"MIR should go camping" - what do you think?

Regular reader, Mike Stead, reckons Mobile Industry Review should ‘get out a bit more‘.

I took exception to this statement on the basis that we’ve reported from six different countries in the last 3 months. But what Mike meant was we should get OUT more. Out into the fresh (read: cold, rainy) air. In the countryside.

Here’s his full statement:

We love Mobile Industry Review. The team are great guys, and their videos are the gems of an otherwise staid and boring industry. However we do think that they should get out more. Way out. In the countryside. Back to nature. Mobiles are at their best when out and about, and come into their own when a PC is not an option. So instead of jetting off somewhere exotic, incurring a massive CO2 footprint, let’s see the lads down home in the West Country somewhere, under canvas, kicking back but using their mobiles to have fun in the outdoors.

And he’s setup a Facebook group. Dear Gods…

You can take a look and decide whether or not to join here.

I made the commitment that we will go camping if 500+ people join Mike’s group. We’ll film the whole experience and make a MIR TV show from it.

I think that, right now, this 500+ number is a safe bet. Maybe 10 or so people will join, right?

I reckon James Whatley will be up for it. He’s generally up for doing ‘stuff’ like this and he’s also been to that festival. What’s it called? The mud-infested one that’s much, much better when you can switch it off (i.e. watch on TV)? Glastonbury, that’s it.

I reckon Ben Smith might exhibit some good old fashioned plucky ‘come on Tim’ positiveness and will probably, at a push — and provided there’s electricity — be up for it.

Meanwhile Dan Lane and I share an affinity for warmth and comfort. My own perspective is that we (the Royal ‘We’) came out of the cave. We discovered fire. We evolved beyond our original programming. We got warm. We got comfort. I like to celebrate that, in a quiet way, each night.

I also happen to believe that I — and everyone else reading this text — is particularly lucky to have the ability to sleep more or less soundly in a warm environment every night. Millions do not. There’s a teeny bit of me that reacts negatively to going camping as a recreational thing to do when lots of people don’t even have a home to get back to. But then, looking at my 5 or 6 mobile contracts … they are highly, highly unnecessary in the context of daily life.

That said, the prospect of spending a sleepless night in some godawful field in the middle of the West Country of England with ‘wildlife’ crawling over me is not, on any level, appealing. I know some people enjoy that sort of thing though. Each to their own.

Mike’s had one chap, Justin Davies, join his Facebook campaign today. I joined as well, so I could write some outrageous things on the group’s discussion board.

So if you’d like to see us getting cold, soaked-through and generally really, really annoyed trying to ‘enjoy’ a night or so ‘camping’ in the West of England — and making a MIR TV show out of it — vote with your feet and join Mike’s group.

We are always responsive to our audience.

😉

And Mike, if no one joins, we’ll stick to the Four Seasons or the Ritz Carlton… 😉