Irn Brus Cuckoo Ad

Irn Bru have a great advert for their 32 energy drink, which involves a man dressed in a cuckoo outfit bursting into a library. However, the advert received numerous complaints because of its' broad Glasgow accent and aggressive overtones.

So what would you do?

Well Irn Bru and their advertising agency redo the advert, dubbing over the original voices (and quite blantantly so) and altering the script. Saw it on TV tonight, and it is hilarious.

See the original here.

Further details here.

Investing in e-Learning

The part of the e-Learning market which ILX operates in is dominated by a few big global players (the likes of Thomson & SkillSoft - and in the bigger scheme of things SkillSoft is small fry) who offer a generic library of content which get sold to large organisations on annual contracts for six figure sums.

Below this we have many many smaller UK based companies trying to scratch a living from developing generic content or custom builds. The market is ripe for consolidation, and a quick look round reveals that for the past 18 months or so, there has been a constant drip of corporate activity (Epic & Huveaux, RedTray & BlueU, FutureMedia & EBC and AdVal & Maxim). The market is too fragmented for anyone to make a decent and sustainable profit.

The ILX approach is slightly different in that they are specialising in the PRINCE2 and ITIL subject areas, both of which are supposed to offer significant growth prospects. Revenue growth looks impressive, but there have been several acquisitions over the past year or so, however they are generating a profit and now paying a dividend – something which few others in the industry are capable of doing.

e-Learning itself has huge potential to revolutionise the training industry, but there are several hurdles to overcome, not least the vested interest from traditional education providers and the fact that a great deal of the content is, well, em, crap.

But what's the investment case. Well from personal experience, lead times are long (and getting longer) and income can be very lumpy. If you want to make money from the education or public sector, you had better have the right contacts (good sales team), and if you make money from the private sector, just remember that this comes from a training budget – which, when times get tough, is one of the easiest to cut.

The market will look completely different in five years time due to consolidation, with the likes of Futuremedia and Huveaux currently leading the way to develop companies which are more widely focused on digital content (not just learning content).

Short term, ILX are making money from their business model focusing on PRINCE2 and ITIL. They have also stated that they are on the look-out for “further choice acquisitions”. The question is whether they can successfully role this model out into subject areas beyond their current focus.

e-LearningNow - User Profiles

The registered user profiles within : e-LearningNow : have been extended to include fuller contact details as well as giving users an opportunity to note their areas of interest.

Whilst the majority of direct contact with registered users will be via e-mail, it is essential for ongoing marketing that we can contact people off-line as well. This will give the opportunity to offer prize draws and free gifts, without the need to go back to users all the time we want to send them something.

The registration screen does look a bit busy at the moment, but once it is tested we can do the tidying up.

eLearningScotland

It is a sad day, but Scottish Enterprise and the eLearningAlliance have come to the conclusion that the eLearningScotland portal does not have a viabl future.

It is sad, forI spent a few months working on the eLearningScotland project as Portal editor, and there was a great deal of interest shown in what we were doing. However, as with many good ideas, if the interest doesn't get converted into cold hard cash, then it is not real interest after all.

A visit to the eLearningScotland page reveals a "No web site is configured at this address." message, so it is now even too late to say goodbye.

It was back in December that we started putting some meat on the bones of an idea for : e-LearningNow :, so it feels almost scary that within a fortnight of the official launch of the new project, that an old one disappears.

A search on Google for the elearning + scotland keywords, still shows the site is highly ranked, so there must still be a few folk linking to the site, we can only hope that we can attain the same ranking for : e-LearningNow :.

:e-LearningNow: - Pre-Launch Countdown

On July 1st, :e LearningNow: (the UKs newest on-line community dedicated to the use of technology in training and learning) will be launched across the education, public and private sectors.

For several years now, professional educators and trainers have been using technology to deliver learning experiences in an ad hoc and experimental fashion, where many of the lessons learned about its' use have been retained within a close knit community. But the time is now right to bring together this extensive experience, best-practice and research and disseminate it to a wider audience (specifically to those who are looking to use information technology to add value to their training and educational experiences).

The Aims of :e LearningNow:
The aim of :e LearningNow: is to fill the gaps which currently exist between those sectors involved in delivering training and education. With :e LearningNow: acting as the bridge between the sectors, it will reach out to educationalists, public sector users, corporate users and to industry suppliers. This will result in :e LearningNow: being the UKs premier e-Learning destination.

The initial launch of :e LearningNow:, will see the Resource Centre being rolled out to thousands of education and training specialists across the UK, giving them the opportunity to contribute to its' content and future direction, as well as giving them the ability to learn from other e-Learning practitioners.

As its' user base grows, so :e LearningNow: will exploit the true power of the new Internet tools which are becoming known as Web 2.0 – these are the tools which enable social, networking and collaboration activities across broadband connections.

As Registered Members, users can submit their e-learning news, articles and links to resources. And the real beauty of it all is that this resource will be free of charge for Registered Members.
You can visit :e LearningNow: on the Internet at http://www.e-LearningNow.co.uk .

New Benchmark: Natural Tendency

With Scotland not being in the World Cup, several public figures with a Scottish background have been asked by the media which team they will be supporting, and the one grabbing the headlines is Jack McConnell, who basically said that he will be routing for Trinidad & Tobago as they have several Scottish based players.

Now this has been seized upon as being anti-English, and has resulted in some strange things appearing in the media that resembles resentment from the English who don't understand why the majority of Scots don't love them and will not be supporting their efforts to lift the World Cup.

Well we now have a benchmark against which to compare the Scots relationship with the English.

The Argentina v Ivory Coast match was being shown on ITV and one of those neutral English based commentators came away with a statement which resemble the following (I don't remember which commentator it was, for when it comes to the English (and Alan Hansen) and their football they all spout very similar drivel).

When Argentina are playing, the natural tendency is for us to support the opposition.

Now, if we substitute the word Argentina for England, then we get to a statement which I think a great number of Scots would be comfortable with.

And by the way, Argentina are one of my tips for the World Cup .

Audit of Sport Facilities

sportscotland have carried out an audit of 6000 sports facilties across Scotland.

The audit finds that a great number of the facilities are below par (but with bowling greens and tennis courts fairing better), with 74% of natural grass pitches needing replacing or substantial upgrading.

Changing accommodation for sports pitches is often too small and in very poor conditionwith inadequate showers, ventilation and heating systems; 49% of changing pavilionsrequire replacement or significant upgrading (this sounds terribly familar).

Tackling the issues identified by the audit will require the commitment of all those involved in
operating and funding sports facilities. As well as identifying the issues, this audit seeks to
stimulate and inform the debate on what needs to be done. There are a number of areas
which require close consideration and debate:
• The development of local facility strategies.
• Co-ordination of investment strategies to support local facility development.
• Supporting national governing bodies of sport and local sports clubs in quantifying and
defining future needs for access to facilities across the country.
• Developing partnerships between the public, private and voluntary sectors.
• Promoting good practice in design, maintenance and refurbishment and the management
of facilities.

Full report here .

Link Logo

Have created an animated link logo for :e-LearningNow:, which will be used on various sites to enourage visitors to the site.

e-LearningNow Feedback

David Croom (co-founder of NelsonCroom) gave his feedback today on the progress to date of :e-LearningNow:, and very insightful it was.

Basically, play to my strengths - which he sees as insightful comment on the e-learning market. By excluding the comment and maintaining a nuetrality to articles, it is just another portal. However, include the comment (such as those that appear in the Just Learn blog and newsletter) and then it becomes a PORTAL with a little more oomph.

He also had a comment about the navigation and would like to see the corporate financials included as a section.

David was one of the guys who said I should be looking to be more commercial with the use of my content, so to some extent, he has already has some input in pushing me in the :e-LearningNow: direction, so any further comments from David will always be welcome.

Google News

Had applied for e-LearningNow to be set up as a source for Google News, unfortunately they have today knocked back that idea - which is a bit disappointing.

Events Listing Added

A listing of e-learning events has been included within e-LearningNow. Will leave as a link from the main menu for the time being, but in due course I may look to set up a module on the home page.

e-LearningNow - Ad Sense

Latest addition to the e-LearningNow website is the inclusion of a Google AdSense module.

Initially this is being shown on the right hand side of the page, but will consider this over the next couple of days.

Hilarious

This is hilarious, but surely it was never broadcast - was it ?