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Brick No124: The Corrections
By Matt Weston, Tuesday 11 January 2005 The Corrections Last Friday's Brick - the first helping of the New Year - was laced with a few sloppy errors. You can see it here, in its uncorrected entirety. Readers wrote in to right my wrongs: (1) Sophie Chalmers was first in. Last Friday wasn't 7 January 2004 - it was 7 January 2005. SC runs a much tighter ship over at Better Business Magazine, where she's the Editor-in-Chief. (2) Worse was to come. Dom Latter reminded me that, "Microsoft didn't launch Hotmail - they bought it, as you will see here . . . not that this detracts from your point, of course". Dom's website. (3) Last, and least trivially, Gayle Blanchflower wrote in. Gayle actually took part in "Dragons' Den", pitching her business OutABox Ltd. What I didn't know - and what Gayle did know - was that the producers cracked down hard on any plugging. That, Gayle explained, was probably why Charles Ejogo's "Umbrolly" wasn't branded as such. (They also, incidentally, made contestants climb three very steep flights of stairs before pitching.) Either way, my point still holds water. The best way for Charles to get his idea to spread is to get his customers to carry his advertising around for him. And that means branded umbrellas (or umbrellas that say "You can buy me at any tube station"). You've heard of Word-Of-Mouth, this is Word-Of-Brolly. The Fashionista Still more of you wrote in to point out "errors" that I'm much less willing to hold up my hands to. (4) That "dragons don't live in dens, they live in lairs", is the BBC's mistake, not mine. (5) And some readers picked me up on my line: "[customers] don't care what the brolly says, as long as it keeps them dry." Surely, they chimed, "if it doesn't look good, people won't buy". An umbrella, after all, is simply a "fashion item". I beg to differ. With many industries, there's an automatic assumption that everyone has to flock to compete on the exact same terms. (Just as, pre-NetFlix, video stores all competed on "location, location, location".) But Charles Ejogo isn't Louis Vuitton. And a tube vending machine isn't the accessories department at Selfridges. At a couple of quid a brolly, Charles is selling something immediate, convenient and perhaps even disposable. Less a prized fashion item, more a repeat purchase. If Charles tries to sell unbranded fashion umbrellas, his idea will never spread, full stop. By the way, reader Gayle Blanchflower's pitch airs next Tuesday 18 January so look out for it. And you can catch tonight's episode of "Dragons' Den" at 8pm on BBC2. Remember to sign up: back to top |
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