Purplebricks launches in Northern Ireland

Nice story, in the sense that they get to return home and open a branch, but shouldn't they be focusing on making a success of it in England first. I haven't seen much evidence of that so far.

On a separate point, do the brothers play themselves in that awful Purplebricks advert?

They've got a pretty decent website and they've obviously received plenty of investment since launching. But extensive PR campaign and naff TV adverts aside, what have they achieved? Are they really the world's first 24/7 estate agent? Well, that's debatable. And, more importantly, how many properties have they sold/let?

Hi Daniel - we've been operating 24/7 many years before, so that is not true. I think their website and adverts are very good. Having the person at the forefront might be cheesy, but it's real and people like that. They also have nearly 3,000 properties, so out of the pay up front, online offerings, they seem most likely to make it a success. One thing that I am not keen on is there 'No upfront payment required' - but they get their customers to take out a credit facility with Close Brothers (factoring), so they get paid day one, and the customer must pay by month 10, or earlier if the house sells. Novel, but interesting to see what happens if the house does not sell. They are also burning millions on TV ads - so the $million question, which will no doubt be set out when they float, is how much they are spending on marketing compared to income received.

Yes, that really is the million dollar question, Glenn. I'm not so sure it will make great reading.

They seem to be in a similar boat to easyProperty - plenty of investment and huge PR teams behind them, but a struggle to translate this into actual tangible results. Maybe they'll both prove me wrong.

We've heard a lot about them (and seen the adverts) but I'm also interested to see how well they're doing in real terms. Let's see what happens when they float.

The adverts are cheesy as hell, but they do draw your attention. In that sense, they achieve their primary purpose. As does the colourful purple branding, whether you love it or loathe it.

Their adverts make me switch channels immediately. Having said that, I don't doubt their financial might or their ambition. Like Glenn says, will be very interesting to see how much actual income they are making if/when they float.

The adverts are cheese personified, but they convey their message pretty well and make sure that you remember the name. From an advertising point of view, they're very effective - even if they are annoying to some people.

Worryingly, I'm in agreement with Jon Tarrey!

The adverts are appalling. Not only are they naff, but owners appearing front-of-house very much smacks of egomania. Have they never heard of David Brent?

If I'm being honest, the adverts really annoy me too. They attempt to be tongue-in-cheek but just come off as try-hard and naff - bit like, as Richard says, something David Brent would do to sell his 'vision' of Wernham Hogg.

Ads aside, I really have no clue how well they're doing. Serious investment behind them, but we don't seem to know for sure whether that's having any impact. We won't probably be able to gauge that until they float.

Will be a tad embarrassing, given all the hype and PR fluff, if they're not performing quite as well as they'd have us believe.

Richard, me old chum, it's nothing to be ashamed of. You're just starting to see sense :)

David Brent nails it to a tee. Unfortunately, the ads aren't even funny in a really cringeworthy way, they're just naff. As the recent OTM ad also showed, it doesn't matter how many millions have been ploughed into something - if it's bad, it's bad!

I do hope not, Jon! Say it ain't so! ;)

Alas, human history is replete with examples of awfulness, packaged and sold to the public by the bucket load. See: just about every British car made between 1970 and 1980, McDonalds, 'Vanish' stain removal and Mariah Carey to give a few eclectic, but choice examples.

They need to change their costings as shown PLUS VAT. rather than including VAT