RE: UKNM: State of the Nation

[Robin Edwards]

Jim Sterne wrote:


> The stands may have been under attended, but it's only through

> lack of vision and not the beginning of the end. The new media

> business in Europe is in its absolute infancy. It's only the

> beginning and it's your job to educate the people with the most

> to lose. Now is the time for them to jump in and start learning.

>

> You are the catalyst.


Hey - he's right. C'mon guys, if we stand together we can fight this thing.

Shaggy - you go with Scooby and Scrappy, and I'll go with the girls...


But seriously, Jim has made some painfully clear points here and I for one

welcome them with an enthusiastic ear. I do think Jim has missed the fact

that in the UK exercising apathy and self-depreciation are national pastimes

though.


There would appear to be no sound reason why a UK company couldn't just as

easily provide both the creative, technical and marketing expertise required

to build a hugely successful online retail site or publication, but so far

we have seen little in the way of encouraging results.


I think there are two barriers (or perceived barriers) here - scale, and

attitude. Attitudes can be changed through some damned hard work, but scale

is the tricky one. The numbers on offer to potential UK clients are hardly

inspiring unless they are trying to appeal to a global market (which many

are not). Undoubtedly in the US there are many many more failures and quite

frankly crap sites than there are over here but, by sheer volume, the

successes, when they appear, are massive.


The problem here is that although we plant the acorns, we don't give them

the water or light they need.


Robin