Monday 21 March 2011

British Pie Week



All my fans tell me what a glamorous life I have, but I tell them how hard I work and how many nights I spend alone with my dogs, eating chicken pot pie in my bedroom.
-Shannen Doherty, US Actress

7-13th March was British Pie Week. Shamefully, I did not take advantage of this occasion and use it as an excuse to eat pies all week. I regret this.

Instead, I spent most of the week reading Teach Yourself Marketing. The Teach Yourself range provides your bread-and-butter (pie?) knowledge on over 500 subjects, ranging from Accounting to Zulu. If you want to know the ins-and-outs of an area of work or a hobby, this range is as good as any you’ll get. Marketing was a HARD book to read: very corporate, very heavy. Needfully so, of course. The most interesting section of this book details the meanings behind the names of the world’s most popular brands. Did you know that sports brand Adidas takes its name from the company's founder, Adolf “Adi” Dassler? Can you guess which drink was originally made with cola nuts and (now illegal) coca leaves? The Danish “Leg Got” means “play well”, which- in the 1930s- became a favourite childhood toy- Lego. Richard Branson almost called his company “Slipped Disc”, but decided “Virgin” sounded better. Not sure myself. Bit of a toss-up. (Pun?)

I’ve been working in marketing for a couple of years now, with no formal qualifications in the subject as such, so I figured it was time to get the info into my head. Not that it will stay there.

Still, a meaty read, forming the crust of my marketing knowledge.

Well, I had to tie them together somehow.

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