Category: Branding - Reading the Signs

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If only I could communicate in numbers.

15/2/2015

No Such Thing as Bad Publicity - Chapter 23

My mind is mathematically trained.

What is right is always right. What is wrong is always wrong. There is little room for exceptions .

Yesterday, I waffled on about anomalies and exceptions in the use of Irish. Later, I spotted this new van with sign-writing that didn’t sit right with me.

Repository

20/1/2015

Cecil Street, Limerick

This evening, I had to look up the dictionary for ‘repository’.

Earlier today, in Limerick, I came across the term ‘Horse Repository’ for the first time. A lovely old sign. A delight to see still existing.

Long may it survive.

repository noun (repositories) 1 a place or container where things may be stored. 2 a a place where things are stored for exhibition; b a museum. 3 a warehouse. 4 someone or something thought of as a store of information, knowledge, etc. 5 a trusted person to whom one can confide secrets. 6 a tomb; a place of burial.
ETYMOLOGY: 15c: from Latin repositorium, from reponere, repositum to replace, to store up.

Chambers Dictionary

The Real Thing

11/1/2015

Marlboro Street, Cork

No Such Thing as Bad Publicity - Chapter 22

Lovely Hopper

11/1/2015

Maylor Street, Cork

Recently I spotted this downpipe hopper on Brown Thomas’ building on Maylor – yet another throwback to the former Cash & Co or Cash’s.

After The Hobbit, do some building…

22/12/2014

No Such Thing As Bad Publicity – Chapter 21

I spotted this van yesterday. There are probably more alternatives that did not come to mind but the three that did were:

Have Warner Brothers moved on from The Hobbit to building contracting in Cork?

Is the logo not subject to copyright?

Whoever WB Building & carpentry are, the logo has achieved the desired effect of promoting discussion.

Incorrect

14/12/2014

No Such Thing As Bad Publicity – Chapter 20

I had thought that there was a difference between the use of ‘right’ and ‘correct’.

This van in Ennis prompted some online research.

I was not right – they are interchangeable.

Impartiality

13/12/2014

When I spotted this sign in Enniskillen last June, I thought it a great name for a newspaper – The Impartial Reporter.

It was only a few months later, listening to the radio, that I realised that it is still in existence.

To me a much better title than Independent……

Impartial Reporter

Fire Specialsist

10/12/2014

No Such Thing As Bad Publicity – Chapter 19

My recollections from the English classes in school was that there ought to be only one ‘and’ in a sentence, or a clause. Be that right or wrong, it is the rule that has been complied with hereabouts – other than that riddle.

This Firecrest van did cause me to assess whether the rule in my head had any solid basis.

I suspect that Firecrest intended to convey a message that they were experts in Fire & Gas Detection; and, Process C.C.T.V. – but to my reading they are advertising as specialists in Fire, not Fire Detection.

As for the number of ‘ands’, the internet suggests that my rule does not appear to be founded on the strongest foundations.

It is also not a rule to which Ernest Hemmingway adhered.

"I said, 'Who killed him?' and he said 'I don't know who killed him, but he's dead all right,' and it was dark and there was water standing in the street and no lights or windows broke and boats all up in the town and trees blown down and everything all blown and I got a skiff and went out and found my boat where I had her inside Mango Key and she was right only she was full of water." Ernest Hemingway, After the Storm

Sausage Question

6/11/2014

No Such Thing As Bad Publicity - Chapter 16

Imagine what your sausage might taste like if the mix included 10kg instead of 1kg of salt; or even if it was cooked for one minute instead of ten – there are all within a range of ten units.

Most signs and plaques stating when a company has been established actually state a year.

O’Flynn's Gourmet Sausages are the only company that I recall who need a range of 10 years.

Using Protection

23/10/2014

No Such Thing As Bad Publicity – Chapter 12

When I read the sign on the van, it didn’t look right and it didn’t sound right. It still doesn’t.

The Health & Safety Authority uses the term ‘Personal Protective Equipment’ – as does Wikipedia, the Health & Safety Executive in the United Kingdom, and even Centres for Disease Control & Prevention in their recent Ebola notices.

When one asks Google with regard to “Personal Protection Equipment”, one is asked in return ‘Did you mean: "Personal Protective Equipment"’.

The M J Scannell website describes them as specialising in Personal Protection Equipment – so maybe it is ok to have two consecutive nouns.

After all it is used for ‘protection money’…….

“protection noun 1 the action of protecting or condition of being protected; shelter, refuge, cover, safety or care. 2 something that protects. 3 (also protectionism) the system of protecting home industries against foreign competition by taxing imports. 4 colloq a the criminal practice of extorting money from shop-owners, etc in return for leaving their premises unharmed; b (also protection money) the money extorted in this way. 5 insurance cover. protectionist noun.”

Chambers Dictionary

An Irish Day

22/10/2014

No Such Thing As Bad Publicity – Ch. 11

Today is further proof that a little knowledge is a dangerous thing………..and that I have too much time on my hands.

