Ennis Town- Share The Feeling (Christmas Video)

Carazy

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gBo2hvXE1oI

Insect Overlord

Paste the code from after "v=" into the [noparse]

[/noparse] tags to embed the video here.

Carazy

Thanks, wonderfully produced video above. Really makes Ennis look great.

Lady Chatterton

Carazy wrote: »

Thanks, wonderfully produced video above. Really makes Ennis look great.

I agree, well done to everyone involved, Ennis looks really great

Balagan

Lovely, smiling, kind, generous private business owners giving stuff away for free?

PR, make-believe and nonsense!

User Friendly

i have watched the video 3 times and am at a loss as to what its about? ba humbug!:D

Lady Chatterton

User Friendly wrote: »

i have watched the video 3 times and am at a loss as to what its about? ba humbug!:D

The video was created by the Chamber of Commerce to promote Ennis as "nice & friendly" place to shop this Christmas.

Balagan

The video isn't exactly teeming with racial diversity, is it?

User Friendly

MrsD007 wrote: »

The video was created by the Chamber of Commerce to promote Ennis as "nice & friendly" place to shop this Christmas.

do you think they succeeded?

a load of rubbish imo

Lady Chatterton

User Friendly wrote: »

do you think they succeeded?

a load of rubbish imo

Instead of moaning on about how tough it is right now for small businesses etc. they got off their behinds and they tried to make a short promotional video. It may not be perfect but I give them 10/10 for effort anyway.

I hope that people will try (where possible) to support small businesses this year (even it is just by purchasing one Christmas gift locally).

Le_Dieux

MrsD007 wrote: »

Instead of moaning on about how tough it is right now for small businesses etc. they got off their behinds and they tried to make a short promotional video. It may not be perfect but I give them 10/10 for effort anyway.

I hope that people will try (where possible) to support small businesses this year (even it is just by purchasing one Christmas gift locally).

Without want to sound patronising, this country needs MORE MrsD007's. Somebody mentions 'racial diversity' - I am at a loss as to where this line could come from & also WHY must race be brought into everything? I lived in South Africa for 16 years and know all about race, and believe me, the LAST thing Ireland needs to have this effing race card pulled at EVERY opportunity.

I think every county needs something to get their asses in gear. Fiver Fridays were a huge success, and now at least a CofC tries to do something positive, only to attract knockers as well - really really sad situation.

GOOD LUCK Ennis, and thanks for the encouragement MrsD.

cocochanel2011

This is a fantastic project which I believe was put together by Ennis Development Forum ( a VOLUNTARY group representing employers and employees ) with the help of the chamber of commerce . The town looks amazing and with all the shop owners giving so much of their time and also giving away vouchers on the street radio how can anyone view this in a cynical way . We all need to be reminded of what a wonderful town we have and it is beautifully captured on this video. We have one of the most gorgeous towns in the country and a town where you can get everything you need so lets all get behing this initiative and Congratulate the organisers . Its unbelievable that this video has got over 7,000 hits since Friday night on Vimeo link http://vimeo.com/m/33035402

Balagan

Le_Dieux wrote: »

Without want to sound patronising, this country needs MORE MrsD007's. Somebody mentions 'racial diversity' - I am at a loss as to where this line could come from & also WHY must race be brought into everything? I lived in South Africa for 16 years and know all about race, and believe me, the LAST thing Ireland needs to have this effing race card pulled at EVERY opportunity.

I think every county needs something to get their asses in gear. Fiver Fridays were a huge success, and now at least a CofC tries to do something positive, only to attract knockers as well - really really sad situation.

GOOD LUCK Ennis, and thanks for the encouragement MrsD.

There is a serious question to be asked about how a video has been made about the 'nice and friendly' town of Ennis, a town which has real racial diversity, without any racial diversity being shown.

Lady Chatterton

Here is an extract from an Irish Times Article which explains where the "friendliest town" concept came from;

Businesspeople in Ennis have asked a customer-care consultant to help revive commerce in the Co Clare town.

