The Window Industries Top 30 Most Influential is a list that really is about as old fashioned and stale as the industry magazines themselves.
This years list contains many of the same names as the previous year, the year before that and so on. Are the people behind this list really telling us that there are only these select few over the last few that have actually done something to influence our industry over the last few years? Just these people? Nobody else?
It’s a terrible list. If this list is representative, then it’s as representative as North Korea is a perfect example of democracy! It’s totally dominated by PVCu systems companies. Though I am a champion of PVC, our industry is far more diverse than this one material alone. There needs to be a much better representation of all materials. There’s no dedicated aluminium names in there, or timber for that matter. And steel windows have been forgotten about. If this list is about what is influential, how can Crittal, probably the biggest and best name in steel windows in this country not have a name in this list? Then there is the online side of our industry. There are sites/companies making big waves in our industry. Take Insight Index for example. Our biggest industry directory, run by the very nice man that is Andrew Scott. I know he knows many of you out there, yet is never mentioned. Then there’s Lee who runs MyTradeTV and Nick Dardalis who runs the successful Aluminium Trade Supply blog. There are so many facets to our industry, yet only one seems to be covered year after year.
The perception of the project is that it is a list compiled by the same bunch of people, patting the same larger bunch of people on the back. To me, it’s just a yearly support group for the same people that sit on boards who don’t come up with the sparkling new ideas or fresh thinking that they pay others to do. If a PR company is going to spend time doing a list, then it should go round the industry, face to face, asking people who they really think should be included. What I would like to see is some new names, some fresh faces nobody has ever seen before. The people that sit down at their desks on a night slaving away at a brand new product they thought up and have brought to market. It’s the forward thinkers that need to be rewarded on this list. It’s just a list of the most valuable people.
Alternatively, the ‘secret’ people who compile this list should probably give up now and stop wasting their time. It stopped being something people looked forward to a couple of years ago. Window Industries, like all the other magazines, should be focusing on how to rescue what is a dire magazine sector.
So just two of your sponsors then :-p
Yes Dave, two of my sponsors. But I have met them both before they paid to be on here and both I mentioned to various people that they should be making this list. Though to be fair to them both, they probably think very little about the list and would rather be recognised individually for their achievements.
Well an online database of suppliers and essentially a place to go and watch sales videos are not exactly the products of the year either especially when half the links either don’t work or take you to the incorrect place.
Anyways half the time the people on the list are the people that generate the most advertising revenue rather than generating anything truly amazing.
The recognition of others is not the important thing.
It’s being sure in your own mind that you’re doing the best you can for your business and all the people in it….. and then offering a little help and support to other businesses and people wherever you can.
having a bit of fun helps too! ;-)
Well Thanks for your kind words DGB but we are a very new company and certainly nowhere near any of the people on this list in the Glazing industry. I Actually enjoy seeing the lists and for me its more about the company getting on the list rather than a individual. I am also looking forward to G12, i know not everyone agrees with these awards/lists or the names that go on them but it shows just what a great and strong industry we are working in when i can think of about another 50 odd people/companies that could be… Read more »
The beauty of a blog is that it’s your blog and you can write whatever you want. However, as a subscriber who receives your emails daily-ish now with updated blog posts, this is getting old. You’ve written about it multiple times–twice in one week this week and I can’t remember how many times you mentioned it the last time it came out (was that really last year? Man time has gone by fast). i understand the frustration that comes from this stuff–really, I do. You want to be recognized as a company–or if it’s not you, you at least want… Read more »
US Chick it seems that it’s much easier to whine every year about it because you haven’t been mentioned in it than to do anything positive like you have mentioned.
Dave, unless it suddenly became a legitimate list which fully represented the industry, I wouldn’t want to be part of it! I’ve done quite well without being included in such jokes!
But who’s to say it isn’t a legitimate list, it may not be to you but it maybe to others. I do agree that these lists are BS because they are so subjective if you don’t have any direct contact/help from someone in the top 30 then you won’t understand why they are on the list it doesn’t make the list wrong it’s just wrong for you and your individual thoughts etc.
Plus I bet you £10 if your name was on there the story’s would have a much different spin on it.
Speak to a few people on Twitter, and you’ll see that the general narrative is that it is a list compiled by the same old clique, patting roughly the same group of people on the back and including those who pay the magazine for advertising or the PR company who does their work. I’d happily bet you £10! Even if I did make the list, now it would only be because of the criticism I keep giving it. I couldn’t give a crap if I was in it or not. But if the magazine insists on doing the list, then… Read more »
Hi US Chick. No, I never did my own list last year. I wrote about how bad the list was last year, and only twice this time. I have written about it again because the subject came up on Twitter last night and I had some more thoughts to get off my chest. Doing my own list is something I have thought about doing. However, the appetite for such a list in this industry is very low. The only reason why these lists carry is is because of one magazine’s interest in it. They’re the only ones who thinks this… Read more »
I really didn’t mean to sound overly critical or even unappreciative of your post, because I DO appreciate it. I think, unfortunately, list like these can be influential in the community. I’m obviously not a part of your community in the UK, but I empathize with that and fully understand the frustration. My only concern was that you DO have a soapbox–and I think they should be criticized, I just wondered if you’d done anything in response that I had yet to see. I just am really quite a fan of your blog and the fact that you’ve managed to… Read more »
It’s all good US Chick! I know you didn’t mean to sound overly critical. To be honest, I have been thinking about doing my own thing. If I’m going to do it I just need to make sure that it covers all bases, is fair and unbiased. I’d also need a bit of help to do such a thing but luckily I know a man who is as qualified as anyone else to help me with that ;)
DGB I do read some of your posts and although I don’t always agree, I tend to sit on the fence and take the stance that everyone is entitled to there own opinion. Can I just ask why you do a blog, because to write direct criticism about a list of people surely cannot be right? If you do not agree with the list or the people in it, you should have the right to say so. However, to assume how they got on this list for the foundation of your comments cannot be fair, nor is it accurate! Admittedly,… Read more »
Very deserved entry and lower than i thought tbh Leon, (see my comment on Aluminiumtradesupply)
Over the few years i have been involved in the trade press i have seen you continue to improve in a niche sector and i am sure we have a lot more to see in the future.
The good thing is there are so many great companies and key figures who work so hard to improve the industry that any from a bunch of hundreds could have been on it
Thanks for that Lee it means allot
DGB – remember that the industry circle you move in (through your blog and Twitter) represents 5% of the UK double-glazing industry at best. This is not a criticism, but I don’t think your ‘reach’ is anything like as much as you think it is. For instance, it’s been estimated that only 1% of DG companies have a Twitter presence, and at it’s height GlassTalk only ever had a couple of dozen truly active participants. So while the trade mags are definitely flawed, they are still much more widely read, representative and influential than any blog or internet presence can… Read more »
Has anyone asked the obvious question about this top 30 list?
Who where the judges? Because to me the winners on the list just seem to be the biggest advertisers. So really, why wont they publish the judges? Because the judges are the ad people, right?
Given the size of this magazine would it survive with this feature every year?
I think it’s fair to say Thom has hit the nail on the head there.
Its one of the less credible titles out there and the annual top 30 is the only time of year people really take any notice.
Out of the 30, my opinion is that there are maybe 10 credible candidates and the rest is backslapping/old boys network and self promotionists.