'Brand Designs': Rejuvenating not replacing

Posted by Ollie on 16. February 2010 09:40

This blog is about rejuvenating a website- and in so doing, rejuvenating a brand. The brand in question is one of the first that the Momentum group developed, and as such, has elements that I want to conserve (namely given the amount of time the brand has been live, it has developed a good reputation in the marketplace, a strong customer base and a reputation for excellence). I recently watched a programme about a couple who acquired an old concrete water tower that locally was felt to be an eyesore. Instead of knocking it down, they blended new design with the original features of the concrete, yielding a building that both looks and feels fresh, but has the solidity and permanence of an older structure. My objective therefore, in analogous terms, is to take the concrete water tower (the old website) and in several steps, bring it in line with the cutting edge image that our technology befits.

It surely is far harder to exercise the care and attention required to preserve original features, than to simply plough ahead doing something completely radical, with little regard to what is being lost in the process. Despite the added element of complexity, or perhaps because of it, I am finding the whole process far more enjoyable than building a new website from scratch.

The first step has been to update and reorganise all of the content- no amount of window dressing can salvage the damage that poor content does to a potential customers impression of the brand. Happily, in this case, it was a more of a tune up.

At the same time, I am joining up all of the links, and making sure that content links together in the way that it should. To frame this in terms of my water tower analogy, this second stage is rather like doing the plumbing. Cosmetically, the site still looks much the same as it did before. Once I have finished the ‘plumbing’, I can start to give the site a facelift. Once I have finished all of these, the brand will be clearly identifiable as an upgraded and more stylish version of it’s current incarnation.

Luxury for Coach Hire for Spring/Summer 2010

Posted by Ollie on 11. February 2010 03:38

The more eagle-eyed observers will have spotted that we have recently launched a new set of luxury coach hire pages, found here: http://www.momentumcoachhire.com/content.aspx?Group=8to16seat&Page=UniqueLuxuryVehiclesHub.

Luxury Coach Hire itself is a massively mixed bag, and even amongst industry professionals, its not entirely clear what comprises a luxury vehicle. Broadly, there are team coaches which atleast are recognisable as being similar to 'normal' coaches (although they are vastly more opulent, naturally), and then there is a subset of vehicles that can only be described as unique.

At Momentum, we've used 'team coaches' for a number of years- the very same coaches that transport Premiership football and other professional sports teams, major bands and recording artists and the very highest executives in FTSE 100 companies. For the 2010 event season, team coaches are more accessible than you may think: http://www.momentumcoachhire.com/content.aspx?Group=8to16seat&Page=TeamCoaches

By their very nature, unique vehicles are hard to acquire and even harder to build. The set of vehicles I was looking at last week were hand built in Scotland during the dot-com boom in the early 2000s, for american executives looking to play the best Scottish golf course in style. We offer a collection of vehicles branded as the Wedgwood Set, named after the lead vehicle in the fleet (itself named after the eponymous pale blue pottery): http://www.momentumcoachhire.com/content.aspx?Group=8to16seat&Page=TheWedgwoodSet

If you're looking to attend Henley Regatta, Ascot Races, the Farnborough Air Show, Getting Married, Getting Divorced or perhaps just looking to see the lights and sights of London in style, Momentum's luxury fleet is the most extensive of it's kind in the country.

A quick update- Theme Parks, Attractions and other Miscellany.

Posted by Ollie on 8. February 2010 05:17

A quick update- I realise I haven't written a blog since Mid December.

Since then, we've witnessed two bouts of snow, the start of a brand new decade and Arsenal giving up any chance of winning the Premiership! In business terms, we've had a flying start to the year. My team is overseeing the rolling-out of our software platform, Coach Hire Hub, to a selection of the most entrepreneurial and forward thinking players in the transport industry. So far, I've met with roughly a dozen such organisations, and the reaction has been overwhelmingly positive.

This blog however, is about theme parks. Personally, I don't get along with heights so the thought of being dropped at 100mph into darkness (I'm thinking of Oblivion at Alton Towers here) is less than appealing. Happily, most of the rest of the population seem to love roller coasters. Starting in 2008, Momentum started to sell 'ticket and transport' packages to major venues, attractions and theme parks all over the UK, working directly with the attraction owners. It was such a resounding success (people love rollercoasters!) that we've decided to expand our range of 'ticket and transport' attractions from a handful to around 20. Our new portfolio of attractions can be found here: http://www.momentumcoachhire.com/content.aspx?Group=24to50seat&Page=daytrips.