CIAN TRAYNOR

IN A SMALL cafe in the heart of Ennis the heads of the Co Clare town’s development forum are laughing. “Do you think we’re cracked?” asks Aoife Madden, the forum’s chairwoman. “You mean we didn’t get that across?” adds Shane O’Neill, its vice-chairman, as he stifles a giggle.

When they began the forum, in 2008, to stand up for shop owners, people were sceptical. Then they campaigned successfully to scrap the council’s proposed rates hike on local businesses, and locals started listening. When the area’s prospective TDs were on the campaign trail earlier this year the likes of Madden and O’Neill made them commit, on camera, to meeting the development forum every three months. It’s a promise they’ve had to keep.

Now they’re calling for a back-to-basics overhaul of customer service that could help lift Co Clare out of recession and earn Ennis a reputation as the friendliest town in the country.

Already known as the boutique capital of Ireland, Ennis is something of an anomaly in that franchises have made little encroachment here. Instead the town’s narrow streets are cramped with old-fashioned storefronts still named after the proprietors. Many of these businesses have passed through generations.

Standing in front of the James Brohan hardware shop, its postcard-worthy front decked with brushes, bins and backpacks, O’Neill explains that Ennis has always been a market town where people enjoy “the craic of haggling”. So where did it go wrong?

“We got complacent,” says O’Neill, who has been running the Art Craft Company for 17 years. “Business flowed in no matter what you did. There weren’t enough places to park. Maybe we just took it all for granted. I don’t think we’ve lost our personality, but we’ve lost our customers.”

It was a two-way disconnection, says Madden, whose family have run Madden Furniture for 30 years. “We didn’t have time to chat with our customers, but they didn’t want to talk to you either. They were getting money on their mortgage for furniture, coming in and going: ‘I want that, that and that – and I want it by Friday.’ Now it’s six to eight visits for a single purchase.”

Being fenced in by a ring road and bypassed by a motorway where signs make little reference to Ennis haven’t helped. Many feel that the town’s advantages, such as its proximity to the Burren and the Cliffs of Moher, have been forgotten. “There’s not much use in sticking our hand out to politicians, saying, ‘What can you do for us?’ We have to pull together and build on what we have: that natural ability Clare people have to interact with others,” says O’Neill.

With the help of the local chamber of commerce, Ennis Development Forum has been holding customer-care workshops that cover everything from cleanliness and clarity to bowling customers over with the wow factor and ever-present smiles.

It’s the little things: checking up on other shop owners, even if it means being brutally honest; directing customers towards competing shops, even if it means not seeing them return; collaborating with other businesses on promotional in-store events, even if it means giving away freebies and not selling a thing.

These are the teachings of Kathleen Sullivan, an American consultant experienced in customer care for multinationals like Unilever and Disney. She had worked with Ennis Chamber of Commerce before and was engaged to advise the town’s businesspeople. Sullivan, who lives between Ennis and Charleston, South Carolina (“the friendliest city in the US”), encouraged them to develop self-assessment checklists and draw up a Create the Magic charter.

“By God, there were rows over that charter,” says Madden. “But only because people are 100 per cent committed. If are going to be hung up in shops, they need to believe every word.”

O’Neill and Madden enthuse tirelessly about the campaign. To ensure that inspiration levels never dip they have promised to bring four motivational speakers to Ennis every year. At the launch of the Create the Magic charter on Tuesday, 180 people packed into the Old Ground Hotel for a talk by Bobby Kerr, the entrepreneur best known for his appearances on Dragons’ Den.

“I think what they’re doing is fantastic,” Kerr said later. “If you go into Ennis and you’re made welcome in six different shops, if they can get that common vibe going, it’ll be tremendously powerful for those who do visit.”

There is some scepticism, however. At the Irish Shop, which sold music for 28 years before branching into souvenir crafts in 2009, its owner is supportive of the idea but understands reluctance elsewhere. “I suppose there have been other initiatives in the past where people were all gung-ho and enthusiastic at the start, and it tended to dwindle fast,” says David Woodford, who is too busy to attend the customer-care workshops, which cost €75.

