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Some Suggestions for Discover Dogs
With Discover Dogs just about a month away, no doubt many breeds are thinking about their breed booths. This year for the first time Discover Dogs will be in the main Earls Court building, the one that used to host Crufts up until it moved to the NEC in the 1990’s. I have not seen a plan of the layout yet, but due to the shape of the new “room” there will probably be some changes to the tried and tested layout from Earls Court 2.
Once again this year all the British Heritage Breeds will be within their main groups, making up the 200 + breeds on show – so it will be a competitive marketplace! So the question is – how do we make our breeds stand out and how do we create some identity and visitor awareness that our breeds are British (and Irish) and a bit special?
Well the obvious first step must be national flags, the Union Jack plus the Scottish and Welsh flags and the Irish flag. The use of Union Jack bunting can be highly effective, I know that for example that our friends with Smooth Collies use this and it is very eye catching. Bunting can be bought very cheaply on eBay, just type in “Union Jack Bunting”; you should be able to get about 20 flags for under a fiver including shipping.
I have also seen some stickers with a Union Jack over printed with “Made in Britain” for only £2.50 per hundred, buy a pack and share them out!
I also know that many booths print off sticky labels for the kids (and adults too!) saying something like “I have just met a …….” or some similar message. These are simple and cheap to produce and again most popular.
Our friends with Irish Terriers give away small button badges with a line drawing of an Irish Terrier and “I Love Irish Terriers” round the outside, I know that these are much loved by the kids.
A bit short notice for this year, but perhaps some design uniformity to link our breeds could be achieved. What about a good quality large size colour photo of the breed in full profile on a plain white background with the name of the breed and “British Heritage Dog Breed” also printed on it. If these were placed on the back wall, they would begin to create some “branding” and perhaps make people think a little bit more about which breeds are British Heritage.
The public love interesting fun facts about a breed, so how about for example a list of famous owners (+ photos if available) past and present? Or details of fun YouTube Videos? Details of non show breed gatherings and of course it would be nice if you could also include the British Heritage Dog Breeds web site address somewhere in your breed leaflets.
Just a few ideas from me – no doubt many of you already do many of the above and more, so please share your ideas, successes and failures with everyone and lets make this event a big success for us all.
If you are running a breed booth or are a volunteer, please post who you are and on which day and your breed and perhaps we can put faces to the names!
By the way, if you see me at Discover Dogs, (I am the one who looks like a Dandie Dinmont!) please introduce your self, as I am rubbish at remembering names!
Good luck everyone!!!
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