other countries which manifests in an economic opportunity.

  5. What other Coll Cons Start Ups in Australia have you been impressed by?

There are two that instantly spring to mind: Ziilch and Openshed. I really like what they’re both trying to achieve and the passion they both have for their mission is admirable.

6. What are your thoughts on the current global explosion of start ups? Where has this come from? Are we in a bubble?

I think that it’s very easy to deny that you’re in a bubble when you’re in a bubble… However we’re probably not there yet and things are a little different this time around. The best thing about this explosion of tech start ups has been that they’ve all been driven by revenue generating companies which is unique in comparison to the last two dot com booms. And whilst past tech booms have been based around the technology itself I think now the start ups are using the tech to solve real world problems.

   7. Let’s Move on to Marketing. What do you think makes a good brand?

It’s a very big question…The common theme that I think runs through a good brand is a belief by the consumer that the brand represents something that is good, something that is bigger than themselves, and something that they can be a part of. I think a good brand has a deep connection with their customer. No matter how far away you are from that brand you still feel connected in some way.

  8. Is the role brands play in people’s lives changing?

Yes. Absolutely. I think religion is out and brands are in.

People are looking for something to believe in. There’s a void that brands are filling in and in some instances it’s going to explode. The good news though is that the open, transparent nature of the internet is forcing brands to live up to the values they preach so perhaps it’s not as dangerous as it might have once been!

9. How are you marketing MeeMeep?

We’re a company that lives very closely to its brand. At a fairly deep level we know that we’re all about helping people help each other and this naturally flows through in every single thing we do. Our goal is to have our message spread naturally by providing a great service and being true to our values. We’re putting our message out there in the hope that it resonates with  like minded individuals to create a community that is self sustaining.

  9.5. Is it hard to connect to the people that are actually willing to transact on meemeep rather than just like the idea?  

Yeah and that’s where the idea of being ‘seamless’ comes in to it. Having businesses that fit into and help people’s lives rather than expecting people to change their ways to embrace a new idea. We still have a long way to go in making our product entirely seamless for the consumer but it’s definitely one of the biggest issues that  Coll Cons start ups face. The key is to put yourself in the stakeholders shoes at each touchpoint and ask “where’s the value for me?”

  10. What / Who Inspires You?

I’m lucky that I have a great number of people very close to me in my life who inspire me. Generally speaking it’s the people that are willing to push the boundaries, be unpopular at times and who have a very strong resolve to what it is they’re trying to achieve – the trouble makers!

With regards to Meemeep and the Coll Cons movement I’m inspired by the fact that I’m a part of something that really has the power to change the world in a very significant way.

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Entrepreneurs and Determination

Melbournite Will Baxter just spent 50 hours on a treadmill to help get the remaining funds needed to launch his social business “I Am”. The campaign named “Don’t Let Will Die” captured attention from the likes of Fast Company and Reebok, attracted 6000 visitors and raised $28,000 from ‘the crowd’ in 50 hours via Kickstarter.

I Am is part of the new age of socially responsible businesses. Don’t think Kumbaya around the campfire, don’t think charity, think profits, free markets and value for all involved.

I Am makes and sells Yoga bags. It connects (and helps) the traditional poverty stricken Mayan artisans from Guatemala with the world not by selling useless trinkets but by creating a product that actually has the power to sell in volume (to the Sunday morning yogi’s of the world). I jibe, but I believe in this. In fact I think ethical globalization in many ways makes far more sense than traditional charity even. And with the long tail alleviating distribution problems and transparency forcing businesses and consumers to do more good, I feel there’s never been a better time to proliferate.

There are plenty of mismatches of supply and demand throughout the world and in reality there are lots of entrepreneurs looking to connect the dots. There are less entrepreneurs however willing to connect the dots. Willing to put in the hours to make it happen. Willing to “Die on the treadmill rather than be outworked” as Will Smith (this campaigns inspiration) states or simply willing to “Get Shit Done” as Melbourne entrepreneur Tyson Lundbech (RentWant) preaches.

Entreprenuers can have a broad range of skill sets but by far the greatest asset they can ever have is a relentless determination to see something through.

Will Baxter has this. He saw that he was $25K off his $45K kickstarter goal needed to get the I Am project off the ground and instead of shifting to plan B he put in 50 hours on the treadmill to make his plan A happen. Awesome.

