What have we missed??!!

[M S G Benning]

Just finished watching F1 GP. Silverstone Classic was 'advertised' as Sir Stirling Moss was interviewed today. Too late now, BUT WHY aren't we registered as a club to display in 2 weeks??? I know we can't do everything that comes up, but as it is celebratory year on several counts, this would have been massive publicty for us & who knows how many benefits could have come from this.
Stiffy Byng (again)

[Chris Spencer]

I completely agree with the the previous statement - furthermore in the year that it is also Alfa Romeo's centenary, Jaguars 75th year, 50 years of Saab in the UK, 40 years of the Triumph Stag - plus many more motoring celebrations & events - the difference between what I have listed and JOC - is that the rest have enjoyed very sucessful publicity campains within the Vintage & Classic car press - JOC to date have not. I know we are all volounteers - I know it is not easy when we all have so much else to do in our lives - but good pubicity is still available to us. If it requires teamwork then I am confident that there are sufficant members that can and will help - myself for one. I have not written the above to critise others - more to draw attention to the fact that we cannot afford to treat publicty of the the club as a closed shop. We still have 5 months of the year left there is no reason why we cannot effect high profile publictity within what is a captive market of the specialist motoring press.

[Amy]

Is it actually too late for JCC to be represented though?? It's still a fortnight away, which is plenty of time for Silverstone to accommodate things, and for us to get cars and publicity together.

Happy to help out with contacting the track, etc if necessary.

Amy.

[Jack]

We were at Silverstone today Yes, it was brilliant, but enough about that.

There is a good lump of publicity being organised by Silverstone around this, and no doubt will have huge crowds there.

It's a good central location for us to get several cars to - no doubt we could have at least a couple of cars from our garage alone - definitely worth pursuing.

Is there a committee member active on the board who could raise this with our publicity officers, and/or nominate someone to lead the charge? It is short notice, and we all have busy lives to lead, so I am sure those of us who could probably make it to this would be happy to co-ordinate a Jowett representation.

Jack.

[M S G Benning]

According to Silverstone Website they are not accepting any more club registrations. I think we could find ourselves 'spaced out' (!!!) in one of the many car parks & coordinating a group together could then be difficult but worth a try.

[Amy]

Oh, really? I didn't spot that, could you post a link?

I still think it may be worth a shot...

[NoelStokoe]

Hi Stiffy, yes I enjoyed watching the F1 from Silverstone as well and yes I agree it would have been excellent to have had a Jowett display there in two weeks, but I was not aware of this previously.
As regards Chris Spencer's comments, I can assure him that I and the Rally Committee spent many many hours trying to bring the Centenary Rally to the attention of the Old Motoring Press. They produced a four page colour press release booklet which I sent to every old motor magazine in the country (I think) plus all the local newspapers and magazines, the local radio and TV were also contacted. There has been a considerable amout of material been published locally including a good spot on BBC's Look North and several of the magazines published details also. I have been a little disapointed that more articles have not been published in the motoring magazines, but more and more I find that the magazines want something in return.... What I mean by this is that if they cover a car, like as Chris lists, Alfa, Jag, Saab, Stag etc they want the Clubs and specialist garages to take out adverts to boost their advertising income. Sadly, on several occasions the Club have not wanted to place an advert, as there is very little gain to them. A typical example of this is when some years ago "Classic Cars" ran a series of articles comparing cars of the 40's, 50's, 60's, 70's & 80's, the Javelin won the 40's decade. I was later contacted by the mag to say they were having a final head to head of the winners of each decade. I was asked if the Club wanted to take out an advert if the Javelin won and was also asked for a list of Jowett specialist garages! The outcome was that the Jag Mk2 won and a special supliment was published with all the Jaguar specialist firms listed!....
Considering the size of the JCC and the fact that Jowett went out of production over 55 years ago I think we have had a massive amount of publicity over the years, but it has been hard work on my part. I am normally asked to find a car for a magazine to test at very short notice, but I have never failed to find one in the last 25 years (but it has been touch and go a few times!)
I have had articles published in the Old Motor Press literally dozens of times and had requests published asking for Jowett information in over 100 local papers and Nationals including The Daily Telegraph. I have had four books published, and number five is at the publishers now, so I am hoping it will be out and advertised during the Centenary year.
So I do feel I keep myself busy, as I still have the day job!!
Noel Stokoe

[Jack]