There are plenty more attractions and venues in the pipeline, so even more great 'ticket and transport' deals are set to go live before the theme park season really begins in the Spring. One of the major projects I alluded to in my early blogs in 2009 is nearing completion- massively exciting. Even though January is traditionally a quiet time for Coach Hire, we've made a storming start to the year, and with meetings arranged every week between now and early June, there's plenty to keep us occupied.

A major milestone

Posted by Ollie on 17. December 2009 11:34

Planning is hectic for new projects in 2010- details to follow soon.

Just a quick note to share a bit of a milestone with my loyal readers. As a company, we have just issued our 100,000th quote, which equates to over £50,000,000 of minibuses, coaches, limos and tickets quoted. With snow falling outside, christmas around the corner and plans well on the way to being ready for Q1 2010- its a nice time to reach a major milestone.

I can't help wondering where we will be by the time we reach 200,000, 500,000 and even 1,000,0000 quotes. In truth, the thought exercise is potentially more lovely than the reality- our 3 and 5 year projections tell us exactly where we will be at any given point in the future thus removing any subjectivity. But then as ambitious daydreams and reality are uneasy bedfellows, one returns to the comforts of knowing precisely where one is headed. In our case, our plans and visions are bold enough to limit daydreaming to occasional milestones.

But as ever, I digress. For now, myself and the team here will enjoy the milestone and the moment.

Whats in an image- the changing status of an aspiring market leader

Posted by Ollie on 8. December 2009 06:08

In late November, the Momentum homepage (www.MomentumCoachHire.com) underwent something of a facelift. It was unannounced, but within hours and certainly in the subsequent days, the response from our colleagues, partner operators and valued customers was totally positive. It was, and is, gratifying to know that although most of the updates and changes we are making to our systems are invisible and unseen, any visible changes we do make are noticed, perceived and enjoyed by our customers almost immediately. Those who make a living theorising these sorts of things opine that the key to a top website is not just how flash it is, but increasingly, how well it engages with the target visitors. By that yardstick, the fact that our customers perceive and appreciate the updates we make to our online content, I think we have to accept that we are doing something right.

 You could be forgiven for thinking that the changes extend only as far as what can be seen on a computer screen. I suggest that a new image means a lot more than that.

If we are honest, the website in its previous form was something of a throwback to a previous stage in the company’s development. Through late 2008, and Q1, Q2 and Q3 2009, unlike key competitors (I’m thinking of three distinct cases that have been extremely painful for the industry) who folded, we have grown from strength to strength. So perhaps, for some, the new rebrand is indicative of Momentum emerging from the worst of the recession in better shape than ever, ready for 2010.

Interwoven with the above is a sense that since the last time our website was rebranded, we’ve gone from being one of many firms aspiring to be the best, through hard work improving our systems, customer service levels and upgrading our fleet, to actually realising that vision. For a major player in a major customer-driven industry, there comes a time when it’s important to stop thinking like an aspiring market leader and start to look, feel and behave like the key part of the industry that we now are. We’ve long since achieved the former two, so all we needed was the look.

So what does the image overhaul mean. For me, updating the homepage, the first thing visitors see when they look at Momentum is redolent of many things. It represents all of the backend system upgrades in 2009, and the huge improvements planned for January 2010 that are well underway. It represents our upgraded and enlarged fleet and our new livery, planned for release in early 2010. It represents our new headquarters building, which gives us the space and comfort we need to continue to expand and improve. It represents the Momentum team being the largest and best it’s ever been.

It’s true. The new image of our website speaks to all of these things. But perhaps it speaks to something altogether more ethereal- a changing image for a changing mindset.

Unafraid of change- the ideal mindset of future coach hire operators

Posted by Ollie on 8. December 2009 06:07

I actually wrote this entry in mid November, but with everything going on, I haven’t really looked at it again until now- mid December!

Apologies to my regular readers for being slow to update this blog. I’ve been extremely busy working rolling out our technology to a whole range of fascinating companies. On top of which, we have a new project in the pipeline for the new year- it’s completely radical and I have enormous hopes for it. Nevertheless, revolutionary ideas only ever come to pass because of months of hard work getting them ready- my team and I are currently putting in that hard work.

Moreover, I’ve had a small operation to correct an old sports injury. The night before the procedure, I was speaking to other athletes in a similar situation, and of the risk involved, one of them said to me: “Don’t be afraid to change the good to obtain the great”. Wise words, prophetic even. Certainly in terms of what we are trying to do here at Momentum.

My rational self knows that our technology and our approach to coach hire is groundbreaking- over the last little while, its been fantastic to be reminded that there are others who want to make the future of the industry as good as it possible can be.

