[Bell Historians] Great Bells of Britain

[Andrew Wilby]

It was originally "The Ringers' Notebook and Diary" which was rebranded 
when The Ringing World Ltd acquired it.

However as any marketeer will know, rebranding doessn't change the 
product and the RW Board certainly didn't want to.

When the discussion about how the Diary might develop  was taking place 
and the suggestions were piling up on the table, someone pointed out 
that if we wanted to change everything then we clearly didn't want the 
product we had bought and that  we shouldn't have bought it in the first 
place!
After that the value of the tried and tested product became appreciated 
and the product has been modernised but remains much the same. Bill 
Viggars would certainly recognise it.

Referring to it in the present discussion as a notebook as well as a 
diary makes the point that it has a function beyond that of a pure diary 
and therefore the other content has importance.
Indeed I would put it stronger than that, ringers can use any diary 
bought or given from any source if they only want the diary pages.
The factor that drives the buying decisions is therefore the "other" 
content. So to reduce the notebook and information type content will not 
enhance sales.

Next minor point, The Ringing World Ltd is not owned by The Central 
Council.
It is owned by the members of the Council if they don't chose to opt out 
of the responsibility. The members are, with the exception of Hons, 
Lifers etc, elected representative of the constituent societies. So it 
is arguably in the common ownership of all of our affiliated societies.

SEM <I don't quite understand your figures. Do you mean that 99% of 
ringers never look at ringing websites? Or 99% of diary buyers do not? I 
would
question both these assumptions. And couldn't this information be in 
both formats?>

Er Sue, that was just an expression to suggest that the vast majority of 
ringers don't spend their time searching for information on the web 
particularly if they don't know it exists.
How can we possibly have hard figures for you to understand about the 
hypothetical behaviour of a hypothetical group of humans in a 
hypothetical situation at some hypothetical time in the future?

As for multiple formats, obviously the info could be published on the 
web as well but there could be an issue of copyright which probably 
belongs to the RW. They have a responsibility to us all in safeguarding 
the finances of the RW and Diary and may want to take a view as to 
whether such publication would detract from their Diary.

This is all a bit of a non issue, however I totally applaud DLC's views 
about the broader dimensions and interests of ringing and the example he 
has set.
I suppose that blathering on about the marketing dimensions of the Diary 
is another way of sharing the idea that there is much more to ringing, 
its promotion and administration than some appreciate.

Andrew


Bickerton, Roderic K (SELEX) (UK) wrote:
>  Please keep it factual it is "the ringing world diary"
> The Ringing World say:
> "The Ringing World is the official journal of the Central Council of
> Church Bell Ringers"
>
> The Central Council of Church Bell Ringers says at the top of there home
> page:
>
> "The Central Council of Church Bell Ringers Supporting change ringing
> world-wide. UK Registered Charity No: 270036 "
>
> Are any the ringing world diary's sold to people not involved in change
> ring or supporting such ringing?
>
> 	
>
> "It has no relevance to change ringing" - R.Bickerton's remark below.
> The Diary is The Ringers' Diary - not merely the change ringers' diary.
> There is more to ringing than learning a new method,  pulling a rope (or
> even grabbing a tower). Bells do enter into it. I tried to share my
> interest in them inter alia by producing the revision of the Great Bells
> list, the only concession to Bell History in general in the whole, very
> useful, publication. Ready to hand and useful for reference, personal
> interest or even setting a quiz without having to resort to IT or carry
> Dove around. 
>  
> I've also tried to share my interest pretty unreservedly with others:
> one of them was Richard. Apparently it fell on stony ground, if his
> agreement with Mr Bickerton is anything to go by!
>  
> DLC     
>
> 	
>
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