A Message from Richard Parry to Boaters

[MtB]

Just now, LadyG said:

Where did he say that?

Mind you, there are a few of those in every focus group.

 

Where did who say what?

 

Did you actually read my post that you quoted?!!

[LadyG]

5 minutes ago, Mike the Boilerman said:

 

Where did who say what?

 

Did you actually read my post that you quoted?!!

 

More pertinently, several on here have suggested they are courting ministers with the re-branding in order to raise the chances of future gov't funding, which seems a viable explanation to me. It would be nice to hear Mr Parry confirm this if true, rather that spew out that patronising twaddle which show he views the objectors as gullible imbeciles. 

See your penultimate

Edited June 2, 2018 by LadyG

[MtB]

5 minutes ago, LadyG said:

 

More pertinently, several on here have suggested they are courting ministers with the re-branding in order to raise the chances of future gov't funding, which seems a viable explanation to me. It would be nice to hear Mr Parry confirm this if true, rather that spew out that patronising twaddle which show he views the objectors as gullible imbeciles. 

See your penultimate

 

Oh I see. He said it in his massage to boaters. Did you miss that too?

[LadyG]

Just now, Mike the Boilerman said:

 

Oh I see. He said it in his massage to boaters. Did you miss that too?

I think we all did!

[Boat&Bikes]

See..better logo massages the masses. 

[Allan(nb Albert)]

37 minutes ago, Tanglewood said:

I blame him for allowing himself to believe the marketing departments hype, that what was needed was an expensive rebrand -  they are marketing people for goodness sake, they are supposed to be able to sell what they have. If they got it so badly wrong five years ago, they should be sacked, not allowed to go out and throw funds away by getting it wrong again.  To be honest, I think if the logo had been meaningful instead of meaningless, the reaction would not have been so hostile.  I am reminded that in the children's story, 'The Emperors New Clothes' the fraudsters convinced the King and court that it was the more intelligent people who would be able to see the grandeur of the new garments, I suspect that the grandees at CRT are were told something similar when shown a blue polo mint printed when the ink ran out, and told it represented everything canals and rivers stand for.

 

Sorry Richard Parry - you have significantly misjudged this.  And now you have egg on your face.  I am looking forward to the figures next year to see how many extra people recognise the Trust and what it stands for.

 

C&RT's Director of Marketing, Communications and Fundraising, Sophie Castell, a year ago following poor Friends recruitment. It was actually Richard Parry and Nicky Wakeford, Head of Marketing & Digital Marketing who gained board acceptance for the rebranding. There was also a branding sub committee of Trustees involved.

 

It is probable that the adverse comment on social media resulted in Mr Parry being told by the board at its meeting on 24 May to make a statement.

[adam1uk]

5 minutes ago, Allan(nb Albert) said:

It is probable that the adverse comment on social media resulted in Mr Parry being told by the board at its meeting on 24 May to make a statement.

You're guessing, obviously.  It's probably that if he'd been told to do it at a meeting on 24 May, it wouldn't have taken him until 1 June, especially as most of the complaints about boaters being ignored hadn't happened by then -- given that the news release about wellbeing was only put out the day before.

Edited June 2, 2018 by adam1uk

[Horace42]

48 minutes ago, Alan de Enfield said:

You will never get that sort of breakdown from any company, the hours taken to produce it would be prohibitive.

If you look at vegetation control that is one single contract with Fountains (I think) for £7m covering the whole system, no way would C&RT look at going out to tender for (say) 2000 different contracts each of 1 mile - it would be a logistics nightmare.

I agree the info wont be forthcoming - but it is only prohibitive because they (not just CRT, by any Govt. funded organisation) are in control the hours and cost involved - and throw in a £million here or there to massage the basic figures work in their favour.

 

In this day and age of computers and data collection - (and if not collected how do they know what it costs to run their organization) - so the info is there.

It only requires them to put their minds to it - a breakdown would be the easiest thing in the world to produce - they just don't want to do it - for all sorts of self-interest reasons that complicates their lives - 

2000 miles of canal need maintaining anyway, so a logistic nightmare for someone. That is what we we pay them for. Which is the bit that matters to me when it isn't done.

 

And since CRT are in control of all this data, we cant win, they use it to come up with a package to suit themselves that they can sell to the Govt. that has to be 'tax-payer' friendly to get more public funds.

 

New logos and branding enhancement images to maximise public attention are just part of it. I don't wish to be flippant, but I doubt if the majority of the 'public' this is aimed at would notice perfect locks, paddles and dredging - but they might notice lots of new signs and see their money was being spent on canals that they had easy and safe access to what ...........'to watch boats go by' 

 

...and if successful our licenses won't go up so much in price. 

