Monthly Archives: June 2007

User generated newspapers

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metro se 745637 User generated newspapers

Metro SE

We’ll be cooking our own food in restaurants next! Or making our beds in hotels!

Essentially a free newspaper is going to pay bloggers and then use some of the content in their newspaper. Fabulously simple remodeling of the whole process.

See this well written article http://www.springwise.com/media_publishing/free_daily_pays_bloggers/

My recommendation to people is, “Maintain your own web presence. Keep control of your own Internet identity.”

Providing your content to other sites like MySpace, Facebook etc is all well and good but where will they end up? None of us knows. Use these sites and share your ideas and opinions but keep hold of your own web presence as well.

It is also worth remembering that the majority of the world’s population don’t use social/business network sites or use RSS feed readers. I know, unbelievable isn’t it?

Mergers that add value

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phone box and pillar box 705032 Mergers that add value

Merge BT and Royal Mail

This article talks about the merger of the AA and Saga: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/6236862.stm

It is interesting to note that 2 + 2 = 5. The appropriate mergers of businesses can increase value.

I think the best merger at the moment would be BT and Royal Mail. A bit of déjà vu perhaps, but what a great solution neutral business this could be.

BTW: being a bit of sceptic I don’t think there are ever ‘mergers’. I believe the end result is always a takeover.

I hate graffiti

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anti graffiti 782812 I hate graffiti

I hate graffiti

I  hate graffiti. Really, I do. I think it makes buildings and streets look cheap and uncared for.

Personally I am very pleased that Reading Borough Council are doing something positive about it.

The thing I find odd is that the vans used for the removal of graffiti have an almost graffiti style wording on the side. This cannot be the right approach surely?

Reading’s Evening Post report the matter on their website GetReading.

BBC Children In Need – brand misuse

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children in need 759442 BBC Children In Need brand misuse

Children In Need

It takes long enough for a charity to develop a trusted brand name. Protecting it can be even harder.

This BBC Children In Need collection box, seen in a fish and chip shop in Reading is labelled 2006 (last year) and uses the BBC Children In Need logo.

On closer inspection it appears that the funds are being collected for some local toddler group. There is a label on the top that has been added.

Misrepresentation or what?

Pricing survey nonsense

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oil rig 705917 Pricing survey nonsense

Petrol price surveys

I  was waiting in a line to pay for some petrol at my local BP garage. The delay was caused by the usual number of people buying sausage rolls, milk, cat food and occasionally petrol.

The phone rang and a member of the staff answered the phone. The caller, presumably a competitor or their agent, asked the price of unleaded petrol and diesel per litre.

The BP cashier looked out of the window at the gantry sign with the price indicators and answered the caller by adding 1p per litre to the price.

Does this go on all the time? Is this kind of lying ethical? Whose interests are served by these tactics? Should a retailer allow themselves to be observed employing these tactics?

I personally feel that it is bad for the retailers brand image and it is unethical. It also serves to hold prices higher. This is unless everyone knows the tactics and it is all a daft game.

And what if the caller were a consumer or a price comparison website? This would then result in less business for the retailer that makes their prices appear higher than they actually are.

All very odd. Any thoughts on this?

Will taking your brand green boost sales?

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green landscape Will taking your brand green boost sales?

Green landscape

A lot of companies thought that being environmentally friendly would be an issue forced on them from Brussels. Well, I’m sure it will be for the laggards.

But now there is evidence that the green credentials of a company has a measurable impact on opinion and sales.

See http://www.marketingweek.co.uk/item/56676 for the article.

Let’s do it without Google

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bento yum Lets do it without Google

Bento Yum

So many businesses have become Google dependent. And we all know that monopolies are rarely good for business.

So how’s this for an experiment: Grow a new online business while excluding it from Google and other major search engines.

See this article Hide and Speak: Google, We Don’t Need No Stinkin‘ Google! for the details of the experiment that Jennifer Laycock is conducting with the business Bento Yum. It will be interesting to follow the progress.