Industry Blog

In a bid to win their market share, BT has had more packages and brands than I can care to remember.  However, I cannot for the life of me understand how their latest 'BT Unlimited Broadband and Phone Line' package for £29.99 +VAT  per month doesn't contravene every advertising rule and advertising standard going.

Check their pricing details and you'll find it has a limit - Exceed that limit and you'll end up paying more.

BEWARE - BT, unlike their consumers, fail to understand the meaning of the word 'Unlimited'. I don't believe BT are the only communications company who use the 'Unlimited' word then applies a limit. Check out what you're actually buying from BT or your bill could be considerably higher that you expected. The small print is small for a reason.

BT runs away with my Bullshit award.

Why not share this blog on Facebook, add to your favourites and more, just hover your mouse pointer over the BOOKMARK icon below and make a selection from the icons.

Get Latest Blog Posts & News via email   

A trip to Dublin at the weekend and I caught a glimpse of Sandtex Ireland's latest advertising campaign. Maybe the advertising rules are a little more relaxed on the Emerald Isle!

Why not share this blog on Facebook, add to your favourites and more, just hover your mouse pointer over the BOOKMARK icon below and make a selection from the icons.

Get Latest Blog Posts & News via email   

We had an unexpected visitor at the studio yesterday, a real cracker of a bird....a Peregrine Falcon! I have never seen one in the wild, let alone Gravesend. It hit our studio window with a huge bang and fell to the ground nursing its poor little head until I came to his rescue.

By the time I'd finished bandaging him up he was as right as rain and flew off a happy little bird. You may spot him flying round Gravesend ...he's easy to spot with his new bandage! Now this incident lead me to do a little research on these fascinating birds. Did you know they have recorded one travelling at 242mph! A really amazing video can be seen at:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p-_RHRAzUHM

I also found out they can spot a field mouse in a field 2 miles away...so why the hell he couldn't see my building from 20 yards remains a mystery...maybe he was texting!

Why not share this blog on Facebook, add to your favourites and more, just hover your mouse pointer over the BOOKMARK icon below and make a selection from the icons.

Get Latest Blog Posts & News via email   

It makes me wonder how our customers would react if we told them that our system only lets us make one set of changes to their artwork a day and that we couldn't make a note of the changes, they would have to call back tomorrow. Well read on...

My latest experience was with a well known insurance broker. I arranged the insurance over the telephone and picked up the certificate at a local branch the same day. I noticed the registration number was incorrect by one digit.

I phoned the insurance broker immediately, waited 30 minutes to get through, relayed the correct registration but on entering the new information I was told that the 'system' only allows them to make one change per day.

I accepted the company's shortcoming and requested the document was corrected the following day. Errr... not that simple. I was told that it was a call centre (we don't call you, you call us) and they couldn't make a note and I would have to call back tomorrow, wait another 30 minutes to get through and relay the same information!

Call Centres hey, remember what they tell us...they are there to help us the customer.

India's reputation to deliver a quality product and on time comes under fire after The Commonwealth Games has shown India has failed to deliver on both accounts in recent news articles. Could this catalogue of incompetence make English companies re-think commissioning web design in India?

Good marketing or just plain shallow? There doesn't seem to be an advertisement or promotion now that hasn't an 'asterisk', 'up to' or 'from' in it. Are we right to think there is a catch?

I recently received the following sales letter from one of the 4 major banks, it read as follows:

Dear Mr Scutts

Your Account: 12345678

We've tried to contact you about your account but unfortunately we haven't been able to get hold of you. We'd be grateful if you could call back when it is convenient on 01234 567891 and ask for Mr Smith.

We look forward to hearing from you soon.

Yours sincerely

Manager

Note I said 'sales' letter. Yes, believe it or not, they were trying to sell me a mortgage. And no, the bank never tried to contact me.

Not only must this approach get virtually a 100% response, but they get you, the customer, to pay for the call to be sold to!

Try it yourself and see how many customers you can lose!

Why not share this blog on Facebook, add to your favourites and more, just hover your mouse pointer over the BOOKMARK icon below and make a selection from the icons.

Get Latest Blog Posts & News via email   

Admittedly I'm not the sharpest knife in the box, but has anyone else noticed what appears to a major Government U turn - to increasing global warming quicker than the country's debt? Naturally they are keeping a low profile on this one and in a bid to keep their real agenda under wraps they are doing a little PR such as switching off the lights on the M2 overnight.

Now I don't know about you but I'm definitely with them on this one. It's been freezing out there the past few weeks and feel we should all do our bit to help - I think it's what the public sector calls 'Inclusion'. After all we're part of Europe now and if Spain and Italy can enjoy a warmer climate then why shouldn't Britain?

So what's the government's strategy behind this?

1. With the average age of life expectancy increasing year by year this is putting a huge amount of pressure on the NHS. The warmer weather will help sufferers of arthritis and therefore take pressure off the already stretched NHS system.

2. A feel good factor with warmer weather will reduce social problems and the associated costs and therefore be more in line with the more cosmopolitan atmosphere found across Europe.

3. Less accidents on the road will free up emergency services and also take pressure off the A&E departments, already at breaking point.

4. The better weather will encourage the nation to get out and walk more often, take up outdoor sports and enjoy a more healthlier lifestyle.

5. Reduce our heating bills and therefore the burden on taxpayers due to Government concessions

So how are they doing this and going unnoticed lets look at a few examples:

1. Dartford Tunnel
The Dartford crossing has been so successful in generating huge levels of CO2 omissions through the long tail backs, now reaching back 11 miles x 3 lanes to the A12 on the Essex side on a regular basis. To ensure this level is maintained and to try and improve on this (I believe their target is the M11, a 17 mile tailback during rush hour, the government is now going to sell the bridge to a private operator in a bid to ensure we are going to sustain the levels of CO2 omissions required to get the temperature up to a more acceptable level during the winter months.

