Different countries name the same brands in different ways. And so watching Greek TV this evening I looked very closely as I was urged to buy a washing powder branded “Essex”. I am not sure what this means to the average Greek, do they think that Essex is somehow a sophisticated, upmarket brand?
Do they associate Essex with uber-cool individuals like Graham Gooch, Fat Frank Lampard, Terry Venables and Jamie Oliver or perhaps it is John Constable they are thinking of or Jilly Cooper? Maybe it is the eloquent old charmer John Terry who has the pulling power? Or perhaps they have heard how the metropolitan elite like to spend the summer at Southend before returning to their country dachas near Romford?
But it strikes me that they should be flogging this stuff back in the county that also gave us Russell Brand, Ronnie O’Sullivan and Richard Madely. “Essex – The detergent that leaves everything looking whiter than white” – it would go down a storm in downtown Basildon.