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Mike Lazerow on Future of Social Media

"The future of social media is the core of a massive shift online from a search and intent-based world to a social, people-based world. The last three years were about the consumer side of social platforms, as we watched Facebook, Zynga and Twitter grow exponentially. The next three years will about the enterprise side of social, and how companies engage and grow their businesses by tapping into these massive platforms.

It’s an era where customers, vendors and partners are no longer anonymous segments that you 'source,' 'manage' and 'market to.' They are people. People you connect with. Talk to. Advocate for. Listen to. And if you’re lucky, they sell for you, solve problems for you, defend you, listen to you and build your business for you, one conversation at a time, while you sleep."

Mike Lazerow - Founder, Chairman and CEO at Buddy Media

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The Word Engagification is Bullshit, The Idea is Not.  

“Engagification is complete bullshit.” That’s how Shaun Branagan (BWM) described the leading topic of this years Elite Media Digital Marketing and Media Summit. He had a point. Like most industry buzz words most delegates weren’t sure what it meant but over the course of the day it became clearer. Engagification it seems, is a descriptor for marketing that draws people in and demands participation and interaction. But that’s not really anything new. Isn’t that just good marketing? So why the emphasis? The answer: Because of technology. As marketers, technology has given us the tools and opportunities to be better and at the same time it’s made it paramount that we are better. Today, if you can’t create brand experiences people want to engage with, then you can guarantee you’ll be ignored.  

So how is “engagification” achieved?

On this point there was solidarity amongst the speakers:

Know your audience

Be useful to them

This isn’t new. But this is marketing at its core and it’s too often forgotten.

The point was reinforced throughout the day with speakers showcasing different dimensions of usefulness such as utility, information and entertainment through their case studies. Brannagan explained howU.S.ski resorts had created the Epic Mix app to ‘gamify’ your day on the slopes. Simon Small (Visual Jazz) demonstrated how Huggies have created a compelling online community for Mothers through “truly understanding your customer and building content that gives them utility.”  Alex Burke  (TigerSpike) talked about how the Woolworths App owes it’s success to solving customers “pain points” and of course we also learnt via the Bing / Jay Z Decoder case study and NAB Break Up Case study that being useful isn’t limited to being practical – information and entertainment are also valued.  

Another recurring theme throughout the day was that the winning “engagement” formula doesn’t exist. Instead, it’s about trial and evolution of strategy and luckily in the digital world you can afford to make mistakes. On this note Small offered a summary: “start small, trial and learn”.

So whilst the word ‘engagification’ might be unclear, Elitemedia’s conference offered some compelling insights on how marketing can engage customers.  Mea Cole (Droga 5) reminded us that people will always do what they want to do when and where they want to do it. And that’s the key. At Naked we believe great marketing occurs at the overlap between what people want to do and what we as marketers want them to do.  

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Siri, Search and Australia

The Apple iPhone 4S has a thing called Siri. Siri has changed search. Google and Windows phones have something similar, but they’re not as good. (Vested interests). With Siri, we’re one step closer to having a functioning oracle. Ask a question of your phone and receive an answer - an intelligent one.

Ask a Fact:

 “How far is it from Melbourne to Sydney?”

Or something more subjective:

“Where’s the best vindaloo on Victoria St?”

“The best plumber in Richmond?” or

“The best Spanish School in Melbourne?”

Of course this functionality isn’t completely here (Australia) yet but it’s not far away.

This style of search works on delivering answers from a range of different databases. For questions related to restaurants, entertainment and local businesses U.S Siri searches sites like Yelp and for facts, Wolfram Alpha. For everything in between there’s speculation that sites like Quora will fill the gaps.

The Australian equivalents are sites like truelocal and eatability amongst a myriad of others but we’re missing a Quora.

What’s Quora?

From their website: “Quora is a continuously improving collection of questions and answers” or put another way a ‘Wikipedia’ of useful and thought out Q & A.

Without an Australian styled Quora or people devoting time to completing an Australian based section ON Quora (it’s started) we’ll never get answers to critical questions like:

“What did Bob Hawke say when we won the America’s cup?”

 or answer

“how many cans did David Boon once drink on a flight to the UK?”

So what does this mean for Australian businesses? What are the implications?

Firstly search marketing will change. SEO will need to include a heavy focus on creating listings in review sites and encouraging customers to review to increase rank. Since we don’t know which sites Apple will end up using in their databases yet (do we?) it’d be wise for businesses to hedge their bets across a range of sites.

