Wicked Campers New Zealand Camper rentals

Over my Christmas and New Year break period from work I spent some time travelling around New Zealand’s North Island. While on my travels I spotted several funky spray painted camper vans driving around with “Wicked” on the front and a varied slogan on the back…check out the shots below;

After seeing the vans i wanted to find out a bit more about the company - a sign that the marketing is working - i wouldn’t think you would forget seeing one of these vans out on the road.  The bold almost shock marketing could be classed as a “purple cow” marketing move.

On the shock marketing front i also found an article and law suit against the company which forced Wicked Campers to agree to ditch sexist slogans aimed at the backpacker market. Complaints ranged from being racist eg: “Save a Whale - Harpoon a Jap” to demeaning to women eg “pussy magnet”. Was this an acidental, or a cunning way to get free advertising?

Some more info on the company and its service:

So about the company-Originally they were based in Australia and have grown into having franchises in New Zealand, Europe, Africa, South Africa, Canada and America.

Basically they offer a range of camper vans to hire mainly 2 or 3 seater’s with the following features in:

• Table
• Bed (sleeps up to 3)
• CD Player
• Camp Stools
• Kitchen area with:
  • Cooking burner
  • Counter top
  • Sink
  • Water Container
  • Ice Box
  • Pots & Pans
  • Cutlery

In NZ the prices were around the $69 - $79 NZD per day with an unlimited amount of miles and 24hour roadside cover…seems like a pretty good deal to me. In my view the websites are a bit of pain to try and get the info you require…but rumour has it a new site is on the way soon!

Links here; Wicked Campers NZ

Knighttimes.co.uk Webstats Summary 07/08

I was having a ganders on a good mates site; Ben Arent and saw he had put up a summary - nice touch and a good way to watch the site grow i guess.

During the 2008 year i have had a total of nearly 3,000 visits to Knight Times. It’s been a pretty busy year graduating from Middlesex University and moving to New Zealand to develop 3 of my final year products and take them to market with OBO. My contract finishes in July leaving me with some interesting decisions ahead in 2009.

Top 5 visited pages on my website:

1. Blog
2. OBO Final Project Testing
3. Portfolio
4. Home
5. About

Top 5 visited blog posts:

1. Field Hockey Pitch Template
2. Engineering Product Design Dissertation
3. OBO Training Products
4.  OBO High Control Kicker Construction
5. Southgate Hockey Club

Blyk…free mobile talk and texts

Blyk is an interesting concept - a mobile advertising company!

In a nutshell; people age 16 - 24 sign up to the Blyk service and get 217 texts and 43 minutes free each month! The  cost of the free minutes and texts are paid for by the companies that may interest you. (max of six text message adverts per day)

Check out this video which explains what its all about:

From a young adult 16 - 24 free phone for advert texts - winner! On the flip side companies can ensure the texts are reaching their target market. Quite an interesting business concept that i guess works well for both parties. It shall be interesting to see how well the Blyk company does.

This is a picture of the contents you get when you join Blyk.

Welcome Pack

Links:
Blyk Homepage
Blyk Blog

Wellington X Base Hostel Review

I have just returned from a trip to Wellington - I thought I would pop up a review of the X Base hostel that I stayed in…

Date stayed: 22/12/08 - 24/12/08
Profile: 23, Male from London.

Noise:
Cut to the chase the main problem I found was the noise - I went out on my first night on the beers which was all good. However on my second night I needed to get some sleep after two days with a fair amount of walking. Only problem was the noise from the Karaoke bar next door…sadly it was open till 3am so it took till at least then to try and get some sleep.

Rooms:
I was in a 4 bed shared room - in the time I was there was only me and another guy. Bed was fairly comfy and the room had a large storage container underneath the bunk - (bring your own lock).

Bathroom & Showers:
A bathroom is a bathroom really - I had no problems with them being unclean.

Location:
Really good location close to the centre of town - Te Papa & Mount Victoria.

Staff:
Pretty helpful - I would advise reading up and planning roughly your trip before you go.

Bottom line I guess you get what you pay for - $30 was probably ok. I would recommend trying somewhere else; if I ever head back I would.

Advice from a London Student to another…

As i have just graduated from Middlesex University I thought i would spread the word on some things i have found to be useful during my time in the Smoke…

Part Time Work; Limelight Sports

Through a friend i got introduced to a sports marketing and event organising company called Limelight Sports. They have a massive range of event history from Nokia Bike Week, London Summer of Sport, Nike Most Wanted and the Bloomberg Square Mile.

How it works

Sign up here. Every time Limelight have an event they require staff for you will receive an e-mail. You then log in and confirm if you are available to work…if you are selected to work then you will get a further e-mail giving you the details of the event- turn up to the event and you will get paid shortly after…winner!

Staff Database log in

Student discount; Student Bean

I personally used NUS in my first year then i felt they “sold out” when you had to pay for the card…for me i couldn’t justify spending the money on the card as the discounts i would receive are probably from shops that i wouldn’t really shop in much. My discount place of choice; Student Bean. They provide a large range of free discounts to students all over the country…enjoy.

Banking & Travel

I would advise going with Natwest as you get a young persons rail card for 5 years. In London this can save you a lot of money on the tube - a young persons day rail card will cost £4.80 which is cheaper than Oyster although you will have to have the annoyance of putting the card through the machine rather than touching your oyster, but every little helps! Also being in London the travel links are pritty damn good - other places to check out are Megabus and National Express.

Food

One of the finds of my university career was Asda 8p noodles. As my house mates would describe my “culinary delight” of 8p noodles, tuna, sweetcorn and seafood sauce; epic! Apparently Morrisons do meals for 6p…Also check out Student Bean for great eating out deals.

