It wasn't in fact a news story, but it looked like it. The "Diario de Mallorca" journalist Matias Valles had made some predictions for 2015. One of them was that Mallorca's hoteliers would like Palma's Son Sant Joan airport renamed. Their preference was for Aeropuerto Rafael Nadal.
With the story out, the newspaper asked its readers what they thought of this potential renaming. They gave three other options that could be chosen instead. The result? Well, Nadal didn't win. He came second but he didn't come close. The winner was that old mediaevalist swot and show-off, Ramon Llull. The winning margin over Nadal was by almost sixty percentage points. Llull polled 76%, Nadal 17%. As for the other two, well they were barely at the races. Antoni Maura, the Mallorcan who was several times president of Spain in the early twentieth century and who was generally held responsible for the massacre of "Tragic Week" in Barcelona in 1909, got 4%, one more point than Joan March, founder of the Banca March, associate of Franco's to the extent of having helped him with finance, smuggler, and all-round rotten egg, as history has come to revile him.
Assuming that there is actually any virtue in naming an airport after someone prominent, what does the overwhelming support for Llull say? Anything? Perhaps the readers were having a bit of a laugh at what was in any event a jokey item, but one doubts this. The reverence shown to Llull is all but absolute. He and Nadal, centuries apart, are the most famous people that Mallorca has produced, even if Nadal's fame (internationally) is of a level that Llull didn't ever and will never attain.
Culturally and historically important he was, Llull, for all his religion and mysticism, was not an insular man in as much as he didn't confine himself to Mallorca in times when most might have done. He had a wider vision, especially that of spreading Christianity and converting Muslims. It was a contentious vision, one made even more so today, but Llull was a man of the world; the part of the world that was understood then.
But now he is a symbol for insularity and for a parochial Catalanism of which I very much doubt he would have approved. Nadal is a global figure, one with much respect in his home island, but a sportsperson removed from the navelgazing nature of Mallorcan society. In a way, and despite his renown and potentially ambassadorial role for Mallorca, he doesn't fit with the earnest, zealous even Mallorcanism. He is simply too famous for his own good.
Of the other two in the poll, neither stood a chance. Maura begat Maurism, the street violence-led movement that wasn't his idea but which was formed in his name nonetheless and which can be seen as a precursor of what was to happen in the 1930s. March? Well, enough has been said and written about him to know that he wouldn't ever be the bookies' choice for an airport naming.
If one considers that there is some validity in and benefit from naming an airport, the foursome reveal that Mallorca has a very limited choice. In truth, only Nadal has any real or true international recognition or reputation. March has been written about often, as of course have Llull and Maura, but they are still names of comparative insignificance outside Mallorca and Spain. The island doesn't deal in the globally recognised, or hadn't until Nadal came along. Its recognition has been more that of what the island is - a holidaying destination - and that, where the world is concerned, is all it is. Renaming the airport? Why not? Call it Mallorca Airport. Everyone would know that.
Showing posts with label Rafael Nadal. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Rafael Nadal. Show all posts
Friday, January 09, 2015
Saturday, July 12, 2014
The Stigma Of The M-place
Well, it isn't all bad news, you know. There was a headline in one Spanish paper this week which read "Bookings to Magalluf soar". Yep, you could have put money on it, though one can guess which niche of the British tourist market will be doing the soaring. One somewhat larger niche, the great family market, will surely be doing all it can to avoid having to fess up to relatives, friends, neighbours and hairdressers that it is off to the M-place in sunny Spain. "Going anywhere nice on your holidays?" "Erm, yes, erm, Mag ..." "Sorry, where did you say?" God, the stigma of it all. It's like admitting going on holiday to a nudist resort. Or Skegness.
There is one family, though, which appeared to have been having second thoughts. Letizia was browsing the net for likely holiday destinations when suddenly up popped a short video she hadn't been expecting. "Right, that's it. We're not going to THAT place." Anyway, a sort of bidding war then broke out between Mallorca and Almeria to see which one could ensure the summer holidaying patronage of Felipe, Tizzy and the kids. And if the Costa Almeria (the original Costa del Sol, if you didn't know) were to have won out, what then of the Marivent? It's not as if you can have a damn great palace sitting idle all summer. Perhaps they'd thought of offering it to Carnage and suggesting they added it to the bar crawl itinerary. But it did of course all turn out all right in the end for Mallorca. Put to a family vote, the kids sided with dad. Never mind, Tizzy, there's always next year.
It's not just the royals who have been anxious about being stigmatised with being within several kilometres of the M-place. Mallorca's own royalty, the boy Nadal, has turned his back on the island, too. What an ingrate. No sooner had the Council of Mallorca said that it was putting him up for an "illustrious son" award for being such a splendid ambassador for Mallorca than the illustrious son cleared off to Ibiza on his jollies. Who next? Who else can we expect to say no to Majorca rather than face the stigma-by-association of the M-place? If White Dee says no, then we really know we're in trouble. Mind you, there is always Jeremy Kyle. As they say in short-message social media land: ffs.
There is one family, though, which appeared to have been having second thoughts. Letizia was browsing the net for likely holiday destinations when suddenly up popped a short video she hadn't been expecting. "Right, that's it. We're not going to THAT place." Anyway, a sort of bidding war then broke out between Mallorca and Almeria to see which one could ensure the summer holidaying patronage of Felipe, Tizzy and the kids. And if the Costa Almeria (the original Costa del Sol, if you didn't know) were to have won out, what then of the Marivent? It's not as if you can have a damn great palace sitting idle all summer. Perhaps they'd thought of offering it to Carnage and suggesting they added it to the bar crawl itinerary. But it did of course all turn out all right in the end for Mallorca. Put to a family vote, the kids sided with dad. Never mind, Tizzy, there's always next year.
It's not just the royals who have been anxious about being stigmatised with being within several kilometres of the M-place. Mallorca's own royalty, the boy Nadal, has turned his back on the island, too. What an ingrate. No sooner had the Council of Mallorca said that it was putting him up for an "illustrious son" award for being such a splendid ambassador for Mallorca than the illustrious son cleared off to Ibiza on his jollies. Who next? Who else can we expect to say no to Majorca rather than face the stigma-by-association of the M-place? If White Dee says no, then we really know we're in trouble. Mind you, there is always Jeremy Kyle. As they say in short-message social media land: ffs.
Saturday, March 29, 2014
Doctoring Nadal
The source of the boy Nadal's embarrassment was the succession of volleys fired over the net of the university management council's decision earlier this month to award the doctorate. When the press did finally manage to catch up with him in Florida, he explained that his life was just fine without a doctorate. Which it almost certainly is, so why disrupt this wonderful life by bothering to make space in the Nadal trophy warehouse for an honorary mortar board with accompanying gown?
At the heart of the rumpus - supposedly - was whether Nadal was deserving of the award. He is only a sportsperson, after all. Had he added to his sporting achievements by presenting a thesis on the aerodynamics of belting a small yellow thing over some netting, then that would have been all right. But no, all he had done was win the odd tennis tournament.
The university rector Llorenç Huguet, only in the post for a few months, has been learning, as did his predecessor, the late Montserrat Casas, that there is more to this running-a-university malarkey than smiling nicely when handing over certificates. There are the politics as well, and Huguet suggested that elements on the university governing council (as distinct to its management council) had been the ones who had "dynamited" the doctorate. Rafa had been blown up.
With the press and its readership also none too certain that the doctorate was merited, Nadal added to his wonderful-life statement by saying that, in the absence of unanimity at the governing council, he would decline the offer. And more light was shed on these dissident elements on the council by Miguel Deyá, who is the regional government's director-general for universities. He described them as "anti-Spanish". Because Nadal "feels Spanish" and has shown himself to be, the anti-mob wanted nothing to do with him. Or at least I think this was what he was on about (and Nadal is a Real Madrid fan).
Perhaps with this rather odd observation in mind, Huguet moved the tramlines in justifying the original decision. Nadal was deserving not just because of his sporting achievement but also because he should be considered part of the culture - Balearics culture, that is. Whether he is or he isn't, advantage was with the governing council dissidents, and Huguet and Nadal duly lost. Game, set and match to the anti-Spanish.
Thursday, July 19, 2012
MALLORCA TODAY - Nadal pulls out of the Olympics
Rafael Nadal, who had been due to carry the Spanish flag at the opening ceremony at the London Olympics, has had to pull out of the Games, owing to injury. "The saddest day" of his career, he has said.
See more: Diario de Mallorca
See more: Diario de Mallorca
Friday, March 30, 2012
MALLORCA TODAY - Nadal is Angel
Thursday, February 23, 2012
MALLORCA TODAY - Nadal and Ronaldo film in Santa Ponsa
Rafael Nadal and Real Madrid footballer Cristiano Ronaldo were both at the country club in Santa Ponsa yesterday to take part in filming for a Nike advert amidst heavy security.
Saturday, February 18, 2012
MALLORCA TODAY - Nadal favourite to lead Spanish Olympics team
Mallorcan Rafael Nadal has emerged as the favourite to lead the Spanish Olympic team into the stadium during the opening celebration of the London games in July.
Tuesday, February 14, 2012
Needling The Spanish: French sporting satire
Sport has long had the capacity to stir up diplomatic unrest. Douglas Jardine's insistence that Larwood and Voce deployed leg theory on the MCC's Ashes Bodyline tour in the early 1930s threatened the relationship between Britain and Australia. This, though, was a purely sporting (or unsporting, were you Australian) incident. The spat between France and Spain is well removed from a sports arena; it is being played out on television.
There has been some needle, so to speak, between the French and the Spanish in the matter of Rafael Nadal. It was spiked by the utterances of Nadal's trainer-uncle, Toni, when he once referred to Parisians as stupid for having supported Roger Federer more than the Muscle of Manacor, and then by the director of Spanish tourism in Paris who not only agreed with Uncle Toni but went on to suggest that the Paris public had no style. (And they wonder why French tourism numbers to Mallorca have remained static since the turn of the century.)
Now it is the turn of the French and in particular the satirical puppet show, "Les Guignols de l'info", to have a go at Nadal. And the Real Madrid and Spanish national team's goalkeeper, Iker Casillas. And the cyclist Alberto Contador. It all comes on the back of former French tennis star Yannick Noah's insinuation that Spanish sport was so far removed from being clean that pretty much all Spanish sportspeople were doping.
