What took us agog and aghast was the number of restrictions placed on us to use other, similar (or deliberate mis-spellings) of the name Megabus, had we gone ahead with the banner. It may well be that the lists that follow represent standard advertising practice, but it's not something we've come across in the emails received from other companies wishing to advertise.
The list below is a 'non-exhaustive' list of terms that would be deemed unacceptable for us to show anywhere else on the main blog page in relation to Megabus:
www.megabus.com, www.megabus.co.uk, www.megabus.com/uk, www.megabus.com/us, megabus.com, megabus.co.uk, megabus.com/us, megabus.com/uk, Megabus website, Megabus direct, Megabus, Mega-bus, MEGABUS, Megabus online, Megatrain, Megabusplus, Megabus UK, Megabus Canada, Megabus America, Megabus travel, Intercity, Megabus Intercity, travel from £1, travel from a pound.
The email received asked us not to disclose its contents. By this we understand it to mean specifics of the deal proposed. This we have not done. We've simply listed a load of words, many of which mis-spelt. We've also been careful not to mention the ad agency's name.
The following list of words represents those not permitted as they are classed as mis-spelt Megabus terms.
Mergerbus, Mega-bus, Meggerbus, MeGaBuS, Mega!Bus! MegaBUS, Megerbus, Meger-bus, Megabsu, Megger travel, Mega travel, Megatrvl, MegBus, Magabus, Magatrain, Maga-bus, Mega-train, Megabus+, Megabsuplus, Megger Train, Megger bus plus, Megabusadd, MEGABUS. All the above with the addition of either/or: +, train, trane, plus, trayne, trane, website, web-site, intercity, intocity.
There are more. The following are branded and generic terms the ad agency believes are related and wouldn't be permitted:
Megabus Cheap coach, Megabus cheep coaches, Megabus Bus, Megabus Travel, Megabus Transport, Megabus coach, Stagecoach Megabus, Megabus Stagecoach, Stagecoach Travel, Travel Stagecoach, Cheap megabus travel, Cheap Stagecoach travel, Cheap coach travel, Cheap bus travel, Cheap train travel, Uk Coach travel, Cheap coaches, Cheep coaches, Cheap transport, Cheep transport, Cheap travel, Cheap UK travel, Low cost bus, Low cost buses, Low-cost-bus, Low-cost-buses, Bus services, Coach services.
There are even more: these can't appear either as they are Stagecoach terms and the advertisers want to understandably promote Megabus and Megabus only:
Stagecoach Group, Stagecoach, Stage-coach, Stage-coach-group, Stagecoach PLC, Stagecoach-plc, Stagecoach-p-l-c, Stage-coach-p-l-c, Stagcoach, Staagcoach, Stagecoch, Stagecoach Buses, Buses Stageocach, Stagecoach metrolink, Stagecoach-metrolink, Stagecoach-metro-link, Stagecoach supertram, Stagecoach-super-tram, Stage-coach-super-tram, East Midlands Trains, EMTrains, East-mid trains, East-mid-trains, South west Trains, SWTrains, South-west-trains, Island Isle, Island-Isle, Island-island, islandisle, Sheffield Supertram, Supertram sheffield, Super-tram-sheffield, Super! Tram sheffield, Sheffield-super-tram, Manchester metrolink, metrolink manchester, metrolink in manchester, metro-link-man, metro-link-manchester, Virgin Rail Group, Virgin Rail, Virgin-Rail, Rail-Virgin, Virgin Trains, Trains-Virgin, Intercity, Inter-city, into-city, intocity, Unirider, Megarider, VIP, Oxford Tube, dayrider, nightrider, dayrider gold, goldline, buymymegarider.com, buymyunirider.com, Stagecoach corporate travel, corporate travel, Dayrider Plus, Megarider Plus.
Finally, we couldn't use these are they're Megabus' main competitors' terms:
National Express, National-Express, nationalexpress, Funfare, Fun-fare, Nefunfare, NE Fun-fare, Greyhound, Greyhound UK, Grey-hound, Grey-hound-uk, Gray Hound, Gray-hound-UK, grayhounduk, Easybus, Easy-bus, Arriva, First, Go Ahead, Arrive a, 1st, Go-ahead, Raileasy, Rail-easy, Eurolines, Euro-lines, Trainline, The trainline, The-train-line, Greenline, Cross Country Trains, Citylink, Explorer Pass, Businesslink, Leisurelink, Eventslink, Sportslink, nationalrail, Chiltern Railways, Grand Central, Scotrail, Northern Rail.
Interestingly, CrossCountry (i.e. all one word) and easyBus (i.e. written as the company displays it) are permitted.
The blog being as it is - mentioning hundreds of transport operators every month - would ensure we failed to meet the ad agency's requirements. Many of the links to LEYTR area operators would have to go, which would see our difinitive list of bus and coach operators in our area being anything but. Also, the readership will also find an obvious advert for a bus company annoying.
The following is not one of the banned words though:
