Advertising on Building Products

[castiron]

Do you think there is a place for advertising on period building products were (like many of our vents and air bricks) the company name forms a clear and distinct part of the design?
and if so, do you think the company name present would sell more or less of the product? regards Adrian

similar to this grille...

 

[LadyArowana]

Do you think there is a place for advertising on period building products were (like many of our vents and air bricks) the company name forms a clear and distinct part of the design?
and if so, do you think the company name present would sell more or less of the product? regards Adrian

similar to this grille...

I am particularly partial to products with elephants on, it would make a nice company logo :lol: ok I know, wishful thinking.

 

[castiron]

Our logo is the union jack in grey and white - not very original but we wanted to make it clear that we sold British products.
One customer asked if we would supply a vent grille and grind off the name which was why I was wondering if the name is a selling point or not.
I know of someone who collects photos of coal hole covers in London and there are over 100 of them, many advertising the foundry they were made here
http://www.flickr.com/photos/janepbr/sets/72157607753988900.

Surprisingly there are dozens of companies using elephants, no household names that I can think of although I'm sure there is an Indian food company and a beer company I've seen on my travels http://www.google.co.uk/search?q=el...OUy6yZCA&sqi=2&ved=0CEEQsAQ&biw=1457&bih=731

 

[JoceAndChris]

I very much dislike company names on building materials or goods in general, and have rejected many a bag or pair of shoes because I felt the company name was too prominent. Sorry!

 

[JohnB]

I very much dislike company names on building materials or goods in general, and have rejected many a bag or pair of shoes because I felt the company name was too prominent. Sorry!

Have you tried asking them to pay you for the item, as you're advertising it for them?

 

[MdB]

This is an interesting one. I like Joce, generally run a mile from company logos. I just don't buy into the idea of purchasing an item because it has Armani or whatever embossed on it.

However, there are times where a logo makes and item. For example:

The thing is, I would never buy a modern version with the logo - that would seem wrong. I would only be interested if it was second hand.

 

[Feltwell]

I think there is more than one angle to this.

- Is it historically correct to have the maker's name on an airbrick? I am no expert but I suspect not. Most building materials that are cast or moulded in a mechanised process during and since Victorian times have the maker's name on them, but in most cases it is hidden when the item is in use. I'm thinking of bricks, roof tiles, floor & wall tiles, cast iron fireplaces, door furniture. The ones I can think of that do show the maker's name are coal hole covers as you mentioned, manhole covers, some locks, some ranges and sanitary ware. The "overtness" of a maker's name on sanitary ware seems to have varied a lot - and it is more of a "fixtures & fittings" item than a constructional item such as your airbricks.

- Your company name. I'm not criticising the name of your business for this current day, it is very appropriate, even if it may give you future problems if you expand your range. But I cannot imagine a "Cast Iron Air Brick Co" existing in Victorian times - it would have been something along the lines of "J Bloggs & Sons Iron Founders" or "Birmingham Iron Company", or maybe an acronym (my fireplaces are from the "Biclam" foundry - Bennetts Iron Company Limited Ardwick Manchester) and they would have produced a much wider range of products than you sell today.

As such, for someone who wants an authentic looking product, I think both points above count heavily against putting your name on the front of the product.

But I suspect that in reality most people will not really care or will just not give it a second thought. If I really wanted a cast iron airbrick and liked one of your designs, whilst I'd prefer no name it wouldn't be enough to put me off buying it, although if it looked easy enough to get at then I'd get the grinder out when it arrived!

Why not just put a maker's logo on the front of the airbrick? Much more discrete. Most cast iron rainwater goods seem to have this.

 

[philpjuk100]

I very much dislike company names on building materials or goods in general, and have rejected many a bag or pair of shoes because I felt the company name was too prominent. Sorry!

Have you tried asking them to pay you for the item, as you're advertising it for them?

I was behind an elderly gent at the tills at Aldi,he asked for a bag and when told he would have to pay for it asked if he could have it before the goods were placed in it,he then turned it inside out! phil.

 

[castiron]

I did some research on branding before embarking on casting with the company name in the design.