Electrical

My main two purchasing channels are ebuyer for most things electrical. Occasionally i would look at mymemory as they have some great offers on usb and memory cards.

Printer ink

The best price i found for ink was IJT but the best printer to get was to epson as you can get ink for £1 per cartridge… ebay!

Phone Contract

I bought a 3 contract in my first year i think i was paying £12 for 500 mins and 100 texts its gone up slightly but i have built up a good cridit rating with them and my current contract is £20 for 1100 units where 1 text or 1 min is 1 unit. Check out the papers for the best deals.

Tools & Materials

I did Engineering Product Design for my degree so found a need to get a stocked toolbox and material supplies. My place of choice was the Toolstation well priced and free delivery for orders over £10.

I hope your time in London is as good as mine…

The Pallet Recycling Company

Having just graduated from a BSc Engineering Product Design course at Middlesex University we took on the challenge of setting up our final year show. Titled “The Product Designers Market” we secured sponsorship funding and managed all aspects from branding marketing and logistics of 2 shows in London.

The market theme was for two main reasons;

1- The whole theme could be recycled - the pallets would be returned to be used as pallets, a plasma was borrowed from an AV supplier. Some other degree shows had a massive corporate sponsorship of £20,000 sets - don’t get me wrong they look great but they sit in storage for 50 weeks of the year.

2 - The market theme its a little bit different - it was a bit of a head turner - some loved it and some hated it. Always good to spark up a bit of conversation in my view.

An example shot of the market. OBO Training by David Knight

All the pallets were delivered and loaned by The Pallet Recycling Company, in return for the loan of the pallets a website for the company was designed and developed. A win-win situation. A huge thanks must go to Ray and Brian from The Pallet Recycling company for all the effort they went to delivering the pallets that were crucial to the markets success.

The website can be viewed from: www.thepalletrecyclingcompany.co.uk

New Age Kurling

I have recently been working in a kids summer camp and came across a game called New Age Kurling. Its basically the same a Curling (Wiki link) however there is no ice needed! The Kurling stones have been designed to be played on a flat floor surface.

The Kurling stone has 3 ball bearings located on the underside that run smoothly along the floor and letting the stone glide. The top handle and actual stone are made up of a flexible rubber that softens and impacts on other stones, walls and feet.

New Age Kurling Stones

All the kids really enjoyed playing the game and some serious competition was displayed all including me! A set of 8 stones (4 red & 4 blue), 2 targets and carry case costs £205. In the right location i think its a good investment that will keep children of all ages and abilities entertained.

The company that manufactures the kit;www.Kurling.co.uk even offers a free demonstration service which is a great opportunity to see and try out the game.

Apparently “Kurling is now played in 47 countries around the world.New Age Kurling falls into all the government guidelines for exercise and bringing sport into schools.”

For more info check out www.whatsthebigidea.ltd.uk that have some great links to Kurling websites.

Southgate Hockey Festival; The Hornament 08!

Its almost time; the annual mixed hockey tournament held at Southgate Hockey Centre is on August bank holiday weekend.

• Where: Southgate Hockey Centre map.
• When: August Bank Holiday 22nd - 25th.
• What: Water and sand based, lots of beer, a bit of camping and wicked entertainment!
• Dress code and events:
  Friday - Abba tour theme and drinking games.
  Saturday - Hockey followed by BBQ and team fancy dress.
  Sunday - Hockey then curry and karaoke.

To enter a team contact; events@shcentre.co.uk

Southgate hockey club…

I am a current member of Southgate Hockey Club – I have played at the club since I moved to University in September 2003, and it was one of the reasons for choosing Middlesex!

The club has seen a huge amount of change and development over the time I have been there with the 2007/8 season being the pinnacle. The men’s first team returned to the Premier Division, Ladies 1’s have for the first time fought their way into the National League, U-18 boys won the national indoor championships and 4 other teams winning promotion….Top year!

Overview of the club:

• Facilities; The club has tremendous facilities – 1 Water based pitch with viewing balcony from the clubhouse, 1 sand based pitch, an all important bar with pool table and beer garden, 5 changing rooms, a gym, steam room and on site based physio!

  As i said tremendous facilities i don’t think there is really anything else you could want from a hockey club although a Jacuzzi would be nice after those tough games! The facilities are owned and can be seen on the Southgate Hockey Centre website.

• Coaching; the club has many experienced coaches who put in a huge amount of work into the development of teams and players every season, this is reflected by six teams of the 12 teams being promoted in the 07/8 season, a huge credit to all the coaching staff involved.

• Socials; with a core group of people involved there is an assurance there are many social event throughout the year. During the summer period the Hornament hockey festival makes an annual appearance plus a more competitive sixes tournament.

• Juniors; the club has a large following of juniors around (320 at last count) that play and train week in week out. Age groups range from U12 – U18 and these players continue to flow into county, national and senior teams strengthening the club.

• Costs; the cost of joining is slightly more that other clubs around but i feel that is justified by the fantastic facilities, coaching and atmosphere that surrounds.

With the men’s and women’s first team playing top flight, next season will
be one to watch and aspire to by all!

Check out the Southgate Hockey Club website

OBO Training Products

As a keen and enthusiastic hockey player I have identified a gap in the hockey market; training equipment. The combination of my degree, playing for Southgate Hockey club and captaining Middlesex University I believe that I am in a unique position to secure high grade development.

During the idea generation I looked for a partner company to get detailed feedback, source materials and hopefully take some of the products to market!

I have long appreciated the design of OBO goalkeeping equipment; everything from the bold branding and unique funky foam. On initial contact to the company I was immediately put in touch with Team Leader/ Boss Simon Barnett…smooth sailing from there!

For more info on the project please check out my mini-site

Please let me know your thoughts on the project below…