Posted by Michael Walsh (Check me out!) on January 6th, 2008
Tagged as: Copywriting, Language Is Free
I’ve been giving DreamHost a really hard time of late and apparently they have not been acting without cause. For whatever reason, best left to techies, I’ve been abusing their procwatch program whatever that is - they even explained the way of the world with an emphatic “procwatch kills NG lingolook killed 30846″.
Good Lord. Lingolook was killed?
Tech support says it’s a combination of poor code (probable) and high traffic (improbable) which leaves me with the understanding that I have a duff site that no-one visits. I like to think positively so I’ve replaced that possibility with another opinion and it has something to do with my 2008 online resurgence. I have been murmuring about my projects for long enough and the hard-working Sarah from Blogging Expertise is finally coming up with the goods and her uploading and tweaking has put the cheap but oh-so-very-cheerful DreamHost contract I had under too much strain. So, despite all her hard work, it’s all her fault 
Still at least it brought me to my senses. I’ve upgraded my account to a Virtual Private Server which sounds like the IT equivalent of the Champagne Room and I’m sure will work out just as expensive but at least it should keep things running. If I disappear you now know why.
Don’t know about you but I’m really looking forward to 2008.
For starters I get to see whether my attempt at putting emotion into the Acer brand gets a warm or frosty welcome. Their annual kick-off is due at the end of January and this year it’s going to be totally different as it’s no longer a “one-nation-one-station” event but something more along the lines of “welcome Acer, Gateway and Packard Bell to your new home (Acer Group), allow us to present ourselves and show you that we’re a hip, smart, forward thinking bunch who know what we’re about, where we’re going and how we’re going to get there”.
Acer 2.0? Well that’s the plan…
Of course there’s a lot riding on this. I might be a master wordsmith but if the company doesn’t believe its own hype then the battle’s half lost. My guess is the company believes in itself but doesn’t yet fully understand its own hype and by that I mean the ability to measure the value of what it does beyond profit margins and market share, so anything designed to get it away from its “spreadset” (the habit of looking at the world through a spreadsheet) has got to be good for morale. Good for customers, good for products and, yes, good for Excel.
What else? Well I’ve set my sights on Canon’s latest HD gem, the HV20. In a few weeks I’m going to start filming multiple episodes of my free English language course site and see where it goes.
Allow me to explain a little about my past: like most English-speaking people who end up in Italy, my first job was teaching English. In fact I’ve been involved with my own language ever since just in different measures. Just check out my über glamorous career path:
Teacher –> translator –> creative translator –> copywriter.
That third category is an important moment in the life of any translator. Its like professional puberty and it comes when the translator’s balls suddenly get big enough for him or her to say: “Hey! This sounds crap in English (or whatever the destination language is). Why don’t you re-write the whole thing like this?” More than experience, this moment requires quite a lot of courage and really does separate the men from the boys or whatever the female equivalent to that is. From there on in, you’re good enough to write your own stuff.
Anyway, despite a stellar career as the world’s most invisible copywriter there is nothing like teaching. I think it has something to do with live feedback or something. Whatever. I really miss it so I’ve decided it’s time to get back into it, although in a version more in line with my way of seeing the world and that’s through a blog. I know how it should end up, but not how it should start so I’m just going to start recording and see where it goes.
Things to look out for in 2008?
I think Dell are going to take online conversations to new heights so expect to see Richard on Oprah in 3Q. I think 2008 will see Acer updating its frankly appalling website in tune with the newest kids on its family block. I also think this is the year flash memory notebooks finally go mainstream which means no or very few mechanical parts which means long, long battery life. Expect to see the word “longevity” come back into favour. How about calling it the UHT laptop (Ultra High Transportability)? Well it worked for milk…
Posted by Michael Walsh (Check me out!) on December 31st, 2007
Tagged as: Me
Hot on the heels of Richard’s end-of-year wrap up and well-wishings, I feel morally, professionally and compassionately compelled to do the same.
For all his generosity, consistency and more-than-welcome attention though, Richard has been unable to overcome those barriers that confine me and this blog to the dreaded but unquestionably deserved “occasional writer†category.
Yet his is the sort of support that keeps you afloat, and so if there is anyone I must thank for encouraging me to take this medium further, it is him.
