The Hampshire Bank takes shape - HantsFund

Uvestinhampshire will be presented to the Hampshire Senate today





The Hampshire Senate meets today at the Fareham Council Civic Centre.

On the agenda will be a presentation by Caroline Williams, Chair of the Hampshire Economic Partnership. Caroline will be outlining the plans for HantsFund and Uvestin Hampshire.

View the presentation here

Stuart Greenfield of Greenfield Strategic Marketing Consultants has joined the team developing the new mortgage and investment vehicle.

Email...what was that all about!

Walled gardens... again...come on team...



It must have been ten years ago when the web was an unknown frontier where many people felt safest in special places created by the likes of AOL or have to plunge into the fearful unknown. Some even tried to map the web world and produce posters showing where all the paths led. It was a surreal place which many business kept well clear of.

But now in the recession hit world of 2009 has anything changed? The corporate world sits tight in their safe world of outlook and email. Our children become brand heroes of Facebook ,Bebo and Twitter.

Suddenly we are back to 1998, I think! Each social group defined by the placespace/world they go to swap information. At home you have your text friends, how quaint. Your Linkedin buddies ibn the office, how boring. Your twitter anonymous out there people and your in box interlopers.(you still use email!)

Danger lurks, never let them meet. If they did your double, triple or quadruple life would be blown apart in an instance and what would you do with all the extra time you had?

But how long can all this continue, how green are all these servers in the cloud, how many passwords, how many logins, why must we have an email address as well?

Suddenly a few ideas pop up, what about entering information directly into any browers that links to the 'cloud', what about everyone having just one unique name that if typed into any device linked to the 'cloud' would link to your stream of consciousness. You could add information at will in any format and choose the way it was delivered. It's a merging of everything into a ' twitflickfacelinkedyammerbebo'.

Ha Ha you all cry it will never work. Its a nasty controlling Orwellian orgy of madness and we will never be free again.

But hold on, think for a moment, if it were intelligent and learnt your needs and began to track your habits, it would begin to feed you the information you wanted, screen out the people who you had not interest in and provide you with comparisons and aids to travel, shopping, learning and work wouldn't we all want it, especially if it gave us a competitive advantage, in a social and business context.

Then the more it were used and the bigger it became the more difficult it would be to infiltrate and control. Sheer scale would mean that it became impenetrable. The fundamentals apply; all information is just organised data, if there is so much date that it is impossible to organise 'big brother' would have a tough job to follow you and if he did you would know, because he would have to use the same system, because that's all there is. Do you get my drift? So if we are all identifiable then we are all anonymous arn't we...???

So goodbye to email goodbye to facebook and twitter...well sometime soon I guess? Now all we need to do is work out how to pay for it.

Promote, Vote, Win ...Hello to POVOW!

a new social networking phenomenon about to go large



How do you combine online social networking with a little more edge? Something that raises the stakes but is not direct advertising or blatant promotion. How could you link personal and business goals and tune these to the new world economic situation plus make it fun and entrepreneurial with a real added value at the end.

Well here is my idea for a Saturday:

POVOW - Promote, Vote, Win

(Pronounced PO VO)

This is a serious idea and has the following ingredients:
People - with ideas that need promotion

People - with ideas that need money

People - who want to see people succeed

People- who champion new ideas

People - who want economic recovery

People - who love social networking

People- who want to take part, perhaps anonymously

People - who understand that online gives freedom



So how does it work:

You are talented and wish to sell yourself and your ideas, this maybe a business idea or just an invention.

You go to the POVOW.com (promote, Vote and Win) web site and add you idea (you have to accept that if it is not patented or copyrighted it could be copied). You promote the idea on the website by writing about it, adding video, podcast or anything you think will be interesting to voters. You pay a £1 or (dollar equivalent) as minimum entry to the £1K game. You promote idea on twitter, facebook, stumbleupon.. or any of the social networking sites.

Next you decide on a draw to enter. £1K, £10K £100K £1m.

£1k = £1 entry

£10K = £10 entry

£100K = £100 entry

£1m = £1000 entry

You then get everyone you know to vote for your idea by going to POVOW.com. This can be by a link on any social networking site or your own website. The idea is to promote your idea and to gain votes.

When the the target of has been reached of new ideas the idea with the most votes wins the pot . (e.g 1000 ideas are added to the £1K POVOW the idea with the most votes wins the pot)

The money is transferred to the person with the winning idea and all the voters go into the winning voters hall of fame. (They can opt in to receive further information about the idea)

Any idea can be entered for further POVOW's by spending another £1.

Why would you vote?

People are intrigued by ideas and the thought of voting for an idea that wins means you have an instant buzz if you are right

You may wish to support your friends, town, country, school, association or political party. All these categories may be added into the POVOW entry

Are there enough people with ideas out there?
We need millions of ideas and millions of people to vote. It would seem for anyone needing a way to promote an idea get instant feedback this is a great opportunity, plus the added chance to win funds. With social networking in play you are even able to help generate your own votes by persuading people to view and vote on your own idea.

What about confidentiality?

There are millions of people with millions of ideas but turning any of them into winning successful products or services is the most difficult thing in the world ask any entrepreneur! So in many cases it is worth the risk. (you can still protect the idea in the normal way of course).

Why will it work?

POVOW is about building a following for your idea. If you don't create your own followers you are unlikely to win, however, as the number of ideas and voters increase POVOW will become a portal for ideas. Remember all £1 entries are given to the winning idea each time the target is reached. You may enter your idea into the £1K, £10K, £100K and £1m

Why will people add ideas?

As POVOW creates voters by entrants social networking, the site will show the number of ideas submitted and as the number approaches the target of 1000 in each category so the amount of networking and promotion created by the participants will increase. (there will be excitement as the number of votes for each idea will be shown) This helps them by promoting their idea and promoting voters.

