#1 Are you paying attention? Ciarán Harris, 1st Movember, 2012, Ireland. A Crash Course on Creativity, Professor Tina Seelig, Stanford University Venture Lab

1. Bar stool observations
#1 Are you paying attention?
Ciarán Harris, 1st Movember, 2012, Ireland.
A Crash Course on Creativity, Professor Tina Seelig, Stanford University Venture Lab

2. Hey, she said stores not bars!
In Ireland, the staff of retail stores are incredibly
suspicious of individuals who lurk about for 15 minutes
and take copious amounts of notes. Furthermore, they
frown upon people taking photographs in store. Many
marketers do it out of necessity when checking out the
competition, but if they are caught by staff or security
they are often forced to delete photographs on the spot.
Bars, however, actively encourage people to lurk around
for prolonged periods, it fuels their business model.
As for photographs, they say the more the merrier!

3. Products
You may argue that the primary commodity a bar
trades is drink, that of the alcoholic variety.
However, in Ireland the drinks industry is neatly
sewn up by a handful of big breweries & distillers,
essentially the product choice is virtually identical
in establishments across the nation.
Thus, I would argue that the primary commodity
Irish bars offer is their atmosphere and their craic.
The immeasurable feelings and emotions that the
surroundings and clientele evoke.
The following observations reflect and emphasise
this ethereal quality.

4. Context
As with any observations, the context of
the observations is all important.
Many of these places are utterly
transformed by their contexts. Here we
see the Black Sheep on a typical night,
and how it appears during the day.
For this exercise I observed the various
premises in a typical context that I would
normally visit them, a quiet Saturday
pint, a mineral water during the theatre
interval, a holiday weekend down the
country, a friend’s birthday in the city.

5. Paradox of choice
Bars, pubs, public houses, locals, call them what you will, Ireland is famous for
them. So how did I choose just 6 from so many greats? I shortlisted potential pubs
with a rapid process of first ones that came to my mind, applying some selection
criteria these were culled ruthlessly down to 6, followed by a brief visit to each.

6. Let the observations begin...
http://goo.gl/okJhX
Wait a minute, spreadsheeting the Irish pub experience would be a terrible crime.
Let’s do this properly.

7. The Palace Bar
21 Fleet Street, Dublin 2, Ireland.
A lovely old-man’s pub, full of muted old world
grandeur, from the narrow entrance that skirts
the long bar with it’s little snugs, you make your
way to the large reading area, lit by stained
glass skylights, here many of Ireland’s literary
giants whiled away their hours nursing pints of
Guinness or hot whiskeys.
In the evenings there are traditional music
sessions upstairs, and it gets busy.
Come GAA match day the crowd is out the
door, downing the last pint or two before the
afternoon’s game.

8. The Palace Bar
21 Fleet Street, Dublin 2, Ireland.
If this were a retail experience, it would be
Harrods or Saks. Nothing here is rushed.
Interesting aspects of this establishment
include the very narrow entrance, made
narrower again by the rickety stairs to the
upper bar, where the music is played.
Should it be widened? You’d lose some of
the old world charm the place exudes.
Following observations it’s hard to suggest structural improvements that wouldn’t
detract from it’s character.
How about clientele? For the greater part of their trading hours they are under
capacity, however, prolonged busier periods would destroy the peace & quiet.

9. The Guinness Storehouse
Gravity Bar, Guinness Brewery, St. James Gate, Dublin 8, Ireland.
With admission to the fantastic Guinness
Storehouse museum, adults are entitled
to a pint of the freshest black stuff you
can get, in the stunning Gravity Bar.
This bar is modern, sleek and sexy -
probably not an image you associate
with Sir Arthur’s porter.
All steel & glass, perched atop the old
redbrick storehouse building, you get to
enjoy your pint with magnificent
unobstructed views of Dublin city.

10. The Guinness Storehouse
Gravity Bar, Guinness Brewery, St. James Gate, Dublin 8, Ireland.
That’s fine in theory. In practice if you get
here on a Saturday or Sunday, not only
are you going to have to queue for
admission to the museum as a whole,
you’ll find the Gravity Bar jam packed.
However, even on busy days it’s easy to get close to some part of the glass and
admire the city from this modern vantage point.
A lot of time and effort has gone into crafting a very special experience. You can
only get one pint here, obviously a crowd control measure, after that you can retire
to one of the bars on the floor below and purchase to your heart’s content.
If this was a retail store it would be an Apple Store.

11. The Exchange Inn
Main Street, Ballybunion, County Kerry, Ireland.
A curios family owned pub in the little
North Kerry seaside resort of
Ballybunion.
Each generation has left it’s stamp on
the place. The current owners have
extended it massively, allowing a large
area for live bands to play. There’s an
eclectic mix of decor, form the original
old-world pub fixtures, to the broken
surfboards the locals used to surf the
point break inches from the cliff.
Currently favoured by those barely legal enough to drink, it makes a fella in his
mid-30’s feel old. If this was a retail store, it would be a kiddies curiosity shop.

12. The Abbey Theatre
Abbey Street, Dublin 1, Ireland.
The bar here serves pre-performance &
interval refreshments. Thus, unlike many
bars or pubs around Ireland, it serves a
functional assistance role, rather than
being a standalone entity.
The transient nature of business is
reflected by the fact that there are so
few seats and even fewer tables.
The decor attempts to put one at ease,
however the sense of urgency remains.
If this was a retail store, it would be a
Waitrose or a M&S.

13. Jury’s Croke Park Hotel
Jone’s Road, Drumcondra, Dublin, Ireland.
Ordinarily, this functional hotel bar is
quiet.
But come the GAA finals a huge portion
of the 90,000 fans attempt to smuggle
themselves into this bar. It’s crowded,
noisy, uncomfortable, a system straining
at the seams. So what’s the attraction?
First up, it’s right across the road from
the stadium, secondly, the players
always make an appearance and mingle
with their adoring fans.
If this was a retail store, it would be a
Walmart with the occasional celebrity.

14. The Black Sheep
61 Capel Street, Dublin 1, Ireland.
A lovely pub serving many fine craft
beers. They keep things simple.
Understated decor, muted palettes, a
well categorised beer menu, a simple
food menu, and staff with a sense of
humour who enjoy working in a place
where people who care about beer
come to drink.
Overall a great vibe.
If this was a retail store, it would be a
your corner bookshop.

15. Summary
Following these observations I could have made a series of
recommendations and efficiencies, for example, to Joe or
Willy of Ballybunion’s Exchange Inn. Either of them would have
laughed it off, told me to have another pint, and they’d quickly
forget them.
As demonstrated here, often observations are entirely
subjective, and dependent on many factors and contexts.
Certainly insights can be generated from observations, but
often the insights come from drawing analogies with other
walks of life, extrapolating, connecting the dots.
Truly disruptive insights do require observation, but they also
require the ability to interpret & process these observations in
a new & unusual manner that accompanies a unique context.