Glassex Poll

The poll to find whether people thought that Glassex at Interbuild had been a success has been on the site for a few weeks now. There wasn’t a great amount of interest in voting, and the results are as follows:

With only 17% thinking the event had been a success you could argue that exhibitions are likely to be a thing of the past. Certainly, it appears that many of those that attended Glassex were disappointed with the size of the event. However, if the positive words coming back from companies such as Ultraframe and Window Widgets are true, then maybe the decline of Glassex has bottomed out, and we can look forward to more stands and more visitors next year.

Movember

I’m pleased to announce that the moustache is flourishing, but it was looking a bit silly on its own. So, I’ve added a tickler to make me look a lot more sensible. What has surprised me is that not one person has sponsored me.

I’ll say that again.

Not one person has sponsored me!!

I feel that tremendous credit will be bestowed upon the first person (or company) who splashes the cash and supports the Prostate Cancer Charity. The team as a whole is doing very well though if you click on this link and pledge your support:

http://uk.movember.com/mospace/22901

Industry Perception

Over the last week, I’ve added a couple of guest posts from double glazing customers. It was suggested by one of my readers that I was creating a ‘bitching board’. Far from it, I was reminding people in our industry that perceptions of our industry has not fully recovered from the bad old days.

I was reminded again today when another potential double glazing customers commented the following on this website after researching Anglian’s National Window Scrappage Scheme:

The reason is simple. Anglian’s TV advert implies that the scrappage scheme is a Government initiative, similar to the car scrappage scheme, because it is described as a ‘National’ window scrappage scheme.

That gets folk like me curious. “I haven’t heard about that,” says I. So we have a look.

When we see that it’s only an industry promotion, we go away muttering, “Another double glazing con.”

You guys don’t exactly have a reputation for honesty and fair trading, do you?

We have to work hard to change the consumers negative perception, and I will develop my thinking over the coming weeks.

And now for something completely different…

Michael Gannon, the editor of Glass and Glazing Products magazine is putting on a play which looks rather racey to say the least. It starts this Tuesday, and looks worth a visit judging by the pictures he’s sent me:

The lives of two of the great artists of the late nineteenth century come to life in When Henri Met Oscar, a play by Michael Gannon at the Baron’s Court Theatre (17-19 November 2009) at the Curtains Up Pub in West London. With an opening act in a “respectable” brothel in Paris, where Toulouse-Lautrec created many of his most famous paintings, the two verbally joust and tease about their art. They are kept company by three prostitutes and Michel, a ‘pretty’ pianist as well as Louise Weber (the Glutton), a mad cancan dancer. Both Henri and Oscar were in their prime but in the second act, the two are in a sorry decline with a short time to live.

Baron’s Court Theatre box office, tel: 020 8932 4747
Baron’s Court Theatre (at the Curtains Up Pub), 28a Comeragh Road London W14 9HR
Tuesday-Sunday (17-29 November 2009) 7.45pm Matinee Saturday 28 November 3pm
Price £12 (£10 conc.)
Underground Stations: West Kensington/Baron’s Court

You can read about it at:

http://www.everest.co.uk/scrappage-scheme/

It’ll be interesting to see what the marketing team at another double glazing company Safestyle UK come up with next.

RCG traffic

Another good month for traffic to this blog in October:

I’d like to take full credit for all this traffic, but I have to come clean and thank Anglian Home Improvements for a healthy amount of new visitors. Since they started actively marketing their own version of the ‘Window Scrappage Scheme’ this site has been extremely busy.

It must be frustrating for the marketing team at Anglian, but Google are currently positioning RCG in the top two places for ‘window scrappage scheme’:

Anglian have been forced into bidding on the term through PPC, although I have thought about bidding against them All joking apart, I can only imagine that Anglian are doing a very good trade as a result of jumping on the GGF’s petition. I can only suggest that should the government take the decision to support the window industry with such a scheme, then consumers will definitely be very responsive. Just what the industry needs!

GlassTalk

We’ve stopped taking bookings for GlassTalk now, and we’re looking forward to welcoming around 150 people to Daresbury Park to talk about glass. I’m looking forward to the event and chewing the fat with some of the most proactive individuals in our industry.

Day 1. Growing a Mo

I stopped shaving on Thursday so I could make a positive start, and by GlassTalk, at least have something furry to discuss. Then, I read the rules:

1. Once registered each Mo Bro must start November 1st with a clean shaven face.
2. Then, for the entire month of Movember each Mo Bro must grow and groom a moustache according to these rules:

• There is to be no joining the Mo to the side burns – that’s a beard. There are no beards.
• There is to be no joining of the handlebars on the chin – that’s a goatee.
• A small complimentary growth under the bottom lip, aka a tickler, is allowed.

I was gutted to find out that I couldn’t join my Mo to my side burns – wouldn’t that look ace! Anyway, I’ve already broken rule 1 as the following picture taken this morning will testify:

You can be the first person to sponsor me by visiting my Mushbashers page at:

http://uk.movember.com/mospace/22901

I’m not sure why but in the last few days there have been a lot of people searching for information about the window scrappage scheme, and clicking on my website:

I assume the GGF must have been doing some type of promotion I’m unaware of for RCG to get so much traffic in the last couple of days. Let’s hope that this interest is maintained and that more people sign the petition at:

http://petitions.number10.gov.uk/windowscrappage/