How do we prevent orchastrated voting and multiple votes?

There will only be one vote allowed per person (or unique email address)

Will people vote?

There is no reward for voting so it is as much about the power of the particpant to generate votes and the positive social feedback you are creating by voting that will encourage individuals to take part. As all the money goes directly to the winner and winning voters become followers of the winner by entering the winners hall of fame POVOW creates a positve feedback loop for all involved.


And finally

If you idea is a POVOW winner it is immediately legitimised as something that has appeal. This is good news for everyone especially investors who are looking for ideas that have been researched.

And as the POVOW strap line says - PROMOTE VOTE WIN isn't that what the business world is all about.

You promote it people vote for it and you win

What of?...

What of?

Leave it, it sleeps
It has no life, it promise no path, it has no answers
It makes you cry, logic is its game
Too clever
At once too stupid
Clutch to the dream it brings good news
It is a mirror even of logic
It takes your feelings and as the addict
You feed upon the need
The seducer always offering you the dream with the answer
More answers create more questions
You return to the void, flashing, controlling, and waiting, silently

Stop don’t be tempted
Just a word and you have a million
Just a thought and you have one path
An energy exploding in a universe of possibilities
Hold back take a new path
No you cannot stop
This route takes you to the answer.

Stop
The answer lies within you
The answer for you, is you
But answers are just questions
For people with reason

What of people
What of people’s thoughts
Is what you are what they think
But what of care
Care not of people’s thoughts
Thoughts have no action other than the thinker
But thoughts that think become the person
The person that thinks must find thought
What of thinking
Thinking the greatest power
Power does control and destroys the thinker
What of control
Control of thinking is to tame the mind
Control the mind control the person
But control needs reason and reason thinks
What of knowledge
Knowledge thinks or does thinking create knowledge
I think not
Knowledge comes of work and work needs reason
What of work
Work controls thinking so learning is not work
What of learning
Learning is a gift that creates knowledge
Does knowledge give meaning
What of meaning
Does meaning give reason
If knowledge and thinking give meaning and reason
What of madness
Think less, work more, put reason and madness away

What is left
What of fun
What of laughter
What of spirit
What of future
What of time
What of reason again
If reason is the reason
Then what of reason again
The agony of the thinking, the madness of the reason
What of memory
What of past
What of future
What of now
Now is agony and dreaming is not longer sanctuary
What is now, does now exist
Is the reason past or future
What say now?
Speak to me now
For the sake of reason
Speak up

What now is love
The reason of love
Speak not of love
To speak of love is to reason without reason
What of god
Of what god

Digital Revolution by Stuart Greenfield - the CEO SUCCESS series

Square Eyes

As the recession magnifies the pressure on broadcast content Stuart Greenfield provides a view



I was always told that too much TV would give me square eyes; of course, this was just a way to prevent prolonged and mindless viewing which every child of my generation was quite capable of doing. In the late 60’s and 70’s family TV viewing on the three channels became part of our culture. Although there were still many families who could not afford or just didn’t want TV by the 1980’s research showed that almost every family and individual in the UK could watch TV. Technology was fundamentally changing the very nature of our lives. We were being programmed by programs and we didn't mind.

Joining the conversation was knowing the plots and news fed to you by the BBC and ITV. It was a good thing, wasn’t it? On the plus side families shared time together even if they didn’t talk or do as much, but for many it was a much needed time of relaxation from the hard slog of manufacturing and intensive hard work during the working day. It improved communications, helped in education, and enabled a plethora of products to be advertised which created a more competitive environment and we hope better products, better tuned to our needs.





But during the hay day of scheduled TV were we missing out, did it create a generation of losers? Fed by eye on a daily basis everything we needed to function but not allowing us to think or create our own ideas. Recent research has shown that bored children are more likely to be creative and imaginative were we deprived of this freedom? Today technology once again and as it always has is driving change. Change in the way families live but this time we could be changing back to the time before TV. A time when the pattern of the day was formed by our own needs and those of the community. A time when with no scheduling of radio and TV we gained our knowledge of the world by being proactive, planning what we wanted to do when we wanted to do it and interacting with people around us.



So today we have communications tipping point which we are approaching at break neck speed because of the current economic crisis and technological improvements. The future of the BBC based on a one charge for all paid by everyone looks out dated. Independent TV’s revenue model looks shakey. Satellite TV looks increasingly expensive with Freesat, Broadband and Kangaroo (which was not allowed- but something will appear from the ashes) Add to this that only 53% of the UK population have subscription TV and as we approach digital switch over we are in danger of cutting off the very oldest part of the population there are many challenges ahead.



The creation of a world of content available to all when you want it the utopian position for many. For many with broadband, iphone, Sky, PC’s this world already exists. You are not going to be told what or when to watch. You don’t want to pay for anything you don’t use and you certainly don’t want to be in a fixed location to do it. This is the future for us all and it could break the shackles of the last 25 years and change the way we live for the better.







There are challenges and they include how we pay and how they are funded. This same question has to be answered online as well. It will be a classic Darwinian fight. As these problems are magnified during this recession we should be pleased because the new landscape will appear more quickly from the rubble of an old system not fit for purpose.



One word of caution, we must take care to ensure we do not create a society further split by those with the access and those without. I believe in public broadcasting at a base level. The BBC is able to create some of the Worlds best content, but they certainly should as they have no risk! For the rest technology in the form of broadband must be provided to all but content paid for programme by programme when you want it. We have the technology to do this, it will empower us all to think more, plan more and take more control of the precious time we have.

Please email your view to squareeyes@greenfield.co.uk

Digital revolution by Stuart Greenfield http://www.greenfield.co.uk/downloads/