Thursday, May 14, 2009

Beauty And The Beach...

...to quote the best line last night! In case you missed the Margate edition of The Apprentice, it's available on BBC iPlayer until 13 June. Just click on the link below.

Mr Eastcliff senior rang me after the show to add his two penn 'orth about rebranding the Arsonists' Playground. Despite being in his dotage (63), his chuckle balls are still pretty much intact. After all, we are talking about the man who compered Miss Blackpool 1974. Taking a broader approach he sagely opined: 'Rebranding Thanet's easy. All they need to do is rename Margate Ramsgate, Ramsgate Whitstable, and, er, leave Broadstairs as Broadstairs.' Wise words indeed, although I'm not sure what Canterbury City Council would have to say about that.

Meanwhile Blackpool has really been thinking outside the box, and has rebranded itself as French! (See link below.) Watch out for the lovely French lovely's line: 'Oui. 'Otpot'!

The Apprentice does Margate on BBC iPlayer
Torygraph plots Margate's tourism plot
Blackpool goes all garlicky

9 comments:

Christine (via email) said...

A council press release about The Apprentice. I wonder what you all thought about the show - seemed pretty pathetic to me as a rebranding exercise. And isn't it also a bit sad for the council to be bragging that Margate's problems got prime time coverage!

I walked along Margate seafront last Saturday at 7pm in the spring sunshine and it was pretty empty of any kind of visitor - apart from some obvious drug dealing near the Fort Hill police station and a teenage boy who was begging!

Anonymous said...

Have to say, it didn't do Margate any favours and the worse was Derek Harding saying that the teams missed the point and that Margate is already doing a great job of rebranding itself in the arts and culture scene. Yeah right!

If Margate was doing such a great job in promoting the arts and culture then why didn't the teams pick up on that? I know they aren't the brightest bunch of apprentices but it just demonstrates what a poor job the regeneration committee is doing.

Shambles, Margate Regeneration lot, YOU'RE FIRED.

Thom Morris (via email) said...

Hi Richard,

I see from your blog you obviously failed to read the Thanet Times Apprentice copy.

We do not let on who was fired from the show and indeed it would be impossible for us to do so as the BBC cut that off on the advanced preview discs.

There was no Apprentice embargo anyway so what is on there was perfectly acceptable. I think your readers have the right to know.

Just for the record if I had been on the show I would have rebranded Margate as the biggest fun park, kids fun-time place ever.

Your dad’s ideas were, as Blackpool folk would say, “tres bien”

I'm happy here! said...

Love the bit at the bottom which asks you to send in your ideas for re-branding your town - don't all rush at once!

Richard Eastcliff said...

And the name of Etang Noir's tourism boss? Why, Helen France of course!

Anonymous said...

I loved Ben's one liners "Margate will never be Seychelles" "Try to take some good picture with not too much of Margate showing" Anyone know who the man was who was interviewed twice in the Media centre was that Derek Harding? very slick looking property type it looked like!?
Wish we could send some of our councillors off the end of the pier Alan Sugar style!

Anonymous said...

Thom, are you the local "Thom" who has recently cut a CD...with another on the way?

south shore boy said...

Blackpool does attraction based tourism - always has. And it reinvents and regenerates these attractions as it goes along: Lido closes, indoor wave machine swimming pool replaces it; 'Revolution' ride looks staid, build the Big One; promenade looks Victorian tatty, rebuild in modern stainless steel style etc etc.

TDC promotes 'event' based tourism and allows model villages, motor museums etc to close. Not as effective but much cheaper.

Anonymous said...

How could the gay promotion team miss the obvious slogan: "Margate, a great place for a bender"?
From where do I claim my £20,000 marketing fee?