2007 has been a watershed in my career as a copywriter or, as I commonly refer to myself, the IT world’s biggest ghost-writer.
I have always been out of the spotlight, whisked secretly into meetings with high-level management to help put sense to the latest initiative/product/idea and get the message out.
And this year I’ve written for occasions, launches, announcements and anniversaries that were once beyond the scope of my wildest dreams and aspirations. Now I’m churning out a couple a month.
But in 2007 with the arrival of the kind of relationships possible through blogging that this blog can only claim to scratch the surface of, everything I do and stand for changed ever so slightly but enough to raise questions. No longer absolute and unquestionable, it became relative.
There is a wonderful passage in Sir Ken Robinson’s book, Out of Our Minds, in which he says:
The dynamics of culture result in an irresistible process of change. Contemporary ways of life are not only different from those of the Victorians, they were largely unpredicted and essentially unpredictable. Cultural change is rarely linear and uniform. It results from a vortex of influences, which is hard enough to understand with hindsight and impossible to plan in advance.
I think the relativity of blogging is a pretty damned good example of the vortex of influences Sir Ken refers to and the accountability of thoughts, opinions and most of all ideals leads to the irresistible process of change he mentions at the beginning.
How far we’ve come is easy to measure. We all use the New Year to join the dots. I personally can claim a small victory in changing the way my biggest client sees itself in relation to the outside world and believe me that’s no mean feat.
But like Sir Ken infers, how far we as a community are going to take it is anyone’s guess.
I for one have a few things I’m going to try out in 2008. After all, if it’s irresistible, why fight it?
It’s been how long?
Wow. I’ve lost all momentum. Kids are the perfect excuse but they’re not the only things that can stop a good party.
Every now and then a manic idea sweeps through the corridors of power on Planet Acer and I’m left to come up with concepts, ideas, and best of all speeches in the blink of an eye. I’m very excited about what’s going down as there’s nothing like a major event to give a dreary copywriter a big, fat, creative kick up the arse!
Good job I’m good - and fast
There’s a breath of fresh air heading in my direction. It dawned on me yesterday as I was reading a really interesting interview about Gary Vaynerchuk and his take on the video blog platform.
What Gary has done is take the technology out of the medium and has replaced it with good, old-fashioned personality. Duh!
This is the kind of vibe I’ve been wanting to model my own initiatives on and may well borrow from it for the online language course I’m in the middle of developing.
Speaking of projects, the new, improved Runaway Parents site is nearly up and running and I really can’t wait to get my teeth into it. This project started out as a way of getting my wife involved in what I do (writing, blogging) and we’re now opening a company that’s going to transform it into a cute little niche site.
So while I’m here I might as well plug what it is we’re going to do: If any of you know of a romantic getaway or restaurant in your neighborhood no matter where you are in the world and/or would like to get involved as a parent who loves getting away from it all, drop me a line. I’ve modeled ad revenue sharing into the site design and have an affiliate system for advertisers so you’ve got nothing to lose!
Does anyone know anything about community video publishing on YouTube? I’m going to start the ball rolling by publishing the first few lessons on the free online language course I’ve got on the boil but what I really want is an open environment where other teachers are free to join in and publish their own lessons (viral teaching???). Again, ad revenue sharing will be built into the site structure so we all benefit but I’m wondering if YouTube is the best medium. I know Blip.tv and Viddler are pretty sharp but they seem to be more suitable for single-user sites.
On Wine Library.TV, only Gary’s doing the videos. How would he organize it if he let visitors upload their own videos?
Plus I know it’s old(ish) but look at YouTube’s popularity.
Posted by Michael Walsh (Check me out!) on October 21st, 2007
Tagged as: Asides
Many times in the past few weeks I have had an itch in that area of the brain where “you know it’s right” feelings come from.
I have been lacking both on my blog rhythm as well as on my commitment to the cause, whatever that may have been… and just like Neo awakening for the first time on the Nebuchadnezzar, it’s been a painful rehabilitation. But now the new world has begun to take shape and that itch is there for a reason - it feels just right.
We have started the ball rolling and only time will tell if it was in the right direction. So from now on, this blog will also tell of our ups (and downs) as we re-shape our world with two new online activities.
