I texted the number at the end of the TV advert for a catalogue. I got an immediate text back thanking me for my interest and saying they would contact me soon for address details. Five days later and I’ve still heard nothing.
I wonder how CPC Farnell measure the return on investment from their TV advertising? It may be by the increase in market share of their competitors…I’ve just got what I needed from Screwfix.
Driving up Whitehall today I spotted a Manns Travel coach with a sign in the front window, “Girls Grammer”. Do you think the girls get on the coach every day and ignore the spelling mistake? Do you think they know the word grammar is spelt incorrectly?
This led me to wonder if there is any evidence that spelling mistakes had a negative effect on a brand’s image.
There is a lot of anecdotal comments and opinion on the web; Larry Chase says, spelling errors affect response rates. And there are humorous references relating to brands a poor spelling. I particularly like this Maserati advert spelling mistake. But I’ve failed to find any quantifiable research/data on the subject. Are you aware of any?
We’ve been discussing in the office what people should wear at exhibitions when representing our company. One school of thought was polo shirts.
Being against this idea I was pleased to notice Michael O’ Leary, chief executive of the the Dublin-based airline Ryanair, providing me with supporting evidence.
Tools of the trade and how to use them is the basis of the commercial training industry. And as ever, the examples of the need (things going wrong) are always good fun.
The gist of this was that, in a controlled in-store test, when a salesman was perceived as competent in his field, 66% of customers purchased, compared to only 20% when the salesman pretended he was unfamiliar with product.
Read the full article here and learn about Ian Moore’s experience in B&Q.
Ladies Fashions - off the rails
This is a sign I saw at the Royal Berkshire Hospital: Today, ladies fashions, off the rails.
I bet that gets people queuing up with expectation. How many people want fashion items that are “off the rails”?
And the mixed message of the grumpy looking train that has come off the rails sets it all off wonderfully.
I guess the prospective customers have been warned.
Should we complain about the cauliflower?
Well, it was a shock to Jo, one of my daughters. In one of her rare encounters with the kitchen she was dismayed at how small the head of the cauliflower was in comparison to the leaves surrounding it.
She was so horrified she got me to take a photo of it and weigh the evidence. The pound coin and the baked beans are for scale reference only.
The edible head of the cauli was 288g and the leaves alone weighed in at 548g. I’m not sure who she thinks we should complain to.
Through a very narrow association (supermarkets) this got me pondering on recent supermarket adverts. ASDA were claiming that they had over 2,000 items lower in price than Tesco. At the same time Tesco had just over 200 items cheaper than ASDA. On this basis ASDA were making themselves out to be the best.
This is a very interesting bit of positioning. You can see how the ASDA cauliflower got me here now.
The point firstly is do I want the 2,000 cheap ASDA items? Perhaps it is the 200 Tesco products at a better price that I want.
My second point is, are we after cheap or good value or a good experience. If the ASDA price claim is as powerful as they make out why are people going elsewhere? Why aren’t the queues always out the door?
Tesco were recently not advertising. This was to let word of mouth deliver their message virally. And here I am contributing to it! Good old Tesco.
Royal Berkshire Hospital waste
I think our local hospital, The Royal Berkshire Hospital in Reading, is excellent. That said, at a time when we are all concerned about bugs being transmitted through wards I think they could manage the message a little better.
This photo shows waste bags piled up in a main thoroughfare. The yellow bags on the floor, and the overflowing yellow bin, are potentially infectious waste.
I have no idea whether this is a safe or good practice. My point is that it makes it look as though the hospital doesn’t care. My experience is they do care. Therefore they damage their image by this practice.
Photo taken 28 February 2008 at 18.56.