Well, after a couple years of tending and loving the Quilter Street Olive Tree has borne enough fruit to harvest.
Last year we managed about 3-6 olives (we’re still arguing over the count), but this year… well “dozens” is the phrase I’d use 😉
So – I’ve decided to follow through and see if I can turn these into edible olives. I was going send them down to an olive farm in Devon that I found on the web, but sense prevailed: I didn’t have enough to moisten the gum on the envelope, let alone get a litre of oil.
Now, by the time we do the weekly taste test for 3 months I know that I’ll only have 12 left, even if they’re not spoiled, but this is a case of the journey being as important as the destination.
Paul’s coverage is much more thorough and it’s rather spooky that he’s noticed (and credited) the areas upon which we worked really diligently, as well as picking out some areas of great annoyance that – yes indeed – the HOF team are beavering away to improve.
To give a bit of ‘behind the scenes’ perspective, while the Board determination to commit to fuller multichannel operation was in place during 2006 it was only in January 2007 that the company started to develop the functional requirements. From that date (ISTR it was January, the day after I’d been chatting to Paul in Manchester at a Digital Shorts evening…) House of Fraser and the wider group have: created a new platform and best practice company (www.ecommera.co.uk), procured an ecommerce platform (Demandware), appointed lead system integrators and lead creative agency (Javelin Group and LBI respectively), established a contact centre (www.becogent.co.uk) and an outsourced warehousing and logistics operation (www.iforcegroup.com). On top of the platform itself there’s some nice imaging magicke from the good folk at Scene7. All of this has been put in place, from first meeting to launch, in 6 months.
Now, there are many further blog posts on my views on developing a complex system with so many partners, and of course many blog posts that I’m totally unable to write on the matter (!). However, it’s a remarkable achievement and very much to the credit of HOF: their Board for a supportive, clear vision and ongoing engagement in the project; a wonderful project leader (step forward, Colette Wilson), a massive level of ambition from all the partners that this would be a high-water mark and reference for them all; and finally immense amounts of good will and common endeavour from the parties.
With the launch now receding in the rear view mirror the adrenaline’s subsiding and the ongoing questions of performance improvement and site development come to the for. Welcome to eCommerce!
“Walking the talk: increasing innovation in the media sector” is the title and the event has a challenge to media industry folk:
Is the media industry innovative, and how can we increase innovation in media? While innovation is extensively discussed in the media, media innovation today increasingly comes from outside the industry.
Come to the event and participate in the debate.
This is the latest in the Innovation Forum series, programmed by Nico Macdonald (with whom I’m working on the Future Media Summit activities).
A couple of weeks ago I ran a workshop for the leaders of The British Council’s East and West Africa teams. It was a really interesting morning looking at engagement with audiences in Africa via the web. There were too many of my preconceptions shattered during the research and our discussions to detail here, but in brief the web is forming an increasingly important component in the lives of (predominantly urban) young people across a number of countries.
I was impressed at the pragmatic, open-minded and cost-effective approach and this group exemplifies the work. WAPI (Words and Pictures) is a group for hip hop, graffiti and underground collaboration and expression:
WAPI events, piloted in Nairobi and recently extended to Dar Es Salaam, are a platform that makes it possible for visual and verbal artists in the underground to showcase their art (in words and/or pictures). We take the underground to mean the upcoming, the undiscovered, those who, by design or default, are not part of the mainstream. WAPI brings undiscovered talent to the fore for the discerning public through a regular (monthly) WAPI programme. WAPI also aspires to become a talent-spotting platform – the place where tomorrows best acts and today’s best-kept secrets are identified and enjoyed.
Rather than spending money creating a monolithic site and thereafter spending money on marketing, the BC have used free software (Facebook) to create a group. They moderate rather than control (which is of course appropriate to a self-defining community) and focus their efforts on supporting, celebrating and developing the ‘real world’ events. This is a refreshing approach.
One interesting point I learned was the prevalence of blogs within the WAPI participant community. It’s clear that once young people have access to the web and computers that there’s a rapid adoption of all relevant technologies – from mixing music, creating and publishing CDs, digital downloads and blogging.
One further benefit of FB is the access it provides to an international, supportive community of like-minded people.
