Attention all partners in the Marks & Spencer program

07-05-03

Hi All,

I have recently been reviewing our partners within the CJ program with the Marks & Spencer internal branding team. A few points came form the meeting and this message is intended for all partners who are currently or intending to promote Marks & Spencer. We would like to ask all our partners to review your copy with regards to spelling issues of our brand name;

* Whenever you refer to the brand name please can you write it as follows 'Marks & Spencer' preferably on one line. Here are some examples of how NOT to present the brand name in copy; Marks and Spencer, Marks & Spencers, M&S, Marks & Spark, Marks_and_Spencer.

I know for most of you this might seem rather meticulous but it is imperative to the long term development of our program that we can demonstrate that these guidelines can be adhered to.

If you are unsure about the above please drop me an email at helen.porter@wheel.co.uk

Thanks for your co-operation in advance,

Helen

07-05-03

All those years being paid to build a brand a now the brand facists at M and S are on your back.

Is it your fault (or the fault of the affiliates) that Marks & Sparks haven't managed to communicate their brand name sufficiently well during the last eighty years??

I've spent years working in ad agencies and it never ceases to amaze me that clients think it is the consumers "fault" when they can't recall the brand name correctly :lol:

Good luck Helen - but if you're going to do the brand-monkeys job for them, you should be demanding a much larger salary.

08-05-03

I have a question?

When is the Marks & Spencers national press release coming out?

You know - the one that will go to everyhousehold in the UK to inform them that when they go to a search engine and type in Marks and Spencers name that it must be entered in a specific manner.

I guess Google, MSN, Yahoo, Altavista, Overture (forget eSpotting they're not significant enough) and the rest will also be getting informed that if anybody types in an incorrect spelling of the Marks & Spencer name, that their search engines must come up with the result stating "404 ERROR - Name NOT Recognised"

Anyway I think all those affiliates that have mis-spelt the Marks and Spencers name are just slovenly, lazy and despicable. After all they wouldn't have done it deliberately for the sake of catching the search engines out - or would they?

Is it ok to spell it all in uppercase e.g MARKS & SPENCER?

08-05-03

<blockquote>Quote:<hr>* Whenever you refer to the brand name please can you write it as follows 'Marks & Spencer' preferably on one line. Here are some examples of how NOT to present the brand name in copy; Marks and Spencer, Marks & Spencers, M&S, Marks & Spark, Marks_and_Spencer.[/quote]

Far be it from me to be churlish, but a quick look at the Marks & Spencer (did I get that right?) home page reveals that the actual domain is "marksandspencer".

I know ampersands don't work in domain names, but that's not the point - what's the company's rationale for insisting on consistency from others to the nth degree when there's such a glaring internal inconsistency in such a key place?

Also - small point - the logo itself refers to the name over TWO lines.

Could I suggest that the Marks & Spencer brand police (sorry, team) - get a life?

08-05-03

Brand protection is very important to big companies and we as affiliate must respect this, if we make an error in our spelling and we get it pointed out to us we must correct it.

However Marks & Spencer is ok but Marks and Spencer is not??? That being the case you need to get on to www.marksandspencer.com/ as they are breaking this rule on brand name, I can see lots of Marks and Spencer, loads hidden in the html and 1 visible on the homepage.

By the way some of you might not know this but Marks & Sparks is a legit (non-trading company) owned by Marks and Spencer Limited... I know I am full of useless facts

Also in France they are called St. Michael as some other dude bought the name Marks and Spencer as a company before they did, so you can understand why they are so protective, if I was them I would be.

08-05-03

I understand your views, and can assure you i have presented the facts to the teams, my words were 'policing the web to ensure brand integrity for Marks & Spencer is not a realistic option'. As supercod has pointed out brand protection is very important to Marks & Spencer and we would apprecitate the support of our partners. Your co-operation in this matter proves to blue chips like Marks & Spencer that network partners/affiliates mean business and can only help me build a case for more budget and support. It is worth noting that these guidelines are for all our online advertising partners.

thanks for the feedback, helen