Re: UKNM: The Big Retailers - was Toys R Us

[Steve Johnston/IMRG]

>you can't. You spammed me, under false pretenses, in an unforgivably 

>rude manner, naturally unsolicited, and using a deliberate 

>misdirection (meaning your colleague forged a forwarded message). 


We are clearly going to have to disagree on what is acceptable in terms of 

unsolicited email, but 'unforgivably rude' come on Felix. I have also 

explained that the non-existent 'To' email address was a simple 

administrative and technical fix which we have stopped doing since you 

brought it to our attention, despite the fact that we regularly email our 

400 or so members using this fix and have never had a single complaint. 

Your continued emphasis on 'deliberate misdirection' and 'forging', on the 

other hand is unacceptable. Get over it.


>Don't, please, do it again - it ill becomes an organisation that 

>would wish to be taken at all seriously as an authority on e-matters 

>as opposed to a get-rich-quick scheme.


As you know we had already confirmed this to you directly before you raised 

the subject in this forum, so you can quit the point scoring.


>> Thirdly, and most importantly on to your damaging comments about the 

IMRG.

<snip>

>> Quite what you can be referring to with regards to us

>> capitalising on the work you do eludes me. I don't really want to invite

>> further conversation on this issue, but perhaps you could be clearer off

>> list.


>Point taken - maybe we just think that we do all the valuable 

>groundwork that bodies such as IMRG then belittle... ;) [ironic joke]


I have no comment here, but I left it in so you could enjoy reading your 

response again.


>> The IMRG whilst taking a position on retail best practice online - and

>> being a consumer qualifies me for that judgement


>Bollocks. Since when did being a consumer qualify anyone for 

>anything? Does it imply that I, as a consumer of Weetabix (although 

>maybe not enough), am qualified to design the packaging, employ the 

>farmers etc? Surely all it qualifies me to be is an eater of 

>Weetabix. Sorry old fruit, my judgement is just as valid on that one 

>as yours, Sajid's, Mike Slocombe's or the 

>always-right-except-where-it-come-to-the-net Bill Gates'.


Felix, read what I write, before you go off on your tangent. As a consumer 

I can tell plenty about whether I want to shop somewhere, it has nothing to 

do with my personal ability to actually create the proposition itself. 

Creating online retail propositions is clearly not for the faint-hearted or 

unskilled, but any ordinary shopper is going to tell you soon enough 

whether its a bunch of crap. I can see now, Felix, why you have such 

difficulty with accepting that all your Weetabix eater needs to decide is 

that he hates it, and all those skilled practitioners further up the chain 

are out of a job. 


>(Curious: why? Would it not be more useful to discuss it with 

>Swatch's web agency? Swatch sell watches - it's all they're 

>'qualified' to do!)


God your arrogance is breathtaking. Do you really believe that there is 

sustainable business in depending on the continuing ignorance of your 

clients? 


>IMRG is backwards-looking, in my 

>opinion, in that it looks at what has gone before and then judges it 

>with hindsight. It appears as if its policy is to hold the hand of 

>the retailer while someone else goes off and does the 

>ground-breaking. The policy of the new media agency is to hold the 

>hand of the retailer while together they establish a foothold in new 

>territory. You might be able to tell I have a thing about 

>associations, groups, quangos and other back-slapping organisations: 

>long experience of pouring money in and seeing nothing but hot air 

>come out, without exception to the detriment of the client's 

>confidence, and as a consequence, to the industry that I belong to 

>(which is different to yours).


As far as I can tell, Felix, you have had no direct contact with anyone 

from the management team of the IMRG, ever. Your opinions are therefore 

clearly based on your confessed prejudice and on nothing more. Even a 

cursory glance at our output and even a single conversation with an active 

member, plenty of whom are from your industry, would trash your superficial 

judgements about what we do. The naivety of your statement about holding 

the hand of the retailer whilst the wonderful Felix goes off and does the 

real work, is the last shovel-load of the hole you have been digging.


>It ain't personal Steve, you just need, as you say, to use 

>the occasional emoticon. :*


And god help us if emoticons are the salvation of irony in the wired age.


Steve Johnston

Director of Development

The IMRG 

www.imrg.org

07000 46 46 74






>

>

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> cc:

> Subject:        Re: UKNM: The Big Retailers - was Toys R Us

>

> Steve Johnston, Director of Development at IMRG wrote:

>>>Seriously, the one topic that has yet to appear in this thread is the

>>>aspect of e-commerce that isn't retail, but business-to-business

>>>procurement.

>>

>> Yeah, that's right Sajid, because its duller than dishwater.

>

> IMRG is the same organisation that spammed me yesterday in the rudest

> manner using a forged forwarded message. Past or current success (of

> any kind: research, design, strategic planning or whatever) or at

> least an understanding of netiquette are IMO the prerequisites to be

> able to comment on such an issue - the comment you posted above was

> so crass as to be unbelievable.

>

> We, that is those of us who are actually succeeding in the new media

> strategy, design and production business, are setting the precedents

> consumer e-commerce companies (e-tailers) are only now (pace amazon)

> beginning to follow. We are actually generating results: 59 enquiries

> converting to 31 qualified leads with average GBP5million business

> per lead (for C&L pre-merger, have a look at

> http://www.head-case.com/coopers), for example.

>

> In our 'duller than dishwater' (surely you mean ditchwater) business

> - at least some of us are actually generating revenue.

>

> If the IMRG were to want to become anything but a laughing stock to

> those of us at the coal face, it would be encouraging ANY kind of

> real-world application as opposed to denigrating the work we're doing

> that you then capitalise on.

>

> Felix Velarde

> director      Head New Media

> success is about interaction

> voice  + 44 (0) 171 737 7579

> http://www.head-newmedia.com


Felix Velarde

director      Head New Media

success is about interaction

voice  + 44 (0) 171 737 7579

http://www.head-newmedia.com 


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