LITTLE BADGES - Connecting with our Friends (customers)

Hi

The virtual kettle's on..... So while I let it boil I just have this to say

One of the joys of making badges, is of course the response we get from our customers.

When we send a badge out or a selection of badges we always wonder, who they might be for, why did they connect with that badge, is it for themselves or is it a present for somebody else.

So when we get feedback and dialogue from our customers it always helps to understand the badge choice.

Recently somebody bought 10 x JFK assassination badges from us, I needed to email them anyway as they had not chosen 2 FREE badges on checkout. When they replied they asked very politely if there was any chance they could have 2 FREE Titanic based badges for their Free ones.

This threw me a little as we don't actually have any Titanic badges on our website, or should I say didn't. When I explained that we did not have any of those but could produce some in the next couple of days, the gentleman replied and explained why.

He is a history teacher, and two of the sections he is teaching his students is the assassination of JFK and The Titanic. As an incentive for great work he gives something relating to these two major events.

Well who were we to stand in the way of this. We offered a 'Bourbon' biscuit to the first designer who could create a new Titanic badge and get them up on our website for the gentleman to see.
Now anyone that knows designers knows that the offer of biscuits and cake is one of the best incentives and within a day we had 3 new designs up.

The History teacher picked one of those designs and now hopefully within a few days one of the history students will have a new badge to wear. An absolutely lovely customer and a great use of badges.

Into the bargain I got a history lesson about the JFK assassination with some very eye opening information about the scale of the JFK assassination, which I never knew and is absolutely fascinating.

Another time we sold 7 x 'Save the DODO now' badges. Well I was intrigued. If they had bought 6 I would not have given it a second thought, but 7, well that's just madness!

I could not resist emailing the buyer, who said he loved the badges, and told me what they where for. Apparently for as long as he knew, his kids and grand kids always called his wife by a nickname, 'Dodo'. So he had bought a badge for each of his children, his wife and his grandchildren.

He also then sent me a couple of great slogans to use on future badges.

Like I said we love making that human connection with our little badges so, if you want to tell us your story feel free.

Well, I can hear the kettle has just finished boiling so

Milk and sugar?

Join us in our little shop for a virtual cuppa www.thebiglittlebadgeco.com

Little badges - CHICK CHICK CHICK

Hi

The virtual kettle's on..... So while I let it boil I just have this to say

I'm getting ready for the big hunt..... Not wild cats or Zebra, The big Easter egg hunt.

I love Easter, not least because spring is sprung and more wildlife and plants and colour are about, no, mainly because of the chocolate eggs. It's Just far enough away from Christmas to get excited about.

I know when I was a kid, I could not wait for Easter. As soon as Christmas was out the way I had it in my mind that about two weeks later it was going to be Easter time. I kept nagging my parents about Easter eggs and chocolate, and they kept saying, it's not yet, it's in 4 months time.

I knew they were wrong or just pulling my leg, and started to get really worked up about Easter, thinking it would be the following week or the week after that.

As I have realised with a lot of stuff my parents told me....they were in fact right. There was nothing else for it, I would have to go back to playing with my Christmas presents until Easter arrived.

I soon learn't that once the RE teacher started changing the curriculum and putting up more god posters and stuff about Easter, it could only be around the corner.

I am not a religious man in any shape or form, I cannot even pretend to believe in anything great and all seeing apart from the government, and they are not great. For me Christmas is a time for presents and family, and Easter is a time for Chocolate eggs and hot cross buns. Simple as that, it makes life a lot simpler.

What still confuses me about the time in between Christmas and Easter is the fact that a week after Christmas all these lovely easter egg boxes appear on the top shelves at supermarkets (chocolate porn) that you can look at and salivate over until much nearer the time when they suddenly decide to make them all half price. Well I suppose they have been gathering dust and mouse droppings since Christmas so they should be cheaper.

Last year I bought a dozen Creme eggs and hid them throughout the house. I told my wife they were somewhere and it took her till after Easter to find all 12. I had also hid two very large Easter eggs, but she found them without much trouble (the packaging is so big it's hard to hide them). The joy for me was seeing her sheer enjoyment at finding them. She tried to break me a few times with Chinese burns but I held out, and she found them all herself without any help or clues.

This year I am upping the anti, more big boxes (I have already scoped out some brilliant and cunning hiding places) and because it bought me pleasure as well I am going for two dozen small creme eggs.

Happy hunting!

Well, I can hear the kettle has just finished boiling so

Milk and sugar?

