branding

National Rail – We pretend we listen

I don’t want to pick on you, honestly. I like your train booking service.

But there is nothing and I mean nothing worse than pretending to listen, saying you’re going to act and then simply not bothering.

I gave National Rail quite a hard time a few weeks ago as they sent me an email from a ‘noreply’ email address and pretended it was from my new best friend and CEO Chris. You can read that here.

But they really impressed me with their instant response on Twitter. I had high hopes. For a moment or two I thought it may actually be worth big organisations having teams monitoring and responding in social media platforms.

But then they reverted to type and 13 days after their initial email, they sent me this.

National Rail - We pretend we listen, but we don't.
National Rail - We pretend we listen, but we don't.

Worse still, it is asking for me to be involved in telling them what I think.

I told them what I think and they ignored it.

Any business is allowed to make a mistake. We all do, but hopefully we learn from them and change something to not make them again. To come out so publicly and say you were going to change ad then not quite bothering is terrible.

I’m sure you’ll pick this article up again, like you did last time. I reckon we may get some platitudes, but this is really, really poor.

Updated

National Rail have just proved to me why they shouldn’t bother with a social media or PR team. What is the point in listening to Twitter if you don’t act ion feedback. What is the point on surveying your customers if you do nothing with what you learn from the information.

You truly are a pathetic bunch.

National Rail really don't listen at all - What a pathetic bunch
National Rail really don't listen at all - What a pathetic bunch

Why do you keep sending me emails from DONOTREPLY email addresses more than a month after you said you’d stop doing it?

Living without an iPhone

The End

87 days after the experiment started, it has ended.

Quite suddenly.

I was speaking to a friend yesterday (hello Simon) and I was getting complaints that he couldn’t hear me and that I sounded like I was mumbling. I came to the sad conclusion that my old Nokia had seen its best days and was now effectively scrap. So the iPhone came back out again.

But what have a I learnt?

1. Push email is a total pain. I would rather wait until I got back to my computer and dealt with the emails properly. When I was away on holiday last week, I left with no emails in my inbox. As it stands today, there are now seven. That is a huge improvement from my position at the start of the experiment. I have become more efficient.

2. There was very little I missed on the iPhone. Most of the apps are nice to haves. Almost none are need to haves.

3. I saw a new sale board for our client Royston and Lund. This was the first one we had done where each property has a unique QR code to allow you to view the property details for each house they list. I did feel a bit left out not being able to jump out of the car and grab the code to start browsing. I think this will become increasingly important over the coming years.

4. The amount of extra thinking and reading time I have gained has been amazing. I will vow to keep off the apps and on my reading. I have watched almost no TV since I left the iPhone at home and feel better and brighter for it.

That’s it, the end. It’s been a blast.

branding

National Rail – Happy to talk, not so happy to listen

national_rail_logo

I hate this. The Chief Exec of National Rail gets down there with the kids and signs his emails personally. he cares about us customers, and signs it with his first name only. He knows us so well, we’re mates, known each other for years, bezzies even. Thanks Chris, call me John, or Johnny to my friends. He even cares about whether I enjoyed the Royal Wedding.

I know, I’ll tell him I loved it.

Yes Chris, I thought it was great, best of British, just like our rail service.

But do we believe he cares? No, not really. He has sent out the clearest posible signal that he doesn’t want to listen to ANYTHING we have to say. He’s talking at us, not with us. There is no listening involved. He doesn’t care what we say. he’s sent it from a ‘noreply’ email address. I presume this means we can’t reply.

A lovely Personalised email from Chris, our friendly Chief Executive of National Rail
A lovely Personalised email from Chris, our friendly Chief Executive of National Rail

Living proof that he doesn’t care enough to listen to us, but he’s happy to hawk the new services that have been designed with us in mind.

So ask yourself if you should care enough to use his service. Well, probably you should as it’s still better than theTrainline.com. And ask yourself again, whether you ever do this with your own clients.

Don’t.

Updated

National Rail have responded on Twitter almost immediately, which is good and they;ve commented below. Good work team, maybe now change the email send address?

