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Consumerism transport

10 minute trains are great, but why is the promotion of them so incredibly vague and uninformative?

If you improve a product, and want it to sell well, you need to make people aware of it. When they launched trains every 10 minutes between the City and Ringwood, Dandenong and Frankston last year on weekends, there was an initial bit of publicity via the media, but very little else. Metro did some  ... [More]

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Bentleigh Consumerism

According to old ads, chemist used to sell stuff called “film” from a company called “Kodak”.

One of the chemists in Bentleigh is renovating, and this old signage has been revealed — soon to be covered up with something new. Apparently they used to sell stuff called “film” from a company called “Kodak”. The windows have also shown up some old ads. Anybody care to estimate how old they might be?  ... [More]

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Consumerism transport

“an entire train painted with a betting slogan”

This train is rolling around with advertising for Sportingbet plastered all over it. It provoked this letter in The Age yesterday: THERE’S much disapproval of the AFL regarding the promotion of gambling to minors during game time. I eagerly await seeing equal concern at the state subsidised rail system, which now has an entire train  ... [More]

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Consumerism transport

The latest sponsorship at Southern Cross station? IKEA seat covers.

Observed at Southern Cross Station this week: IKEA seat covers. They seem to be confined to platforms 11 and 12, though if you’re trying to get to IKEA by public transport, platform 9 (train to North Richmond, then a tram) is probably a better bet. Not every seat has them, and there are no cushions  ... [More]

Categories
transport

The multi-lingual rhino poster

I quite like these ads: From what I’ve heard, the campaign was originally quite successful, but started to wear off after a few months, so I guess they need to keep revamping it to continue to get the message across.

Categories
Consumerism transport

Spotted at a tram stop in Bourke Street: icicles (fake)

Fake icicles on this tram stop, to advertise Mount Buller. I wonder if anybody except me even noticed.

Categories
transport

Parking promotion: “Why are you still on the train?” Lots of reasons actually.

Someone was handing these out at Flagstaff station the other day. The bloke was in the exit area at ground-level, and was not on the public footpath. If it were Southern Cross station, where the security guards are super-vigilant about this kind of thing, he’d have been moved on unless he had a commercial arrangement  ... [More]

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Consumerism transport

Pondering: Why aren’t MetroTrains promoting the hell out of their ten minute services?

(I’m at home today awaiting two tradesmen, so I’ve been a little creative.) Here’s what I can’t figure out: since late-2010, the Frankston line has run every ten minutes between the peaks. In 2011 they tidied this up and made all those trains run direct to Flinders Street, and then through to Newport, with alternating  ... [More]

Categories
Consumerism PTUA

Symmetry and recursion, all thanks to advertising

Thanks to the miracle of advertising, we have a bank on a tram… …a tram on a bank… …and a bus stop on a bus stop. If you’re curious, the bus stop picture is portraying the 811/812 route on “Main Street”. Unfortunately the bus stop in the picture doesn’t appear to have another advert with  ... [More]

Categories
Consumerism transport

Coke ads on the sides of trains

It was bound to happen once they started putting advertising on the sides of trains: Coke ads. Given trains are seen not just by passengers but also by motorists and pedestrians at level crossings, it could be quite lucrative for Metro. One can only hope the money goes into better services. My guess is we  ... [More]

Categories
Consumerism

Coles vs Woolworths… Why pay $10 when you can pay… $9.88?!

The supermarket war of Coles versus Safeway/Woolworths has heated up, with roast chicken. First, Coles went to $10. …then Safeway/Woolworths struck back with… $9.88. These posters were prominently displayed en masse around the Bentleigh Woolworths last night. “Why pay $10” “Only $9.88”? TWELVE CENTS DIFFERENCE? Or to put it in percentage terms, Woolies are 1.2%  ... [More]

Categories
Consumerism

Qantas: nasty or nice?

Is it just me that thinks this Qantas ad looks a little like the Q bloke is being a meanie, hiding the teddy bears from the kids?