David Behan is reporting on his blog that Funda are shutting down there Irish subsidiary.

Funda were the guys behind Shamrog Island viral campaign that hit the headlines last year.

David mentions an email sent by Funda’s CEO Ronan Higgins (who has been appearing with increasing frequency in my referrals of late) to clients explaining that

it was not possible to achieve the market leading position within the target time frame in order to make the business financially viable.

I imagine that is a bit of a red herring from Funda. I doubt they had any expectation of becoming the market leader, certainly not within a 1 year time horizon.

More likely the decision was purely strategic, and very much tied into the general state of both the economy and, more importantly, the property market. recent declines in property prices will likely lead to deflationary expectations. This coupled with expected interest rises is likely to further lead to a confluence of conditions that makes the Irish property market highly prone to some form of shock.

In effect I imagine Funda concluded that this market was not nearly as attractive going forward as it was in 2005-06 when they first decided on an entry strategy.

[Off with the economists hat, back on with the Internet marketer cap.]

From a marketing perspective, I noted back in September last year that I was underwhelmed by Funda’s follow-through after creating so much buzz from the Shamrog Island. I thought then, and still believe, that the timing of the campaign wasn’t right – they were unable to build on the momentum they generated from the viral campaign.

Pity – the viral really was cracking IMO.