 

 

 

 

[Neil2]

I don't believe CRT are trying to curry favour with the government but it would suit them if the proportion of overall spending contributed by boaters went down. 

 

Personally I think boaters should be campaigning for increased contributions, either through higher licence fees or more direct methods eg tolls.  I suspect this is not a popular view... But if say boaters contributions amounted to over half the CRT budget it would certainly lead to a change of emphasis and put a stop to all the nonsense such as the subject under discussion.

[Allan(nb Albert)]

18 minutes ago, adam1uk said:

You're guessing, obviously.  It's probably that if he'd been told to do it at a meeting on 24 May, it wouldn't have taken him until 1 June, especially as most of the complaints about boaters being ignored hadn't happened by then -- given that the news release about wellbeing was only put out the day before.

Adverse comment from boaters on C&RT's rebranding started well over a month ago ...

 

[adam1uk]

8 minutes ago, Allan(nb Albert) said:

Adverse comment from boaters on C&RT's rebranding started well over a month ago ...

 

His statement isn't about branding, it's about the accusation that other users are more important than boaters.

[Allan(nb Albert)]

9 minutes ago, adam1uk said:

His statement isn't about branding, it's about the accusation that other users are more important than boaters.

Boating and our new brand – a message from chief exec Richard Parry

Ten days ago we launched the Trust’s new branding ...

[adam1uk]

14 minutes ago, Allan(nb Albert) said:

Boating and our new brand – a message from chief exec Richard Parry

Ten days ago we launched the Trust’s new branding ...

That's half a line.  The rest of it, as I said, is not really about branding it's about the accusation that other users are more important than boaters.

Quote

 

I know from conversations I’ve had, and commentary that I’ve seen, that some boaters felt our message last week ignored the core purpose of the canal and river navigations – that is, for boats to use.

 

The assurance I want to give you is that boats and boaters will always be at the heart of what the Trust is for, and central to what we do – the majority of our annual expenditure (well over £100m per annum) goes into keeping the waterways operational and safe for boats to use and boaters to enjoy.  I am committed to active ongoing communication with you at all levels to hear your feedback about where we need to target our efforts, to deal with any issues you encounter and deliver the boating experience you expect.

 

So my plea would be not to take offence – as I know most of you don’t – when our message isn’t specifically about boating; it really is in everyone’s interest that we seek to address and engage a wider and different audience – including critically those who are younger, more diverse, and digitally-active   But I don’t discount the importance of ensuring that we continue to garner your support as well. To be fit for the future, the Trust needs to change, but boats and boaters need to be with us on that journey, and we will keep working to achieve that.

 

 

[alan_fincher]

I was "pleased" to see some more re-branding at Stoke Bruerne today.

 

In order to better publicise their "brand" CRT have put this lovely large new sign up outside the boater facilities.

 

Clearly exactly the kind of thing the public will be attracted to.

 

(Apologies for the quality of the photo - but you get the general idea.  A rat actually scurried away before I could capture it on top of the piles of detritus!)

[matty40s]

17 minutes ago, alan_fincher said:

I was "pleased" to see some more re-branding at Stoke Bruerne today.

 

In order to better publicise their "brand" CRT have put this lovely large new sign up outside the boater facilities.

 

Clearly exactly the kind of thing the public will be attracted to.

 

(Apologies for the quality of the photo - but you get the general idea.  A rat actually scurried away before I could capture it on top of the piles of detritus!)

...but that's exactly where the marketing survey said we need it Alan.

So those 10m people who live within 10 miles of a canal can come down to Stoke Bruerne bottom lock and have their awareness raised and wellbeing pummeled by the blue sign on the waste enclosure.

 

I have no doubt next year's questions on the survey will be ideally suited to making the awareness percentage having risen.

[Tanglewood]

21 minutes ago, alan_fincher said:

I was "pleased" to see some more re-branding at Stoke Bruerne today.

 

In order to better publicise their "brand" CRT have put this lovely large new sign up outside the boater facilities.

 

Clearly exactly the kind of thing the public will be attracted to.

 

(Apologies for the quality of the photo - but you get the general idea.  A rat actually scurried away before I could capture it on top of the piles of detritus!)

You can't expect them to spend time, money, effort or interest on clearing vermin infested rubbish when they've got important jobs like installing shiny new signs.  Do you think the person who put the sign up, stood back, surveyed the effect, possibly took a selfie as a record of his day's work and went home thinking - 'brilliant that's made a difference'?