While enjoying my coffee at the weekend, I had to run out to photograph the coach.

DAILY: At first, I did wonder why they did not use ‘daily’ but then I thought that the tours did not happen every day and so that this may be misleading

BUT…… Chambers Dictionary also defines DAILY as ‘relating to a single day’. After some deliberation over the remainder of my coffee, I became convinced that as they must have spent some time thinking of the words to place on the coach, the selection was considered and deliberate so there had to be a reason why they used the word ‘DAY’, and then I had my Eureka moment.

The wanted to make sure that any potential customer was fully aware that the tour was for an ‘Irish Day’ as opposed to an ‘English Day’, a ‘French Day’ or even ‘an American Day’.

Whatever day you are having yourself, have a good one.

“daily adj 1 happening, appearing, etc every day, or every day except Sunday, or now often every day except Saturday and Sunday. 2 relating to a single day. adverb every day; every weekday. noun (dailies) 1 a newspaper published every day except Sunday. 2 colloq a person, usually a woman, who is paid to come in and clean and tidy a house regularly, but not necessarily every day. 3 (dailies) cinematog the rushes.
ETYMOLOGY: Anglo-Saxon dæglic.”

Chambers Dictionary

Dangers of Rebranding - Chapter 8

15/10/2014

I am still not a fan of changing the names of stadiums (or Stadia if you prefer) or venues.

I can understand the financial benefit of allowing some body corporate to attach their name but for me it remains Lansdowne Road – and will continue to do so.

This evening, listening to the radio, there was talk of a boxing bout at the Three Arena and I was reminded of these photographs taken last February, of what was, is and will remain, for me and Luas anyway, The Point.

Two, Three, Four or the like may come and go – no Point remembering any of them…..

Oh - Glad I never used 2

Dangers of Rebranding - Chapter 7

12/8/2014

I have spent the last fifteen minutes or so trying to find a definition of the word ‘congen’. The world of the internet and my dictionary tells me that it does not exist.

They are very definitely wrong as it very much existed when I was small.

I was probably only 5 or so when my Grandad set up an account for me in Cork Savings Bank. As well as the account book which was held by an adult, I received, what was always called in our house, a ‘congen’ box.

It was a piggy bank of sorts – but secure. It was about the size of a paperback book. It was metal but covered in a leather or leather-type material. It had a lock. My memory is that only the bank had a key as we always brought the ‘congen box’ to the bank for it to be opened and transferred into the account – always with Grandad.

No other adult brought us to empty the boxes at the bank. Just likes the trip that each grandchild got to Dublin Zoo alone with Grandad; just like the train trip to the matches at Lansdowne Road; just like he was the only person to bring bon-bons, the walk to the bank was a ritual with Grandad alone – an individual ritual I think also with his other grandchildren.

I was in Bandon yesterday and step by step I was brought back from:

Permanent TSB, which is the present name, which incorporated the previous
Trustee Saving Bank which in turn arose for the merger of
‘Dublin Savings Bank’ and ‘Cork and Limerick Savings Bank’, the latter which previously traded independently as
‘Limerick Savings Bank’ and ‘Cork Savings Bank’ – the bank that had ‘congen boxes’, even if the rest of the world denies the existence of the word.

Limerick City Crest

Bandon, Co. Cork still showing traits of the 'Cork and Limerick Savings Bank'

Cork Coat of Arms

EDIT 2014.08.12

With thanks to MMC, who put me in the direction of the Dictionary of Cork Slang. My spelling was incorrect but the Conjun-Box did exist.

Dangers of Rebranding - Ch. 5 - Brown Thomas

21/3/2014

Maylor St

That small part of me that might be considered romantic hopes that the plaque was left as a reminder of the history of the city and the very many who lived with and purchased in Cash’s.

That part with a concern for building conservation has a slight suspicion that its removal may have damaged the stonework and so it was retained for pragmatic reasons.

The cynical part, a not insubstantial part, is convinced that someone made a mistake……

Dangers of Rebranding – Chapter 4 – DTZ

12/2/2014

South Mall, Cork

Is 427 5454 easier to remember than 4275 454?

From previous blogs, one might have the impression that I am not a fan of rebranding – an exercise requiring the scrapping of all old stationery, signage and advertising and reprinting everything in something that is no more memorable.

Last week, I spotted some signs on a property on South Mall and was more convinced than ever that the old brand was as remarkable, or otherwise, as the new one. Maybe DTZ now wish to be associated with Dublin, Leinster and Chelsea rather than Cork, Munster, Arsenal, Man U and Liverpool.

Regardless of the why, having both on one building cannot be good for brand promotion.

I also think it cannot be great for the client. Does it not carry an inference that the property has been vacant for at least as long as the new brand was launched and so the landlord may be hurting and open to a lower bid – surely not what any auctioneer would like to convey.

Or maybe, DTZ are just looking for feedback as to which brand you might prefer….