p70,71 Scribbler:Layout 1 25/01/2010 11:43 Page 71
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has been long-heralded but most commentators can’t see it happening just
yet. On the other hand, in selective areas it could easily come about. Imagine
the effect on local newspapers (many of which are truly woeful) of a localised
to add value to your
version of Facebook: free to access, content provided by the readers, updated
constantly, modern and jaunty. It could operate in sections like a newspaper
including a half decent business section (how nice would that be?). What’s
more it could cover the sort of area most local businesses want to advertise in
business?
– a county or large city. The networks options on Facebook already allow a
degree of localisation (eg communities based on a university) but I predict
that some smart dudes are going to come up with the above format. They
maybe did already and I missed it.
I feel your pain
Is sporting printwear a badge of suffering? The wearers boast their allegiance
but they also advertise a sympathetic ear to fellow sufferers and suffering is
often the lot of the sports fan. A quick glance at virtually any league table
demonstrates that only the very top clubs win more than they draw and lose.
American motor racing used to have the phrase ‘win on Sunday sell on
You won’t be disappointed!
Monday’. If it applied to league sports in Britain, most teams wouldn’t have a
sponsor.
We-isms
I shouldn’t dislike we-isms as much as I do because they are what printwear
is about – “we are members of the same team/business/supporters club; see,
check out the logo”. But I do hate the verbal version: people referring to their
sports team of choice as ‘we’ when they’ve never been to the ground is a
particular tooth grinder. Worse are the extreme versions of we in couple-
speak: “we are pregnant” and “we’ve been made redundant” being two
especially irksome samples that I’ve heard recently. (The latter referred to just
one partner getting the bullet, incidentally). Still, in all this there must be a
business opportunity. It’s a long time since I saw a couple in his and hers
jogging suits (white, for Pete’s sake: the memory is etched on my retinas).
Perhaps the couple or indeed family uniform is due for a comeback, this time
with home-designed personal logos. Creating and promoting family name
logos and colour schemes could be very profitable – it’s essentially an
extension of the principle of the clan tartan in Scotland, without being
expected to wear a kilt. There are a number of genealogists offering access to
family name logos on the web and anyone researching their family tree – it’s
a popular pastime – should be a ripe target. As a tempter, there are three
pages of Smiths in my local phone book.
Off the wall
This I love – green graffiti. The principle is that the ‘artist’ etches clean lines in
the crud that covers buildings, walls and pavements using high-pressure
hoses. Thus what is ugly becomes art. Better still, it becomes business. Have a
look at greengraffiti.nl, a Dutch ad agency that builds this into poster
campaigns for clients or London based Street Advertising Services. By the way,
it’s entirely legal.
The cruellest cut
For more promotional products visit
It has not been a happy time for Gillette. Within days of each other, Thierry
Henry and Tiger Woods
found their carefully
polished reputations
rapidly going downhill. All
it needs is for Roger
Co-located in Hall 12 with
Federer to start smashing Printwear & Promotion 2010 live on
cuckoo clocks or being
Monday 1st & Tuesday 2nd March
cruel to the cows the
Swiss government has
given him and Gillette’s
huge investment in high
Register Free at
profile brand ambassadors
will be one of marketing’s www.printwearandpromotion.co.uk
all-time lemons. At least neither Woods nor Henry has grown a beard to hide
behind.
Hot tip
The Gulf state of Qatar is making serious efforts to host the 2022 World Cup.
Can you afford
Accepting that everybody should have a chance, there is a wee problem. As a
former Gulf-based expat I can report that June temperatures in the area
regularly exceed 50 Celsius and that it gets awfully humid in July. Walking not to be there?
down the street is an unpleasant experience. Playing football? Forget it!
www.printwearandpromotion.co.uk
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