As with all innovative ideas, not everyone is going to agree with them, and I wouldn’t expect them to. That said, occasionally, one comes across a company whose mindset is entirely consistent with the kind of changes we want to make.

I’ve often felt that technology should be available to all operators, regardless of their size, rather than only to a select few giant coach hire companies who are then free to dominate the industry, regardless of service levels. In purely theoretical terms, access to technology with the power to boost sales revenue should be based not on means, but on motivation. I use the word motivation in its loosest sense to convey attitude, rather than any more specific reading of the word.

Earlier this month, myself and the head of operations here at Momentum met with a massively switched on, but open minded coach operating firm in the countryside somewhere north east of London. We spend some time outlining our technology, our ethos and our vision for the future, and after examining some of the finest coach hire vehicles in the London area, we were on our way back to our London Headquarters.

We took away more that day than just a warm cup of tea for the long journey home- we left with an extremely sizeable and serious operator believing in our ideas, energy, enthusiasm and vision for the future. In the particular case, I am confident that Momentum’s partnership with the operator has an extremely bright future.

More broadly, the vast majority of the operators who currently use our technology in one form or another share certain things in common- they are open minded, care deeply about making their customer’s lives as easy as possible, they are service orientated. But perhaps most importantly, they are willing to open their mind to the possibility of interacting with their customers in a completely new way.

“Don’t be afraid to change the good to obtain the great”: although I didn’t realise it at first, it’s true in many more ways than one.

Perspective- What can we learn from the strangers on a train

Posted by Ollie on 30. October 2009 09:11

It is tempting to focus completely on coach hire in these blogs, however if I were to do so, I would subtly be missing the point. This particular blog is about perspective.

As part of our ongoing Coach Hire Hub project, I have been on the road a fair amount since I last wrote meeting all sorts of different organisations who could benefit from our coach hire booking software. It’s been a valuable experience, and I’m pleased to report that the reaction to our software has been overwhelmingly positive.

The fact that our software is in demand does tend to make an 8 hour round trip to the outskirts of Carlisle a much more pleasant experience than it would otherwise have been.

I found myself yesterday evening in a crowded train carriage inadvertently listening to snapshots of the lives of complete strangers as they chattered loudly into their phones. It made me think, in a roundabout way, about what we do here at Momentum.

We are constantly looking to make our processes more efficient, simpler and generally perform in such a way as to make life easier for our customers. Bizarrely, in trying to do this, we sometimes spend 95% of our time working on the 5% of our infrastructure that could perform better and 5% of our time looking at the 95% of our system that works like clockwork.

The danger is that if one focuses so completely on making everything work perfectly, one runs the risk of losing objectivity.

I spent the afternoon yesterday sitting round a table with a coach hire supplier with whom we having a strong and frank relationship. He spoke openly about the things he feels we do well, and the things it is felt that we could do better.

It only hit me later, in that train carriage that just as I make inferences based on a snapshot of the lives of others, so others will make inferences based on a snapshot of us at Momentum. When I look at things in those terms, I’m pleased to reach the conclusion that our snapshot is looking very healthy indeed.

Our suppliers are happier than ever because our operational systems and personnel are the best they have ever been. Our coach hire customers are happier than ever, and as a result, the number of complaints with our service has shrunk to a tiny proportion of the total number of journeys we organise. This figure is the smallest it’s ever been and I would hazard, although there are no independent figures to prove this (although our CoachHireHub software produces probably the most accurate and extensive real time figures of this nature anyway), that our rating in this area is at least in the top 10 nationwide.

Of course, these results are only possible by momentarily swapping perspective for focus, by concentrating on the 5% as opposed to the proverbial 95%. It’s a huge source of pride for everyone at Momentum Coach Hire that once do we look up to get some perspective, that our snapshot is the best it’s ever been.

Knowing the team here as I do, I suspect things are only going to get better.

Secret Project Number 1- revealed!

Posted by Ollie on 9. October 2009 10:11

At Momentum, although our primary business is to provide a market leading coach hire service, we found that once we reached a certain stage of development, in order to maintain our high standards, it was necessary to engineer bespoke software in house. As our coach hire business has grown, so our software has become more flexible and powerful.

In fact, we’ve now come so far that my colleagues in I.T are confident that we have the finest coach hire booking software in the UK, and with technology powerful enough to be able to make a paradigm changing difference to the coach hire industry and transport in general, it would be a real shame to keep it to ourselves.

I am directly overseeing the project to quite literally break new ground and find new applications for our software.  Everyone loves a plug, so here goes:

If you are reading this and you are a fellow coach hire operator, event manager, travel agent or indeed anything at all, we would love to hear from you to see if our technology could make a difference to your operation.