National Rail reply on Twitter
National Rail reply on Twitter

Further update

Okay, National Rail DO listen and they Do care.

Twitter can really have some power if you use it as a listening tool. How good is this?

National Rail - A minor triumph for the little man
National Rail - A minor triumph for the little man
Living without an iPhone

Life without an iPhone day 66

I am now 66 days into this experiment and still going strong. My old Nokia is working well i’m getting very few complaints about people not being able to hear me. And guess what, it doesn’t randomly reset itself, run out of battery or burn my ear like the iPhone did.

I have used the iPhone a few times, but only as a speed camera detector as I have done so many miles over the last few weeks/months.

I did think I would have gone back to it by now, but even though I am getting loads of pressure to hand over the phone to the kids for their own personal use, i’m still carrying the iPhone just in case.

Any new lessons?

1. It’s actually quite liberating driving around listening to the radio.

2. I haven’t had any crashes or hit any wildlife because i’ve been checking my emails.

3. Apple are advertising quite hard again, which means they must be reaching a plateau in sales. Many people seem to be buying things a bit like an iPhone, like an HTC or other Android Phone.

4. Others have tried it too. But I can’t find many who have stuck to it.

Maybe I am odd after all?

branding

Cravendale – cats with thumbs

You may well have seen this ad already. My children dragged me onto YouTube to see it, they liked it so much. I do to.

A few things strike me about it.

1. The branding is almost too subtle. The first shots of him holding the milk carton display no branding whatsoever, other than the green stripe around it.

2. It is properly joined up in it’s social media. The Twitter account is well worth a look and it is written (or tweeted) beautifully in character of a slightly sinister cat Bertrum Thumbcat.

3. It is very cleverly built with embedded links into the video. This means that it must be a paid for placement as YouTube don’t allow for link embeds as we have discovered with my son’s social media experimenting.

4. It is ripe for running. By this, I mean that this will be the first of a series of ads to follow in the same storyline, like the Meerkat ones. I’m quite looking  forward to seeing the Thumb Cats slowly taking over the world.

branding

Walkers Crinkles v. Peugeot 508 Champions League TV Ads

It was never going to be a fair fight was it? Barcelona against Real Madrid and the clash of the ego of Jose against the sheer technical brilliance of the entire Barcelona squad and the individual talent of Lionel Messi.

But this was merely an appetiser for the two TV ads that followed. Walkers Crinkles Crisps getting it’s first airing and the beautifully filmed Peugeot 508 ad.

So first came the two minute epic of Gary Lineker and Walkers Crinkles. Bringing Elle McPherson in as a bit part player is genius. She looks so offended and hurt by LIneker’s singing or his greater love for the crisps. I was watching it open mouthed as it got more and more silly and implausible. It’s a brilliant, brilliant way to launch a minor change to a potato crisp. So here it is:

And then came the Peugeot 508 with its lovely cinematography. All moody, dark and mysterious. A bit like the opening of Time, by Pink Floyd on Dark Side of the Moon. It was going so well. The stress of a day building up and up. Where is it taking us? Don’t I wish I looked that stylish after a stressful day.

And then he got into a Peugeot.

I don’t want to be a car snob, but it takes the wind out the sails a little. The jump between stress and muted silence is clever, but the car just looks like he is getting into a jelly with wheels that are too small. It looks like a car from the 80’s with a new paint job.

If the Walkers ad is all about making something brilliant from nothing, the Peugeot 508 ad is all about trying to polish a turd. A lovely try, let down by a really bland looking product. But again, judge for yourself.

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branding

I’m not sure what to say about this

But I don’t think I want to add it to anything i’m going to eat this Easter.

Cock flavoured seasoning - Hmm, I don't want to add that to my dinner
Cock flavoured seasoning - Hmm, I don

And what is that at the bottom right of the label?

Updated

I have just read the instructions on the side of the pack and it comes with some helpful tips. Apparently….