So successful has the Dartford bridge been in creating CO2 omissions, they are now considering rolling out the scheme and looking at plans to build another tolled bridge across the Thames to create more tailbacks and more CO2 omissions in and around Gravesham.

2. Your beer and cars
A walk to the office licence in Favesham right next to the Shepherd Neame brewery is now out. Instead, to incentive you to use your car, the government have made the price of a bottle of the old' Bishops finger' ale cheaper in Calais. Why not chip your 10 year old car in for a petrol guzzling Range Rover and stock up for the year, there by contributing to the CO2 omissions  -The Government were offering a £2,000 scrappage incentive on this guzzler so you too could get your hands on one.

3. Council Newspapers
Fantastic idea! Hats off to the London Boroughs, 90% of them now have their own newspaper and going through trees quicker than a monkey being chased by a cheetah.

4. Rubbish collection vehicles 2 rounds
Gone are the days of the dust cart making one round to collect our rubbish. The extra round to collect our recyclable rubbish means double the CO2 omissions.

And the point of this tongue-in-cheek article? Well, to demonstrate it's easy to spin a story and faced with a general election, all we ask of politicians is to deliver what they say they are going to and not spin every item they don't deliver on and think we are going to buy it.

Why not share this blog on Facebook, add to your favourites and more, just hover your mouse pointer over the BOOKMARK icon below and make a selection from the icons.

Get Latest Blog Posts & News via email   

Has anyone seen the new cyclists awaness advertisement on the telly, produced for Transport for London (TFL)? Does anyone for one moment believe it will make bank robbers more bike aware while making their gettaway?

Why not share this blog on Facebook, add to your favourites and more, just hover your mouse pointer over the BOOKMARK icon below and make a selection from the icons.

Get Latest Blog Posts & News via email   

Just thought I'd post this one concerning 2 recent credit card statements I have received from my Bank. Itemised under the name of toplegalstorecom 1 transaction in November and one in December both for about £3.00. A search on the internet it appears these are fraudulant transactions, you may wish to check your own statement and contact your bank should they appear on your own statement.

Whislt on the subject, another transaction I didn't recognise appeared under the name of Connect Plus. A search on the net showed this is actually Dart Tag, the Dartford crossing tolls. It use to appear as Dart Tag, (bleedin' obvious to the rest of us) but some smart arse has decided to change the name on the statements without telling us.

According to Yahoo news on Sunday 24th January, the American fast food giant McDonalds has been criticised for their incorrect use of the English language. Their 'pound saver menu' advertisement begins with "the pound, also known as a bob", which is correctly known to many of us British as a shilling, or 5p in 'new' money.

We've had 'green washing', (companies who are doing little to protect the environment, yet talk their company up big on the subject. Now mark my word, here comes 'friendly washing'!

OK so the country is grinding to a halt. I've been around for good number of years and winter still appears to come as a bit of a surprise to some. Few people grit their paths for fear of being sued if someone slips over, yet because of this hospital A&E's are bursting at the seams with broken arms and legs. What a right mess!

The past few months I have had an increase from call centres in India, the time delay before a voice kicks-in is the usual clue. "Hello Mr Peter, my name is Wayne from BT and.....". Wayne...India, blimey the Western influence has rubbed off over there! Kevin is another regular caller from India and about as ridiculous as my mother Christening me Raj.

A sad day, I've just returned from one of England's well known steak house chains completely dismayed.

<meta name="keywords"
  <meta name="description"
  <title>Double the number of visitors to your website | Industry Blog</title>

To give your website pages any chance of coming up in search engine results you need to have title tags, description tags and keyword tags in place within your pages (apart from the title tag these are hidden from view).

OK I didn't want to mention the word 'recession', we all need to stay positive and keep thinking outside the box.

Link building is a great way to generate more visitors to your website and get better placements in search engine results. A good place to start is to see what inbound links your competitors have to their website and see if you can link from the same websites, particularly if they are free and relevant.

While the rest of the country has gone mad trying to convince everyone their company is green (otherwise known as 'greenwashing') these guys have quietly been sitting back watching it all go over their heads and wondering what all the fuss is about.

OK so this is not a new sales concept. So what does it tell us?

Optimistic - A real bargain, cannot believe I'm getting one free....must have one...er...two.
Sceptical - Maybe the product is not selling and they need to get rid of them before they go out of date.
Pessimistic - They've been making over double the past few years and ripping me off, particularly if they can now sell 2 for the price of 1 and still make a profit.

When times are tough remember those stainless steel teapots and match milk jugs nearly every hotel in the country have and still purchase. The handles are too hot to hold, they leak all over the place when you attempt to pour the tea and they are about as much use as a...errrrr....chocolate teapot.

I recently visited a well known burger bar where I noticed a number of signs for the benefit of both their staff and customers. It struck me that the messages were in strategic places so the customers and staff were aware that the company had a strict health and hygiene food policy.

Ok, so producing a logo can seem pretty straightforward to some. However it's only when you start to impliment that great design you purchased you discover how great it really is. Indeed, you begin to realise why some of the best identities in the world are kept so simple...and so clear.

While most companies are taking the Government's lead and trying hard to do their bit to reduce their carbon footprint, I found this website news article rather confusing.

True facts about websites we have monitored over the past few years. These examples go to show how important it is to monitor your website. You are then better placed to make your website perform better.

I had a meeting recently with a company who felt their existing website looked a bit old fashioned and in need of a design update.

I produced this a useful conversion chart after working out that by dropping the weight of the paper of a clients existing direct mail brochure from 120gsm to 110gsm saved him over £2,000 in postal costs!