Dr. Neil Hair

I was rather shocked yesterday when I checked my mail. It looked as though someone had sent me an A-Z map (big in the UK) for no particular reason. 1st thought - throw it in the bin, who needs it with Tom Tom GPS mapping technology these days (much as it disgusts my now defunct wife). The curiosity took hold. Why would someone send a resident of the area a map of the area?

SOME MARKETING GENIUS THATS WHO!!!

I opened this map and I see a really nice outline of where Brighton lies. I see the palatial Rustic Village (which I always thought laid within the lines of Henrietta) and I see a few features like local parks that Im aware of. Then I start to notice places that I am NOT aware of. Stowell nature conservatory, ELS sports centre (yes! we have a sports centre!), the park at Allens creek… list goes on. What a clever idea! So then I start reading about the history (any thing's better than another paper on CRM right?) services, local government info and so on. I probably learned more about the area that I have lived in on and off since 1999 than in any other means. So imagine the possibilities from a marketing managers perspective. I pay a token fee for the rights to have my name listed on this, the chances of people like me finding something new is probably minor. But what when guests come over? 'Neil - I dont know the area do you have a map?' oh yes I do - because some clever planning official has mail shotted the entire community with one. It really impressed me that someone had the gumption to be so innovative in approach. And here I am blogging about it - a cost effective map of all things.

Rit ought to do this for the student population - with coupons and so on. We had these at Cardiff in my undergrad days and they were very popular with both local business and students.