Picture courtesy of sacred buffalo breath on tribe.net. I think it’s super creepy.

I was hoping that I’d be able to interview Dean Horvath in person sometime this past week. As you can see from the lack of video on this blog post, it didn’t happen.

I phoned Mason Horvath twice this past week asking to speak with Dean, and both times he was “in a meeting.” I left a message on Tuesday asking him to e-mail me with his schedule of availability for the interview. He never did. I find it a bit surprising that he’s suddenly become so busy, especially after a Facebook message I received from an old classmate that I haven’t seen or spoken to in years. This classmate wrote to me asking what my thoughts were on the “next best job” campaign saying that he was curious about the position so he went to the Mason Horvath office and spoke with Dean Horvath in person. Funny how Dean has the time to speak with anyone who walks in off the street but doesn’t have the time to e-mail me a reply. I suspect he’s trying to avoid me.

Some of you might not be surprised that he’s avoiding me, but I am. No PR company in their right mind would advise a client to ignore someone who is presenting a potential public relations problem. I was expecting Dean to write back with the contact information of someone at Curve Communications who would be able to represent Mason Horvath in an interview about the “next best job” campaign. I guess he figured the Q&A posted on the “next best job” blog was sufficient.

Many questions are addressed in this Q&A, but with the new ‘Privacy & Usage’ terms on the website, I cannot republish any of those answers here for comment. And here I was thinking that when Dean said that the fine print and Terms & Conditions would be changed, it meant the company was going to be more transparent. Apparently not.

I guess it doesn’t matter now anyways. The interest in this campaign seems to have taken a nose dive. Even with Vancouver blogger Miss 604 endorsing the campaign (despite having had no interest in covering the original Best Job in the World campaign), it looks like Mason Horvath has only gotten two radio interviews and 68 Facebook fans.

For my blog readers that have told me you’re sick of hearing about the “next best job,” rest assured this is my last post about it.

Questions for Curve Communications

Here are some of the questions and comments that I’ve received about the “next best job” campaign from my blog readers (strict cut and paste). I figured you’d want to address them in your next Q&A.

1. If Mason Horvath didn’t intend The Next Best Job to be a publicity stunt, then why not just hire a TOP 7 Canadian or the perfect TOP 50 candidate?
2. If Dean doesn’t want Mason Horvath to be a part of his contest, then why is the Mason Horvath logo on the emails he sent out to everyone?
3. How is Mason Horvath going to screen the “random draw winner?”  ie: how to screen weirdos from going to the final destination with the last 4 qualified contestants?
4. How will a random 140 character submission be evaluated?
5. How will the “random draw” winner be selected? Out of a hat? Best phrase? Cool supporting blog? Best advertizing for Mason Horvath?
6. How will Virgin Galactic (Sir Richard Branson) react to The Next Best Job campaign after Dean dissed TQ as a cheap means to promote? Virgin was invloved with TQ events throughout The Best Job in the World.
   
   In a press release from theage.com.au Dean Horvath blatantly insults TQ: “Unlike Tourism Queensland’s contest, this is not a publicity stunt,” he said. “This is a contest to win a real job, not just a cheap means to promote our company.”

   http://www.theage.com.au/opinion/booming-job-market-for-overpaid-beach-bums-20090408-a0y6.html

   If Dean Horvath does not intend to promote Mason Horvath by cheap means, then by what means?

7. What does Mason Horvath intend to gain from only allowing the 49 finalists from The Best Job in the World?
8. Does Mason Horvath intend to make money off of the finalists through this publicity stunt? Through online ads or media coverage?
9. Why only 50K for two people when Mason Horvath seems to be an elite luxury tourism company selling Virgin trips to space costing $200,000 per person?
10. All of the finalists are responsible travelers that care about the environment…how does a luxury tourism company fit into this specific demographic?
11. Why does Mason Horvath want to copyright the winner and the “partner” for 6 months after their “luxury experience?” How is that going to work with all the applicants working as professional writers, journalists, reporters, photographers, DJ’s, chefs, etc.?
12. Why do the applicants have to be reimbursed for economy air fare? Wouldn’t a luxury tourism comany provide only the best service to their clients and applicants?
13. What is Mason Horvath’s “reward” for Tourism Queensland?
14. There’s no info about how many places one would have to travel to, how frequently, how far. And the last thing that got to me was, if it’s a luxury vacation thing, why the economy class airfare? What luxury traveller would do that? And especially this job, where it’s apparently all about travel… what a come-down to have to fly in non-luxury. Everybody knows that half of any travel experience, as reported to friends (or in this case to a blog) is about travel arrangements — how screwed up they were, waiting lineups, airport snafu’s, losing luggage, whatever. They HAVE to give this job person at least business class, IMHO.
15. If they already decided the top remaining 50 are qualified — there should be no need to make ANOTHER video about a hometown activity. To me that is just exercising a rerun and playing puppeteer with very tight strings. How about a DIFFERENT idea — the video is already made — test another skill of the contestants = for selection.
16. If the hired person has to research the destinations as part of his job, does that mean Dean is going to fire someone from his research staff? How much does someone in his staff earn per hour for research? It sounds like this campaign was made to find cheap labor and an excuse to fire someone.
17. What guarantee does Mason Horvath provide for the Elite Travel Correspondent and “partner” that if they decide to continue travel blogging after the six-month contract their work won’t be published on the next best job site or any other Mason Horvath site without compensation or permission?
18. Dean’s blog says that the travel correspondent has to make 1 video each week but the Terms and Conditions say 2. Which is it? Did any of the terms and conditions change??
19. One thing you didn’t mention but it stood out to me in my once-only read of their ad for the job. “Reimburse”. It made me wonder “When?” So you get paid bimonthly, presumably 1/12 of the $50K, and from that do you have to pay your airfare hither-and-yon and then apply to get the funds back? A person could go broke, depending on their schedule for reimbursement.