Whilst there are very few cast iron building products to compare with there are many plastic products around.

Of the vent grilles and air bricks in plastic, the companies involved, Marley, Rytons, Vent Axia etc. quite often emboss their name on the product.
It is certainly more discreet than ours but because it is in plastic the lettering can be tiny.
Many of the plastic air bricks that fit into cavity wall vents actually have the company name, phone number, web site address and even the free air flow rate written on the front of them. The font size must be 6 or even less which would be impossible to produce in cast iron as our lettering is 3/16" which is say font size 12 or 14.

It is interesting to see the the photo of the Cistern, as it's in cast iron the lettering needs to be large but it's a big advert isn't it?
Whilst I can see the benefit of advertising the company, was it really necessary to advertise the model number so prominantly?

 

[castiron]

- Your company name. I'm not criticising the name of your business for this current day, it is very appropriate, even if it may give you future problems if you expand your range. But I cannot imagine a "Cast Iron Air Brick Co" existing in Victorian times - it would have been something along the lines of "J Bloggs & Sons Iron Founders" or "Birmingham Iron Company", or maybe an acronym (my fireplaces are from the "Biclam" foundry - Bennetts Iron Company Limited Ardwick Manchester) and they would have produced a much wider range of products than you sell today.

The company name is quite deliberate, focusing on the ventilation and drainage sector and only supplying the products in cast iron is all we ever want to do.
It's great to be an expert in a field , even a very narrow field and we're also able to offer a next day delivery service. If we expanded into rainwater goods etc.we'd need to learn more about another product and our core businesses would suffer, which is not something we're going to risk.

I'm not sure the Cast Iron Air Brick company name wouldn't have existed in Victorian times ....

It is feasible even in Victorian times that a company could specialise in one product. Although most companies sold huge ranges of products, there were plenty of companies selling just one item. The Victorians had a vast appetite for advertising, catalogues and products.
I think what we've done, which Victorians wouldn't have done is use foundries from all over the country, but in the midlands the Victorians would have still been able to choose from dozens of foundries to use within a few miles.

 

[Feltwell]

I did some research on branding before embarking on casting with the company name in the design.

Whilst there are very few cast iron building products to compare with there are many plastic products around.

Sorry to be a little argumentative here Adrian, but surely the comparison should be with the old cast iron air bricks you are emulating, rather than modern plastic ones? I appreciate you've got very little in the way of current manufacturers to compare with, hence why you've got yourself a nice niche market to go at.

It is interesting to see the the photo of the Cistern, as it's in cast iron the lettering needs to be large but it's a big advert isn't it?
Whilst I can see the benefit of advertising the company, was it really necessary to advertise the model number so prominantly?

It's not terribly subtle is it? But I've seen quite a few like that, although generally the lettering is not picked out in a different colour. Often they are emphasising the unique nature of their product with a reference to the patent it carries. I suppose that also we should remember that this was not an item designed for the "home" as such as it would have gone in a purely functional outhouse - most self-respecting Victorians not wanting anything an unhygenic as an inside lavoratory.

 

[Lime]

This is an interesting one. I like Joce, generally run a mile from company logos. I just don't buy into the idea of purchasing an item because it has Armani or whatever embossed on it.

However, there are times where a logo makes and item. For example:

The thing is, I would never buy a modern version with the logo - that would seem wrong. I would only be interested if it was second hand.

When I replaced a horrid modern lavatory in one of my bathrooms I wanted it to match the old 1930s handbasin (with prominent blue logo "The Modern Pyramid"), bidet and bath with something appropriate.
The lavatory that matched the old bases best also had a pleasant blue logo in the glaze of the bowl which I thought a definite plus.

 

[MdB]

I'm typing this sat in front of our stove which has MORSO embossed in it in inch high letters. I guess I'm neutral about this. It isn't putting me off but it certainly wouldn't make me more inclined to buy it if I had to go out and get another one.

