Martin McCaughey - a Dundalk businessman - was recently acquitted of an alleged assault of a burglar who broke into his home. This wouldn't be much of a news story other than the fact that McCaughey actually ran him over in his Mercedes twice, a couple of hundred metres from the scene of the crime. The second hit from the car left Daniel McCormack (the burglar) with a badly broken leg and pinned up against a railing until the Gardaí arrived on the scene.

McCormack was compensated for his injuries by Mr McCaughey's insurance company and received €175,000. However this case throws up a topic of heated debate in Ireland - when an intruder targets your home and is in your rooms stealing your possessions, how far can you go in order to defend yourself and your hard earned valuables?

It's interesting to note that McCaughey was acquitted with a majority verdict even though his insurance company actually compensated McCormack. In my opinion this goes to show that they placed the blame at their client's feet. McCaughey claimed to have been in the dark as to the payout and only became aware of it recently. I wonder would the insurance company have been as quick to compensate him after last week's acquittal?

In my opinion McCaughey was in the wrong and I was very surprised to see him walk free last week. It is one thing to defend yourself or attack someone in your house, but chasing him down the street and running him over not once but twice is assault. I understand that that McCaughey woke up with his wife next to him with this man standing in their bedroom with a screwdriver. I cannot imagine the sheer terror and anger that he must have felt and he'd have my complete support if he managed to knock him out in his house. However once the danger is gone (along with the valuables) then your right to defending your property is also diminished and using a car to try to hurt someone is surely at the very least excessive force. Taking the overriding feeling of anger and adreniline flowing into consideration, there could potentially be a case for defence for the first time McCormack was knocked down. That should be blown out of the water when the defendant hit him the second time.

The Criminal Law (Defence and the Dwelling) Act 2011 was enacted on the 19th of December, 2011 giving homeowners the right to reasonable force when dealing with an burglar. This was not the case in Dundalk and as intrusive and deplorable the original crime was, it did not merit what happened next. The phrase "two wrongs don't make a right" springs to mind however in this case the courts have found that they actually do.

The original M&M

Mars announced in December of last year that come February M&M’s would return to the Super Bowl and occupy one of the 30 second slots. Leading up to February 6th it became apparent that the original M&M was back and it was now her time to shine.

Ms. Brown has stated that over the past 70 years she has attended an Ivy League school majoring in business. From that she has learned everything she needs to know about the chocolate business and is now the Chief Chocolate Officer. She claims it was all her idea to introduce colours into the brand and has claimed that she has stayed in the background until now because of her hectic schedule.

Ms. Brown’s release has been well executed. Her unveiling and teaser campaigns were enticing and they created the hype needed to catapult the ad onto social media. Following the ad’s airing Facebook, Twitter and YouTube were alight with the video and people couldn’t stop talking about the original M&M.

However, personally, I am confused as to why now and why this particular character? This M&M coloured candy has been around since the beginning and yet is only being released now? M&M’s have done a great job creating her background and making her fit well with the other characters but why didn’t the brand use a similar strategy to what it has used in the past? Vote in a colour and make a character from that.

All in all, Ms. Brown is a great addition to the bunch. Red has been in the spotlight since the creation of the characters and has always been known as the leader but today we see who the real boss is. The Super Bowl ad, in my opinion, was merely the introduction of Ms. Brown and I’ve no doubt that she will continue to be in our lives for a long time to come. Already the steps that have been taken to engage the public with the character have been immense and there are no signs of that slowing down anytime soon.

If you want to get to know more about Ms. Brown, check out the video below:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qaaZYENy7eU&feature=player_embedded#!

Or like her page on Facebook:

https://www.facebook.com/mms?sk=app_204484159647887#!/mms?sk=wall


Posted by: Rachel

Innovator Issues.

Consumers view the market in very simple terms. They want a product that will help them complete the job in hand. If the innovator can understand the job that consumers are trying to complete, design a product which aids in the completion of that job, and positions it so that consumers know that it aids in completing that job, then consumers faced with that particular job will purchase the innovators product in order to complete the job.

A number of innovators don’t approach the innovation process in this way however. One issue stemming from this, as noted in a number of academic articles, is that companies focus on the wrong issues when they are developing new products. This leads innovators to “improve” products by developing new features and functions which they believe will lead to sales and market share, but fail to do so as these “improvements” are irrelevant to consumers needs.

An issue which also stems from innovators approaching the innovation process from the point of view of the product, and not the job, is that any improvements made will only ever be incremental improvements to the product itself. This may make the product easier to use or slightly more aesthetically appealing but it will never lead to a breakthrough that will revolutionize the way that the task in question is completed. If the added cost to consumers of this new product outweighs the value they place on the improvements, then they will not adopt it despite it being an improvement on its predecessor.

Another issue that innovators have to overcome is consumers’ natural resistance to change. Consumers tend to find comfort in familiarity and so overvalue the benefits that current products offer them. Another example of when a consumer resists change is when the new product on offer requires them to change their behaviour. This resistance can lead to consumers failing to adopt products which are superior to the ones they are using, simply because of the learning curve involved. This typically occurs with technological products. For example, if a new tablet was developed, which outperformed the ipad but was significantly more difficult to use, consumers may be unwilling to adapt the new technology.

$3.5 Million for 30 Seconds of Super Bowl Fame

The Super Bowl, the championship game of the National Football League in the United States, is known for the high-profile advertisements that air during its television broadcast in the U.S. The high price tag of the commercials and the prevalence of the event in which they air, causes all creative advertising brain across the world to engage in the competition with one another.

Thirty-second sports during Super Bowl XLVI are being sold for as much as $3.5 million. The commercials are often highly anticipated, generating much buz even before the game is played usually because of their innovation or sense of humor. The 'final cut' of the advertisements are not released until the actual game, which means the weeks leading up to the Super Bowl are filled with teaser campaigns, many of which can already be found online.

The USA Today, Super Bowl Ad Meter is an annual survey taken by the USA Today newspaper. It is a live poll of television commercials taken during the Super Bowl broadcast used to measure the best advertisement of the competition. The survey which started in 1989, uses a live response on a zero-to-ten scale (zero being the worst, tn the best) of focus groups in a number of locations around the US. USA Today named the Bud Light Dog Sitting Advert and the Doritos Pug Adverts as join winners of best Super Bowl Ad of 2011.The 2012 commercials will feature a number of A-list celebrities including David Beckham, Victoria Secret model Adriana Lima, US X-Factor Winner Melanie Amaro and Elton John.

To view all the 2011 Super Bowl adverts click on the following link:

http://msn.foxsports.com/video/shows/super-bowl-commercials-2011

For free live streaming of 2012’s Super Bowl between New York Giants and the New England Patriots and to keep up to date with all ad rankings follow this link:

http://nbcsports.msnbc.com/