Allegations that Nadal may have acquired his physique in ways other than just naturally are nothing new. But there has never been any proof. They are allegations, and though Nadal has sought to brush off the satire directed at him (e.g. using a syringe to write a letter of support to Contador, banned for two years for doping), the Spanish Tennis Federation has said that it is considering suing the show's broadcaster, Canal Plus. It would have a justifiable case in doing so. It may be satire, but it could just as easily be described as defamation.
The spat between Spain and France over the show has now embraced all manner of politicians. The Spanish Ambassador in Paris has been in touch with Canal Plus; the French sports minister has received a letter from the Spanish sports council; the leader of PSOE, Alfredo Rubalcaba, has had his say; and the Partido Popular in the Balearics is presenting a parliamentary motion condemning the "parodies of Spanish sportspeople", one that the opposition parties have criticised, saying that the PP should be worrying more about unemployment.
What kicked it all off was Contador's ban for doping during the 2010 Tour de France. If the 2010 Tour had been the only time that Contador had found himself embroiled in a doping controversy, the French might not have decided it was high time that some satire was directed at him and Spanish sport in general. But it wasn't the only time.
A problem for the Spanish, in defending themselves against the jibes, is that there has been equivocation by sporting authorities and that there has been political influence. The Spanish Cycling Federation was close to giving Contador a one-year ban before former prime minister Zapatero voiced his support for Contador and the federation accepted the defence of meat contamination, which ultimately led the World Anti-Doping Agency to take the matter to the Court of Arbitration for Sport and to the two-year ban (which in practice will finish in August this year).
Nevertheless, the satirical attacks by Canal Plus and Noah's accusations have caused rightful indignation. As always, in understanding why there is indignation, it is appropriate to consider the reaction were the boot on the other foot, i.e. were the French on the receiving end of doping accusations from Spanish sources.
Nadal does come out of all this pretty well. He has played it down as an attempt at humour, but one that may have gone too far. Whether, however, the Canal Plus show was the catalyst is not clear, but Nadal was subject to a surprise, recent dope test.
In accepting that, rather being personal, the French attacks are aimed at Spanish sport in general, Nadal is aligning himself with the politicians, one of whom, the foreign minister no less, has pointed out that in 2011 there were 62 more cases of doping in France than there were in Spain. Touché. Meanwhile, however, and the political fall-out notwithstanding, the Spanish sport minister has said that there will soon be a new anti-doping law. This may or may not have been planned, but it will now seem timely, and no doubt the French will take the credit.
Any comments to andrew@thealcudiaguide.com please.
There has been some needle, so to speak, between the French and the Spanish in the matter of Rafael Nadal. It was spiked by the utterances of Nadal's trainer-uncle, Toni, when he once referred to Parisians as stupid for having supported Roger Federer more than the Muscle of Manacor, and then by the director of Spanish tourism in Paris who not only agreed with Uncle Toni but went on to suggest that the Paris public had no style. (And they wonder why French tourism numbers to Mallorca have remained static since the turn of the century.)
Now it is the turn of the French and in particular the satirical puppet show, "Les Guignols de l'info", to have a go at Nadal. And the Real Madrid and Spanish national team's goalkeeper, Iker Casillas. And the cyclist Alberto Contador. It all comes on the back of former French tennis star Yannick Noah's insinuation that Spanish sport was so far removed from being clean that pretty much all Spanish sportspeople were doping.
Allegations that Nadal may have acquired his physique in ways other than just naturally are nothing new. But there has never been any proof. They are allegations, and though Nadal has sought to brush off the satire directed at him (e.g. using a syringe to write a letter of support to Contador, banned for two years for doping), the Spanish Tennis Federation has said that it is considering suing the show's broadcaster, Canal Plus. It would have a justifiable case in doing so. It may be satire, but it could just as easily be described as defamation.
The spat between Spain and France over the show has now embraced all manner of politicians. The Spanish Ambassador in Paris has been in touch with Canal Plus; the French sports minister has received a letter from the Spanish sports council; the leader of PSOE, Alfredo Rubalcaba, has had his say; and the Partido Popular in the Balearics is presenting a parliamentary motion condemning the "parodies of Spanish sportspeople", one that the opposition parties have criticised, saying that the PP should be worrying more about unemployment.
What kicked it all off was Contador's ban for doping during the 2010 Tour de France. If the 2010 Tour had been the only time that Contador had found himself embroiled in a doping controversy, the French might not have decided it was high time that some satire was directed at him and Spanish sport in general. But it wasn't the only time.
A problem for the Spanish, in defending themselves against the jibes, is that there has been equivocation by sporting authorities and that there has been political influence. The Spanish Cycling Federation was close to giving Contador a one-year ban before former prime minister Zapatero voiced his support for Contador and the federation accepted the defence of meat contamination, which ultimately led the World Anti-Doping Agency to take the matter to the Court of Arbitration for Sport and to the two-year ban (which in practice will finish in August this year).
Nevertheless, the satirical attacks by Canal Plus and Noah's accusations have caused rightful indignation. As always, in understanding why there is indignation, it is appropriate to consider the reaction were the boot on the other foot, i.e. were the French on the receiving end of doping accusations from Spanish sources.
Nadal does come out of all this pretty well. He has played it down as an attempt at humour, but one that may have gone too far. Whether, however, the Canal Plus show was the catalyst is not clear, but Nadal was subject to a surprise, recent dope test.
In accepting that, rather being personal, the French attacks are aimed at Spanish sport in general, Nadal is aligning himself with the politicians, one of whom, the foreign minister no less, has pointed out that in 2011 there were 62 more cases of doping in France than there were in Spain. Touché. Meanwhile, however, and the political fall-out notwithstanding, the Spanish sport minister has said that there will soon be a new anti-doping law. This may or may not have been planned, but it will now seem timely, and no doubt the French will take the credit.
Any comments to andrew@thealcudiaguide.com please.
Wednesday, November 03, 2010
Double Fault: Nadal and celebrity advertising
Rafael Nadal has played his last match as the promotional face of the Balearics. An amicable parting of the ways between the Manacor muscle and the tourism ministry means that the latter will not have to cough up for the final part of its contract, some two million euros.
Is this a case of seeing sense that Nadal's celebrity amounted to buying a pig in a poke when it came to the islands' promotion? Actually not. There is an altogether different reason. The tourism ministry is technically bankrupt. It owes 47 million euros, much of the debt being in the form of repayments to financial institutions. The regional government has had to step in and find around 20 million to help the ministry out. The remaining 27 million will need to be recouped from what Joana Barceló terms a "stability plan".
Stability and the tourism ministry. Chance would be a fine thing. One has to have some sympathy for the minister Barceló, only the fifth incumbent in the post since the current administration took office in 2007. We have come to appreciate, thanks to the various corruption charges and hearings, that the ministry, via its agencies, was out of control. We hadn't appreciated, until now, just how much out of control it was. The ministry's debt equates to 70% of its entire budget.
Some months ago, I spoke to Antoni Munar the new director-general of tourism development. Pleasant chap, Sr. Munar, jocularly telling me that there wasn't any money. I knew about all the problems, he asked. Yes, I joshed in return. You don't know whether to laugh or cry. Munar and Barceló face one hell of a challenge.
The first challenge is knowing where on earth the money's coming from for promotion. The second is knowing on what to spend it. Wisely. And the celebrity promotion has been anything but wise: Douglas, Schiffer, de Lucia, Kournikova (Kournikova for heaven's sake!) and Nadal - where has any of it led to?
The casting of celebrities has, to an extent, been understandable, assuming, that is, you adhere to the principle of celebrity obsession. In no small part, the use of celebrities reflects the perception, of some, that Mallorca is a celebrity island. Perhaps it is, but such a perception creates a falsehood of shallowness and an image that is unrelated to the lives of many who live in Mallorca and, more importantly, who come to Mallorca on holiday.
Just one of the problems with celebrity advertising, and indeed much of the tourism advertising full stop, is that it treats its market as being one. This is a nonsense. There is no one tourism market, be it in terms of geography, age, income, and any other distinction you care to mention. It treats its market as one, but in reality speaks to hardly any of it. Nadal might have seemed appropriate, but he is also immensely wealthy and he was careering around on a luxury boat.
As a consequence, the advertising excludes the "ordinary" tourist. There may be an element of aspiration, but this is meaningless to an altogether more savvy and cost-conscious tourist than might once have been the case. Turn the celebrity image around, if you will, and imagine someone more "ordinary". For sake of argument, an actor such as Philip Glenister, one with some Mallorcan connection. Ordinary bloke. Believable enough. But ordinary blokes mean ordinary tourists. And this is exactly the point. Extraordinary celebrities mean extraordinary tourists, and they alone. Extraordinary tourists do not mean tourism in a Mallorcan style.
There were also logisitical and branding problems with the Nadal promotion. Adverts either not appearing or doing so at strange times of the night or on obscure channels. Nadal promoting a brand which doesn't exist - the Balearics - as opposed to those which do, the Mallorcan brand or those of the other islands.
It is not as though this latter aspect and the need to differentiate between different groups of tourist are not understood. Looking back at the 2009 season, in an interview with "abcmallorca" given by the then director of IBATUR Susanna Sciacovelli, she said that "we want to address customers by areas of interest" and that "every island needs its very own brand image". So what was with the Nadal promotion, then?
Celebrity advertising is well-established, but its effectiveness is very much open to debate. In India, cricketers are paid huge sums to endorse products. An article from rediff.com of September 2003 by Madhukar Sabnavis, the Ogilvy & Mather agency's country manager, pointed to advantages, such as the attention-grabbing nature of such advertising, but also to negatives. Take these. "Celebrity advertising is seen as a substitute for absence of ideas." "(The client) feels that the presence of a well-known face is an easy way out" (when a better alternative can't be thought of). "Few agencies actually present celebrity advertising as a solution to client problems."
Nadal was probably an easy way out. Mallorcan, famous, successful. He'll do. Here's Sciacovelli again: "TV advertisements featuring him ... in the UK and Germany ... are (were) highly effective." They were? And they and Nadal cost a fair wedge. Money that is no longer available, if it ever was. Joana Barceló is hinting that, though there is a hope that Nadal can still perform a promotional function, the days of celebrity advertising are over.