 

[JohnB]

I'm typing this sat in front of our stove which has MORSO embossed in it in inch high letters. I guess I'm neutral about this. It isn't putting me off but it certainly wouldn't make me more inclined to buy it if I had to go out and get another one.

My stove doesn't have any name or details on it. When I replaced the glass I was told that the particular size was only used in Villager and Arrow stoves, but I've no idea if it's one of those makes!

 

[LadyArowana]

My stove doesn't have any name or details on it. When I replaced the glass I was told that the particular size was only used in Villager and Arrow stoves, but I've no idea if it's one of those makes!

That's an interesting point. Being able to identify the maker is helpful if you need to source extra units or replacement parts. Whether the company name is on or not probably wouldn't be the deciding factor for me, I know it wasn't when I chose bathroom fittings. Now that there are so many websites that all sell the same anonymous things though, I quite like the idea of a small company that wants to put their name on something and be proud of it.

 

[steveb]

It's not terribly subtle is it?

well, to be fair if anyone is going to get on their hands and knees and look closely at my air bricks, having a "makers mark" on them will not bother me one bit.

even if they were used internally it wouldn't bother me - unless it said "www.periodcastironairbricks.co.uk"

 

[castiron]

I also have a Morso stove, I have an unbranded stove aswell.

The Morso stove cost four times the price and weighs twice as much but is unbelieveably good, efficient and can be left for ages before it needs feeding with more wood.
The other stove doesn't seem to kick out very much heat in comparison despite being of similar "claimed" power.

If I had to recommend a log burner to anyone I would recommend the Morso.

Of course the company that make the other stove, "whoever" they are, have managed to avoid getting a bad reputation by not having their name on the product.

 

[philpjuk100]

I would second the last post,our morso in the kitchen puts out impressive heat on little fuel but the unbranded "machine mart" stove we had in the living room ate great amounts of fuel for little heat,it cracked this winter and I replaced it with a "cube" stove made from steel plate as I could repair this if it needed it (I am no good at welding cast iron) The cube has internal airways and seems to work well but I am still not sure if it matches the morso.phil.

 

[MatthewC]

Going back to the original question, two weeks ago I stripped the paint off some old cast iron downpipes and found a maker's logo underneath; this downpipe looked as though it had been there since Victorian times, so subtle advertising on cast products is nothing new (as opposed to the unsubtle cistern illustrated earlier). I rather like this sort of thing on old products, and since today's new stuff will be old one day, I reckon people will still prefer to see something there rather than just a blank casting, even if it identifies the item as being newer than they expected.

PS The logo was a stylised AMB - the A above the M with the B attached on the right hand side. Perhaps Adrian knows who/where/when that was?

 

[castiron]

Going back to the original question, two weeks ago I stripped the paint off some old cast iron downpipes and found a maker's logo underneath; this downpipe looked as though it had been there since Victorian times, so subtle advertising on cast products is nothing new (as opposed to the unsubtle cistern illustrated earlier). I rather like this sort of thing on old products, and since today's new stuff will be old one day, I reckon people will still prefer to see something there rather than just a blank casting, even if it identifies the item as being newer than they expected.

PS The logo was a stylised AMB - the A above the M with the B attached on the right hand side. Perhaps Adrian knows who/where/when that was?

I have no idea who the manufacture is but it does illustrate the problem with using abbreviations in advertising.

Whilst "Cast iron Air Brick Co" is clear "CIAB" is meaningless. What's worse is a search for the former on the internet finds us, but the latter finds italian bread!

I have seen a great many companies using initials and all sorts of abbreviations but for smaller companies (with the invention of the internet) they are missing a marketing opportunity to not explain what they do in their company name. For example in North devon we have a scaffolding company called SMS - when they started x amount of years ago maybe this was a good name for them locally but now the abbreviation means something else! I've seen it a number of times especially with builders and architects who are made up of partners use the first letter of partners names. During the lifetime of the business the abbreviation becomes more well known for a new desease of cows or some new IT innovation - something they would have avoided if they'd stuck to the "long name" .

If AMB were still making rainwater downpipes, just think how dissapointed they must be now that the abbreviation brings up a ladies clothing company on Google!