French Web clowns have the last laugh
Source: Agencies |
January 15, 2010, Friday
|
Print Edition
Print Edition
PICTURES of clowns are popping up all over Paris, but the joke is on you if you've ever mocked France's Internet entrepreneurs.
Underneath the face paint, funny noses and fright wigs are Internet start-up business founders who were lampooned at first. Now they're having the last laugh on billboards in an advertising campaign showcasing their success.
"We are serious people," said Jean-Pierre Villaret, founder of communications consultancy June21 who came up with the idea for the campaign, www.jesuisunclown.com.
"We all left our old companies to set up our own firms. Each time it was the same thing. People tell you it won't work. There's a saying in French: 'Your idea is just a clown's thing.' "
One of the featured clowns is Gregoire Lassalle, founder of www.allocine.com, which is typically the first port of call for people looking to book cinema tickets online.
"One should demand to be taken for a clown, because it implies taking a risk in business too," Lassalle said in a video on jesuisunclown.com. "Afterwards, people say 'Hats off, you've done something that was supposedly impossible to do.' "
Anne-Laure Constanza founded online maternity products and clothes store www.enviedefraises.fr. The 34-year-old said she was ridiculed for taking on such a project and wanting a family at the same time.
"The internet has allowed me to launch quite easily," she said in a clip on jesuisunclown.com. "I probably wouldn't have had the energy to open a boutique and that's not really what excited me."
The site www.jesuisunclown.com receives thousands of hits per day, Villaret said. It has also spawned a Facebook fan club with 700 fans.
"What's funny is there are a lot of people who want to be clowns," said Villaret.
Underneath the face paint, funny noses and fright wigs are Internet start-up business founders who were lampooned at first. Now they're having the last laugh on billboards in an advertising campaign showcasing their success.
"We are serious people," said Jean-Pierre Villaret, founder of communications consultancy June21 who came up with the idea for the campaign, www.jesuisunclown.com.
"We all left our old companies to set up our own firms. Each time it was the same thing. People tell you it won't work. There's a saying in French: 'Your idea is just a clown's thing.' "
One of the featured clowns is Gregoire Lassalle, founder of www.allocine.com, which is typically the first port of call for people looking to book cinema tickets online.
"One should demand to be taken for a clown, because it implies taking a risk in business too," Lassalle said in a video on jesuisunclown.com. "Afterwards, people say 'Hats off, you've done something that was supposedly impossible to do.' "
Anne-Laure Constanza founded online maternity products and clothes store www.enviedefraises.fr. The 34-year-old said she was ridiculed for taking on such a project and wanting a family at the same time.
"The internet has allowed me to launch quite easily," she said in a clip on jesuisunclown.com. "I probably wouldn't have had the energy to open a boutique and that's not really what excited me."
The site www.jesuisunclown.com receives thousands of hits per day, Villaret said. It has also spawned a Facebook fan club with 700 fans.
"What's funny is there are a lot of people who want to be clowns," said Villaret.
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