DoneDeal.ie - A Case Study

Last week saw Trinity College play host to the Dublin Web Summit. The event, which was beyond sold out, brought together a fantastic panel of speakers to discuss the lessons & direct experiences of scaling up companies, inspiration for Irish tech start ups and a round house debate on the implications and expectation of Social Media and the advent of user curated news and content. The Summit's speakers were Craig Newmark, founder of Craigslist, Matt Mullenweg, founder of Wordpress, Wired’s Editor-at-Large, Ben Hammersley, and former Iona CEO, Chris Horn. The Summit was presided over and MC'd by Mark Little.

I was lucky enough to attend the Summit as a guest of one of its sponsors, DoneDeal.ie.

The conference was, to say the least, one of the most informative and thought provoking events I've been to in the last 5 years. To start I would commend Mark Little on being one of the finest MCs I've had the pleasure of seeing. Mark not only knows what he's talking about inside and out, but he shows a genuine passion and interest in the people speaking and what they are speaking about. On the otherside then, it should be taken into account also that the line up of speakers was just brilliant. Craig Newmark, Matt Mullenweg, Ben Hammersley and Chris Horn all displayed an insight into a world that both enthrals and intrigues me. I live Social Media and online content, it's a passion, and I am lucky enough to be able to work with the things that I find most interesting. These people were, in one way or another, all part of that world down to its core. Newmark and Mullenweg: the creators and innovators. Hammersley: the critique, moderator and commentator. Horn: the technologist and advocate. While the room may have been filled with geeks much the same as myself, there was not a single person present who wasn't captivated.

Watching and listening to these people talk, I realised that the entire landscape of the world I work in, is primordial in its nature. Nothing is concrete, nothing set in stone, and nothing that is beyond question. Opinion rather then fact prevails in the majority of circumstance and everything we accept today could easily be idiotic to even consider tomorrow. The web and Social Media are changing so rapidly that the only way to stay with the leading edge is to immerse oneself in everything to do with it. Surround yourself with like-minded people and make sure to listen to everything they have to say, because every suggestion or idea is worth considering. I do quite a bit of freelance work but I would never consider myself to have owned my own business. Listening to the panel got me thinking about this. How would I approach the modern digital world if it were my own business I was driving?

Speaking to my host at the Summit, DoneDeal.ie seemed like a good place to understand what the trials and difficulties faced by a start-up are. Fred, a Swede who married an Irish girl and now lives in Wexford, was full of good suggestions and commentary on how he and his wife took their digital idea and created a seriously impressive business. The best thing, however, that Fred and Geraldine, his wife, offered was a Case Study (available to download here) that the company has created on exactly how they have become Ireland’s biggest and fastest-growing classifieds website. Reading through the case study I was thrilled. Here is a company that has realised how Social Media works. It's all about sharing. Giving away knowledge and learnings makes you stronger. Other businesses succeeding makes the market stronger. Here was someone who actually saw the benefit of giving away information that others would hold tightly to their chest and do anything to keep secret. Bravo!

DoneDeal.ie, from a standing start in 2005, has experienced an average of 10 - 15% growth in visitor traffic and ad placements per month. At the end of last year the business had reached a company turnover of €1mil and is hosting more then 50k of active ads. According to Google Trends, the business is now the number one place to buy and sell things in Ireland. Consider that all that was achieved in less then 5 years. This hasn't gone unrewarded or unnoticed though. Last year Fred and Geraldine received the Net Visionary Internet Marketer award from the Irish Internet Association and DoneDeal.ie was short-listed for the All Ireland Marketing Awards 2009 in the Small Business Category.

As of November last year, DoneDeal.ie had the following metrics:

• Visits per month: 2.8 million
• Unique visitors per month: 776,000+
• Traffic increase per month: 10 - 15%
• Active ads: 54,000
• New ads placed per month: 30,000
• Turnover: €1 million
• Revenue growth year on year: 400%

No one can say this isn't extremely impressive. For anyone who is started, has started, or is just thinking about starting their own business, I would recommend reading the DoneDeal.ie Case Study (download here). It is full of good advice, practical suggestions and solid information on how one of Ireland's best success stories came to be.

Aside from the website, DoneDeal can also be found on Twitter (here or here) and Facebook.

Google Buzz

TechCrunch said, "If Google Wave Is The Future, Google Buzz Is The Present". And that means what exactly? Well I'll assume you've heard of Google Wave. You may not know exactly what Google Wave is or what it can do, but I'll presume you remember everyone going crazy about Wave towards the end of 2009. Well, Google Buzz is the new 'next big thing' from Google.

Before I throw too many words at you, check out Google's video explaining what Buzz is...