With less money around, let us hope that what there is will be spent wisely, but don't discount the celebrity making a return. Sabnavis also said that a further reason for celebrity advertising was "a desire to rub shoulders with the glitterati". And such a desire is the fault not just of those who commission such advertising. It is the double fault of an element of local society that is in thrall to celebrity. Be very careful what you wish for.
Any comments to andrew@thealcudiaguide.com please.
Is this a case of seeing sense that Nadal's celebrity amounted to buying a pig in a poke when it came to the islands' promotion? Actually not. There is an altogether different reason. The tourism ministry is technically bankrupt. It owes 47 million euros, much of the debt being in the form of repayments to financial institutions. The regional government has had to step in and find around 20 million to help the ministry out. The remaining 27 million will need to be recouped from what Joana Barceló terms a "stability plan".
Stability and the tourism ministry. Chance would be a fine thing. One has to have some sympathy for the minister Barceló, only the fifth incumbent in the post since the current administration took office in 2007. We have come to appreciate, thanks to the various corruption charges and hearings, that the ministry, via its agencies, was out of control. We hadn't appreciated, until now, just how much out of control it was. The ministry's debt equates to 70% of its entire budget.
Some months ago, I spoke to Antoni Munar the new director-general of tourism development. Pleasant chap, Sr. Munar, jocularly telling me that there wasn't any money. I knew about all the problems, he asked. Yes, I joshed in return. You don't know whether to laugh or cry. Munar and Barceló face one hell of a challenge.
The first challenge is knowing where on earth the money's coming from for promotion. The second is knowing on what to spend it. Wisely. And the celebrity promotion has been anything but wise: Douglas, Schiffer, de Lucia, Kournikova (Kournikova for heaven's sake!) and Nadal - where has any of it led to?
The casting of celebrities has, to an extent, been understandable, assuming, that is, you adhere to the principle of celebrity obsession. In no small part, the use of celebrities reflects the perception, of some, that Mallorca is a celebrity island. Perhaps it is, but such a perception creates a falsehood of shallowness and an image that is unrelated to the lives of many who live in Mallorca and, more importantly, who come to Mallorca on holiday.
Just one of the problems with celebrity advertising, and indeed much of the tourism advertising full stop, is that it treats its market as being one. This is a nonsense. There is no one tourism market, be it in terms of geography, age, income, and any other distinction you care to mention. It treats its market as one, but in reality speaks to hardly any of it. Nadal might have seemed appropriate, but he is also immensely wealthy and he was careering around on a luxury boat.
As a consequence, the advertising excludes the "ordinary" tourist. There may be an element of aspiration, but this is meaningless to an altogether more savvy and cost-conscious tourist than might once have been the case. Turn the celebrity image around, if you will, and imagine someone more "ordinary". For sake of argument, an actor such as Philip Glenister, one with some Mallorcan connection. Ordinary bloke. Believable enough. But ordinary blokes mean ordinary tourists. And this is exactly the point. Extraordinary celebrities mean extraordinary tourists, and they alone. Extraordinary tourists do not mean tourism in a Mallorcan style.
There were also logisitical and branding problems with the Nadal promotion. Adverts either not appearing or doing so at strange times of the night or on obscure channels. Nadal promoting a brand which doesn't exist - the Balearics - as opposed to those which do, the Mallorcan brand or those of the other islands.
It is not as though this latter aspect and the need to differentiate between different groups of tourist are not understood. Looking back at the 2009 season, in an interview with "abcmallorca" given by the then director of IBATUR Susanna Sciacovelli, she said that "we want to address customers by areas of interest" and that "every island needs its very own brand image". So what was with the Nadal promotion, then?
Celebrity advertising is well-established, but its effectiveness is very much open to debate. In India, cricketers are paid huge sums to endorse products. An article from rediff.com of September 2003 by Madhukar Sabnavis, the Ogilvy & Mather agency's country manager, pointed to advantages, such as the attention-grabbing nature of such advertising, but also to negatives. Take these. "Celebrity advertising is seen as a substitute for absence of ideas." "(The client) feels that the presence of a well-known face is an easy way out" (when a better alternative can't be thought of). "Few agencies actually present celebrity advertising as a solution to client problems."
Nadal was probably an easy way out. Mallorcan, famous, successful. He'll do. Here's Sciacovelli again: "TV advertisements featuring him ... in the UK and Germany ... are (were) highly effective." They were? And they and Nadal cost a fair wedge. Money that is no longer available, if it ever was. Joana Barceló is hinting that, though there is a hope that Nadal can still perform a promotional function, the days of celebrity advertising are over.
With less money around, let us hope that what there is will be spent wisely, but don't discount the celebrity making a return. Sabnavis also said that a further reason for celebrity advertising was "a desire to rub shoulders with the glitterati". And such a desire is the fault not just of those who commission such advertising. It is the double fault of an element of local society that is in thrall to celebrity. Be very careful what you wish for.
Any comments to andrew@thealcudiaguide.com please.
Friday, September 17, 2010
It'll Be Lonely This Christmas Without Andy Murray
Sports commentators have developed a style of expressiveness which, at moments of triumph, combines a knowing tone of we-knew-it-would-happen-didn't-we with a precision of stating each word as though followed by an imaginary full stop. We might describe this inflection as "doing a Motson", after its earliest known exponent. Dan Maskell would never have intoned thus. The only way we knew Dan was still with us was when he would stir from his slumberous drone with a suddenly animated "ooh, I say" with which to startle awake his television audience. Sports commentary of the current day has, by contrast and thanks to Sky, Five Live and talkSPORT, added hypomania to the Motsonic glottal stop. And so it was the other day. On a whooping Five Live. "Rafael. Nadal. From. Manacor. In. Mallorca."
The words had a strange effect on me, one of a sense of territorial superiority. It was the specific mention of Manacor that emphasised it. I know that place, thought I, even if my acquaintance with the town is limited to sitting in a rush-hour traffic-jam. Nadal has gone from being from Spain, to being from Mallorca, to being from Manacor. It is no longer sufficient for commentators to refer just to the island. Nadal's celebrity has made him über-Mallorcan. The detail of his Mallorcan-ness grows with his every Open championship; at the Australian we can expect to learn the names of all his neighbours. Dan would never have stood for this. He wouldn't, for example, have let on that Roy Emerson came from Blackbutt, which was probably just as well.
Nadal is famous not just for coming from Mallorca but also for being the only famous Mallorcan ever. There are others who have had fame thrust upon them, but they are famous for not being famous, like the Catalan author and polymath Ramon Llull. No, Nadal is that famous that he has become Mallorca, or is it the other way round. And he is one of us. Which of course he isn't, if you happen to be British. But Nadal has been adopted because of the alternative - the Scottish Player, one forever cursed by monotonic moroseness and by slipping up in the third round, so it is best not to mention his name in order to avoid the bad luck that doing so would bring.
One of Nadal's virtues lies with his being perceived as "a nice boy", something to which the Scottish Player would find it hard to aspire. It is this, together with the fact that he is the only Mallorcan anyone has ever heard of, that secures him gigs as the face and chest of Mallorcan (Balearic) promotion. And Nadal has just won his first US Open. Now might be the time for a bit of Mallorcan marketing stateside. The only problem is that tourism chiefs are spending their time either about to go into prison or in China, enticing a breed of Chinese tourist with promises of cheap bazars on every Mallorcan high street. That's not the only problem.
Sadly, despite Nadal's celebrity, tourism promotion involving him has been a complete disaster. Admittedly, it doesn't help having an uncle/trainer who slags off Parisians as being "really stupid" when you've forked out 400 grands worth of promotional budget to target the French market - as was the case during last year's French Open. And it also doesn't help when the director of Spanish tourism in Paris agrees with Uncle Toni. A tourettic momentary lapse of diplomacy perhaps, but it was symptomatic of the Nadal nadir of Mallorcan tourism marketing.
What else, with hindsight though, could you have expected? We now know, courtesy of testimonies before the judge in the corruption case involving the tourism promotion agency (IBATUR), that there was such uncontrolled and unmanaged profligacy at the agency that it doubled the money for the French campaign in providing for a museum of tourism that never came about, while it is alleged that the agency was never subject to proper financial governance. If the agency was capable of playing fast and loose with public money, which it was, it was equally capable of being incompetent when it came to doing what it was meant to do - marketing. Nadal should seek to distance himself from any association, however indirect, with the agency's cowboys and their legacy.
But Bon Nadal, good old Mr. Christmas, will probably find himself still featuring in ads on some obscure channel at two in the morning, just after an equally obscure sports commentator has finished his Motson at the end of an under-19 handball event from the Ukraine. And come Christmas, as the holiday ads start to kick in, he'll still be there, floating somewhere in satellite land. But at least he will be there, unlike the Scottish Player; you wouldn't even get him as the face of a wet week in the Highlands and Islands. It'll be lonely this Christmas without ... Don't say it, just don't say it.
Any comments to andrew@thealcudiaguide.com please.
The words had a strange effect on me, one of a sense of territorial superiority. It was the specific mention of Manacor that emphasised it. I know that place, thought I, even if my acquaintance with the town is limited to sitting in a rush-hour traffic-jam. Nadal has gone from being from Spain, to being from Mallorca, to being from Manacor. It is no longer sufficient for commentators to refer just to the island. Nadal's celebrity has made him über-Mallorcan. The detail of his Mallorcan-ness grows with his every Open championship; at the Australian we can expect to learn the names of all his neighbours. Dan would never have stood for this. He wouldn't, for example, have let on that Roy Emerson came from Blackbutt, which was probably just as well.
Nadal is famous not just for coming from Mallorca but also for being the only famous Mallorcan ever. There are others who have had fame thrust upon them, but they are famous for not being famous, like the Catalan author and polymath Ramon Llull. No, Nadal is that famous that he has become Mallorca, or is it the other way round. And he is one of us. Which of course he isn't, if you happen to be British. But Nadal has been adopted because of the alternative - the Scottish Player, one forever cursed by monotonic moroseness and by slipping up in the third round, so it is best not to mention his name in order to avoid the bad luck that doing so would bring.
