PRESS RELEASE: Why have Plas y Brenin rebranded?

New Topic
This topic has been archived, and won't accept reply postings.
 UKC/UKH Gear 05 Jun 2018
Subsidised Scottish Winter Mountaineering course, Courses, holidays, expeditions, accommodation Premier Post, 3 weeks @ GBP 35p, 3 kbFor the first time in over 30 years, Plas y Brenin, the National Mountain Sports Centre, has rebranded and is launching a new website.

Read more
2
 GravitySucks 05 Jun 2018
In reply to UKC/UKH Gear:

Given the reaction to the BMC re-branding fiasco this should be worth a sack of popcorn.

1
 Tyler 05 Jun 2018
In reply to UKC/UKH Gear:

I only have one question, why have Plans y Brenin rebranded? I read the article 'Why have Plas y Brenin rebranded?' but can't really find a reason .

 Tyler 05 Jun 2018
In reply to GravitySucks:

Maybe they've rebranded as Climb Britain so the BMC can shift all the merch they had printed last year

1
 subtle 05 Jun 2018
In reply to Tyler:

> Maybe they've rebranded as Climb Britain so the BMC can shift all the merch they had printed last year

Now that is funny.

Hmm, perhaps not too far off the truth though.

From the post "The rebrand is part of a series of initiatives that will enable Mountain Training Trust, the charity that manages Plas y Brenin on behalf of Sport England"

Sport England behind the management of Plas Y Brenin, which is in errrrrr which part of England?

And why is the independence movement growing? 

1
 Chris_Mellor 05 Jun 2018
In reply to UKC/UKH Gear:

Why "have" Plas y Brenin rebranded?

"Has" you ungrammatical dullard.

32
In reply to GravitySucks:

The site looks good! Comprehensive - there's even a section on beer... after perusing the outdoor elements of the site I'd worked up a virtual thirst too!

 ianstevens 05 Jun 2018
In reply to GravitySucks:

Doubt it - as far as I can see they've changed their logo and increased prominence of the "national mountain sports centre" they've used for ever.

 Andy Say 05 Jun 2018
In reply to Tyler:

'Climb Brenin' you think?  Some tippex and a felt tip and you're almost there.

However given that 'Working with brand agency Vivid Creative, the Plas y Brenin brand has been developed to be activity neutral and move away from a mountaineering-centric design'  they probably wouldn't want to be associated with climbing.

 

I do like the idea of an 'activity neutral' Outdoor Centre though.  With big tellies, comfy sofas and pizza......

Post edited at 13:18
 Andy Say 05 Jun 2018
In reply to Chris_Mellor:

> Why "have" Plas y Brenin rebranded?

> "Has" you ungrammatical dullard.

Only if you consider the building (singular) to have undertaken the re-brand rather than the team of staff (plural) working within it.

The phrase 'ungracious pedant' springs to mind

4
 Andy Say 05 Jun 2018
In reply to subtle:

> From the post "The rebrand is part of a series of initiatives that will enable Mountain Training Trust, the charity that manages Plas y Brenin on behalf of Sport England"

> Sport England behind the management of Plas Y Brenin, which is in errrrrr which part of England?

> And why is the independence movement growing? 

You might consider that Plas y Brenin was purchased well before devolution came to Wales.  And that Wales has its own National Outdoor Centre at Plas Menai.  But obviously if the local community want the Brenin to close down and move to the Lakes...…..

4
 planetmarshall 05 Jun 2018
In reply to UKC/UKH Gear:

"Working with brand agency Vivid Creative, the Plas y Brenin brand has been developed to be activity neutral"

youtube.com/watch?v=ussCHoQttyQ&

 asteclaru 05 Jun 2018
In reply to UKC/UKH Gear:

website looks nice, and I'm even warming up to the new logo (when I first saw it, I thought it was just another off the mill minimalistic load of crap), however, chucking everything even remotely related to an activity onto the same page is a big no-no imo.

they should have kept some of the old website structure (dedicated pages for rock climbing courses, winter climbing courses and so on), or at least give you an option to filter it. now, if, for example, you're looking for a rock climbing course, you have to wade through the other 30 courses for winter climbing, mountaineering, assessments etc.

Post edited at 13:40
In reply to UKC/UKH Gear:

Sport England must be keeping every 'Perfect Curve' branding agency in the country in work...

Maybe it should try spending money promoting sport, rather than rebranding exercises...

1
 nutme 05 Jun 2018
In reply to UKC/UKH Gear:

But something went wrong.. New website is lagging and takes ages to load on mobile.

 olddirtydoggy 05 Jun 2018
In reply to UKC/UKH Gear:

At least it's easier to say and does what it says on the tin. I don't really see it matters much if the skills they are sharing are first class.

