Giant inflatable billboard

I stumbled on some information regarding Posterplus media group and the giant billboards. I am really looking for some more information but I am struggling.

As with most companies that deal with this case there seems to be some rather odd things alleged. Please be aware these are just things I have read elsewhere and I have no idea if they are true as I have not researched them myself.

Apparently one of their directors is a Brethren and may attend the same lodge as JM. There is speculation that they attended the Galen Lodge which is located at the Ardery Streert Freemason hall. This was destroyed by arson in January 2008 so I doubt the records are available any more to verify this claim.

Any way Posterplus media group produced the billboard and delivered it within 13 days. The estimated total cost was £20,000 and then we have the story of the two lorry drivers that gave up their jobs etc etc.

Reading this on another site this very generous donation seems to have come from a company that was very deeply in debt. In fact it has been alleged they had a least one county court judgement against them. I found this which is claimed to be their accounts


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The problem I have is I would like to verify this information but I cannot find any listing of them at Company House. They have an active website etc.

Anyone help?

Pershing, sorry I'm a bit useless on that sort of thing. But glad you've sussed the whole publicity stunt.
It's quite simple, people like to 'belong'. If you see someone giving up their job for the cause, the least you can do is send some money.
Many years ago I observed the same idiocy, Ethiopian famine, Bob Geldoff (I do wish these fading stars would simply shut up). One family in Scotland sold all their furniture to send money to that particular Fund. Ever escalating stories evolved down to someone selling their house. Meanwhile, the Ethiopian Embassy had their reception hall redone in marble and crystal chandeliers......
Someone said that aid to third world countries is: ' poor people from rich countries sending money to rich people in poor countries'.
Martyrs are necessary for instilling belief....

Way before 3/5/07 TM had some very professional fund raising advice. Imo.

Totally off topic, but all the children that Geldoff 'saved' have now each had three children of their own and the situation is so dire that no one wants to report it. Malthus got it right.

PeterMac wrote:Totally off topic, but all the children that Geldoff 'saved' have now each had three children of their own and the situation is so dire that no one wants to report it. Malthus got it right.

I studied anthropology sideways so to speak - branch of archaeology. General rule is: do not interfere. Pop stars with fading careers need not apply.

tigger wrote:

PeterMac wrote:Totally off topic, but all the children that Geldoff 'saved' have now each had three children of their own and the situation is so dire that no one wants to report it. Malthus got it right.

I studied anthropology sideways so to speak - branch of archaeology. General rule is: do not interfere. Pop stars with fading careers need not apply.

Arch and Anth (Oxbridge ?)

The only interference should be in the form of education and contraception. Not biscuits.
Give a man a fish and he eats for a day. Teach a man to fish and ....
But has anyone ever asked why it is the western man who has to teach anyone to fish ?
(Be careful with the answer. We may be accused of racism.)

I assume that this is the company, if so no accounts were filed

If not, it may be that the Chesire company below was somehow involved (the middleman, perhaps)

Name & Registered Office:
POSTER PLUS LIMITED
HOWARD HOUSE
LLOYD STREET
ALTRINCHAM
CHESHIRE
WA14 2DE
Company No. 01315887


Status: Dissolved 01/07/2003
Date of Incorporation: 01/06/1977

Country of Origin: United Kingdom

Company Type: Private Limited Company
Nature of Business (SIC):
None Supplied

Accounting Reference Date: 31/12
Last Accounts Made Up To: (NO ACCOUNTS FILED)
Next Accounts Due:
Last Return Made Up To:
Next Return Due:

Insolvency History


Previous Names:

No previous name information has been recorded over the last 20 years.




UK Establishment Details



There are no UK Establishments associated with this company.







Oversea Company Info



There are no Oversea Details associated with this company.

PeterMac wrote:

tigger wrote:

PeterMac wrote:Totally off topic, but all the children that Geldoff 'saved' have now each had three children of their own and the situation is so dire that no one wants to report it. Malthus got it right.

I studied anthropology sideways so to speak - branch of archaeology. General rule is: do not interfere. Pop stars with fading careers need not apply.

Arch and Anth (Oxbridge ?)

The only interference should be in the form of education and contraception. Not biscuits.
Give a man a fish and he eats for a day. Teach a man to fish and ....
But has anyone ever asked why it is the western man who has to teach anyone to fish ?
(Be careful with the answer. We may be accused of racism.)

If we had left them alone, I expect they would be functioning perfectly well. Even when Britain had India and many other colonies, on the whole it worked because there was little interference. The greatest number of troops and expats ever in India was around 35.000. The Sudan was run by about 500 administrators and so on.
Start imposing democracy on a tribal mind set and you're in deep trouble. This has nothing to do with color but culture. Even now, France, Italy and Spain are good examples of regional(tribal if you like) divisions. UK as well, Geordies, Scousers, Glaswegians - these last are particularly tribal and in the McCannfiles there's a good description of the reason the whole clan has backed up Dr. G.M.

The Ethiopian famine was mostly due to the war and their own government wasn't interested, it worked in their favour.
The Chinese - who have an enormous presence in Afrika! - are wiser: they say 'if you save a man from drowning, you will have to look after him for the rest of your life'.

Basically, I think it is arrogant to impress our culture on others, they are not inferior to us, just different. Yes, yes, education and contraception. They are perfectly capable of setting up their own medical institutions. One of the top schools for girls is now in South Africa, the standard considerably higher than in many schools in the UK. As far as I know, they managed pretty well without us.

