Declan Posted December 19, 2018 Share Posted December 19, 2018 (edited) 1 hour ago, Neil Down said: Surely procurement should be based on the best possible value for the people of the Isle of Man. You know like the purchase of new Mercedes Benz bus replacements... Yes, but cheapest is not always the best value. Cheap fairy house from a garden centre would not have generated the same publicity. Anyway what I'm getting at is where the idea is innovative or creative and comes from the company rather than government (and the idea of having buses doesn't fit that bill), that idea is like that company's intellectual property - can the government hawk that idea around looking for a cheaper deal? Is that ethical? Is it better to turn down that offer and not explore that idea at all? 1 hour ago, TheTeapot said: Raises the question did the firm involved approach IOM gov, or did someone reach out? That's precisely where I'm going with this. Edited December 19, 2018 by Declan Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
quilp Posted December 19, 2018 Share Posted December 19, 2018 From the webpage it looks like the manufacturers approached the tourist board... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gettafa Posted December 19, 2018 Share Posted December 19, 2018 2 hours ago, the stinking enigma said: El skell was on the glorious nations station this morning rather passing the buck and saying it was a cabinet office decision, not really down to him. Even helpfully put chris thomas's name forward as a human shield Use Chris as a secret weapon to attrite them into submission. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
La Colombe Posted December 19, 2018 Share Posted December 19, 2018 (edited) Little Men? Bit sexist. Edited December 19, 2018 by La Colombe 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Declan Posted December 19, 2018 Share Posted December 19, 2018 8 minutes ago, La Colombe said: I suppose you're right when it comes to art. Perhaps artists shouldn't be allowed to hustle governments to buy their works, too much scope for cronyism. Maybe governments should come up with the ideas in the first place and then invite interest from artists. I dunno either. But the indirect marketing value used as post purchase justification is mental. Or maybe the Government should have invited bids for "an innovative Guerilla marketing campaign that showcases the Island's landscape." If Anonymouse tender the idea of Fairy Cottages and Castletown people don't then there wouldn't be an issue. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Derek Flint Posted December 19, 2018 Share Posted December 19, 2018 Anonymouse 'thought it would be fun'? At five grand a pop I bed they did. Meanwhile, in Rome.... 3 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Roger Mexico Posted December 19, 2018 Share Posted December 19, 2018 9 minutes ago, Declan said: Cheap fairy house from a garden centre would not have generated the same publicity. It does seem a rather odd coincidence that they came up with the idea after other people were already doing something similar in Castletown, though. Admittedly it's quite possible that the Department of Enterprise didn't actually realise something was going on in Castletown and had to have it pointed out to them by a bunch of people in Sweden. But this actually raises an interesting question of where the terribly valuable publicity, of which the Sparshop Enterprise is so proud, was generated. The DE employ a PR Agency called Hope and Glory[1] who claimed on 19 November (in that strange language only ever used by PR people) that it was all their doing: Quote We’ve been unveiling Fairy Houses on the Isle of Man to help bring the magic of the island’s folklore to life for a global audience … The Isle of Man team have been rather busy over the last couple of weeks after mystified islanders spotted a series of magical miniature houses crop up across the Isle of Man. Residents posted pictures of the stunning homes across social media before Anonymouse MMX – an anonymous Swedish art collective – took to Instagram to claim responsibility, saying they built them for the local fairies. A little known fact is that the Isle of Man is one of the few places in the world where fairies are still believed in and, if you look hard enough, may still be found. Known on the Island as “Little People”, there’s even a bridge where people have to greet the fairies (various fates await non-believers …). Naturally, we decided that these beautiful pieces of artwork were too good to keep to ourselves, so we’ve been smashing it with the media. The team’s hard work has resulted in over 90 pieces of coverage around the world, including BBC Newsround – resulting in kids across the UK wanting to visit the island to meet the fairies, sorry about that – The Times (print and online), Daily Telegraph, Metro, Daily Mail, the BBC, CNN (twice) and a whole host of others around the world. It’s not everyday that your PR story turns into a proper fairytale … But while they claim to have been 'smashing it', you'll notice that the initial publicity came social media, not them, and that they appear to be taking the credit for something started by others. Even some of the coverage has clearly come directly from AnonyMouse's Instagram for example the BBC piece included pictures from their other work, though the photographer was working for IOM Tourism. [1] If you look at their 'team' you'll see that the people who work in PR look exactly like you would expect people who work in PR to look. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
b4mbi Posted December 19, 2018 Share Posted December 19, 2018 7 minutes ago, Roger Mexico said: [1] If you look at their 'team' you'll see that the people who work in PR look exactly like you would expect people who work in PR to look. Eh? Pretty trendy hipsters Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Non-Believer Posted December 19, 2018 Share Posted December 19, 2018 All looks like a massive publicity coup for AnonyMouse. Perhaps they should be paying DfE/us for piggybacking on our fairies legend and reputation? Rather than us stumping up to display their products for them? Or am I missing something? 2 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
quilp Posted December 19, 2018 Share Posted December 19, 2018 How much does that team of trendy-do's cost? Did they arrange the sale of the goods I wonder? Seems like there is a middle-man somewhere... 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Roger Mexico Posted December 19, 2018 Share Posted December 19, 2018 57 minutes ago, Non-Believer said: All looks like a massive publicity coup for AnonyMouse. Perhaps they should be paying DfE/us for piggybacking on our fairies legend and reputation? Rather than us stumping up to display their products for them? Or am I missing something? I was just more amused that an anonymous 'Artist's Collective' seemed better able to get PR coverage than the massed black-clad trendies of the actual PR agency. It's clear that a lot of it came directly from their Instagram - for example I found a comment from CNN asking if they could use the images, which wouldn't be necessary if they had been punted by the PR agency. There might be a link with the photographer Mikael Buck who seems to have worked with them before, judging by the credits in this Telegraph piece and also mentions the 'Isle of Man Tourism Board' among his clients. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
asitis Posted December 19, 2018 Share Posted December 19, 2018 1 hour ago, b4mbi said: Eh? Pretty trendy hipsters I've seen more work in an Aspirin ! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Max Power Posted December 19, 2018 Share Posted December 19, 2018 1 hour ago, Roger Mexico said: [1] If you look at their 'team' you'll see that the people who work in PR look exactly like you would expect people who work in PR to look. They must be doing quite well to be able to afford the maternity leave bill, which would be a continuous expense looking at the age of some of them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gettafa Posted December 19, 2018 Share Posted December 19, 2018 The shouting that the pictures are on the BBC website - surely that is just the Isle of Man pages of the BBC. It's not that big a deal. Unless you're taken in by the bs. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Declan Posted December 19, 2018 Share Posted December 19, 2018 It was on the homepage, it appeared in the “things we love today” section, bbc north west, and there seems to be a newsround story too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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