One of Nadal's virtues lies with his being perceived as "a nice boy", something to which the Scottish Player would find it hard to aspire. It is this, together with the fact that he is the only Mallorcan anyone has ever heard of, that secures him gigs as the face and chest of Mallorcan (Balearic) promotion. And Nadal has just won his first US Open. Now might be the time for a bit of Mallorcan marketing stateside. The only problem is that tourism chiefs are spending their time either about to go into prison or in China, enticing a breed of Chinese tourist with promises of cheap bazars on every Mallorcan high street. That's not the only problem.
Sadly, despite Nadal's celebrity, tourism promotion involving him has been a complete disaster. Admittedly, it doesn't help having an uncle/trainer who slags off Parisians as being "really stupid" when you've forked out 400 grands worth of promotional budget to target the French market - as was the case during last year's French Open. And it also doesn't help when the director of Spanish tourism in Paris agrees with Uncle Toni. A tourettic momentary lapse of diplomacy perhaps, but it was symptomatic of the Nadal nadir of Mallorcan tourism marketing.
What else, with hindsight though, could you have expected? We now know, courtesy of testimonies before the judge in the corruption case involving the tourism promotion agency (IBATUR), that there was such uncontrolled and unmanaged profligacy at the agency that it doubled the money for the French campaign in providing for a museum of tourism that never came about, while it is alleged that the agency was never subject to proper financial governance. If the agency was capable of playing fast and loose with public money, which it was, it was equally capable of being incompetent when it came to doing what it was meant to do - marketing. Nadal should seek to distance himself from any association, however indirect, with the agency's cowboys and their legacy.
But Bon Nadal, good old Mr. Christmas, will probably find himself still featuring in ads on some obscure channel at two in the morning, just after an equally obscure sports commentator has finished his Motson at the end of an under-19 handball event from the Ukraine. And come Christmas, as the holiday ads start to kick in, he'll still be there, floating somewhere in satellite land. But at least he will be there, unlike the Scottish Player; you wouldn't even get him as the face of a wet week in the Highlands and Islands. It'll be lonely this Christmas without ... Don't say it, just don't say it.
Any comments to andrew@thealcudiaguide.com please.
Wednesday, November 11, 2009
Joy To The World
The tourism dignitaries have gathered in London for the World Travel Market. Today, Balearics Day at the trade fair, will see the premiere of the new Rafael Nadal advert for the Balearics. Let joy be unconfined.
What does any of this achieve? The World Travel Market is, in no small part, a set of shop windows for the industry, one that already knows about Mallorca and the Balearics. The same applies to corporate advertising, of the Nadal style. Not everyone may know about the Balearics, which does of course beg a significant question, but they (the consuming tourist public) know about Mallorca. Both the trade fair and the advertising act, at best, as a means of putting Mallorca in the "front of mind" of the industry and the consumer. But so does that of every other destination.
In "The Sunday Times" at the weekend there was a double-page colour advert for Andalucia. Some of the advertising for this region of Spain has been sensational. Its TV advert, luscious colours, dramatic scenery and vibrant flamenco chill music, was outstanding. But it was still an advert for a region. Just as advertising, of the Nadal variety, is for a region. It may all create attention and therefore, possibly, some action, but that is all it does.
In the case of the Andalucia advert, there is a scrawled blurb across the two pages: "I want you to share my energy, my happiness, my strength, my warmth ... A thousand monuments beyond compare. And just one question: When are you coming?" This last bit, the question, is the only good part of this. The rest is utterly ridiculous and pretentious. An attempt to make personal the impersonal, supported by a photo of a beach at sunset and a church in daytime. Whatever good it may achieve is undone by a small logo at the bottom which refers to "Junta de Andalucia". Someone might have pointed out that the word "junta" has negative connotations where the British are concerned.
Be this as it may. Advertising for Andalucia, for Turkey, for Egypt, for wherever you may care to mention, it all follows the same pattern. Mediterranean destinations tout the same things, the same sorts of images; they display warmth, sun, sea, culture, people, scenery. There is no differentiation. It is why much of the advertising is questionable. Its main purpose is to be there. In other words, it would be conspicuous by its absence.
This advertising is part aspirational and part image-making, but it fits a particular aspirational class and one attracted by a specific image. For all that it is intended to promote the whole gamut of a destination's offer, it does nothing of the sort. Holidaymakers are not a homogeneous group. They differ in all manner of respects. For this reason and for all the attention that gets paid to the Nadal-style corporate advertising (by the media and letter writers), it can only ever act as a starting-point (if that) or as a reinforcement to those already familiar with the island.
How do those who sanction this promotion believe that the process then works? Do they assume that there exists a hierarchical decision-making system? At the top comes Nadal, then there is a series of moves before the holidaymaker chooses a specific resort or hotel. Is this how it is meant to work? If it doesn't, and I don't believe it does, then what's the point of the thing at the top? This is how it used to work, back in the days when the family would be assaulted by Boxing Day adverts, opt for Mallorca and then head off to the nearest travel agency and pretty much have the choice of resort and hotel made for them.
Consumers take more or less as read the elements of a Mediterranean destination, be it Mallorca, Andalucia or wherever. They do so because the advertising and the images are essentially the same. As much as some consumers may work down from image advertising, they also work upwards, if not more so, in making their choices, without necessarily specifying a destination. And they all have different priorities, the satisfying of which is made in no small part through the informal channels of the internet - the forums, the blogs, the this, the that. The choice of a Turkey over a Mallorca lies largely with word of mouth, with a critical mass of recommendation, with a curious incuriosity that is the consequence of somewhere having become the latest in-place, and with a sense of "oh, let's give that a try". And much of this is predicated on price, on hotel (often all-inclusive), on specific offers, on what there is for the kids and all the rest. It is with the very detail of the holiday that the decision lies, not with the broad sweep of a Nadal on a yacht.
The tourism chiefs have singularly failed to understand the new dynamic of holiday decision-making or to appreciate the subversive influence of the internet; subversive in that, though these chiefs see the immense value of internet promotion, the internet acts independently of the corporate advertising. The real challenge lies in attempting to formalise the informal, of working this subversive element so that it favours a particular destination, and not just an island or a region, but a resort or even a particular complex. These chiefs need to cotton on to the reality of how consumers function on the internet, through social networks and so on, and to exploit these subversive factions themselves. If they don't, all that lavish spending on corporate advertising is a waste.
QUIZ
Yesterday's title - British Sea Power, "The Lonely", http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2yK9p-icr0w. Today's title - this one started "Jeremiah was a bullfrog".
(PLEASE REPLY TO andrew@thealcudiaguide.com AND NOT VIA THE COMMENTS THINGY HERE.)
What does any of this achieve? The World Travel Market is, in no small part, a set of shop windows for the industry, one that already knows about Mallorca and the Balearics. The same applies to corporate advertising, of the Nadal style. Not everyone may know about the Balearics, which does of course beg a significant question, but they (the consuming tourist public) know about Mallorca. Both the trade fair and the advertising act, at best, as a means of putting Mallorca in the "front of mind" of the industry and the consumer. But so does that of every other destination.
In "The Sunday Times" at the weekend there was a double-page colour advert for Andalucia. Some of the advertising for this region of Spain has been sensational. Its TV advert, luscious colours, dramatic scenery and vibrant flamenco chill music, was outstanding. But it was still an advert for a region. Just as advertising, of the Nadal variety, is for a region. It may all create attention and therefore, possibly, some action, but that is all it does.
In the case of the Andalucia advert, there is a scrawled blurb across the two pages: "I want you to share my energy, my happiness, my strength, my warmth ... A thousand monuments beyond compare. And just one question: When are you coming?" This last bit, the question, is the only good part of this. The rest is utterly ridiculous and pretentious. An attempt to make personal the impersonal, supported by a photo of a beach at sunset and a church in daytime. Whatever good it may achieve is undone by a small logo at the bottom which refers to "Junta de Andalucia". Someone might have pointed out that the word "junta" has negative connotations where the British are concerned.
Be this as it may. Advertising for Andalucia, for Turkey, for Egypt, for wherever you may care to mention, it all follows the same pattern. Mediterranean destinations tout the same things, the same sorts of images; they display warmth, sun, sea, culture, people, scenery. There is no differentiation. It is why much of the advertising is questionable. Its main purpose is to be there. In other words, it would be conspicuous by its absence.
This advertising is part aspirational and part image-making, but it fits a particular aspirational class and one attracted by a specific image. For all that it is intended to promote the whole gamut of a destination's offer, it does nothing of the sort. Holidaymakers are not a homogeneous group. They differ in all manner of respects. For this reason and for all the attention that gets paid to the Nadal-style corporate advertising (by the media and letter writers), it can only ever act as a starting-point (if that) or as a reinforcement to those already familiar with the island.
How do those who sanction this promotion believe that the process then works? Do they assume that there exists a hierarchical decision-making system? At the top comes Nadal, then there is a series of moves before the holidaymaker chooses a specific resort or hotel. Is this how it is meant to work? If it doesn't, and I don't believe it does, then what's the point of the thing at the top? This is how it used to work, back in the days when the family would be assaulted by Boxing Day adverts, opt for Mallorca and then head off to the nearest travel agency and pretty much have the choice of resort and hotel made for them.
Consumers take more or less as read the elements of a Mediterranean destination, be it Mallorca, Andalucia or wherever. They do so because the advertising and the images are essentially the same. As much as some consumers may work down from image advertising, they also work upwards, if not more so, in making their choices, without necessarily specifying a destination. And they all have different priorities, the satisfying of which is made in no small part through the informal channels of the internet - the forums, the blogs, the this, the that. The choice of a Turkey over a Mallorca lies largely with word of mouth, with a critical mass of recommendation, with a curious incuriosity that is the consequence of somewhere having become the latest in-place, and with a sense of "oh, let's give that a try". And much of this is predicated on price, on hotel (often all-inclusive), on specific offers, on what there is for the kids and all the rest. It is with the very detail of the holiday that the decision lies, not with the broad sweep of a Nadal on a yacht.