The list could go on and on but I don’t feel like taking up all of my blog space with questions about the “next best job.” I think I’ve already given the “next best job” campaign WAY more coverage than it deserves.

My cell phone bill for this month is going to hurt.

I just got off the phone with Dean Horvath from Mason Horvath, the company that created the “next best job” campaign. It sounds like he’s gotten a lot of flak about this campaign.

I told him that there would be no conflict of interest in doing an interview with me since I have publicly announced that I will not be a participant in the “next best job” campaign, and asked him for his schedule of availability. Understandably, he has to first consult his PR firm, Curve Communications.

I made sure to double check with him that I was allowed to write a blog post about our conversation. According to Dean, the fine print and legal statements in his e-mail and attachments were included by Mason Horvath’s lawyer and are in the process of being changed / eliminated.

I asked him the question that was bothering me most: Why was the “next best job” campaign created?

It didn’t make sense for Mason Horvath to create the “next best job” campaign. They are after all a luxury travel company that prides itself on never advertising, and accommodating only the incredibly wealthy — not exactly the same target market as the adventurous bunch of applicants for the Best Job in the World.

The answer: Mason Horvath does not want to be affiliated with the “next best job” campaign. The purpose of this campaign was to create a separate website where Mason Horvath would post videos about travel experiences and generate advertising revenues from having people visit the website.

I also asked him what he was expecting from the successful applicant and his / her partner, and told him that the requirements set out in his e-mail attachments are unreasonable.

The answer: The videos Dean is expecting from the successful applicant would be nowhere near the quality of the videos created by the Top 50 candidates for the Best Job in the World. They would be more like 30 seconds of single shot footage. Why then would people be interested in watching them? Well, I’m not sure about that one but Dean is hoping that they will. Dean says that the Terms & Conditions, including the “Services” required of the successful applicant and partner are being changed.

Tourism Queensland published a news release today about the “next best job” campaign which reads:

Tourism Queensland has been made aware of another campaign being run named ‘The Next Best Job’.  Some applicants for our Best Job in the World — Island Caretaker position have been approached by this company.  Tourism Queensland would like to confirm that we have no association with this campaign or company and encourage anyone interested in applying to read all terms and conditions and fine print.

I told Dean about this release and how it doesn’t sound like Tourism Queensland thinks it’s a good idea for any Top 50 Best Job in the World candidate to apply for the “next best job.” He had mentioned in his e-mail that Tourism Queensland would “be rewarded” by the “next best job” campaign. I wanted to know if he had actually been in contact with Tourism Queensland about this campaign.

The answer: Dean sent an e-mail to Tourism Queensland telling them that Mason Horvath would be launching the “next best job” campaign before the press release came out on Monday.

In Summary

After reading the comments and blog posts about the “next best job,” Dean admits that “everyone is right” and there are a lot of things that need to be changed about the “next best job.” The requirements of the position will be reduced, the fine print is in the process of being changed / eliminated, and he does not expect great quality videos from the successful applicant. The purpose of this campaign is to generate advertising revenues from a separate website that would feature travel videos and Mason Horvath does not want to be associated with this website.

It sounds like the “next best job” is going to get a lot better and I’m looking forward to seeing what changes will be made. Stay tuned for my future in-person interview with Dean Horvath!

To be absolutely fair, I sent him the following e-mail to give him an idea of what sort of questions I would be asking him:

Hi Dean,

Thank you for taking the time to speak with me today. I hope we can schedule an interview sometime in the next week.

Here are some of the questions I’ve received from Top 50 candidates regarding this next best job, to give you an idea of what questions I would be asking during the interview:

1. Have you considered opening this competition to the general public or the Top 200 shortlisted candidates? Why or why not?
2. How much time do you expect the successful applicant to put in per week?
3. What do you expect to gain from this “next best job” campaign?

Several Top 50 candidates have been very curious to know the details about the campaign and I was also asked by a few followers of the original best job campaign to interview you so that they could find out more as well. I expect the interview to take roughly 30 minutes.

Thanks in advance!

Cheers,

Anny Chih

At 4:12pm I received a reply from Dean and HOORAY, it doesn’t have a disclaimer on the bottom! So, here it is:

Hi Anny,

Thanks for getting in touch with me. I saw your blog and read about some of your concerns. What I would suggest is that you compile a full list of questions and concerns from yourself and the other finalists you have spoken to and send it to me so I can respond to them in full online for everyone to see.

As much as I would like to meet with you, I have to be very careful about any perceived conflict of interest that may arise from meeting with you during the competition, as you are one of the 49 finalists who were offered the opportunity.

Cheers!

Dean

Thanks for reading my blog Dean!

As for the perceived conflict of interest, I think that was already an issue before you sent me this reply. The Best Job in the World was a great opportunity not only in terms of media experience etc, but because I met a lot of great people through the process including several Top 50 candidates whom I consider friends. I received e-mails and messages from four of these candidates telling me that they did not receive a reply to their requests for more information even though we all sent requests around the same time.

But, I can see how a filmed interview with me would be perceived as a conflict of interest to the general public.

The solution to this problem is really quite simple though. I pubicly announce that I will NOT be a participant in the Next Best Job campaign. Problem solved.

I’m going to phone Dean now and give him the good news.