Category: Marketing - Reading the Signs

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Fuller than Full

10/6/2016

I had always understood that one could receive Full Planning Permission (fully detailed plans) or Outline Planning Permission (scheme in principle but further details to be subject to later application).

These would regularly have been shortened to F.P.P and O.P.P. . These acronyms would have been regularly spotted in advertising and sitesigns. I have seen them regularly.

What I had not seen upto recently was ‘Full F.P.P.’.

Similar to blog on hair, I am lost as to how a planning permission can be fuller than full.

THE LEEDING MARKETING MESSAGE

3/6/2016

Sometimes the punchline can be too subtle...........for some.

Marketing Dept. ‘done good’

To start with, I am obviously writing about it and have been thinking about it since yesterday morning when I spotted the branded vehicle.

‘LEED’ is in (slightly) thicker lettering. It does have the registered trade mark logo after LEED.

Marketing Dept. and I obviously differ

‘LEED’ is not sufficiently different from the rest of the script to cause some (me) to ponder as to a spelling error. A different colour or lower case thereafter would have assisted distinction.

Is ‘Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design’ the most important factor for a landlord/tenant/occupier when deciding on office fit-out issues? I suspect that when budgets are challenged, it may prove not to be the most important aspect.

After the spelling issue, my next thought was whether ‘LEED’ was a reference to power and so whether they only do electrical works?

And the winner is…

From the look of the van and the website, Mac-Interiors appear to be getting the message that they want to those that matter.

Once again, it probably just shows up how much (little) that I know about Marketing……

Washing The House

2/6/2016

Multi- Talented

If one is proficient as a painter and decorator, I would not be surprised to see marketing also mention wallpapering, possibly tiling or even building repairs.

But ‘Washing The House’ was a new service to me.

Visit Dungarvan Campaign

25/5/2016

With thanks to Doc for the photo

I suspect that Dungarvan Tourism are subsiding Bus Éireann fares to encourage passengers to spend some time in the town.

The bus from Waterford to Cork stops at Davitts Quay in Dungarvan. To avail of an €18 return trip to Cork, maybe the passenger has to get off and wait for the next bus.

I expect that the many people in Sales, Marketing, Ad Production and Proof Reading in Bus Éireann all knew that the Dungarvan tickets were cheaper and that the message on the back of the bus is correct.

With so many involved, it could never be a mistake, could it?

The Fada Has Landed

11/5/2016

2016.04.24

Maybe there is someone, west of Dingle, actually reading my meandering thoughts and scribbles.

Maybe Dingle Distillery spotted the issue themselves.

Maybe Obi-Wan Kenobi dropped the rogue off when he was passing.

However it arrived, the rogue fada has landed at Milltown bridge.

Permission has changed to a hundred.

2015.10.26

Cork – A City with Eight Quarters

6/5/2016

And there may even be more.

I have spotted a few tweets about the number of ‘Quarters’ in Cork. When the list was at four, it was thought that Cork had reached Peak Quarter, but then the list reached five - Huguenot, Victorian, Trinity, Digital and Brewery.

It appears to be the latest buzz-word for marketing people so there could well be others lurking around the city but there are at least three more to add to that list – Shandon Historic, Shandon Cultural and City.

I suspect that those marketing people may need to start thinking of something new.

I wonder how long it will take for those ‘quarters’ to be consigned to the less desirable addresses as could be argued happened to the ‘Lanes’ as remembered by Frank McCourt before Opera Lane attempted a revival.

Ridiculous use of a Capital Letter

5/5/2016

Liverpool

Marketing people could well argue that there is no such thing as bad publicity and that it is ‘the message’ that is the most important thing to be communicated.

For T. K. Maxx, they achieved those objectives.

This pedant accepts that he is in a (very small) minority that is discouraged from shopping where the shop cannot be bothered with accuracy. I am most likely not their target audience…..

May The Art Be With You

4/5/2016

Having spotted quite a references today recognising it as Star Wars Day, ‘May the 4th be with you’, I thought it a good day to mention the advertising campaign of the ItMustBeDingle Art Gallery.

It brought a definite smile to this face when I came across them a while back with the site of the new film being set up in the background.

Enjoy.

More than once… I suspect

5/4/2016

A Cork Angel in Dublin

1/4/2016

Last week, I spotted this angel on the façade of Boots Chemist on Grafton Street.

It did intrigue as to how long it may have been there. I was not able to find any old photographs online.

There were quite a few Instagram sites with similar photographs but the gem of knowledge was provided by Rua Ruth who educated me that the angel is only resident since 1990, pre-dating Boots, having been made around 1900 and kept an eye on Youghal for many years.

The ‘To Do’ list has now got a note for old photographs of Youghal to try to find its original home.

A bit of Kerry long ago – in Cork

29/3/2016

A while back, I was travelling the roads around Kilmichael and Inchigeela. Taking a road new to me, I ended up in Johnstown.

There is not much more than the Cill Eanna Bar in Johnstown. I did not even spot a postbox – and I was looking.

The Cill Eanna Bar did cause me to stop and exit the car – the Murphy’s Stout advert to be more precise.

The words on the advertisement sign did read like an extract from a poem and went on the mental ‘To Find Out More’ list.

Earlier today, it was struck off that list when I learnt that it is from a folk song, ‘In Kerry Long Ago’. Listening to the song on YouTube, I suspected that I had heard it before but could not, with any certainty, remember where or when.

Why this particular song is on the wall of a pub in Co. Cork, I do not know. This query has now gone onto that ‘To Find Out More’ list. It may only be answered over a pint at the Cill Eanna – as if an excuse was needed.

God Be With You Kerry
O God be with you, Kerry,
When in childhood we were merry!
When we'd hear the fiddler tuning up
and resining the bow.
At the crossroads we'd be dancing,
And our colleens shyly glancing,
Just like their dads and mothers did
In Kerry long ago.

Now my heart is sad and weary,
Still in dreams I see my Mary,
With her golden tresses flying - on her
checks a rosy glow!
In her joy I hear her singing,
While Bill ? alpin's fiddle ringing
As he played The Stack at Barley,
Down in Kerry long ago.

We'd go down to Mary's dairy,
And our feet so light and airy.
At the churn we'd take our turn,
'till the butter would overflow.
Then to the kitchen we'd retire,
And pick out the biggest liar,

Just to tell us `fairy stories'
of Kerry long ago.
Then we'd stroll home in the moonlight,
And the colleens' waists we'd hug tight,
Just to save them from the fairies in the
Raheen' down below.
Then we'd say 'good-night' and kiss them;
We'd go home and pray; God bless them,
The sweethearts of our boyhood days
in Kerry long ago.
Irish Folk Songs.com

Side Question:

Why Cill Eanna, Church of Eanna/Enda, in Johnstown, Cill Sheanaigh? Another without an answer.

Suit's - Made to Order with a Rogue Apostrophe

23/3/2016

I hadn’t spotted a flying apostrophe for a while.

A walk up Shandon Street recently confirmed that they are still around – they have not gone away are not likely to do so for some time.

What is a Window?

19/3/2016

This blog is further proof that I am still learning – every day – or maybe sometimes remembering.

I spotted this sign on the window of Next and immediately thought that the glass and frame were unlikely to be changed but that the window display was likely to be changed – so why use ‘window’ and not ‘display’?

My mind set off quickly in so many different directions as to the possible format of the blog until it hit the wall of MacMillan dictionary and a certain doggie.

MacMillan includes as one of the definitions for window ‘a similar frame in a shop, used especially for showing goods to the public’ and cites an example of ‘What size are those shoes in the window?’

As the shoes are not within the pane of glass held in the frame, it does imply that the inner side of the glass used for display purposes is now considered part of the window.

Collins Dictionary includes a definition of ‘the display space in and directly behind a shop window.’ Chambers Dictionary similarly includes ‘the area immediately behind a shop's window, in which goods on sale are displayed.’

If I that doggie and his price tag had come to mind when I spotted the message, my mind would not have even started off on blog mode and I would not have had to put up this post…..

Using Roller Shutter as a Canvas

18/3/2016

A while back, I spotted a tweet about the new roller shutter at Broderick’s Pharmacy on Barrack Street.

I had to go and take a photograph myself.

I think that I prefer the painted shutter of Vikki’s but I do very much like the printed shutter at Broderick’s.

It is such an improvement on the dark and cold streetscape created by roller shutters.

Would it not be good if the local authorities insisted that each and every roller shutter was treated as an art canvas and the artwork had to be submitted for approval?

More Extentions

17/3/2016

This is not the first time, or even the second time, that the word ‘extention’ has made an appearance on the blog.

It has not yet made an appearance into the MacMillan Dictionary, Collins Dictionary or Chambers Dictionary.

Maybe I have come across a campaign by Irish builders for the inclusion of the word ‘extention’ in the dictionaries as an alternative to ‘extension’ – or maybe not……