The tourism chiefs have singularly failed to understand the new dynamic of holiday decision-making or to appreciate the subversive influence of the internet; subversive in that, though these chiefs see the immense value of internet promotion, the internet acts independently of the corporate advertising. The real challenge lies in attempting to formalise the informal, of working this subversive element so that it favours a particular destination, and not just an island or a region, but a resort or even a particular complex. These chiefs need to cotton on to the reality of how consumers function on the internet, through social networks and so on, and to exploit these subversive factions themselves. If they don't, all that lavish spending on corporate advertising is a waste.
QUIZ
Yesterday's title - British Sea Power, "The Lonely", http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2yK9p-icr0w. Today's title - this one started "Jeremiah was a bullfrog".
(PLEASE REPLY TO andrew@thealcudiaguide.com AND NOT VIA THE COMMENTS THINGY HERE.)
Sunday, November 08, 2009
Same Old Story
Just as sure as night follows day and as Real Mallorca slump from one financial crisis to the next, so the winter tourism woes arouse a regular "Bulletin" statement about the need for a "bit of imagination". Oh, the imagination of calling for a bit of imagination. But against a backdrop of the regional government's tourism minister bemoaning the fact that he has only a mere 30 million or so to spend on promotion, I do agree with the view in the same piece in the paper that diverting a large part of that wad towards Rafa Nadal makes arguable sense. Has the presence of the Manacor muscle made any discernible difference to Mallorcan and Balearic tourism since he has been used for advertising? No, I don't imagine it has. Much as Nadal may be an obvious "face" of local tourism, perhaps that's the problem. It's so obvious, no-one takes any notice. There is also the problem that, Mallorcan boy though he is, his world is quite different to that of most mere tourism mortals who do not earn vast fortunes on the tennis circuit and take to yachts bouncing across the waves off the south coast of the island. It's all a matter of making a connection. They should scrap the whole thing; it isn't working.
The paper goes on by reckoning that half this promotion budget should be thrown at winter tourism. All well and good, but not much use if the airlines don't fly, the hotels don't open and bars and restaurants are shut. And doubly not much use when aspects of the winter scene are currently so poorly promoted. Let me give an example. The regional government's tourism website is meant to give information about the so-called "Winter in Mallorca" programme. This may not amount to a lot, but it still amounts to something. There is a PDF of the monthly schedule of events. For October. November's has still to be uploaded. That's how good promotion gets.
Whether winter or summer, the internet does, nevertheless, hold the clue to much promotional effort. Elsewhere in the paper, it says that the tourism minister is looking to exploit the internet. Good for him, even if the omens are not good. As ever, there is reference to cultural, gastronomic and sports tourism - all the same old thing - as well as to online reservations. It is not as if there are not already innumerable ways of booking via the internet. It makes one despair if this is all the tourism ministry has to say. Then there are the sites themselves. As with the Nadal advertising, which itself features on the Balearics tourism site, there is a sense of making people feel good about all this - the people being the tourism authorities themselves. Look at us! We're doing something!
The informational style of websites, allied to advertising, is largely old hat. For all the good it does, the tourism authorities would be better off placing promotions on the likes of Alpharooms and all the other booking agencies which are just as important, if not more, than the corporate websites for the Balearics and Mallorca. But for all this, there is a complete failure to recognise the shift in internet usage - towards Web 2.0 and towards social networks. Even if there were to be the odd myspace created, chances are it would be done half-heartedly and moreover with a non-native speaker controlling it and therefore communicating incorrectly with the target audiences, be they British, German, Russian or whatever.
Were the tourism bods to appreciate that there is a whole different way of conveying messages and interactively communicating with the markets, they could build a far more meaningful internet presence. But they are most unlikely to. And the reasons why not lie with, yes, that lack of imagination, but also the obsession with corporate-style sites that are operations in promotional self-aggrandizement.
I have a solution to the tourism minister's lack of funding. Slash the budget even more and then make them think how they can make their money work harder. Because currently, there is no evidence that throwing greater amounts at promotion would be any more valuable. You would end up with more Nadal, more elaborate promotional literature stacked up in the tourism offices, itself largely an exercise in job creation for all those who can find no other employment than design, and more of the same informational, corporate websites.
QUIZ
Yesterday's title - Guns N' Roses, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=siBoLc9vxac. Today's title - from their first album when they were the babes and Siobhán was one of them.
(PLEASE REPLY TO andrew@thealcudiaguide.com AND NOT VIA THE COMMENTS THINGY HERE.)
The paper goes on by reckoning that half this promotion budget should be thrown at winter tourism. All well and good, but not much use if the airlines don't fly, the hotels don't open and bars and restaurants are shut. And doubly not much use when aspects of the winter scene are currently so poorly promoted. Let me give an example. The regional government's tourism website is meant to give information about the so-called "Winter in Mallorca" programme. This may not amount to a lot, but it still amounts to something. There is a PDF of the monthly schedule of events. For October. November's has still to be uploaded. That's how good promotion gets.
Whether winter or summer, the internet does, nevertheless, hold the clue to much promotional effort. Elsewhere in the paper, it says that the tourism minister is looking to exploit the internet. Good for him, even if the omens are not good. As ever, there is reference to cultural, gastronomic and sports tourism - all the same old thing - as well as to online reservations. It is not as if there are not already innumerable ways of booking via the internet. It makes one despair if this is all the tourism ministry has to say. Then there are the sites themselves. As with the Nadal advertising, which itself features on the Balearics tourism site, there is a sense of making people feel good about all this - the people being the tourism authorities themselves. Look at us! We're doing something!
The informational style of websites, allied to advertising, is largely old hat. For all the good it does, the tourism authorities would be better off placing promotions on the likes of Alpharooms and all the other booking agencies which are just as important, if not more, than the corporate websites for the Balearics and Mallorca. But for all this, there is a complete failure to recognise the shift in internet usage - towards Web 2.0 and towards social networks. Even if there were to be the odd myspace created, chances are it would be done half-heartedly and moreover with a non-native speaker controlling it and therefore communicating incorrectly with the target audiences, be they British, German, Russian or whatever.
Were the tourism bods to appreciate that there is a whole different way of conveying messages and interactively communicating with the markets, they could build a far more meaningful internet presence. But they are most unlikely to. And the reasons why not lie with, yes, that lack of imagination, but also the obsession with corporate-style sites that are operations in promotional self-aggrandizement.
I have a solution to the tourism minister's lack of funding. Slash the budget even more and then make them think how they can make their money work harder. Because currently, there is no evidence that throwing greater amounts at promotion would be any more valuable. You would end up with more Nadal, more elaborate promotional literature stacked up in the tourism offices, itself largely an exercise in job creation for all those who can find no other employment than design, and more of the same informational, corporate websites.
QUIZ
Yesterday's title - Guns N' Roses, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=siBoLc9vxac. Today's title - from their first album when they were the babes and Siobhán was one of them.
(PLEASE REPLY TO andrew@thealcudiaguide.com AND NOT VIA THE COMMENTS THINGY HERE.)
Saturday, August 15, 2009
We Are The Robots
The Calle Bot in Puerto Pollensa. So bad they named it after someone's arse. But that was then. Back then when a local road was still an ankle- and axel-breaking adventure, when it was pitted and potted, cratered and crumbling, not so much a road as the aftermath of a cluster-bomb attack, a lunar landscape to be tackled preferably by amphibious landing craft, especially when it had rained and the craters would become sealets of untranquillity dived into by several tons of truck and engulfing the unwary passer-by in a tsunami of water, sand and shit. Oh my Bot of long ago.
Here was the finest example of non-road, a thorough thoroughfare misrepresentation, a whole collection of holes. Magnificently decrepit, it was perfect in its symbolism of an imperfectly functioning system that was once what we knew to be Mallorca. Not anymore. Firstly they tarmacked it over, took away the traps, the obstacles, made it smooth, a soulless short cut-through past the Pollensa Park where previously had been the joy ride of joyous swerving past collapsed whatever passed for the surface. Yet they still maintained a two-way street where barely one street could be accommodated. All those failed manoeuvres past the parked delivery lorries in the hope of a pull-in point, only to find none and to be confronted by the leviathan of a coach and a terminally impatient driver waving with the back of his hand as though he was swatting away a fly. And to your rear an hombre de furgoneta blanca, himself backed up by a growing jam of vehicles. Oh my Bot of less long ago, a van driver hooting up the backside.
But now they have made it one way. The bottom has fallen out of Calle Bot. When two-way at least it was still a case of number two's. Now but one in Bot. They should re-name it.
Nadal's chest
The muscle is back, and is displaying more muscle than normal. Rafael Nadal is to appear in a new promotional campaign aboard a yacht, the wind blowing his hair and his "torso desnudo", it says provocatively in a "Diario" report. That doesn't mean he's got his kit off, but has forgotten to button up his shirt. To coincide with the World Travel Market in November, the new, windswept Rafa will further be the face and now also the chest of Balearics promotion. By the time they get to the third promotional campaign (this new one will be the second), perhaps he'll be in speedos. Something for somebody to enjoy no doubt. What effect all this Nadal-ing has on the masses coming to the islands one doesn't really know. It would still surely make more sense to have promotions for the individual islands. The Balearics just do not hack it as a "brand". Any brand should be supported by the right advertising. Get him to advertise Mallorca and leave it at that, kit diminuto or otherwise.
QUIZ
Yesterday's title - Barbra Streisand, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n-KPGh3wysw. Today's title - well a bot is also of course short for robot, and as I couldn't think of something to do with ...
(PLEASE REPLY TO andrew@thealcudiaguide.com AND NOT VIA THE COMMENTS THINGY HERE.)
Here was the finest example of non-road, a thorough thoroughfare misrepresentation, a whole collection of holes. Magnificently decrepit, it was perfect in its symbolism of an imperfectly functioning system that was once what we knew to be Mallorca. Not anymore. Firstly they tarmacked it over, took away the traps, the obstacles, made it smooth, a soulless short cut-through past the Pollensa Park where previously had been the joy ride of joyous swerving past collapsed whatever passed for the surface. Yet they still maintained a two-way street where barely one street could be accommodated. All those failed manoeuvres past the parked delivery lorries in the hope of a pull-in point, only to find none and to be confronted by the leviathan of a coach and a terminally impatient driver waving with the back of his hand as though he was swatting away a fly. And to your rear an hombre de furgoneta blanca, himself backed up by a growing jam of vehicles. Oh my Bot of less long ago, a van driver hooting up the backside.