It’s difficult to leave aside the pressing social and economic issues that the continent faces, but there’s a great deal of energy and hope here for a future for young people beyond the very real privations and less real preconceptions. I’m pleased to have come across this initiative – it’s certainly rounded my view of the web, communication and engagement.
One of the great things about Facebook (FB) is the ability to ‘keep tabs’ on friends and see what they’re up to. One assumes (assumed!) that this information was correct (it’s a computer, after all, dammit!) and that one’s own activities would be faithfully reproduced.
However, it looks as though FB’s having a moment of poetic licence by claiming that I’m heading off to a rave on Friday.
Flattered though I am to be portrayed as someone who can still remain awake after 10pm and a second pint of cocoa, it was clear to Jon Bovard that this was an error…
Thanks for sending through the evidence Jon – not quite sure what to make of it (other than taking my news feed with a pinch of proverbial salt from now on).
It’s the complex system taking on a life of its own…
UPDATE: 20070808 – Julian’s just mailed me to say:
Just read your note – i saw that news feed item, as it also told me my wife was attending same.
Similarly it told me you had written on my wife’s walll, and since i don’t think you’ve met her, i thought it was odd, until i discovered it was in fact a farcebook lie .. I think its Borked !
I’ve mailed Facebook’s “Help” pixies – let’s see what they say…
Oh – if your newsfeed say that I’m approaching your wives and children to go clubbing it’s not true. Necessarily…. 😉
UPDATE: 20070809
Facebook’s help pixie says:
We are aware of the problem that you described and hope to resolve it as
soon as possible. Sorry for any inconvenience. Let me know if you have
any further questions.
pornography, gambling, death of quality literature and music, the death of newspapers, a celebrity-ridden, naricissistic culture, decline of democracy, end of the family
Charlie continues:
Unfortunately, for all the people who share these fears about the internet, at a seminar he told me that he doesn’t really believe his own work:
“I am not interested in abstract forms of justice, I am interested in building my brand as an author and a polemicist”
Good summary, Charlie, and I agree it was an interesting evening. My main disappointment with both the book and Andrew’s argument in person was the superficial level of the debate: as if the provocation alone equates to reasoned argument. For someone decrying the death of even-handed, quality investigative journalism the sweeping generalisations about the ills of the internet, the lazy characterisations of “Web2.0” and the inconsistencies (eg decrying Craiglist for undermining classified ad revenues while later decrying Google for creating an ad-funded business model) sadly masked interesting and important areas of consideration. What are appropriate and sustainable business models for ‘the Working Web’ (a better term that Web2.0 imho)? What can we learn from the ‘assault on standards’ occasioned by lowest-common-denominator TV, and to what extent does the anonymity and check-less state of the web reflect those trends? Isn’t it too easy to confuse ‘self expression’ with publishing, and therefore the anti-blog vitriol is largely pointless – tilting at windmills?
Overall, this book rather “stole my time”. While outspoken and purposely provocative views have their place in a soundbite interview or a networking event in the valley (“Gee, isn’t that Brit an eloquent firebrand?” etc), when put in print I can’t see that it’s any different from the assertive, blinkered myopia of the extreme blogs Andrew so despises. Clearly, other authors less immediately concerned with the splash they can make will need to reflect more fully on the important topics that Andrew jogs past in his climb up the Amazon sales ranks.
That said, he seems to be enjoying himself. Maybe he should blog 😉
Plus ça change, plus c’est la même chose? Maybe not. The main humour in the day – amidst the tears, posturing, sobs and statistics – is the fact that the UK will be rudderless, leaderless, and generally all at sea for 15-30 minutes (between Blair resigning to HMtheQueen and Brown ambling over to kiss her hand). I love these momentary ‘lacunae’ – surely, there’s an opportunity for a blockbuster thriller to be set in the 15 minutes of power transfer… 🙂
I wonder whether the 15 mins gap is to allow the Prime Ministerial limo to be valeted?