Here is a link to the website [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

There may have been a dual purpose in the billboard If the company was struggling at the time, or even if it wasn't. The company would have benefitted from the huge publicity surrounding the Madeleine case and this would have been a great advertisment for them. Besides, what happened to the billboard after? Did they reclaim it? Could they re-use it? Probably. Both the company and the McCanns benefitted from that billboard.

Gavin Holloywood is the director - [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

PeterMac wrote:

tigger wrote:

PeterMac wrote:Totally off topic, but all the children that Geldoff 'saved' have now each had three children of their own and the situation is so dire that no one wants to report it. Malthus got it right.

I studied anthropology sideways so to speak - branch of archaeology. General rule is: do not interfere. Pop stars with fading careers need not apply.

Arch and Anth (Oxbridge ?)

The only interference should be in the form of education and contraception. Not biscuits.
Give a man a fish and he eats for a day. Teach a man to fish and ....
But has anyone ever asked why it is the western man who has to teach anyone to fish ?
(Be careful with the answer. We may be accused of racism.)

Good morning from South Africa. Would you like us to teach Geldof and Bono how to fish? we'll do discount rates.

sharonl wrote:Here is a link to the website [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

There may have been a dual purpose in the billboard If the company was struggling at the time, or even if it wasn't. The company would have benefitted from the huge publicity surrounding the Madeleine case and this would have been a great advertisment for them. Besides, what happened to the billboard after? Did they reclaim it? Could they re-use it? Probably. Both the company and the McCanns benefitted from that billboard.

Gavin Holloywood is the director - [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

-

Yes, quite, even TM could not have foreseen the jumpers-on-the-bankwagon, the mystic Megs who came out in droves, the pseudo soldiers crawling down holes and mysterious apparatus, lots of publicity for them too.

They wouldn't have cared. All the nut jobs in the world wouldn't have found Madeleine and more publicity means more £ donations in their "fund"

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The Inflatable Billboard – The TRUE Story

By Steve Marsden

Last year in May 2007, Gerry McCann wrote in his blog on day 25;
“Some of you may have seen on the news the huge inflatable billboard which has travelled all the way from the West of Scotland to Portugal which will be used near busy roads/motorways to keep Madeleine’s disappearance high profile. We had a brief chat with Chris and Les, who drove almost non-stop from Glasgow to get here. The extraordinary length ordinary people are going to help us is truly overwhelming. We thank everyone for their efforts, no matter how small, and we know this will make a difference in our search for Madeleine.”
Sky News on May 28, 2007 wrote;

Also, the McCanns have met the men responsible for the 800sq-ft inflatable poster which will be taken around the Algarve and set up in prominent places.
It was the brainchild of advertising workers Chris Lennox and Les Harley from Glasgow – the home town of Madeleine’s father Gerry – who drove 2,200 miles from Scotland to help.
Mr Lennox, 35, from Prestwick said: “My heartstrings have been pulled on this and I want to help.
“I have a family with small kids and my wife has been following this from day one.”

The Guardian went further and said that Mr Lennox and Mr Harley paid for the venture;

Yesterday the McCann family visited a 75 sq metre (800 sq ft) inflatable poster of Madeleine that will be taken around the Algarve in an attempt to publicise her plight further. The poster, which highlights a £1.5m reward being offered through the News of the World, was paid for by Chris Lennox and Les Harley, two advertising professionals from Glasgow, who drove it 2,200 miles from Scotland to Praia da Luz.In a statement read out near the poster, the McCanns said they were amazed by the support they has received. “We have thanked everyone on several occasions but, you know, some people are just going to absolutely extraordinary lengths to help us,” the statement said.

McCann Spin

The story sounds like Chris and Les drove all the way to Portugal through their own efforts to help the McCanns. It really does sound like they went to extraordinary lengths to help.
But what really happened?
We can reveal on TRUTH For Madeleine that Chris and Les were simply doing their job. The inflatable billboard was not the brainchild of Mr Lennox or Mr Harley and the pair of them didn’t pay for it either.
So how did it come about?
No surprises for guessing but it was engineered by John McCann – Gerry’s brother.
Mr Amaral has already exposed the McCanns for manipulating the politicians and media and here again is a prime example of a story that was presented to the world in a completely different way to the reality of the situation.

Posters Plus Media

Gavin Hollywood, Managing Director of Posters Plus Media informed us of the details of the venture;
“I supported the McCanns with some digital advertising in the UK and was approached by Gerry’s brother John about the possiblity of helping with a high profile campaign at the height of the situation where time & awareness was essential. Within 5 days we had arranged the trip, logistics, printing and arranged staff to travel to Portugal (Chris & Les) with Carol-Anne Thomson our Campaigns Manager co-ordinating the campaign from our office and communicating with various authorities.
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“The van, drivers and all equipment left from Posterplus Head Office in Kilmaurs Ayrshire. The trip took 3 full days travelling across the UK into France, Spain and finally Portugal. Various drivers change overs were made over the 3 days along with an overnight in France. Actual travel & campaign specific dates we would need to look back but it was May 07 and the full trip lasted 13 days in total.
“We used a standard transit van with lots of spare equipment in case of any difficulties in a foreign country, the set up & inflation for the Megasite is just over 1 hour.
“The billboard, Chris & Les the operators, travel, logistics, permits etc were all paid for and donated by Posterplus Media Group, the large printed poster with the reward details was kindly donated by Tayprint in Dundee. The News of The World was approached to use the copy details only of the reward and no funding or sponsors were involved in the trip, it was a donation & media facility offered by Gavin Hollywood Managing Director of Posterplus Media Group.
“The media cost for this type of campaign in the UK would have been £20,000+”

And of course the main reason for driving was logistical, rather than an arduous pilgrimage. They needed a transit van to complete their work.