The copywriter has changed forever and everyone I have come into contact with through this medium and beyond has played an important part in reshaping my beliefs and redirecting the course of events. This is no small private illumination, this is a full-on re-activation of everything I had promised myself I would accomplish.
So for now, it’s back to the drawing board.
I am starting to map the lesson program of my online language course -Â I need to produce one thousand grammar modules before I go any further. So far I’ve got 380 down so there’s still a long way to go, also because once I’ve logged all 1000, I then have to reorder them, modify them into a coherent whole and produce video material for each and every one. And that’s before I get to writing the support material.
It’s a major challenge, particularly as I’ve been sitting on this idea for 10 years now. In fact for that very reason I’d go so far as to say that it’s the single most complex project I’ve ever been involved in in my entire life. But the web is the right medium (as Ken Robinson would say) and now is the right moment. Seeing it come to life is simply magical.
Posted by Michael Walsh (Check me out!) on October 16th, 2007
Tagged as: Asides
I’m not one to hide my feelings. When I’m angry you can see it a mile off (my wife 2) and when I’m happy I breathe an infectious enthusiasm for the most trivial of things that’s almost annoying. You’ll be relieved to know that by nature, I’m more happy than I am angry
Yeah, I’m a touchy-feely sort of guy at heart, which is why I’m a copywriter and not a sheet metal worker, although I suspect even they have their moments.
I’m also not one to rant over other people’s shortcomings as if planting a flag for consumer rights every time something goes wrong with something I’ve bought, seen or had to do with professionally or personally. To quote Massive Attack: the big wheel keeps on turning, and I’m more than happy to look after my own, slightly smaller one thank-you very much.
However, there are moments when all this talk of principles and morals falls flat on its face and you let loose with something wholly unexpected. I’ve had notable negative explosions, I think the most memorable public one was my criticism of ShinyShiny’s treatment of Acer.
I’ve also stated publicly (although I don’t remember where) that I’m thoroughly impressed with Dell’s telephone support service. Yes, I have a Dell and when it went wrong they were simply amazing on the phone.
Now it’s time for me to compliment someone I never really thought I would. Apple.
Back on the 6th September, I ordered the 16GB iPod Touch complete with personalized inscription as a present to myself for my new son. The day before he was born, it arrived. Perfect timing. I immediately loaded it up, registered it, transfered a bunch of stuff over and took it out to show it off (well wouldn’t you?). Took it home and spent the evening with it hooked up to the hi-fi and had guests over for dinner. All very impressive.
The next day I slipped out to charge it up again. Connected it to my PC and BOOM! It all went dark. I have no idea what shorted, but not only did the iPod die, it also became incandescent for the next 4-5 hours - in fact I had it in my pocket when we went to hospital as I wasn’t sure if the thing was going to explode and burn the house/car down!
On Monday I contacted Apple support. They pointed my to the nearest Apple Authorised Service Provider who congratulated me as I was quite possibly the first person in Italy (Europe?) to have returned his iPod Touch. Anyway, they took it in and said they’d be in touch. Fast forward one week and a brand new iPod Touch just arrived in the post, complete with original inscription. No questions asked.
I understand all your arguments in defence of the poor old consumer, and that, yes, it was the least old Steve could do, but I think they went the extra mile to keep me a happy customer, and deserve the genuine thanks I’m giving them. Oh, and yes, it’s one hell of a product.
Posted by Michael Walsh (Check me out!) on October 8th, 2007
Tagged as: Me
On Saturday night at 11pm, my second son, Alex, came into the world in a room full of screams, blood and fatigue. Once he was out, croaked his first salutation and I saw the colour slowly come back into my wife’s cheeks, it dawned on me on just how 1.0 the moment was.
When you’re experiencing something so shatteringly intense, your focus is so sharp that you can’t see, hear or feel beyond your immediate surroundings.
It’s like everything else that you’re a part of, and is a part of you, is momentarily detached from your consciousness, leaving your mind and heart against a canvass of total sensory deprivation. Nothing, and I mean nothing beyond your immediate surroundings can penetrate your awareness.
The emotions and feelings you do acknowledge become part of you and directly shape who you become.
1.0 is you, your life and nothing else. It’s fantastic. We should all get to try it.
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