But now they have made it one way. The bottom has fallen out of Calle Bot. When two-way at least it was still a case of number two's. Now but one in Bot. They should re-name it.
Nadal's chest
The muscle is back, and is displaying more muscle than normal. Rafael Nadal is to appear in a new promotional campaign aboard a yacht, the wind blowing his hair and his "torso desnudo", it says provocatively in a "Diario" report. That doesn't mean he's got his kit off, but has forgotten to button up his shirt. To coincide with the World Travel Market in November, the new, windswept Rafa will further be the face and now also the chest of Balearics promotion. By the time they get to the third promotional campaign (this new one will be the second), perhaps he'll be in speedos. Something for somebody to enjoy no doubt. What effect all this Nadal-ing has on the masses coming to the islands one doesn't really know. It would still surely make more sense to have promotions for the individual islands. The Balearics just do not hack it as a "brand". Any brand should be supported by the right advertising. Get him to advertise Mallorca and leave it at that, kit diminuto or otherwise.
QUIZ
Yesterday's title - Barbra Streisand, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n-KPGh3wysw. Today's title - well a bot is also of course short for robot, and as I couldn't think of something to do with ...
(PLEASE REPLY TO andrew@thealcudiaguide.com AND NOT VIA THE COMMENTS THINGY HERE.)
Friday, January 30, 2009
Solid Air
At the Fitur tourism trade fair in Madrid, it has been a tale of two Nadals. Two Christmases. Every day is like Christmas in a Mallorca tourism wonderland. One Nadal is Miquel of that ilk, the tourism minister, who has been granted the air of a mediaeval pope, thanks to the "decreto Nadal" (Nadal's decree) which is the one by which the island's hotels can enjoy rather loosened "procedures" in order that they can go ahead with modernisations. The papal bull, or rather its equivalent, was signed and sealed at Fitur. Hotels can increase their land areas, but not their heights; they can develop pools, spas and the like but cannot build more rooms; they still need licences, but the period for their granting is to be shortened (at least that is the hope; there are still, doubtless, those in the hotels' managements who would question whether all the parties involved in the tortuous licensing bureaucracy will actually see to a shortening).
In the "Ultima Hora" newspaper, there was a piece that asked: "why is GOB keeping quiet?". GOB, as I'm sure you all know by now, is the island's environmental pressure group. And if you don't know, what have you been doing? The headline was particularly interesting because GOB is never knowingly quiet about anything that has even the merest hint of the environment to do with it. So what caused the question? It has all to do with the Nadal decree. Some of the "procedures" do, of course, have an environmental nature, but the initiative is designed to help not just the hotels but also the construction industry and to enhance Mallorca's "quality" in light of competition from other holiday destinations. No-one really objects to any of this, including - so claims the author in the newspaper - GOB. The reason for the alleged silence, it is said, is political. Had this been an administration of the conservative Partido Popular, there would probably have been demonstrations. Maybe so, but is this really a party political thing? Nadal is also the leader of the Unió Mallorquina. This is not a left-wing party. The president of the Balearic Government may be socialist, but his administration is an eclectic mix of left and nationalist centre. Moreover, GOB has not been totally silent. As soon as the initiative was first mooted, it was argued - by the environmental lobby - that this was all a way of destroying procedures to protect the environment in the name of doing something because of the economic crisis. Which is precisely true. The crisis has brought it about, as the building trade needed a boost and someone noticed that other countries were stealing a march on Mallorca because their hotels were in better nick. At a time of economic difficulty, you do all you can to ensure what market you do have does not get eroded by factors over which you do actually have some control, i.e. the state of the hotels. So, GOB has been both vocal and silent. Maybe it has realised it needs to be a tad pragmatic, which is not a word one normally hears in association with the environmentalists.
And then there is the other Nadal - Rafa. With something of an ace and a winner down the line, he's been unfurled as the face of Mallorca and the Balearics at Fitur, thus consummating, as it were, the agreement between the government and Nadal that he should be its main man for tourism promotion. As I said when this was first discussed, it's a no-brainer. Nadal has the right image and, as importantly, he is Mallorcan, which is more than can be said for previous "faces". It is a no-brainer, but then ... . Just think about it. There is to be a TV campaign in the UK (one in Germany is already underway) which features Nadal in enticing holidaymakers to Mallorca and the Balearics. So, you are sitting there. There is a break between the two halves of the latest episode of "Corrie" and up pops Rafa. Is his appearing going to make you come to Mallorca? I don't know. He is obvious as a face of promotion, but will he make any difference? And there again, he's promoting the Balearics as opposed to just Mallorca, and one has to ask if that is right. Firstly, he is Mallorcan and not Balearican (or whatever the word is). Secondly, we had this thing quite recently (the head of the Mallorcan hotel federation) talking about the strength of the "Mallorca" brand, not of the Balearic brand. You can add to all this the facts that many holidaymakers come to Mallorca every year, and so it is questionable how effective a Rafa message is, other than as reinforcement, and also that tennis is largely a middle-class sport in the UK. Rafa may have a global appeal, but were they thinking their ABC social classifications when they offered him several million for the campaign? And I suppose, in the current circumstances, is a highly-paid tennis player going to convince people to take a holiday, or might someone offering a whacking great discount do rather better? I also suspect they don't quite have Rafa in mind when it comes to much of the all-inclusive brigade. Rafa's right, but not totally right.
QUIZ
Yesterday's title - ELO (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zUpPlzeK7RM).
Today - this is not a quiz question, it is the title of the greatest album by one of the all-time greats who died yesterday and is therefore one of the blog's occasional obits, this time celebrated with a title - John Martyn, ladies and gentlemen. God, how sad how is that. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kg_Utj4Aljc).
(PLEASE REPLY TO andrew@thealcudiaguide.com AND NOT VIA THE COMMENTS THINGY HERE.)
In the "Ultima Hora" newspaper, there was a piece that asked: "why is GOB keeping quiet?". GOB, as I'm sure you all know by now, is the island's environmental pressure group. And if you don't know, what have you been doing? The headline was particularly interesting because GOB is never knowingly quiet about anything that has even the merest hint of the environment to do with it. So what caused the question? It has all to do with the Nadal decree. Some of the "procedures" do, of course, have an environmental nature, but the initiative is designed to help not just the hotels but also the construction industry and to enhance Mallorca's "quality" in light of competition from other holiday destinations. No-one really objects to any of this, including - so claims the author in the newspaper - GOB. The reason for the alleged silence, it is said, is political. Had this been an administration of the conservative Partido Popular, there would probably have been demonstrations. Maybe so, but is this really a party political thing? Nadal is also the leader of the Unió Mallorquina. This is not a left-wing party. The president of the Balearic Government may be socialist, but his administration is an eclectic mix of left and nationalist centre. Moreover, GOB has not been totally silent. As soon as the initiative was first mooted, it was argued - by the environmental lobby - that this was all a way of destroying procedures to protect the environment in the name of doing something because of the economic crisis. Which is precisely true. The crisis has brought it about, as the building trade needed a boost and someone noticed that other countries were stealing a march on Mallorca because their hotels were in better nick. At a time of economic difficulty, you do all you can to ensure what market you do have does not get eroded by factors over which you do actually have some control, i.e. the state of the hotels. So, GOB has been both vocal and silent. Maybe it has realised it needs to be a tad pragmatic, which is not a word one normally hears in association with the environmentalists.
And then there is the other Nadal - Rafa. With something of an ace and a winner down the line, he's been unfurled as the face of Mallorca and the Balearics at Fitur, thus consummating, as it were, the agreement between the government and Nadal that he should be its main man for tourism promotion. As I said when this was first discussed, it's a no-brainer. Nadal has the right image and, as importantly, he is Mallorcan, which is more than can be said for previous "faces". It is a no-brainer, but then ... . Just think about it. There is to be a TV campaign in the UK (one in Germany is already underway) which features Nadal in enticing holidaymakers to Mallorca and the Balearics. So, you are sitting there. There is a break between the two halves of the latest episode of "Corrie" and up pops Rafa. Is his appearing going to make you come to Mallorca? I don't know. He is obvious as a face of promotion, but will he make any difference? And there again, he's promoting the Balearics as opposed to just Mallorca, and one has to ask if that is right. Firstly, he is Mallorcan and not Balearican (or whatever the word is). Secondly, we had this thing quite recently (the head of the Mallorcan hotel federation) talking about the strength of the "Mallorca" brand, not of the Balearic brand. You can add to all this the facts that many holidaymakers come to Mallorca every year, and so it is questionable how effective a Rafa message is, other than as reinforcement, and also that tennis is largely a middle-class sport in the UK. Rafa may have a global appeal, but were they thinking their ABC social classifications when they offered him several million for the campaign? And I suppose, in the current circumstances, is a highly-paid tennis player going to convince people to take a holiday, or might someone offering a whacking great discount do rather better? I also suspect they don't quite have Rafa in mind when it comes to much of the all-inclusive brigade. Rafa's right, but not totally right.
QUIZ
Yesterday's title - ELO (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zUpPlzeK7RM).
Today - this is not a quiz question, it is the title of the greatest album by one of the all-time greats who died yesterday and is therefore one of the blog's occasional obits, this time celebrated with a title - John Martyn, ladies and gentlemen. God, how sad how is that. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kg_Utj4Aljc).
(PLEASE REPLY TO andrew@thealcudiaguide.com AND NOT VIA THE COMMENTS THINGY HERE.)
Sunday, December 14, 2008
Pour A Cup Of Black Coffee
Rafael Nadal, no sooner having been co-opted as the promotional face of Mallorca and the Balearics (actually, I think it still has to be fully ironed out, but it's on its way), now gets himself hauled into some other campaign. And that is? Well, get this one. There is this thing called "Café per la llengua" which is being launched by the Catalan promoters - Obra Cultural Balear. What it boils down to is that people will be encouraged to go along to their local café, have a coffee (or presumably any other drink) and talk in Catalan. Seriously, that is what this campaign is about. Am I missing something here? What language do many, perhaps most Mallorcans speak when they're having a coffee or indeed not having a coffee? Catalan, or rather its Mallorquín dialect. When I go into a local café, yes you may get some Castilian but generally they're speaking Catalan. So why do they need a campaign? And moreover, what are Nadal and his uncle-trainer doing getting involved? Yes, they are Mallorcan and yes they no doubt speak in Mallorquín with each other, but if, on the one hand, you are the international face of the island, with all the connotations that this has, why, on the other, contradict that internationalism with some parochialism. It all sounds a bit political, and I'm really not sure Nadal should be going along with it. But ultimately, what is the point of it? And there is something vaguely creepy about a campaign that, in the social setting of the bar or café, promotes one language over another.