I have to agree with TechCrunch on this one. Consider Google. A huge global mega-corp with interests in virtually every part of the modern web, from video hosting (YouTube) to email (Gmail) to image hosting (Picasa) to software/OS (Chrome) to hardware (Nexus One). The big glaring gap in that list, however, is Social Networking. In the grand scheme of things, Google do not have a presence within the hierarchy of favourite Social Media Networking sites. So why not fix that?

And you know what, Google are going to try just that.

Google's latest venture, Google Buzz, is designed to bring together elements of Twitter, Foursquare, Yelp, and Facebook together in one convenient location, accessible by either desktop or mobile. Google Buzz is described as the ultimate feed, a kind of FriendFeed on steroids. Through the "convenience" of your Gmail account, you will now be able to stream your status updates, pictures, links, and videos from your friends. In a similar fashion to Facebook you can then “like” them and comment on them. The service will also suck in feeds from Flickr, Picasa, Google Reader and Twitter. Beyond this, Google Buzz will then also offer the added functionality of making recommendations of feed items that you might like based on friends’ activity.

So if this is all about a "super feed", what's the big deal?

Well, Google want Buzz to be different in one fundamental way: Buzz is about Social Curation. As most of us are probably (painfully) aware, there is just too much content being created to be able to filter through to the stuff that is of real genuine interest. Buzz will do this. When importing content from something like Twitter (import only to begin but Google say the service will eventually allow you to fully manage services like Twitter directly from Buzz), Buzz will filter out content so that you only see the best bits. Admittedly this sounds very controlling and perhaps not of immense value to begin with but Google do promise that the service will be as open as possible.

So what are the downsides to all this?

Well as has been seen with Google Wave, just because something is from Google does it automatically mean it's got universal appeal. Google Wave is a phenomenally powerful tool but it's simply not of use to everyone, and there are plenty of people who will go their whole life without a need for it. Google Buzz is really facing the same problem. Can it be of use to everyone? Because that's really what it's about these days. Niche is just that, niche. And for a company like Google to spend the time and money in development and promotion, they need to have something that we all use/need.

When it comes down to it, for me, it's too early to draw any conclusions. Give me a month of using the service and I'll come back with an educated review.

Google Search - Parisian Love

Love this video shared by Dermot yesterday on Twitter...

Lyons Tea - Secret 'Ingredient'

It's so very true that things come in three's, and so with little surprise I find myself writing about a new tea advertisement just a day after I wrote about two others. The reason I find myself wanting to share this ad is, however, very different to yesterday's post. Tomorrow Lyons Tea will launch their latest campaign. The campaign reveals that ‘talk’ is the secret ‘ingredient’ in its tea. Not only do I think that this makes perfect sense for brand association, but ultimately I think the ad is very good.

The new ‘The Master Blender’ TV ad launches tomorrow, 8th February, with a humorous tongue in cheek story all about the Lyons Master Tea blender and his apprentice. The two characters describe how different types of talk are added to the tea, which results in conversations for all the people who drink it. The campaign shows us the wonka-esque magical tea factory where Lyons create their famous tea. The Master Tea blender and his apprentice are seen in a huge hallway lined with row upon row of specially labelled drawers of tea, each with a different type of talk. For this ad, the Master Tea blender selects ‘Footy Talk’ and proceeds to show his young apprentice how it is added to the tea. With their job done, the ad cuts to a scene of two older women sitting on a couch about to enjoy a nice fresh brew. As they each take a sip the conversation immediately turns to ‘Footie’.

What I particularly like about the new add is the detail that we are shown. For me this is very much on par with Coca-Cola's Open Happiness. Production and performer budgets are clearly miles apart but Lyons still create the same magic. A wonderful sense of 'something more' that you can enjoy as you make and drink a nice cuppa. Serious hat tip to Lyons of this one - well done!

Liz Finlay, Lyons Tea Marketing Manager, commented on the new campaign, “It’s no secret that Irish people are both big talkers and big tea drinkers - the secret is we, at Lyons, have been adding talk to the tea! The talk combined with the best blends of the finest tea makes for the best tasting, conversational cuppa! We’re delighted with our new TV advertisement and we think consumers will find this is just the right blend of fairytale, magic and humour! We’ll be supporting the new campaign with some really exciting activity in store, radio promotions and lots of PR over the coming months, giving Irish people plenty to talk about.”

The campaign is primarily driven through tv, in three executions, with support from three radio ads and a 48-sheet element. The campaign has been created by Rothco with the tv ad directed by Stephen St. Leger. Production was by H2 Films with post-produced by Windmill Lane Pictures.

"I Like Drisco" - Haiti Charity Single

Thought this worth sharing as it's a worthy cause and, lets face it, who doesn't like Brian O'Driscoll?

Check out the charity single, "I Like Drisco", (video on the way apparently) from Johnny Rayge & ITO. All proceeds from sales are going to Haven.