Caricatures Ireland

Irish Spamalot

admin — Fri, 22 Aug 2008 16:16:23 +0000

I get many emails from various Irish and international directories offering free this and that all the time. Most of them are very spammy- they’re unsolicited bulk emails with no personalisation at all and are generally full of links and breathless copy about how brilliant they are. Occasionally I get personalised correspondence that I’ll reply to just to see what’s on offer. And then there are times when someone follows up with a phonecall, and I end up with a good deal that I might have missed. I Do 2 Do is one such example of doing it right- John Foye the director rang me after his email and offered me a straight swap of a premium listing on their site in exchange for a banner ad on this blog.
Spammy emails don’t irk me as much as they do some, but I think they’re a terrible precendent in Irish marketing. The one I got today though is such a shining beacon of doing it wrong I’m reproducing it here. I’m not naming and shaming, but remember, this is an Irish company trying to sell me something.

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* is Ireland’s newest online, easy to use Wedding Directory. If you are in the Wedding business then you need to be apart of this.
Click here to sign up free now.
Free Ad Available Now No Money No Gimmicks Why would anyone with business sense turn it down
If you have html turned of on your computer this link will not work so go to * and
register for free ad
We are currently offering great deals on the following products

Frontpage Ad (LINKED IN EMAIL) - Get the ultimate exposure for your business.

Category page Ad (LINKED IN EMAIL)- Find people who are looking for you.

Online Store (LINKED IN EMAIL)- Sell your products online with our no risk options.

Online gallery (LINKED IN EMAIL)- Set up an online gallery to showcase your work, include images, videos or music.

Want to read more
* is new it offers more for less and unlike other similar sites we actively promote our site both online and in real time real world
with inventive, creative and unique marketing techniques. * is fast becoming a household name and will remain so with
continuous strong marketing campaigns. Your free add is waiting for you just click the link above or you can opt for a front page
add . Photographers why only make money from the bride and groom photograph everyone at the wedding hand out your card and send them
to your online shop no risk sell nothing pay nothing talk to us at *
make the right decision.

regards (NAME)

Ps We are currently looking for Advertisers who might consider putting together a promotional package as part of a major promotional
campaign. We need everything for a wedding, dresses, suits, cars, venue, honeymoon etc. Each contributor will recieve premium

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If you made it this far well done. I couldn’t take my eyes off it in horror at the lack of punctuation, proper formatting, and spelling mistakes (I don’t want to be “apart of this” thanks).
In my humble opinion screaming your message without drawing a breath or finishing a sentence isn’t going to convert anyone into a customer.

More Guest Signing Boards!

admin — Fri, 22 Aug 2008 15:21:26 +0000

Here’s another wedding signing board that went out the door this week. I’ve started signing them in silver as it’s less obtrusive but they’ll still be worth millions when I’m a famous dead artist.
If you’d like to enquire about my wedding signing boards you can me. They make great wedding presents!

A Birthday Present!

admin — Fri, 22 Aug 2008 15:00:54 +0000

This is a mate of mine who turned 30 yesterday. He had one of the best reactions I’ve ever seen: he smiled, then giggled, then said thanks, then giggled again, then laughed and laughed at it for ages.
I remember 30 as if it were only 3 years ago.

Road Rage Cartoon

admin — Fri, 22 Aug 2008 14:51:22 +0000

It seems that some of you didn’t take too kindly to a being called ‘a bunch of nutters’ in this colyoom a couple of weeks ago…
This is the first cartoon in the new format for the Tribune. Last week the inhouse printworks closed down and the printing has moved to Cork, hence the new format which is in line with other tabloid sized publications.
I really wish I’d gone in for a look while it was still going, but it just never occurred to me. I’ve only been in the Tribune offices a handful of times as I work from home and email my cartoons in. Too late now unfortunately.

Friday Music Video - Photek, ni ten ichi ryu

admin — Fri, 22 Aug 2008 10:59:23 +0000

10 Downing Street ripping off Wordpress theme developer

admin — Tue, 19 Aug 2008 21:37:34 +0000

Photo owned by danksy (cc)

Anthony Baggett, the developer of my lovely Darkwater WP theme, has had one of his themes ripped off by none other than Gordon Brown, Prime Minister.
If you look at the bottom of my blog you’ll see a link to Anthony’s website. This is part of the Creative Commons 3.0 licence, which means that under the terms of use that link has to be there whether I modify the theme or not (I have as it happens). This attribution has been removed from the No 10 site.

Anthony’s been in touch with the developers, New Media Maze, but he says “it hasn’t gone well”.

EDIT 21/08/08: The developers have responded to the allegations here.

RIP Ronnie Drew

admin — Sat, 16 Aug 2008 17:25:14 +0000

Photo: Kenny Gallery

Ronnie Drew has died. RIP.

More Wedding Signing Boards

admin — Sat, 16 Aug 2008 16:29:44 +0000

Here are 2 of my wedding signing boards that went out this week. They’re instead of a wedding guestbook, and are proving very popular with bride and groom and guests too! The artwork can be used on wedding invitations as well. If you’d like to order one for your wedding or as a wedding present, you can me here for prices and details.

Fulacht fiadhs were for beer

admin — Sat, 16 Aug 2008 16:20:28 +0000

I believe. I want to try the beer too.
More on fulacht fiadhs.

Recession?

admin — Fri, 15 Aug 2008 12:30:21 +0000

My recession is like peanut butter…