PUERTO POLLENSA - BUS STATION
I should have added yesterday that the mayor is now also thinking of moving the bus stop by the marina to a position by the municipal offices. This, I suppose, makes some sense as it would mean buses would not need to come right into the centre, or would they? It would depend how they were routed, but if they were to use the disaster area that is the Calle Vicente Buades (the road in front of the municipal buildings), or indeed Calle Roger de Flor (the one that runs parallel to it) they're going to have to re-do both the roads, you would think - which would be no bad thing. The obvious route, though, would be to use the bypass and then terminate by the municipal buildings. I don't know, that doesn't sound such a bad idea, but it would cut out the bus stops on the Calle Juan XXIII if the bus were to come straight along the new road and carry on the bypass at the Eroski roundabout. And indeed, what about the stops on the front line? Are buses among the "heavy traffic" that is meant to now only use the new road? Hmm, not sure this is all being thought through. Nothing new there, then.
BLOG STUFF
Just to say that a new entry to the links section is one for a new forum - The Mallorca Forum. This is something from Hollie, who used to live in Alcúdia, and knew the likes of John and Lynne at The Highlander and Ben and Sara, as in who are now Bellevue Ben and Condes Sara. Recently, a link was also added for Puerto Pollensa.com's forum, and these both follow a pattern as the policy - such as it is - is to admit forums, blogs, myspaces, i.e. small or part sites as opposed to full sites, though there are exceptions, such as for the newspapers. Anyone with something along these lines, assuming it's appropriate, can email me if they wish to be listed.
And on a blog theme ... I was trawling through some of the very old archives of stuff that is no longer retained here, and I found this for 14 December 2005:
"Well, this could be good news indeed. Yesterday MPs in the Balearic parliament voted in favour of forming a body to monitor all-inclusive hotels. Driven by the opposition parties, who believe that such hotels are bad for the economy, the ruling PP (some of whose MPs voted in favour) have to confront the fact that they have not realised the potential harm that all-inclusives can and do cause. Former Tourism Minister Alomar spoke of a “low-quality product” in leading the move."
The ruling party is no longer the PP of course, but I wonder - whatever happened to this, do you suppose?
DIGITAL POLLENSA
Following the recent inclusion of Alcúdia in the signal coverage for the impending switchover to digital television, Pollensa is now also on-stream. The change will occur at the end of next year. It's basically the same as in the UK, so TVs will have to have the appropriate gadgets or be compatible. There is in fact quite a good article on this in the current "Euro Weekly" (one of the newspapers linked). So, anyone locally needing some background, go to the site and you'll find the article. You need to go to Virtual Newspaper then click the Mallorca version and press the forward button to page three.
DOGGY BAGS - UPDATE
Seamus emails me from England to say that you can get 125 doggy bags for 99 pence. So, for those of you struggling to get them locally, stock up when back in England. Maybe something could also be done about cats that piss up against the front-door shutters. What was that, thought I, yesterday morning? Either a cat, a dog or a very short person.
QUIZ
Yesterday's title - Smokey Robinson (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qV7XlZPdzZI). Today's title - I've used this song before, but it's such a corker, here it makes a reappearance. Girl group.
(PLEASE REPLY TO andrew@thealcudiaguide.com AND NOT VIA THE COMMENTS THINGY HERE.)
PUERTO POLLENSA - BUS STATION
I should have added yesterday that the mayor is now also thinking of moving the bus stop by the marina to a position by the municipal offices. This, I suppose, makes some sense as it would mean buses would not need to come right into the centre, or would they? It would depend how they were routed, but if they were to use the disaster area that is the Calle Vicente Buades (the road in front of the municipal buildings), or indeed Calle Roger de Flor (the one that runs parallel to it) they're going to have to re-do both the roads, you would think - which would be no bad thing. The obvious route, though, would be to use the bypass and then terminate by the municipal buildings. I don't know, that doesn't sound such a bad idea, but it would cut out the bus stops on the Calle Juan XXIII if the bus were to come straight along the new road and carry on the bypass at the Eroski roundabout. And indeed, what about the stops on the front line? Are buses among the "heavy traffic" that is meant to now only use the new road? Hmm, not sure this is all being thought through. Nothing new there, then.
BLOG STUFF
Just to say that a new entry to the links section is one for a new forum - The Mallorca Forum. This is something from Hollie, who used to live in Alcúdia, and knew the likes of John and Lynne at The Highlander and Ben and Sara, as in who are now Bellevue Ben and Condes Sara. Recently, a link was also added for Puerto Pollensa.com's forum, and these both follow a pattern as the policy - such as it is - is to admit forums, blogs, myspaces, i.e. small or part sites as opposed to full sites, though there are exceptions, such as for the newspapers. Anyone with something along these lines, assuming it's appropriate, can email me if they wish to be listed.
And on a blog theme ... I was trawling through some of the very old archives of stuff that is no longer retained here, and I found this for 14 December 2005:
"Well, this could be good news indeed. Yesterday MPs in the Balearic parliament voted in favour of forming a body to monitor all-inclusive hotels. Driven by the opposition parties, who believe that such hotels are bad for the economy, the ruling PP (some of whose MPs voted in favour) have to confront the fact that they have not realised the potential harm that all-inclusives can and do cause. Former Tourism Minister Alomar spoke of a “low-quality product” in leading the move."
The ruling party is no longer the PP of course, but I wonder - whatever happened to this, do you suppose?
DIGITAL POLLENSA
Following the recent inclusion of Alcúdia in the signal coverage for the impending switchover to digital television, Pollensa is now also on-stream. The change will occur at the end of next year. It's basically the same as in the UK, so TVs will have to have the appropriate gadgets or be compatible. There is in fact quite a good article on this in the current "Euro Weekly" (one of the newspapers linked). So, anyone locally needing some background, go to the site and you'll find the article. You need to go to Virtual Newspaper then click the Mallorca version and press the forward button to page three.
DOGGY BAGS - UPDATE
Seamus emails me from England to say that you can get 125 doggy bags for 99 pence. So, for those of you struggling to get them locally, stock up when back in England. Maybe something could also be done about cats that piss up against the front-door shutters. What was that, thought I, yesterday morning? Either a cat, a dog or a very short person.
QUIZ
Yesterday's title - Smokey Robinson (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qV7XlZPdzZI). Today's title - I've used this song before, but it's such a corker, here it makes a reappearance. Girl group.
(PLEASE REPLY TO andrew@thealcudiaguide.com AND NOT VIA THE COMMENTS THINGY HERE.)
Friday, November 28, 2008
The Face
The Balearic Government appears to have buried the hatchet with Rafael Nadal. To recap. Funding for a tennis centre in Nadal's home town of Manacor was withdrawn by the current administration. It had been promised by the previous incumbents. Nadal took his racket home, and said that he would not participate in publicity. They seem to have kissed and made up. And so they should. If there is one person, one person above all, who should be the image of the islands and of tourism, it is Nadal. Not only is he known globally, he is also actually Mallorcan, which is more than can be said for previous "faces", some of whom, such as Paco de Lucia, were heralded with much fanfare and then disappeared as quickly as you could pluck a guitar string. The international totty that has been hauled out onto the marketing catwalk - Kournikova, Schiffer - may have had reasonable levels of recognition, but they, like Paco, were not from Mallorca. Nadal as the face is a no-brainer.
But now the government and IBATUR, the government's tourism promotional wing, seem to have netted the Manacor muscle, what are they going to do with him? One fears it will be little more than the "hi, I'm Rafa, fly me" nonsense. For all of Nadal's fame and appeal, the value of his celebrity alone is not enough to guarantee that it will be turned into a pot of tourism gold. It would be a massively missed opportunity if his name was not exploited in the best sense of that word.
Celebrity promotions can fail for various reasons, such as a lack of believability or a failure to connect with the chosen audience. Nadal, as celebrity and as a brand, ticks all the boxes, one would think. Marketers refer to "attributes", both of brands and of products. What are Nadal's attributes? Mallorcan, world renown, great sportsman, youthful, good-looking (some might say). One might argue that his relative youth might alienate an older audience, but he has the advantage of also being perceived as "a nice boy", certainly when compared to the moroseness of a Murray. Nice boys are winners with older markets. For a market nearer his own age, females have the hots for him and males can aspire to his body and talent (and may also, in some instances, lust after him). I'm not sure as to Nadal's international appeal to children, but the small boy next door may be indicative. When he's belting a tennis ball against the wall, he has his own running commentary in which "Nadal" features prominently. Nadal has pretty well all age groups covered. To not make good use of him would be a sin.
Nadal has recognition. He is in the same class as a Beckham in this respect. But for all that he is recognised, for all that he seems perfect as the wearer of the Mallorcan and Balearics promotional sandwich-board, look again at those attributes and now compare them to Mallorca as a product. A striking difference, in tourism terms, lies with the sport angle. For all that there has been the attempt to market Mallorca for its niche golf and cycling, the Mallorca product does not shout out sport. It is here that the Nadal brand and the Mallorca product diverge, and it is here that potentially the greatest opportunity exists as well as the potential for the greatest missed opportunity.
I go back to that piece about the golf development in Campos. Golf and more golf. The thinking is too narrow, too confined to a well-trodden fairway. I have a suggestion. Complexes, inspired by the Nadal name, of tennis courts and many other sports and activities, applicable for different age groups. Complexes that are integrated, with their own accommodation, entertainment and bars and restaurants, or are close to existing facilities. Complexes that are all-weather or have the possibility to be so - covered courts, enclosed pools, etc. The Nadal-isation of Mallorca. All-year centres. Three or four Nadal centres for all-year tourism around the island. The name alone would be enough to grab the tour operators' interest.