Being cutting edge without being cut: the power of internet technology

Posted by Ollie on 24. August 2009 11:37

As an ambitious high tech company, at Momentum we regularly build and trial new concept websites with the aim of improving the way we interact with our loyal customer base. A major part of what we do involves using the major search engines to test whether our ‘outside of the box’ ideas work in reality.

Google and the other leading search engines are fascinating, from an economic point of view. In effect, they have created a whole new drove of industries that exist only because the search engines are so good at what they do.

To help launch one of our new projects, I have found myself researching one of these industries (frustratingly for the reader, I fear and regret, revealing the details would not be prudent) and despite an entire day of filtering through the muddy waters of sales patter, ridiculous promises and complex pricing architectures, I find myself none the wiser. How does one tell the difference between intangible, high technology services, fascinating though they are, where there is no independent body to adjudge quality. Indeed, even if there was an independent body, Google is such an innovative organisation that any changes to the Google algorithm (such as the upcoming Caffeine updates) would shift the goalposts so significantly that any central body would be rendered obsolete before too long.

Although in the context of our own fledgling idea, the dynamism of Google-created industries make things slightly more complex, generally speaking, as an entrepreneurial company operating in the high tech sector, such dynamism is at the same time energising, exciting and rewarding. Although I try as much as possible to avoid touching on the Political in my writing, I have felt for a long time that one of the finest ways to recover from economic crisis is to stimulate entrepreneurial growth.

Indeed, instead of frustration on days like today, one is left feeling fortunate to be ahead of the technology curve, especially in an industry that remains largely insulated from the power of internet technologies.

Nevertheless, one must remind oneself to remain a comfortable distance behind the firms that are so close to the cutting edge that they themselves appear to have forgotten where reality ends and fantasy begins.

Another Sport, Another Analogy

Posted by Ollie on 20. August 2009 09:02

Nearly a whole month has elapsed since my last blog entry. Allow me to reassure my readership that I have not lost interest in my noble quest to make a coach hire blog seem as appealing as a bucket of ice in the early august heat wave that we’ve experienced of late (i.e. for most people, very appealing indeed).

No, dear readers, instead I have been engaged in a secret project which is now coming to fruition, and will, I genuinely believe alter the way the coach industry thinks about itself.

There is a subtle tension for any blogwriter between producing writing that is interesting to read and avoiding divulging commercially sensitive information (not that I kid myself that my entire industry, when it needs inspiration, makes a beeline for my blog), but the point remains.

Therefore, I’ll write about another subject close to my heart, football.

The football season has now started (thank god!) and I have made my first trip of the year to the Emirates Stadium, the home of Arsenal. Even for those who don’t enjoy watching football, a day out a new-style comfortable stadiums is worth the effort- someone recently described the experience to me as being in a very very loud cinema. But I digress.

At Momentum, we have decided to have a stab at running a 5-a-side football team. The truth is, everyone wants to be fitter than they are, and shared adversity and a bit of running about is a cracking way of enhancing an already strong esprit du corps.

In many ways, a football team works in the same way as a successful company- independent and empowered units of well trained individuals interacting fluidly and effectively. This blog therefore, is dedicated to describing the analagous relationship between football and business (rather like the last one!)

Finance is undoubtedly represented by the Goalkeeper- watching the overall picture and making sure that no balls are dropped (to coin a phrase!). Operations is like our back line (for those who don’t follow football, our defenders)- solid, reliable, and experienced. Although some members of the Sales department might disagree, I would consider my own department, Business Development along with the Technology department, to be the playmakers in Central Midfield- providing innovation, energy and drive. Finally, the Sales team are the flair players on the Wing and Upfront- closing deals and making bookings. As a team can’t win without scoring goals, so a company cannot succeed without sales, no matter how good their supporting infrastructure.

As a football manager watches the big picture, yet can intervene at any level, so the entrepreneurial team of directors at Momentum oversee our entire operation skilfully gelling the growing constituent parts into an effective whole.

Momentum as a company is a lot like Arsenal as a football team- a mixture of youth, precocity, self belief and stability, reliability and experience all underpinned by an ethos of doing things right, even if that means arriving at one’s ultimate goal less quickly than would have been possible had we cut corners along the way.

Yet whilst I can set solid goals for where I want my football team to be at the end of the season in May (i.e. to win the league, or more realistically, to finish within the top 4), the speed at which our technology is developing means that I can’t accurately forecast how we’ll develop in the next 12 months. What could be more exciting than that?

My next blog is likely to be about one of our new companies, which I have been fortunate enough to have been a member of the development team on.