[john6767]

34 minutes ago, alan_fincher said:

I was "pleased" to see some more re-branding at Stoke Bruerne today.

 

In order to better publicise their "brand" CRT have put this lovely large new sign up outside the boater facilities.

 

Clearly exactly the kind of thing the public will be attracted to.

 

(Apologies for the quality of the photo - but you get the general idea.  A rat actually scurried away before I could capture it on top of the piles of detritus!)

So are you the nominated Boater then, they really have screwed up the signs everywhere then.

Edited June 2, 2018 by john6767

[Alan de Enfield]

On ‎01‎/‎06‎/‎2018 at 19:24, Alan de Enfield said:

The assurance I want to give you is that boats and boaters will always be at the heart of what the Trust is for, and central to what we do – the majority of our annual expenditure (well over £100m per annum) goes into keeping the waterways operational and safe for boats to use and boaters to enjoy.  I am committed to active ongoing communication with you at all levels to hear your feedback about where we need to target our efforts, to deal with any issues you encounter and deliver the boating experience you expect.

I am more and more leaning towards the possibility that someone in the C&RT hierarchy became aware that one of C&RTs major contributing group (£44.7m*) was 'not overly happy', not necessarily about the new logo, but about the necessity for the whole re-branding issue, and, particularly the misinformation about the cost being taken on a rolling basis, as equipment became due for renewal, the 1000s of new signs that appeared within a couple of days put this into perspective.

It was then suggested to Richard Parry that he should make some conciliatory statement to try and buy some time and give the situation time to blow-over.

 

A statement was written by the marketing team and Richard agreed to put his name to it.

 

* Boat licences & Boat moorings =£34.9m, BWML = £8.1m

[matty40s]

2 hours ago, adam1uk said:

His statement isn't about branding, it's about the accusation that other users are more important than boaters.

I can almost see where you are coming from but unfortunately you don't travel far enough or for long enough to see the long term damage happening to the system due to short term contractor deployment and when jobs are done, nothing else around gets picked up like it used to be, only the specific job on the sheet is completed.

Edited June 2, 2018 by matty40s

[adam1uk]

2 minutes ago, matty40s said:

I can almost see where you are coming from but unfortunately you don'

Pardon?

[matty40s]

18 minutes ago, adam1uk said:

Pardon?

Sorry, for some reason my phone is posting posts half way through and I have to edit to finish them.

[adam1uk]

19 minutes ago, matty40s said:

I can almost see where you are coming from but unfortunately you don't travel far enough or for long enough to see the long term damage happening to the system due to short term contractor deployment and when jobs are done, nothing else around gets picked up like it used to be, only the specific job on the sheet is completed.

I don’t really see what my travel pattern has to do with reading and understanding Richard Parry’s statement. My main point at this time was that Allan was making out that he knew what had happened at a CRT trustee meeting, when he probably didn’t.

 

 

[Rob-M]

8 hours ago, alan_fincher said:

I was "pleased" to see some more re-branding at Stoke Bruerne today.

 

In order to better publicise their "brand" CRT have put this lovely large new sign up outside the boater facilities.

 

Clearly exactly the kind of thing the public will be attracted to.

 

(Apologies for the quality of the photo - but you get the general idea.  A rat actually scurried away before I could capture it on top of the piles of detritus!)

Maybe this is t highlight that it is a boaters rubbish facility and not for general public use where they can't be ar@#d to visit their local recycling center.

 

[Batavia]

Also, in Berkhamsted, the signs by the winding hole have been replaced (not before time, as the previous ones were more or less illegible) but the new ones are not easy to interpret, as the "totem-ettes" are not in a logical vertical sequence!  The ambiguity will doubtless be appreciated by those who choose to moor in the winding hole.

 

Chris G

[rgreg]

8 hours ago, Alan de Enfield said:

I am more and more leaning towards the possibility that someone in the C&RT hierarchy became aware that one of C&RTs major contributing group (£44.7m*) was 'not overly happy', not necessarily about the new logo, but about the necessity for the whole re-branding issue, and, particularly the misinformation about the cost being taken on a rolling basis, as equipment became due for renewal, the 1000s of new signs that appeared within a couple of days put this into perspective.

It was then suggested to Richard Parry that he should make some conciliatory statement to try and buy some time and give the situation time to blow-over.

 

A statement was written by the marketing team and Richard agreed to put his name to it.

 

* Boat licences & Boat moorings =£34.9m, BWML = £8.1m

I think it's highly likely boaters will have made their views directly to him when he's been out and about or via email.