Shane O’Neill admits that not everyone is clamouring to get on board. There are downtrodden businesses under pressure, and many would prefer to stick with what they know. “But that’s not working any more,” he says. “We’re putting ourselves out there, at the risk of ridicule, to show that this thing can work. Before, I would have thought I was doing my best for customers. But you’re never that good. You might not acknowledge the person as much as you should when they come in; you might just delay on the phone that little bit longer.”

So far the initiative is at the pilot stage, with 25 businesses and about 430 employees participating. The next round of workshops begins in July, and a target for tangible results has been set for October, which is when Retail Excellence Ireland will conduct “mystery shopping” tests, sending undercover assessors into shops across the town over several weeks.

“That will tell us whether we’re cracked or not,” says Madden, laughing again. “But to be successful in business you have to be a bit cracked.”

angel2o11

This was made by a few Business people in 10 days for a Competition for RTE. They have nearly 8,000 hits since Friday.It betrays the Business people in Ennis giving presents to Santa. There is 4,000 euro worth of giveaways on the streets for their customers at Christmas.I read this on facebook today and I think these people are fantastic that created it. The comments made above are crazy re:racial issues.

The people that made this are Business people not hollywood producers. The Shop owners were asked along with their staff to line the streets on the night of filming. If you look at the video clip closely their actually is a business person from a different ethnic background in it if Balagan wants to get technical.This a a fantastic project and should be supported and these people should take a bow.

Shapey Fiend

All my friends on Facebook were passing this around and laughing at it. I think they missed the mark somewhat. It's nicely shot but the quality of the writing and voice over work isn't great. It could do with being a minute and a half shorter.

How does your man pick up the phone before it's even rang?

I think this thing comes off as pretty lame but if the target audience is American tourists or old people getting sentimental about the idea of father christmas then I guess it's adequate.

Lady Chatterton

Balagan wrote: »

There is a serious question to be asked about how a video has been made about the 'nice and friendly' town of Ennis, a town which has real racial diversity, without any racial diversity being shown.

I just had a look through some of the Ennis Chamber of Commerce and Ennis Development Forum online press releases.

You are invited to attend a Forum organised by Ennis Chamber and Ennis Development Forum to launch a new initiative on Customer Service for County Clare.......

The aim of the Forum is to inspire local businesses to engage in this initiative by enhancing their customer service, which will enable Clare to become “Ireland’s Friendliest County”.........

All businesses in County Clare are welcome to attend and to bring along their staff.

Reading this, I get the impression that Ennis Chamber of Commerce and Ennis Development Forum extended an invitation to all businesses in Clare who were interested in getting involved, I'm not sure what more they could have done, they can't force people to get involved in this initiative.

Le_Dieux

God help this country and the decent people who live here and try to make it a better place to live.

But alas, we seem to also have so called people who criticise for the sake of criticising. Where this racial sh1t crap comes from only one person can answer. So please balagan, what the hell is your issue?

People have made an effort to uplift the local economy, and should be praised for doing so. But of there is always one............who knock for the sake of knocking.

I do hope you have a good festive season.

Balagan

MrsD007 wrote: »

I just had a look through some of the Ennis Chamber of Commerce and Ennis Development Forum online press releases.



Reading this, I get the impression that Ennis Chamber of Commerce and Ennis Development Forum extended an invitation to all businesses in Clare who were interested in getting involved, I'm not sure what more they could have done, they can't force people to get involved in this initiative.

As another poster has pointed out, this video was made for a competition run by RTE http://www.rte.ie/radio1/thebusiness/christmas-competition.pdf

This extract you post and the lengthy article from the Irish Times which you posted refer to a related but separate endeavour.

Lady Chatterton

Balagan wrote: »

As another poster has pointed out, this video was made for a competition run by RTE http://www.rte.ie/radio1/thebusiness/christmas-competition.pdf

This extract you post and the lengthy article from the Irish Times which you posted refer to a related but separate endeavour.