Join us in our little shop for a virtual cuppa www.thebiglittlebadgeco.com

Little Badges - FOR ENGLAND AND ST GEORGE

Hi

The virtual kettle's on..... So while I let it boil I just have this to say

For England and ST. GEORGE. Ah.... Makes me proud!

A couple of weeks ago...everything went a little green. People with questionable Irish links and those with none what-so-ever suddenly started giving it all the blarney and drinking Guinness.
Ah to be sure. Some people I know (who have never been to Ireland) got on planes and flew to America to join in with the St. Patrick Day celebrations!

Everywhere I looked while coming home through London, seemed to have some link to Ireland and St. Patrick's day. Even China town!! Every single bar had a quickly made up banner to hail the fact that they had Guinness on tap, but not just Guinness, mainly the ice cold Guinness (wow that makes your hands cold). Restaurants as well were putting up signs, or chalk boards outside proclaiming to have St. Patrick Day food inside. Dim sums, Noodles, Pancakes and sandwiches.... all very authentic stuff.

And then there are the silly hats. Buy 5 pints and get a silly hat. WHY? What are you going to do with that apart from use it to Barf in on the Tube home. By 11pm the whole tube had a whiff of Guinness about it.

My wife's place of work even had a St. Patrick's lunch menu that included sticky toffee Guinness pudding! or something like that. I then asked her will they be doing a St. George's Day lunch menu, and she said no!

Now roll on April 23rd and we have a day that Britain, England, etc can be very proud of. A day to puff out your chest a little and try and find some dragons to kill. There will be pubs that mark, the occasion, but maybe not so many restaurants and I will be suprised if China town even realises this date (mind you they would do a good trade on dragons).

It's a strange one. I worked for many years on ad campaigns for St Georges day and Beer brands, and at every meeting someone would be clenching their bum cheeks and highlighting the association with the BNP. How the St George cross can be seen as racist! And every time I would tell them to go jump.

Political correctness is so engrained in people that at every turn we are so conscious of offending someone somewhere. Oh dear what if we offend foreigners. Well we should not worry in the slightest as St. George may be the Patron St. of England but at the same time he Freelanced for loads of other countries and is also their Patron St. But what about it being racist! Everything can have a racist tinge if you look for it. If you make something racist by attaching something to it, that was not there in the first place, it can be seen as racist. Heck half of us that live in England as English people are Celts or from Viking blood and St. George was a Roman soldier (but I think he was born in Palestine!)

So I wear my St. George's Day badges with pride and I do feel a sense of English pride on St George's Day. As I sip at my English ale, and think of England....Cry God for England and St.George it brings a tear to my eye.

So please celebrate St. George's Day this year with no worry or fear of offending, raise a glass to the legend that is St. George and Enjoy yourself without the guilt.

And if you happen to see any dragons run them through with your sword and you too may one day be heralded as the New St. of England.

Dragons like Bourbon biscuits you know!

Well, I can hear the kettle has just finished boiling so

Milk and sugar?

Join us in our little shop for a virtual cuppa www.thebiglittlebadgeco.com

Little Badges - LITTER LITTER EVERYWHERE

Hi

The virtual kettle's on..... So while I let it boil I just have this to say

It's one of my bug bears I'm afraid. I can't stand it, it makes my hackles go up when I see it.
Litter Litter everywhere. I am like Victor Meldrew, picking up litter in my front garden and taking note of what crisp packet or fast food takeaway packaging it is.

Yet it has got so bad under our council, we have fly tipping as well. So instead of the usual stuff, I have recently been getting babies nappies complete with content turning up in my garden.

I don't know what it is about litter that gets my back up, but I look down what should be a lovely avenue, and your eye keeps catching site of a newspaper flapping in the wind, a plastic bag in a tree, or the silver glint of a Hula Hoop packet in someones hedge.

I am not of that mind set that says, someone else will pick it up, that's what street cleaners are for, it's up to the council to sort it. I was always taught to put rubbish in my pockets or hold onto something until I see a bin. Now by bin, I do not mean a hedge, on top of a wall, by a doorway, in a tree, behind a green BT box, over someones wall, down an alleyway entrance etc. I mean a proper bin. Yes there are fewer of them these days, taken out during the IRA bombings and never replaced because of the cost, and the fact that it would take away money from the councils Knees up. But they are around.

I have often told people to pick up rubbish if I have seen them drop it. Yes One day I will be stabbed if the News is anything to go by, but it is a principle. I would not dream of walking down someones road and throwing something on the floor. It's not in my make up. Because I was taught it, because I was in fear of being shouted at by a local Bobby on the beat if I did, or a park warden (where are parkies anymore), mainly because I can't stand to see this detritus on the streets!