“Cock flavoured seasoning is a versatile ingredient. You can use it to prepare marinades, gravies, soups and stews. You can rub it on chicken, fish or meat, let marinate and then roast or grill”

So now we know.

brand values, branding

VW Advertising through the ages

VW_logoVW ads were one of the reasons I joined the design industry. I always thought they were brilliant, even when I was growing up – way before I understood the power of branding, brand values and the actual effect they were trying to create with the VW = Reliable link.

So here are a few ads. Starting with my favourite of them all that is a new US ad.

And then followed by the oldest one I could find. This was written by David Ogilvy – My all time advertising hero and writer of the most influential advertising book of it’s day called ‘Ogilvy on Advertising‘.

When you consider the age of this ad, it is remarkable how many of the visual cues are still used today by the latest generation of VW ad designers.

Think Small - an Early ad by David Ogilvy for VW - Look at how similar the design is to the VW ads of today!
Think Small - an Early ad by David Ogilvy for VW - Look at how similar the design is to the VW ads of today!

And then one from the 80’s era of shoulder pads and visible wealth with Paula Hamilton as the star of the show

Then a more recent one again that is quite clever and funny, but showed how they were playing the quality and reliability theme out. Maybe to the point of doing it to death.

branding

Carluccio’s Nottingham – A review or two

Carluccio's Nottingham - Lovely simple, light, airy, friendly, tasty, Italian food
Carluccio's Nottingham - Lovely simple, light, airy, friendly, tasty, Italian food

I had been quite excited about Carluccio’s opening in Nottingham and managed to miss the opening night, but have now been and sampled their lovely food.

I went yesterday with my mate Tim Garratt (Nottingham’s most prolific blogger) for lunch and it (not he) was gorgeous and great value. It was also packed by 13.00 with people waiting for seats when we left.

We both had two courses from the fixed price menu of a bruschetta to start and then some chicken in breadcrumbs thing to follow. Gorgeous, simple food without any pretention but the sweetest tomatoes you will try this side of venice and for me, the nearest I have found anyone coming to the quality and tastiness of the bruschetta I had in Rome some years ago. With (soft) drinks, bread, coffees and service it all came to £34.00. Not bargain bucket stuff, but really good value for such a lovely meal, with quick friendly service.

So I’ve been again today for a brunch. That was maybe even nicer. Scrambled eggs with mushrooms on gorgeous oil soaked italian toasted bread. Three of us went and all had similar versions of an italian brekkie and it came to £27.00. Again not for nothing, but worth every penny.

We left around midday, just as Jamies up the road was opening. They had a queue. I’m still to try it for myself, but the light friendliness and tasty food of Carluccio’s will be hard to beat.

Jamie's Italian Nottingham - A queue for opening
Jamie's Italian Nottingham - A queue for opening
branding

A five year prediction for professional services 2011-2016

I did a presentation today to some lawyers and an architect at the PM Forum in Nottingham and it was great fun, but in doing the research for it, I was able to learn an enormous about and now feel confident making a prediction for the future structure of professional services businesses. So here goes.

Over the next five years, many creative companies, architectural practices, website producers, project managers, QS’s, writers, translators and any individual who is able to essentially sell themselves directly to their contact list, will do just that. There will be a huge splintering of bigger firms to create hundreds and thousands of sole trader/micro businesses. The excuse may well be more time with the kids, but it will be as much to do with security. Taking the responsibility for earning your own income and choosing your own work.

I also believe that the legal profession will work counter cyclically. When the effects of ‘Tesco Law’ come into play in October 2011, there will be a race to create bigger and bigger firms to be able to compete with national priced legal businesses such as Quality Solicitors. As was discussed today at the PM Forum, this will be far more scary to those lawyers who sell to consumers, but the effects and the price knock-on will doubtless hit the B2B market too.

So in five years time, the law firms will probably begin breaking up again understanding that consumers want a more personalised service. The little splinter businesses working from home will realise that they are working mainly with one or two key partners and will join forces to create micro companies again. This will trigger a new wave of mergers and acquisition in all these sectors. Big firms will be back, but not until 2016.

There will be huge opportunities for branding and creating differentiation in every sector and it won’t all be about logos.

It should be an exciting ride.