To make most of the Nadal brand, the product has to support it, the Mallorca product that is. I very much doubt that it will. Rather than hitting a winner, the tourist authorities, government and town halls will serve up another double fault. Even were they minded to contemplate such centres, it would take that long to ever get agreement, let alone get around to constructing them, that Nadal would have long retired and would have been superseded as the face by a string of bimbos or ageing musicians. What a shame and what a waste.
QUIZ
Yesterday's title - The Corrs (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vzx7omiAmJQ). Today's title - different sort of question. "The Face" was the enemy of which '60s television character who himself lent his name to a punk/new wave act.
(PLEASE REPLY TO andrew@thealcudiaguide.com AND NOT VIA THE COMMENTS THINGY HERE.)
But now the government and IBATUR, the government's tourism promotional wing, seem to have netted the Manacor muscle, what are they going to do with him? One fears it will be little more than the "hi, I'm Rafa, fly me" nonsense. For all of Nadal's fame and appeal, the value of his celebrity alone is not enough to guarantee that it will be turned into a pot of tourism gold. It would be a massively missed opportunity if his name was not exploited in the best sense of that word.
Celebrity promotions can fail for various reasons, such as a lack of believability or a failure to connect with the chosen audience. Nadal, as celebrity and as a brand, ticks all the boxes, one would think. Marketers refer to "attributes", both of brands and of products. What are Nadal's attributes? Mallorcan, world renown, great sportsman, youthful, good-looking (some might say). One might argue that his relative youth might alienate an older audience, but he has the advantage of also being perceived as "a nice boy", certainly when compared to the moroseness of a Murray. Nice boys are winners with older markets. For a market nearer his own age, females have the hots for him and males can aspire to his body and talent (and may also, in some instances, lust after him). I'm not sure as to Nadal's international appeal to children, but the small boy next door may be indicative. When he's belting a tennis ball against the wall, he has his own running commentary in which "Nadal" features prominently. Nadal has pretty well all age groups covered. To not make good use of him would be a sin.
Nadal has recognition. He is in the same class as a Beckham in this respect. But for all that he is recognised, for all that he seems perfect as the wearer of the Mallorcan and Balearics promotional sandwich-board, look again at those attributes and now compare them to Mallorca as a product. A striking difference, in tourism terms, lies with the sport angle. For all that there has been the attempt to market Mallorca for its niche golf and cycling, the Mallorca product does not shout out sport. It is here that the Nadal brand and the Mallorca product diverge, and it is here that potentially the greatest opportunity exists as well as the potential for the greatest missed opportunity.
I go back to that piece about the golf development in Campos. Golf and more golf. The thinking is too narrow, too confined to a well-trodden fairway. I have a suggestion. Complexes, inspired by the Nadal name, of tennis courts and many other sports and activities, applicable for different age groups. Complexes that are integrated, with their own accommodation, entertainment and bars and restaurants, or are close to existing facilities. Complexes that are all-weather or have the possibility to be so - covered courts, enclosed pools, etc. The Nadal-isation of Mallorca. All-year centres. Three or four Nadal centres for all-year tourism around the island. The name alone would be enough to grab the tour operators' interest.
To make most of the Nadal brand, the product has to support it, the Mallorca product that is. I very much doubt that it will. Rather than hitting a winner, the tourist authorities, government and town halls will serve up another double fault. Even were they minded to contemplate such centres, it would take that long to ever get agreement, let alone get around to constructing them, that Nadal would have long retired and would have been superseded as the face by a string of bimbos or ageing musicians. What a shame and what a waste.
QUIZ
Yesterday's title - The Corrs (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vzx7omiAmJQ). Today's title - different sort of question. "The Face" was the enemy of which '60s television character who himself lent his name to a punk/new wave act.
(PLEASE REPLY TO andrew@thealcudiaguide.com AND NOT VIA THE COMMENTS THINGY HERE.)
Sunday, June 29, 2008
Tonight I'm Gonna Party Like It's ...
Two thousand zero, zero party over out of time, but overdue - a Spanish win in tonight's Euro 2008 final. 44 years of hurt since their only win in a competition - the Euros of 1964 when the finals were in Spain and the Generalissimo, who had refused to let the team play in the inaugural competition four years earlier because of Soviet involvement, allowed the boys in red and yellow to play and beat the reds in the final. They don't make football tournaments like they did then - Luxembourg were in the quarter finals and Greece pulled out as they were still at war with Albania against whom they were drawn. And of course tonight's party is also Saint Peter's big night out in Puerto Alcúdia. Football and religion - it must say something about local culture, though I'm not sure what, other than football and religion.
Switching sports to tennis and to double back-handing, cut-off shirt and bicep-popping Manacor sex God and Wunderkind, Rafael Nadal. No, this is not a Wimbledon moment; one international sports event is quite enough even for this most eclectic of blogs. The Nadal story is rather closer to home, in fact more or less on Rafa's doorstep in Manacor where a tennis centre, that the government was supposed to have been building, has been left a couple of tram lines short of the full court (a remarkably symbiotic metaphor to link to the recent tram story, I am sure you will all agree). The Balearic Government, and bear in mind that the other day it was agreed to hand over some 1000 million folding notes from the governmental piggy-bank to apply some economic RSJ to the construction industry, finds itself somewhat financially embarrassed when it comes to the Manacor centre. So, hang on, let's get this right. The government, which is able to put its hands on a whole wedge of moolah for the building trade, is not able to divert a fraction of this to ... a building project. Hmm.
So what's another tennis centre that doesn't get built, you might be thinking. And you might be right if this were just a story of not facilitating some nouveaux Nadals and their forehand cross-court volleys with top spin. The point about the tennis centre was that the Manacor Muscle had entered into an agreement with the old government administration whereby, in return for the odd tennis court, he would do some PR for Mallorca. Sounds like a fair deal really, especially as, unlike the other "faces" of Mallorca or the Balearics who get dragged into the spotlight and then swiftly disappear, Nadal happens to actually be not only Mallorcan but the most famous Mallorcan in the world. What could be better? The government's tourism politburo, IBATUR, could do a bit more of their wonderfully strange advertising. "Mallorca, much more than tennis", in keeping with the other it has come up with. Except of course it would now have to be "much less than tennis" as Nadal has taken his racket and balls home with him and told the government where they can stick the PR. No tennis centre, no Rafa beaming out from posters at the next international tourism gig.
If the government can ever be said to be sure-footed, there seems little doubt that it has foot-faulted on this. For all the Paco de Lucias and Anna Kournikovas (whatever happened to her role as a "face" by the way?), none has been Mallorcan. Along comes someone as famous as Nadal, and the government says, "sorry, mate, but we've run out of cash for your tennis centre". Maybe they should ask Nadal if he can lend them a bob or two. Still, if Real Mallorca's Dani Guiza scores the goal that wins Euro 2008, then the government can find themselves a new face for Mallorca. But what would they offer in return? Buy the football club. Of course. Brilliant, as it happens to also be owned by the bloke behind the Drac Group whose financial woes have helped to put the local construction industry into penury. Two thousand million zero, zeros.
QUIZ
Chain - The pianist was Herbie Hancock. And what is his big-hit link to Godley and Creme? Yesterday's title - The Motors, "Airport" and see this here, replete with intro by Jimmy Savile, now then, now then (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=baLilwDcjko). Today's title - easy, easy.
(PLEASE REPLY TO andrew@thealcudiaguide.com AND NOT VIA THE COMMENTS THINGY HERE.)
Switching sports to tennis and to double back-handing, cut-off shirt and bicep-popping Manacor sex God and Wunderkind, Rafael Nadal. No, this is not a Wimbledon moment; one international sports event is quite enough even for this most eclectic of blogs. The Nadal story is rather closer to home, in fact more or less on Rafa's doorstep in Manacor where a tennis centre, that the government was supposed to have been building, has been left a couple of tram lines short of the full court (a remarkably symbiotic metaphor to link to the recent tram story, I am sure you will all agree). The Balearic Government, and bear in mind that the other day it was agreed to hand over some 1000 million folding notes from the governmental piggy-bank to apply some economic RSJ to the construction industry, finds itself somewhat financially embarrassed when it comes to the Manacor centre. So, hang on, let's get this right. The government, which is able to put its hands on a whole wedge of moolah for the building trade, is not able to divert a fraction of this to ... a building project. Hmm.
So what's another tennis centre that doesn't get built, you might be thinking. And you might be right if this were just a story of not facilitating some nouveaux Nadals and their forehand cross-court volleys with top spin. The point about the tennis centre was that the Manacor Muscle had entered into an agreement with the old government administration whereby, in return for the odd tennis court, he would do some PR for Mallorca. Sounds like a fair deal really, especially as, unlike the other "faces" of Mallorca or the Balearics who get dragged into the spotlight and then swiftly disappear, Nadal happens to actually be not only Mallorcan but the most famous Mallorcan in the world. What could be better? The government's tourism politburo, IBATUR, could do a bit more of their wonderfully strange advertising. "Mallorca, much more than tennis", in keeping with the other it has come up with. Except of course it would now have to be "much less than tennis" as Nadal has taken his racket and balls home with him and told the government where they can stick the PR. No tennis centre, no Rafa beaming out from posters at the next international tourism gig.
If the government can ever be said to be sure-footed, there seems little doubt that it has foot-faulted on this. For all the Paco de Lucias and Anna Kournikovas (whatever happened to her role as a "face" by the way?), none has been Mallorcan. Along comes someone as famous as Nadal, and the government says, "sorry, mate, but we've run out of cash for your tennis centre". Maybe they should ask Nadal if he can lend them a bob or two. Still, if Real Mallorca's Dani Guiza scores the goal that wins Euro 2008, then the government can find themselves a new face for Mallorca. But what would they offer in return? Buy the football club. Of course. Brilliant, as it happens to also be owned by the bloke behind the Drac Group whose financial woes have helped to put the local construction industry into penury. Two thousand million zero, zeros.
QUIZ
Chain - The pianist was Herbie Hancock. And what is his big-hit link to Godley and Creme? Yesterday's title - The Motors, "Airport" and see this here, replete with intro by Jimmy Savile, now then, now then (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=baLilwDcjko). Today's title - easy, easy.
(PLEASE REPLY TO andrew@thealcudiaguide.com AND NOT VIA THE COMMENTS THINGY HERE.)
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