I followed a family of Romanian people in full traditional clothing walking down our street the other day. Two kids, two women, and as they walked down the road they proceeded to drop detritus behind them. The kids had been bought some toy cars from the local Tesco's, wham bang, into the packaging toy out, and packaging dropped on the floor. The Mother or grand mother then dropped a receipt, and started unwrapping 4 Ice lollies for them all. 1-4 Ice lolly wrappers dropped over their shoulders. One even looked over their shoulder before doing it.

Well I was just furious, so I picked the stuff up and tried to hand it back to them. I said " There are wheeled bins all down this street just put them in there" but I was greeted by a shrug, a laugh between them and they carried on, with me stood there holding their litter. I ended up putting it in my bin, and then was angry for the rest of the day.

And before you think to yourselves, oh he's one of these on about rosier times, and blaming the kids of today.... It's not just the kids. Litter louts spans so many ages.

You have your litter droppers. Drunks getting rid of their cheap lager cans on the floor, kids and workmen throwing down their kebab wrappers and fast food containers where they finish them, Mums with kids, giving some sweets to their child and then just dropping the packet, smokers just dropping their fags, and people finishing a newspaper and putting it on the nearest flat wall.

Then you have the refuse tippers. Those who can't be bothered to wheel out their wheely bins, and just put their black bags on the street. Some on collection day, but most just when the bins filled up in their house. These are a sneeky bunch. You normally see these people about 6am in the morning or after dark at night. Piling bags up one by one, looking both ways, trying to act nonchalantly. By morning these bags are ripped open by Rats and foxes alike and the contents strewn along the road. But once it's out of their site, it's as if it was never theirs in the first place. Once the foxes and rats have opened it up, it has nothing what so ever to do with them.

To top it all, my council are rubbish. They talk a good talk but are so useless it is unbelievable that any of them have jobs. Councillors after councillors have made empty promises, head honcho's of the Street cleaning team have assured me they are doing everything within their power as long as it is between 10am and 4:30pm to combat this problem. Unfortunately I can't name names or mention my Council on here, but looking at the different London Boroughs I would say the same is true of all of them.

I recently came back from Wales. Staying near the Brecon beacons, the views were stunning, and I thought this is fantastic, this is what the country even inner and greater London should look like (not the mountains of course). Then I was hit in the face by a hula hoops packet!! Walking further up the mountains it just became apparant that litter seems to get everywhere, as I noticed water bottles, childrens dummies, bread bags etc on my walk.

Oh well I am sure I am not the only one that feels this way so feel free to comment.

Well, I can hear the kettle has just finished boiling so

Milk and sugar?

Join us in our little shop for a virtual cuppa www.thebiglittlebadgeco.com

Little badges - So you wanted milk and one

Hi

The virtual kettle's on..... So while I let it boil I just have this to say

I have a terrible memory. Well okay not terrible, but in areas very very bad.

If someone tells me their name, especially if it is a work thing, I will instantly forget. I apologise now to anyone I have met in the past. I don't know what it is, but someone will introduce themselves to me, I will shake them by the hand and say hi, even repeat their name as I shake their hand, and then, 2 mins later, that's it. All knowledge of the name is gone. Or worse in my head I have a totally different name for someone.

Faces though, I am brilliant at. I can see someone in the street and know that I have met them before, but woo, ask me their name and I have no chance.

I have to do that thing , where I stop them and say, "how the devil are you, It's been ages, It's me Paul" and hope that they feel a little embarrassed and give up their name in conversation.

I have tried memory techniques whereby I give the person a character based on their appearance or habits, like someone that waddles becomes Pocahontis to me. But the trouble is that I am so tempted to call them Pocahontis when I meet them it gets me into more trouble. Or I am talking to a friend and I am saying " you know thingy from college.....Pocahontis" and of course they have not got the foggiest what I am on about.

My other real area of memory disability is in doing the Tea and coffe runs at work. It does not matter how long I have worked with someone, I am unable to remember how they want their tea, or in fact if they like tea or prefer coffee. I end up making more Teas and coffees than I need and putting them on a table, and saying, I've got one here with milk and one sugar, or a coffee without, and then just offer them to anyone who takes an interest.

I have to write down notes like a waiter or waitress on a scrap of paper, an initial with T + M + S for Tea with milk and sugar. That's why I designed these badges for tea, Coffee ones will follow, but Tea is the main drink at our place. I am eventually learning what people want by visualizing the person wearing the badge.

It's not infallible but I am getting there.

Well, I can hear the kettle has just finished boiling so

Milk and sugar?

Join us in our little shop for a virtual cuppa www.thebiglittlebadgeco.com