In reply to UKC/UKH Gear:

I think the logo is eminently forgettable, though it does remind me of the Suzuki car badge.

 

 Phil Anderson 05 Jun 2018
In reply to UKC/UKH Gear:

I really like the new logo.

Personally, I don't like the new website which to me just looks like every other website you pay a marketting company to cut-and-paste together. Way too many transitions and animations that get in the way (although I have ADHD so perhaps all the transitions and animations get in the way more for me more than for neuro-typical folk). 

On the other hand, I'm an old giffer so what do I know? It's what the kids want innit.

Post edited at 16:52
 alx 05 Jun 2018
In reply to keith-ratcliffe:

I don’t mind the name change, for new customers it’s more what you see is what you get from the company name, which perhaps is more relevant to the rest of the UK than naming it after a hotel a king once visited in Welsh.

> I think the logo is eminently forgettable, though it does remind me of the Suzuki car badge.

I would agree it looks bang on like the car badge with the grill lines. The parallax and dynamic features on the website kill my iPad and company desktop!

 

Post edited at 16:55
 Kemics 05 Jun 2018
In reply to olddirtydoggy:

Yeah i imagine its mostly around people recognising it on search engines. Plas y brenin wont meant anything to 99% of people but mountaining training is prwtty explicit

 Paz 05 Jun 2018

 

Because they've got a hotshot new manager who's just been on a marketing course?

 GrahamD 05 Jun 2018
In reply to UKC/UKH Gear:

I'm afraid that website gives me a headache and doesn't display properly (I'm using Google Chrome).  Not that I'm in the market for it but the actual substance appears hidden behind a load of higher bandwidth flashing images. 

1
 wbo 05 Jun 2018
In reply to UKC/UKH Gear:

I really don't mind if they rebrand - time passed, things change.  But that website is way too busy and, for the partivpart coureco I looked at, critical information missing or at least badly organised.

 

Could do much better

 Marek 05 Jun 2018
In reply to GrahamD:

Hmm, seems to tick a lot of "how-not-to design-an-effective-website" boxes.

 Chris_Mellor 05 Jun 2018
In reply to Andy Say:

Andy, the first line of the body text in the Plas y Brenin release says: "For the first time in over 30 years, Plas y Brenin, the National Mountain Sports Centre, has rebranded and is launching a new website."

Note the "has"?

A corporate body is generally referred to in the singular. But whether your refer to it in the singular or the plural it's best to be consistent, wouldn't you say? Best wishes from an ungracious pedant

 

1
 john arran 05 Jun 2018
In reply to Marek:

I looked at it on my Chrome browser (the market leader) and wondered whether it was designed for something else. Reminded me of those old Flash sites that were popular for a while. Looked really snazzy until you actually wanted to find something.

 pec 05 Jun 2018
In reply to UKC/UKH Gear:

So what have they rebranded themselves as? Is it The National Mountain Sports Centre, the article doesn't make it very clear, it sounds more like description than a name. Did they really pay someone money to come up with that one?

How is it that every climber I ever met, even in the days before the internet and we all lived in caves, had heard of and knew what Plas y Brenin was but today's youth are apparently incapable of finding out that sort of thing despite having a computer permanently grafted to the end of their arm?

What a load of absolute bullsh*t.

Post edited at 21:36
 Max factor 05 Jun 2018
In reply to pec:

I think they've done a good job. 

They've kept the name,  and National mountain sports centre is clearer than PYB if you were in the dark as to what they offer. 

As for the logo,  mountain and water, covers a lot of what they do.

In reply to john arran:

> I looked at it on my Chrome browser (the market leader) and wondered whether it was designed for something else. Reminded me of those old Flash sites that were popular for a while. Looked really snazzy until you actually wanted to find something.

Leaving all arguments about 'rebranding' aside, I'm amazed just how un-userfriendly the navigation is. You have to do about twice as many clicks to move from page to page as on most websites. With a lot of pull-down menus, and always having first to go back to that link top left, 'Menus', to reopen the main menu. Looks good (animation/flash etc) – but so what? – it's not at all usable.

 Marek 06 Jun 2018
In reply to Gordon Stainforth:

So the message of the rebranding seems to be 'style over functionality'? I'm not sure that endears me to an organisation offering mountaineering skills training!

