Horse delivers images quicker than broadband …

Last week we talked about the cost of being invisible in the marketplace.

Whether you are using Google Ads, SEO, Leaflet Drops or whatever, getting your message out there doesn’t come on the cheap.

Sure, if you’ve got a big budget and are prepared to fire money at the problem like it was going out of fashion then you’re probably going to be ok.

But if you haven’t got a bottomless pit of cash how on earth can you stand out from the crowd?

Well, it’s not always as difficult as it might seem.

Fed up with an internet speed no faster than a Sloth on speed, Klaus-Peter Kappest, a photographer from western Germany, had come to the end of his tether. Literally.

Working for a local magazine, his job was to get his photographs over to the publishers in a timely manner.

But the trouble was that it took forever.

After years of issuing increasingly blood-curdling threats to his broadband provider and getting nowhere, he decided it was time for Plan B.

Enlisting the help of a teenager and his horse he saved 800 images on to a DVD and sent the young chap off to the magazine’s offices, six miles away.

Once Dobbin was on his way, he started to upload the same photographs via a popular file-sharing app and set the timer running.

That little task took five long hours. The horse and his rider took an hour and 44 minutes.

Not only was Red Rum faster but he was back in his stable, groomed, fed, and watered by the time the electronic transfer had run its course.

When news of this little caper reached the ears of the broadband providers the brown stuff hit the air conditioning – big time.

The outcome?

A fibre-optic cable was installed very soon after.

Ok, the chances are that you may not have a horse and you’re probably not a photographer.

But you get my gist.

A little lateral thinking can work magic. And it doesn’t cost a bomb, either.

Food for thought during lockdown, perhaps?

But for now, …

If you want a sounding board or just want to bend my ear, I’m on hand for a chat about anything to do with print or web design.

Stay safe.

Alec