Hacker News Reader

B&Q used to (maybe still do) run lorries up the motorway with the two-line legend: "www.diy.com. Shop online NOW".

Now? I'm literally driving. I'll end up ploughing into the back of your lorry if I shop online now.

It feels like every ad has to end with "NOW!" or "TODAY!". Yes I understand how big research results give the marketing people good reason to insist on it, but it drives me nuts! I do wonder whether its overuse might diminish its supposed effect.

But your passenger is not driving ;)

since they can't have their brand's ampersand in a domain it seems better than the alternative: bandq, which isn't correct either.

Famously, B&Q’s original name was “Block and Quayle” after the surnames of the founders - but they switched to B&Q because everyone in the trade were abbreviating it that way.

interestingly bq.co.uk redirects to diy.com though that doesn't mean they own it

I appreciate that beardsandhats.com redirects to bhphotovideo.com :)

This triggered following a shallow rabbit hole through their history. It's a nice double meaning to incorporate their initials (Blimie & Herman) and heritage in one brand name.