Author Archive
David versus Goliath no it’s Scoogle versus Google
Posted by: | CommentsThis morning sitting down at my computer to work on some things related to our new venture RushCrowds got really exciting for once when a flurry of emails and DM’s scurried around and I realized an issue that I knew was floating around out there, was suddenly today very much in the news.
A couple of months ago friends of mine and @davideedle Josie Meadows and Col Red who run a little and very gorgeous frames shop in Albert Park, let me in on the secret that they’d just received a rather scary letter from Google’s lawyers about their business name Scoogle.
Col Redmond sporting Scoogle frames.
Now before you make the obvious link, well hey aren’t they playing on the hugeness in the brand Google here, the answer is actually no.
Scougal is the maternal family name of Josie’s and goes back a long way with particular resonance for Josie and Col. The business name was chosen to honour in a quiet way, history and heritage and some unique individuals on this side of Josie’s family. The change to Scoogle was an honourable nod to the family name but jazzing it up a little.
Josie is an optician by background and Col is an industrial designer. Both Scoogle founders have a great love and passion for unique and interesting design. Col for many years has been working on a new design for a scooter. The two go to Belgium and Spain and Paris every year talking to frames designers and picking up some of the best frames that are being hand-made anywhere in the world today.
Scoogle sells frames for fetching faces and is being sued by Google.
The frames at Scoogle (I have 2 pairs of sunglasses and one pair of optical glasses) are all gorgeous, individual, hand-made and lean towards a tradition of artisanship and care and quality in the design and creation of the utilitarian object. Scoogle sells products that are artisan/craftsmanship of the highest order.
So ironic then that this tiny store, selling a very specific niche product should be under legal fire from the monolith that is Google about losses due to infringement of brand, or something to that end.
You can read all about what’s going on with Scoogle and their legal stoush with the goliath that is Google in a great article by @bengrubb in today’s Sydney Morning Herald at Screw you, Scoogle, says Google.Please take the time to vote in the poll at the bottom of the story and lend your support to Josie and Col at Scoogle. And don’t hold back from voicing your opinion about this if it stirs you, on Twitter and Facebook. It’s worrying when a small, niche Victorian business is legally intimidated by a huge global monolith that seems to know no bounds.
Photos: Col Redmond
Bleep Bleep Back on the radar
Posted by: | CommentsBig apologies to all our Into the Mountain regular readers who have noticed that David and I have been somewhat missing-in-action from our blog for the past couple of months. Life took us off on a bit of a detour and we’ve executed a home/office move in that time off air. I’m happy to say that things are now settling down and we’re getting into the rhythm of our new place.
2010 has been an interesting one so far for us. We burst back from the summer holiday period in January this year and had decided that we’d launch a venture we’ve been cooking up in a relatively low key way with our friend and entrepreneurial colleague, Ed Dowling. The constraints we’ve worked with are that both David and Ed work full-time on consulting and contract work and therefore can only offer up snippets of hours here and there when working on the technology of this new venture. Even so, they’ve done magic and I’m happy to say that we’ll be launching this new venture, RushCrowds this month.
RushCrowds will be in beta mode for the first bit of 2011 and we’re issuing an invite to any small arts/event companies in Melbourne who have shows on over summer who’d like to test the technology with us, to get in touch. If that’s your company, contact me via the comments section at the bottom of this post. Read More→
Which way will Australian business jump?
Posted by: | CommentsWith global economic conditions still looking uncertain, many Australian businesses are not sure which way they should proceed. Is it time to invest more in order to catch a wave of upward demand, or are we likely to feel further ripples from the stagnant growth and potential deflation in the United States? Should businesses spend more or save more? Phil Grant is Managing Partner at boutique accounting advisory firm Nexia ASR and he shares his insights into this conundrum with Into the Mountain’s, Fiona Boyd.
Phil Grant joins Fiona Boyd regularly to talk about money and business.
Human resources versus commercial reality Vidpost
Posted by: | CommentsHuman resource departments have become known as the place where employees can go to relieve their woes. But does getting too involved with employees needs lead HR departments to become too soft and to neglect their commercial purpose? Phil Grant, Managing Partner at boutique accounting and advisory firm, Nexia ASR discusses what’s going on with HR with Into the Mountain’s Fiona Boyd.
Nexia ASR is a full service accounting firm based in Melbourne, Australia.
Don’t give up the running, yoga, walking
Posted by: | CommentsYesterday I was at the doctor’s for my 4 year old’s immunizations and her rather wonderful doctor Andrew and I had a bit of a chat about running. He’s out there running the same route as me along the bayside foreshore of Melbourne most days. I see him from time-to-time and we wave to each other and cheer each other on. Read More→
Brand boredom Vidpost
Posted by: | CommentsIt’s a wonderful thing when a new company gets away and is a success, but one of the pitfalls of success is that those inside the company can get bored. Before you change anything, listen to what Michel Hogan has to say about ‘brand boredom’.
Michel Hogan runs the brand alignment and advocacy company, Brandology. Check out her weekly blog Brand Matters at Smart Company.
Tax time and the stimulus package transcript
Posted by: | CommentsThis post is a transcript of the video interview Tax time and the stimulus package. Read More→
Providing peak experiences and the power of premium
Posted by: | CommentsIf you read my last blog post you would know that David and I recently had a four night getaway at Hayman Island in the Whitsundays, a venue which is also hosting a major Australian leaders forum this week, that you can read all about at Business Spectator.
Our trip though was for R & R and not business thankfully though while we were there I couldn’t help but notice how many things done by the Hayman team and in delivering the Hayman experience, provided some unique insights into concepts that could be deployed in other places and other businesses.
One of these was the notion of offering a ‘peak experience’ to the customer base, not something that everyone will want to do, and the cost of it can be one of the factors that makes it exclusive, but something that can be nevertheless considered a pinnacle experience, a really neat thing to do. Read More→
Building on fantastic, Hayman a lesson in constant improvement
Posted by: | CommentsWhen David and I sat down at the offices of our mentor Dr Terry Cutler in the warm summer days of January 2009, our goal was to draw up a mud map of our experiences starting up, growing and then selling Arts Hub.
However, we didn’t just want to map out and then tell the Arts Hub story, we wanted to condense the journey into some key lessons for those who wanted to venture into niche publishing. It was our belief then and it still is that one of the great frontiers online that has only partly been exploited is that of niche content.
What we mean by that is that if you can provide content of a high quality in a specialist or niche field for a bunch of people who are interested in or work in that area, then you can create a product that those people will pay for. Many of us understand that it’s important to keep abreast of the trends and challenges in our industry or even in an area that is a hobby for us, and pulling this sort of information together for people has a value. Read More→
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