Co-op Against Independence And - Or Basic Geography Knowledge

Wow, never expected The Co-operative supermarket to come out with such an early pro-union message! Near the West End of Edinburgh, the Friday before the Scotland vs England 6 Nations game, in their supermarket closest to Murrayfield (depending on travel direction), the Co-op proudly promote a special offer on Coca Cola when you buy the Coventry Telegraph - a paper for a city a mere 300 miles away and in another country! I can't see what else this could be other than an anti-independence statement - surely no one could be that oblivious to put that out by mistake?

Taylor Walker's Classic Pub Food? Classic Mistake!

Sigh. Big companies are still making the same basic mistakes. How can you seriously not employ a proof reader with marketing / quality assurance that has a decent grade at GCSE English?

So Taylor Walker pubs have "classic pub food" do they? Well, as the possessive apostrophe doesn't exist in the third person generic, their follow up line must mean "at it is best!". Unsurprisingly that doesn't get my taste buds tingling, instead it gets my grammar goat up!

Tesco Ireland Have So Much Better Worse Deals Than The UK

Ahh, Tesco.  You never fail to entertain me.  So here I am in Ireland towards the end of last year, looking at coffee.  Whilst there are no multibuys to tempt me, there is always economies of scale.  For example, one 227g bag of 3 strength / flavour ground coffee is €3.05, but you can get twice that amount for err €6.49.  But if you increase the intensity of the coffee then the negative savings get even better!  4 flavour coffee is a steal at €2.39 a bag, but you'd have to be insane not (not) to buy twice that amount almost 3 times as much, just €6.99.  Good to see Tesco enforcing standards across their global stores...

(Glasgow) Evening Times - Haunting Sponsor of Celtic Connections

Have I been watching to many J-Horror films?  Because sitting in a lovely venue for the opening Saturday of the Celtic Connections music festival I naturally scanned around the room.  Unsurprisingly I saw a sponsor, the (Glasgow) Evening Times.  What is frightening is that the image they use has trailing blood from a haunting female ghostly face.  Start at her little finger coming off the end of her bow.  Just above, can you see two chilling eye sockets?  And leading down from her little finger, the definite structure of a nose, and below that a blood red mouth open - trying to communicate her warning from the other side...?  Apt choice of a violin to play the scary music...

The Original Nightmare Comes To Cineworld This Hallowe'en

I was sitting in +Cineworld Cinemas today watching the trailers, when I saw the iconic words New Line Cinemas in a bold red font.  It couldn't be, could it?  There's a note, then another, so soft yet so sinister...  It is!  Freddy's back in all his original glory!  This Hallowe'en in Cineworld Cinemas there is a beautiful re-release of the original horror classic A Nightmare On Elm Street.  Can't wait to never sleep, again.

Announcing The Official Technical Sales Blog at NUM6.co.uk

So this is a weird situation, where my personal world and professional world start to mix.  The technical sales, training and consultancy I set up, NUM 6, is now starting to push out useful (and free!) technical and sales training tips and advice via our new Technical Sales Blog.  It's strange having two different audiences with two different messages, but I hope it provides some value.  It's relevant if you sell anything - such as your ideas to your peers or customers or family.  Yep, almost everyone "sells" something, and here are some regular useful tips on how to excel at doing it in a sincere and honest way.  Sell well!

A Rosé In Any Other Colour Would Still Taste As Sweet

Beringer make an amazing sparkling rosé.  It may very well be one of the best summer drinks there is.  Not all supermarkets sell it, but if you see their Sparking Zinfandel Rosé you really should grab a bottle to try.  Of course, the correct name is White Zinfandel, but as with many other producers they drop the "White" to avoid confusion as it is actually a rosé wine (and has often confused many bar tenders when ordering a white zinfandel).  So that's fine then.  Well, seems that Beringer are wanting to go a step further and make their soft strawberry coloured wine look more hot pink!  The photo here is exactly the same wine but in the new bottle and branding (left) compared to the classic version.  Are they now pushing this harder to the female market and wanting to be see as "pink fizz"?  The answer is probably yes, but when you have such a delightful strawberry and raspberry bubbly wine you can do what you want to get as many people as possible to try it.

Being A Sell Out Beats Awards At Edinburgh Fringe?

Okay, this is a weird marketing decision. Tony Law had a great show last year and was rightly nominated for the top award (née Perrier, née If.com, now Fosters). So returning this year, you would assume his agent(s) would make a big deal about that, right? Well, it's strangely absent from his poster for this year's show, yet it does have space to mention his run was sold out in 2012 and 2011. Is this a sign that the top award in Edinburgh no longer has the marketing cache it once did? It's not mentioned on Brendon Burns' poster or advert, nor David O'Doherty's advert, and they both won the Edinburgh Comedy Award in previous years. Yet both Bo Burnham and The Boy With Tape On His Face (both truly stunning) highlight that they won the Panel Prize (open to almost any show). So does this mean the panel prize is more valuable than the ECA? Interesting to think about...

Martian Road Signs In Glasgow Are Alien To Me

Is this a Martian turning his head to the
side when looking at me, or is it instead the weirdest road sign in the world? Curvy lines, looping back and extra bends make navigating at the West End in Glasgow is very strange...

Guess Who's Back Beautiful? Gorgeous Edinburgh!

On the day Edinburgh is named happiest city in the UK, guess who's back to make our city life full of more genuine smiles...? It's the subversive graffiti artist / art student project with more complimentary chalking! Either that or I'm imagining messages just addressed to me at St James Centre...