Of more interest though is an article from Spiked on 10 reasons why Brown isn’t fit to be Prime Minister – it’s a sobering list to recall amidst the hype, the promises, the government of ‘all the talents’. This is a man who’s taken a full part in government for the last decade; complicit at least with all of the decisions and wielding unprecedented power over domestic politics. It’s going to take more than a spray of Teflon Makeover Juice to make Iraq, pensions, habeus corpus, smoking bans, higher taxes and the general smog of “miserabilism” fade from the front of our minds – especially for those who believed in the new start and opportunities presented in the post-Thatcher era (if indeed we are yet Post-Thatcher…).
At the Innovation Reading Circle last night I heard Andy Keen vent some anti-Web2.0 spleen and it made me wonder whether we’re about to see some anti-Labour2.0 outpourings. That’s if anyone can get over their apathy and disappointment to care enough to rant.
House of Fraser, one of my clients, is looking to recruit its senior e-marketing team:
House of Fraser, the only nationwide UK destination department store for premium brands and designers, is imminently to revise its eCommerce activities with a major new transactional website, built on a best-of-breed platform. This site will be the UK’s “house of brands” and a premium shopping destination. We are now seeking ambitious, commercial and dynamic people to play an integral part in the launch and rapid further development of this significant online retail initiative.
These roles sit at the commercial heart of the business and form the vanguard in delivering the ambitious growth targets to which the Board is fully committed.
By joining House of Fraser now you will have a career-defining opportunity to create a highly visible, class-leading operation – at a time of growth at House of Fraser and within the eCommerce industry.
In addition to the Head of eCommerce role, we’re also seeking an eCommerce Manager (the senior online merchandising role) and an eCommerce Marketing Manager (to own the customer experience and ensure that acquisition, conversion and retention activities are optimised).
These are not roles for the faint-hearted, and your sizeable ambition must be dwarfed by your patent ability. In return this is a chance to write your name on the UK’s eCommerce scene: no more cranking the handle in an outdated, bureacratic, slow-moving retailer – a new platform, full Board support, zero politics, great brands and a shared vision to make an impact all await you 🙂
Speak to Ann Jamieson at Price Jamieson or ping me with any questions. Nail this opportunity before the summer holiday, that’s my advice 🙂
Here’s another House of Fraser role: Head of Operations for the eCommerce team.
This is just a stunning job: you’ll have all of the reins for the service components in your hands: technical architecture, contact centres, logistics, warehousing, application support… Sigh: a job for a serious, commercial operator who’d relish this career-defining opportunity to create and then ruthlessly develop a stand-out web business. The ambition is nothing less than to lead the UK’s retail sector: since you’ll know our competition you will not take that ambition lightly.
Applications etc should be as set out in the advert and Ann Jamieson is handling responses and aiding selection. However, if you want to get the inside track or have any questions please feel free to contact me.
I have been working for the last few months with House of Fraser, the UK’s destination department store for premium brands and designers, to launch their multichannel capability with a major web launch.
To borrow an American phrase, the ‘rubber’s about to hit the road’ and HOF is now recruiting the key members of the team.
Admittedly I’m biased, but I feel that these are great roles with the opportunity to make a major impact in etailing. HOF is gloriously politics-free, has a real ‘can do’ feel and the etail activities have the full and visible support of the Board. It’s an opportunity to really crack on, taking a lovely new platform as a starting point and building on that to meet some excitingly ambitious targets 🙂
Here’s the blurb on the Web Copywriter:
* Combining creative flair with ruthless procedural approaches and deep analytical rigour, you will at once create sparkling copy owning the linguistic tone of our brand online while setting standards for others to follow while continually experimenting with, and optimising, our copy to maximise profit.
* This is not a role for a ‘woolly creative’ or poet aspirant. Rather, it’s for a cunning, rigorous wordsmith who will charm the money willingly from our customers, delight our prestige suppliers with the presentation of their products, tweak AdWords and page copy to outperform our competitors’ conversion rates and whose curiosity and excitement with the commercial impact of aweinspiring prose is undimmed.
* Needless to say, you will have a comfortable fluency and you will not wear your grammatical precision in too stuffy a manner.
* Our competitors will try and poach you every week, and colleagues will wonder why you don’t leave to found a highflying creative agency. Only we will know that we hold your family hostage and have chained you discretely to the desk…
You can see the full details on e-consultancy’s job board.