To be fair Balagan, Ennis Chamber of Commerce and Ennis Development Forum are running numerous events as part of the "Friendliest Town" initiative. They have invited all Clare business people and their staff to get involved, anyone who wants to get involved can.

dr.fuzzenstein

Brilliant, love it!
No matter what, this town's got life left in it yet, go Ennis!
/gets pom-poms

Balagan

MrsD007 wrote: »

To be fair Balagan, Ennis Chamber of Commerce and Ennis Development Forum are running numerous events as part of the "Friendliest Town" initiative. They have invited all Clare business people and their staff to get involved, anyone who wants to get involved can.

Are you saying that all Ennis businesses and their staff were invited to be involved in the video? Even if it were limited to those businesses which are affiliated to and represented already by Ennis Chamber of Commerce and the Ennis Development Forum (and I do understand how hard they are working to keep their businesses going) I think it is indeed a pity that care was not taken to show some of the diversity of the people of Ennis and make a video that was inclusive and representative of the diversity we see on our streets and in our shops everyday. Remember that businesses are not just made up of the owners but also of the customers.

The RTE programme competition blurb http://www.rte.ie/radio1/thebusiness/christmas-competition.pdf
asked the specific question
Do you want to see your town celebrated on national TV?
and this video is a throw-back to times-gone-by when there was little or no racial diversity in the town and does not represent how the town is now and certainly is not how I want to see it 'celebrated'.

This video is indeed a PR exercise and I doubt that any of the businesses concerned are in a position to give much away for free, no strings attached, but, for all its Santa story, it does give a picture of the town of Ennis. There is a recession on which is hitting all of us hard and it is a time when divisions can easily occur in society and it is especially important that we guard against that happening.

I cannot imagine that it was anything but an oversight, albeit a sad one.

Lady Chatterton

Balagan wrote: »

Are you saying that all Ennis businesses and their staff were invited to be involved in the video? Even if it were limited to those businesses which are affiliated to and represented already by Ennis Chamber of Commerce and the Ennis Development Forum (and I do understand how hard they are working to keep their businesses going) I think it is indeed a pity that care was not taken to show some of the diversity of the people of Ennis and make a video that was inclusive and representative of the diversity we see on our streets and in our shops everyday. Remember that businesses are not just made up of the owners but also of the customers.

The RTE programme competition blurb http://www.rte.ie/radio1/thebusiness/christmas-competition.pdf
asked the specific question
Do you want to see your town celebrated on national TV?
and this video is a throw-back to times-gone-by when there was little or no racial diversity in the town and does not represent how the town is now and certainly is not how I want to see it 'celebrated'.

This video is indeed a PR exercise and I doubt that any of the businesses concerned are in a position to give much away for free, no strings attached, but, for all it's Santa story, it does give a picture of the town of Ennis. There is a recession on which is hitting all of us hard and it is a time when divisions can easily occur in society and it is especially important that we guard against that happening.

I cannot imagine that it was anything but an oversight, albeit a sad one.

Firstly, I wish to point out that I have absolutely no involvement in business in Ennis and I'm not associated with either of the groups who produced the film.

I love Ennis, I grew up there and no matter where I'm living, Ennis will always be home. It is my understanding that Ennis Development Forum have been running numerous "campaigns" in an effort to revive Ennis, they have promoted a facebook campaign, they have run customer service training events etc. all of this is open to anyone who wants to avail of/or support the initiative.

Personally, I like the video, it has an old world charm to it, yes, it is sentimental and there is an element of make believe in it, which is in keeping with the festive season. It is a three minute video which I presume has been funded by the business people involved, the video depicts many of the great Ennis Shopkeepers such as Jimmy Brohan, Mary O'Halloran and Honans. In a world that is being overtaken by Tesco, it is wonderful to see some of the small businesses surviving and adapting to difficult economic trading conditions.

I would presume that your suggestions would be given due consideration by the groups involved, so perhaps it would be more appropriate to voice your concerns directly with them.

