Mr Blog, and the vanishing art of 'folk-branding'
Here's what happened when Mr Asbury visited all the UK's 'Mr' shops.
Hello hello,
First up, thank you đ. Last weekâs episode on Jim Smithâs two-decade-performance-art-project-disguised-as-a-brand, Puccinoâs Coffee-Shops, was read far and wide and made a few ânewsletter of the weekâ lists. Please do keep sharing the love. đ
This weekâs linguistic geek-out isnât about a specific brand. Itâs about Nick Asburyâs1 Mr Blog project and the idea of âfolk brandingâ. I find the concept of folk branding really useful. Itâs not nearly well enough known. So weâre going to read Nick â sorry, Mr. Asburyâs â blog together.
Tell me more
If youâre like me, youâve probably always been aware that there were a few âMrâ shops on your local high streets but never given them much thought. Mr Asbury became a bit obsessed with them. (âIâve just always found Mr Shops funny. I canât help thinking âwhat exactly does Mr Curtains look like?â) This was back in 2010, when Google Maps was new. Mr Asbury realised he could use it to track down all the Mr shops in the UK.
Mr Blog set off in August 2010. Early entries included Mr Meats (Stoke on Trent).
Some Mr shops were pretty slick-looking. Like Mr Humbug, (Euston station, London)
But most were more ordinary. Like Mr Kleen. (Which, satisfyingly, is in Turnham Green! Mr Kleen from Tunrham Green! No? Fine.)
Some were found irl by Mr Asbury. I love this photo of Mr Bagels (London E9):
Some were submitted by readers. Hereâs Dr. Loo (Sponds Hill, Cheshire). This sparked an interesting discussion because, well, Dr. Loo rather puts plain old Mr. Loo in his place, doesnât he.
And some are straight-up WTF? Mr Maggot Man. (Warsop, Mansfield).
Every day for months they kept coming: Mr Window. Mr Computer. Mr Chickens. Mr Stainless. Mr Mattress. Mr Loaf. Mr Tyre. Mr Chips (lots of Mr Chips). Mr Central Heating. Mr Booze. Mr Personality. Monsieur Biscuit. Mr FurnitureâŚ
Before long, they start to send you a bit peculiar. How have I not noticed this before? Theyâre everywhere. Fast food joints, trades, IT services, clothes, haircuts, myriad forms of cleaning and places that fix or repair things. There are so many in fact that Mr Asbury quickly stops cataloguing duplicates. Mr Blog is just the edited highlights!
December gave a detour into Mr Songs (âMr Blue Skyâ etc). There are guest appearances by kids TV presenter Mr Maker, South Parkâs Mr Hankey, and a childrenâs entertainer called Madame Zucchini. Oh, and a mention of that time Boots the chemist accidentally sent a customer a loyalty card addressed to âDr A Suicide Bomberâ.
Then in January 2011 after six short months, Mr Blog wraps up with a special awards post. Categories include best strapline (Mr Toolbag: âNo job too oddâ). Clearest brand positioning. (âMR CHEAP IS THE CHEAPESTâ) Best brand partnership (âMr Chipsâ and âMr Riceâ next door to each other). Award for worst logo goes, fabulously and deservedly, to Mr Logo. Puntastic champions are hair salon Herr Kutz. (âhaircutsâ, geddit?) and the cleaning company Mr Bit (âmissed a bit!â YES!)
The final post contains a farewell roll-call. Hereâs just a sample:
I know, right? Itâs all a bit overwhelming.
An extra pleasure is that although Mr Asbury is doing the writing, Mr Blog quickly develops a tone of voice all of his own. Heâs fastidious, slightly formal (after all, weâre not on first-name terms are we?) something of a bore, and more than a little full of himself. (Iâd say âPooterishâ but youâd only write in đ¤Ş.) Here he is mithering over the ambiguity in MISTER BATHROOMS messaging:
And when Birminghamâs Miss Fitness turns up â rare for a lady to make an appearance in this mostly male-dominated field â Mr Blog has a bit of a turn:
Mr Asbury says he didnât deliberately set out to give Mr Blog this voice â it just emerged while roaming the virtual high streets. Itâs a total joy. The way he pedantically footnotes details, tediously over-describes things you can perfectly well see yourself, and is ever-so-slightly too pleased with his own jokes.
And finally, thereâs the whole underlying idea of âfolk brandingâ. As Mr Asburys says, by calling your shop or service âMr-somethingâ youâve intuitively understood the most important job branding does: ââŚtaking inanimate products or intangible services and investing them with a personality. Something to which people can relate on a human level.â
A Mr brand does all that in one short name. No brainstorm necessary. No archetype framework needed. A Mr name is both evocative and descriptive. Itâs personal and yet connects you to the entire community of other Mr brands. It gives you an instant tone of voice (friendly yet professional, makes an effort but isnât la-di-da.)
Mr Asbury notes how Mr Big Stuffâs âaboutâ page (âTheyâre having a laughâ was my reply when I was told that Bev had had to pay over ÂŁ20 for a plain white t-shirt from a big mans clothes shop in NottinghamâŚâ) â is beat for beat the kind of âbrand narrativeâ a start-up would pay a strategy agency a tidy penny for. (âTidy pennyâ is, of course, exactly the kind of phrase a Mr Brand would use.)
Itâs sobering that even a decade ago, Mr Blog was lamenting the loss of Mr Brands:
Since then, the rise of online shopping and a high street-crushing pandemic has done for many more Misters. That, and the fact that everyone is a bit more brand savvy and used to things looking slicker these days.
But who knows â perhaps like gonzo 90s internet aesthetic, Mr Brands are due for an unexpected revival? If not at least we have Mr Blog stand as a record â a kind of Mr Domesday Book of the golden age of folk branding.
Three things to love and learn from
đŠâ𦰠We really do personify brands! I sometimes remind clients that although we talk about âbrand personalityâ, brands arenât really people. Which is true. But Mr Brands remind us that brand personality isnât some brand-theory nonsense, itâs much more instinctive.
đŁ Notice, then amplify2. I love that Mr Asbury didnât set out to give Mr Blog his own voice â it just happened. And because Mr A was paying attention, he was able to lean into it in âreal timeâ. More brands could benefit from exploring their voice in this way.
đ¨âđ¨âđ§âđŚ Thereâs power in joining a âfamilyâ of voices. I love how all Mr brands are part of an unofficial collective. You know how theyâll sound. (Which hmm, feels slightly different than just âsounding the same as everyone elseâ. Discuss.)
Thatâs all! Crikey, weâve nearly hit Substackâs word limit. See you next time.
Mr Blog is just one of many of Nick Asburyâs projects. Also check out Realtime Notes â poems written quickly in response to daily events, and the Perpetual Disappointments Diary â a journal of downbeat advice and demotivational quotes.
Or as Dolly Parton says: âfind out who you are, then do it on purposeâ.