 

 Doug 06 Jun 2018

What a terrible website, seems reminiscent of some of the terrible sites from several years ago. I hope their mountaineering skills are better than their IT skills

 

1
 trouserburp 06 Jun 2018
In reply to Doug:

Might be my browsers (IE and Chrome) but seems like it's in Beta - broken links, text overlapping images, few Trip Advisor reviews slapped on top (it's not a hotel!) - most of the key links you have to scroll way down to find

Hadn't thought about it before but guess it is a slap in the face to Wales - Sport England logo at bottom, no Welsh language option, nothing obvious about Snowdonia or the PyB history

Don't know why the logo is a pointy 'S' but guess there is some enriching historical explanation

OTOH - doesn't matter

 Neil Williams 06 Jun 2018
In reply to UKC/UKH Gear:

Looks quite good to me.  The old branding was clearly so good that I have no memory of what it was!

 Poolie 10 Jun 2018
In reply to UKC/UKH Gear:

Sure this has been discussed before, but not wanting to get pedantic is hill-walking a sport? Think Sport England wants everything to come under Sport as opposed to simply an activity.  National Mountain Centre covers it for me...

 Diddy 11 Jun 2018

I think being under the Sport England umbrella allows access to funding though there are hoops to go through re diversity, youth groups and development of the sport

 

 summo 11 Jun 2018
In reply to UKC/UKH Gear:

The website is painful, and 'hiking' what is that all about? 

 Howard J 12 Jun 2018
In reply to summo:

I think the idea is that "hike" rhymes with "bike".

I agree the website is dreadful, I got dizzy trying to read the text over the whizzing videos.  The way the different courses are displayed is rubbish and filters they provide aren't helpful.  It does help to disguise what a poor range of courses they offer. 

It prompted me to look at Glenmore Lodge's website which although a bit boring makes it very easy to find appropriate courses.

Frogger 12 Jun 2018
In reply to UKC/UKH Gear:

 

"It's really important that we protect the heritage of Plas y Brenin while also modernising to stay relevant to the outdoor industry."

Hmmm where have we heard the phrase "staying relevant" before? haha 

I'd be interested in the business plan that is behind the rebranding - assuming that the marketing firm actually detailed some kind of tangible boost to financial income or footfall as a result of this project (but let me guess, they just offered to make the organisation 'more relevant' without defining what that meant in real terms....) 

(apologies for cynicism, I work in marketing  )

 beh 12 Jun 2018
In reply to UKC/UKH Gear:

If it needs a loading screen, "getting ready to embark", then it's probably too bloated.  Similarly, it's never a good sign when visiting a website causes the fan on my laptop to spin up.

 Graham Booth 12 Jun 2018
In reply to UKC/UKH Gear:

Usual colosall waste of money and imminent  U Turn after outcry....

 pneame 12 Jun 2018
In reply to beh:

Good grief that's a dreadful website. After nearly throwing up watching the spinning images, I finally found the button to make it go away....

And then chose a 3 day advanced alpine course.

What! They don't have one. I gave up at that point and will continue to fumble around trying to work out which crampon goes on which foot. 

Post edited at 19:28
 summo 12 Jun 2018
In reply to Howard J:

Think it would help to immediately separate courses which are only experiences or skills and those which are part of national qualifications. Then split into winter and summer. How hard can it be!! 

 jezb1 12 Jun 2018
In reply to UKC/UKH Gear:

As a local climbing and mountaineering instructor with their own small business, I love their new site...!

 Coel Hellier 12 Jun 2018
In reply to jezb1:

> As a local climbing and mountaineering instructor with their own small business, I love their new site...!

Why?  What about it is good? 

(Asking as someone genuinely baffled that anyone would like such a thing.)

 Marek 12 Jun 2018
In reply to Coel Hellier:

> Why?  What about it is good? 

> (Asking as someone genuinely baffled that anyone would like such a thing.)

Oh dear!

Hint: Think about the competitive situation...

 Doug 12 Jun 2018
In reply to Coel Hellier:

Whoosh !

 jezb1 12 Jun 2018
In reply to Coel Hellier:

> Why?  What about it is good? 

> (Asking as someone genuinely baffled that anyone would like such a thing.)

I'm just messing

 

 Coel Hellier 12 Jun 2018
In reply to Marek:

> Hint: Think about the competitive situation...

Ahh right, sorry, I'm a bit slow this evening. 

 flopsicle 12 Jun 2018
In reply to Andy Say:

> Only if you consider the building (singular) to have undertaken the re-brand rather than the team of staff (plural) working within it.

> The phrase 'ungracious pedant' springs to mind

I get 'succint' envy. I envy you..... 


New Topic
This topic has been archived, and won't accept reply postings.
Loading Notifications...