Finally, Clareman/Insect Overlord, would you consider adding a poll to this thread so we capture what percentage of the forum like or dislike the video.

Insect Overlord

Poll added.

No need to make this a personal argument either folks! Keep it calm.

Balagan

MrsD007 wrote: »

Firstly, I wish to point out that I have absolutely no involvement in business in Ennis and I'm not associated with either of the groups who produced the film.

I love Ennis, I grew up there and no matter where I'm living, Ennis will always be home. It is my understanding that Ennis Development Forum have been running numerous "campaigns" in an effort to revive Ennis, they have promoted a facebook campaign, they have run customer service training events etc. all of this is open to anyone who wants to avail of/or support the initiative.

Personally, I like the video, it has an old world charm to it, yes, it is sentimental and there is an element of make believe in it, which is in keeping with the festive season. It is a three minute video which I presume has been funded by the business people involved, the video depicts many of the great Ennis Shopkeepers such as Jimmy Brohan, Mary O'Halloran and Honans. In a world that is being overtaken by Tesco, it is wonderful to see some of the small businesses surviving and adapting to difficult economic trading conditions.

I would presume that your suggestions would be given due consideration by the groups involved, so perhaps it would be more appropriate to voice your concerns directly with them.

Finally, Clareman/Insect Overlord, would you consider adding a poll to this thread so we capture what percentage of the forum like or dislike the video.

Why do you think it would be "more appropriate" for me to voice my concerns about the video directly with the groups involved? Am I not entirely free to raise the issue on this forum?

Lady Chatterton

Balagan wrote: »

Why do you think it would be "more appropriate" for me to voice my concerns about the video directly with the groups involved? Am I not entirely free to raise the issue on this forum?

Balagan, of course you are entitled to raise the issue here on the Clare forum or whatever other medium you feel is appropriate. However, I just thought that because you appear to be so passionate about this matter that you may want to raise it with the people involved in making the video.

angel2o11

Balagan

4,000 Euro worth of giveaways has been pledged by the Business Community with Giveaways over The Street Radio at Christmas for their Customers. So can you please tell me how it is a PR Stunt,when it is a two part initiative.First part the video and the second part the giving back through the street radio.
No Doubt you will have issues with that as well. The Business people are trying to pull the Town together and your comments are extremely insulting towards the people who organised this. I'm sure with the carry on with this forum they won't do anything for the Town again......
A poll is also extremely insulting to the people who made it when over 8,000 people have viewed it at this stage. It is fantastic to see our Town look really beautiful and my humble view is if you don't have something good to say please say nothing at all.

User Friendly

MrsD007 wrote: »

Balagan, of course you are entitled to raise the issue here on the Clare forum or whatever other medium you feel is appropriate. However, I just thought what because you appear to be so passionate about this matter that you may want to raise it the people involved in making the video.

Ahem........Im tempted to say nice recovery,but i wont:D

If Balagan appears passionate in your opinion,then your own persistence in defending this video must also be noted;)

angel2o11

Whoever started this poll should be ashamed of themselves. 4 people out of over 8000 hits. C'Mon a bit of respect towards the organizers who are trying to get our Town onto a national stage.

Insect Overlord

angel2o11 wrote: »

A poll is also extremely insulting to the people who made it when over 8,000 people have viewed it at this stage.

Excuse me? You're going to have to explain that one to me. And if you can't give a decent explanation...

angel2o11 wrote: »

my humble view is if you don't have something good to say please say nothing at all.

...then you'd be well-served to follow your own advice.

This is a discussion forum. We're not all here to agree with each other. Some people just can't deal with criticism, even if that same criticism could be helpful when planning future campaigns/events/projects.

Insect Overlord

angel2o11 wrote: »

Whoever started this poll should be ashamed of themselves. 4 people out of over 8000 hits. C'Mon a bit of respect towards the organizers who are trying to get our Town onto a national stage.

I know you're new here, but that's no excuse. Read the Clare Forum Charter before you post again. Next personalised remark you make about another poster/moderator gets you a short ban. You have been warned.