Secondly we need a Quora. We need an entrepreneur or brand to step up and build an online database of Q & As relating to Australia so that when we ask our phone our questions we’re not returned some offensive, American similarity.  An appropriate brand might be Qantas and an obvious campaign would be to enlist the public to help pose and answer our questions.

Like all things digital, this change is happening quickly. Google already report that 25% of mobile search is conducted by voice so to get a head start on the competition Australian businesses need to start acting now. 

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Great Web Design is a Must – Help an Aussie Start Up with Potential

Great web design is now a standard. A hygiene factor to simply state you are open for business. The internet, the great leveler, means you can not get away with being average anymore. Given that every shop is now essentially next door to each other, why would you enter one with smashed windows and cracked paint?

findauniform.com.au is a fantastic, homegrown idea. An open community for exchanging second hand uniforms – brilliant. But they have a problem. I can’t stay on their site for more than a glance before needing to look away. It’s harsh but they’re not alone (see my own poor effort) and it’s an all too common problem with otherwise solid Aussie startups.

I’ve spoken with them and I want to help. This is a cracker of an idea getting global coverage from the likes of Rachel Botsman. 

So questions to the cloud:

1. Do you know any designers or developers wanting a cool project with a site that has the potential to explode? (Budget is tight but there is budget!)

2. Do you have any experience with Elancers or virtual assistants abroad that they could build an ongoing relationship with?

Please pass this on and get in contact with me or them with any suggestions. 

[lachhall2-blog-blog]

GASP - A Don Draper Moment Missed

GASP have missed a valuable opportunity. Dumb luck gave them a chance for growth but being dumb, they blew it.

For those who haven’t followed, here’s the story. ‘Fattish’ girl is abused in shop, sends letter of complaint, management sides with clerk, abuses further, the abused posts the abuse to the internet, the crowd goes wild!

At first I wondered whether it was a PR stunt, then I watched the 7PM project.

This was their Don Draper moment. Their moment to announce why they’re “firing clients.”  Their moment to make their ostentatious, trashbag customers salivate at the chops.  But unfortunately, this was the moment we all realised this was no stunt.

What the company delivered was Matt Chidgey, an inarticulate Operations Manager with no clear message nor passion. He had been told to side with the store but hadn’t really worked out a good reason why he should. The result: an embarrassment for him (poor bugger was obviously out of his depth) and a tremendous wasted opportunity for GASP.  

Of course there’s no love lost with their current customers. But what they missed was a golden opportunity to grow and position.  An opportunity to be the store that has attitude.  That rejects customer service clichés and says you’re not welcome to the “undesireables” (a position loved by undesirables.) They didn’t. They still haven’t. And every day they don’t, they’re making it harder to turn around.

[lachhall2-blog-blog]

How to feel Miserable as an artist. By awesome musician, businesswoman and all round legend @dallasfrascca http://www.dallasfrasca.com/

[lachhall2-blog-blog]

Will Territory Play a Part in the Success of a Coll Cons Start Up?

Collaborative consumption, the idea of consumers having access to products as opposed to ownership, is big. It’s a growing movement that has the potential to define this century and for entrepreneurs, now is the time to get in.

As an Australian watching this space evolve, I have always wondered whether territory will impact on the different category segments. Will “collcons” businesses be global? Or will the location based nature and the “community” ethos limit international expansion? Sure this depends on the segment. AirBnB for instance, where your spare bed is rented to travellers, will obviously be more efficient if there is one global hub. So too will swap networks like swap.com dealing in small, easy to mail goods like DVD’s and books. 

But what about businesses that rely on neighbourhood proximity? 

Take the household goods sharing segment for example. Neighborgoods  is a leader in the US where you can rent or borrow a lawnmower/drill/vacuum/whatever from your neighbour. If they expand to Australia, how will consumers choose between them and locally run offerings like RentWant, or Open Shed? Will the “community” nature of these businesses give Australian based operations an advantage? Will search results yielding listings in San Fransisco discourage a user?

The answer:  Not really.

When businesses rely on social networks to facilitate their offerings, the only thing that truly matters is whether or not they have a critical mass of users. A Melbournian wanting access to a vacuum cleaner only cares about two things. 1) Whether or not there is a vacuum listed on the site and 2) Whether it’s listed close to him.

For Australian start ups their advantage lies in being a first mover.  And in the race towards critical mass, this is big. There’s huge potential out there but like all social networks there’s only room for one or two segment leaders. The race is on.

[lachhall2-blog-blog]