Hi Stiffy, yes I enjoyed watching the F1 from Silverstone as well and yes I agree it would have been excellent to have had a Jowett display there in two weeks, but I was not aware of this previously.
As regards Chris Spencer's comments, I can assure him that I and the Rally Committee spent many many hours trying to bring the Centenary Rally to the attention of the Old Motoring Press. They produced a four page colour press release booklet which I sent to every old motor magazine in the country (I think) plus all the local newspapers and magazines, the local radio and TV were also contacted. There has been a considerable amout of material been published locally including a good spot on BBC's Look North and several of the magazines published details also. I have been a little disapointed that more articles have not been published in the motoring magazines, but more and more I find that the magazines want something in return.... What I mean by this is that if they cover a car, like as Chris lists, Alfa, Jag, Saab, Stag etc they want the Clubs and specialist garages to take out adverts to boost their advertising income. Sadly, on several occasions the Club have not wanted to place an advert, as there is very little gain to them. A typical example of this is when some years ago "Classic Cars" ran a series of articles comparing cars of the 40's, 50's, 60's, 70's & 80's, the Javelin won the 40's decade. I was later contacted by the mag to say they were having a final head to head of the winners of each decade. I was asked if the Club wanted to take out an advert if the Javelin won and was also asked for a list of Jowett specialist garages! The outcome was that the Jag Mk2 won and a special supliment was published with all the Jaguar specialist firms listed!....
Considering the size of the JCC and the fact that Jowett went out of production over 55 years ago I think we have had a massive amount of publicity over the years, but it has been hard work on my part. I am normally asked to find a car for a magazine to test at very short notice, but I have never failed to find one in the last 25 years (but it has been touch and go a few times!)
I have had articles published in the Old Motor Press literally dozens of times and had requests published asking for Jowett information in over 100 local papers and Nationals including The Daily Telegraph. I have had four books published, and number five is at the publishers now, so I am hoping it will be out and advertised during the Centenary year.
So I do feel I keep myself busy, as I still have the day job!!
Noel Stokoe

Hi Noel,

New (and very keen) Joweteer here, what's next on the list for our active members this year - how can those who are desperate to give you 110% support get involved?

What do we need to do to get in the magazines - as some other members know I am involved in the world of Classic Fords, and they will literally run an article from anyone who is prepared to write one. They organise photo shoots with some cars that really aren't all that special or concourse, but they are usually a bit different or interesting for some reason or another. Is this different with mags such as Practical Classics, Classic Commercial etc?

What's the next big event for the centenary year? Are there national get-togethers as part of this over the summer?

Jack.

[Chris Spencer]

Noel - Like jack I am fairly new to the club - however, vintage & classic cars have been in my blood from my very early teens - nearly 40 years on from then the bug fails to cease. I have been a member a of several other clubs / on the committee of some in various forms- to echo Jacks points - the Rover club that I am member of gets publicty within the magazine world with little effort and unlike your experiance - do not get plauged to advertise - the future of all clubs is in being able to ensure that there is always a future for the club. Apologies if you find 'us' younger members (and I am not that young) enthusiastic but that is becuase we are exactly that 'enthusiastic' . So where can we help - you have the knowledege and history but us young un's have things like business degrees in marketing we are very much used to opening doors that have remained closed for long periods - Our intention is not to mob or to remain critic - mearly to understand how we can all work as a team to promote the club to the full.

[NoelStokoe]

Hi Jack,
Many thanks for your post, it is always good to talk to another Jowett enthusiast.
As regards National events, we only have one a year over the late May Bank Holiday, so there will not be another one until May 2011.
The best event coming up is the Ex-Employees Reunion at the Bradford Industrial Museum on 14th August, there are normally 40+ cars there plus several ex-emplyees plus a lot of club members. The Northern Section ladies will also give you a good tea!
As regards getting articles published, all the magazines have covered the Javelin and Jupiter in recent times, and to a lesser extent, the Bradford, so several will not want to publish another for a while (in my experience). There have been very few articles published on vintage and pre-war models, despite my best efforts, which is something I would like to rectify....
Noel Stokoe

[NoelStokoe]

Many thanks for your post Chris.
I am delighted to have other enthusiastic members joining the club, as we, like many other clubs, have an ageing membership base. I still think I am one of the younger members and I am 60 in December!
Any help or advice will be greatly appreciated, as "new blood" should bring new ideas also.
You and Jack have mentioned Ford and Rover, and I am pleased you are able to generate articles easily, this is my point exactly....There are masses of Rover, Ford, MG and Jag owners out there, which is why so many articles are published on them, as they sell magazines. The trick is to encourage the magazines to publish articles on smaller marques, such as Jowett, as their sales will not go up greatly by publishing them. We have a membership of less than 600 and many of these are husbands and wives, so if we all bought the issue with a Jowett article published their sales would only go up by a maximum of 400, but in reality it would be much less than that, as many members do not regularly buy magazines.
As mentioned in my last post, I think much more can be done to publicise the vintage and pre-war models, and the most likely magazine for that would be The Automobile, but they have run articles at least 3 times in the past, so once again, may not be keen to run another one in the short-term.
Any ideas you or others may have to generate new publicity will be gratefully received.
Noel Stokoe

[Peter Holden]

The reason why the Jowett does not get the publicity is simple and I think Noel has hit it on the head, with the excellent example as quoted below – it’s money. The Jowett marques does not generate the income for the magazines as other makes do.

‘A typical example of this is when some years ago "Classic Cars" ran a series of articles comparing cars of the 40's, 50's, 60's, 70's & 80's, the Javelin won the 40's decade. I was later contacted by the mag to say they were having a final head to head of the winners of each decade. I was asked if the Club wanted to take out an advert if the Javelin won and was also asked for a list of Jowett specialist garages! The outcome was that the Jag Mk2 won and a special supplement was published with all the Jaguar specialist firms listed!.’...

Let us assume the winner in the comparison was the Javelin. How many adverts would the supplement run to? Are there 10 Jowett specialists out there? No. Three then? Yes, that is probably about it, and we all know who they are. And at £100 per advert makes the motoring press £300. Compare that to the £30,000 perhaps that the Jaguar adverts raised, plus of course the increased circulation for that issue, even if only by 10%. No Contest!!!

Even ‘The Automobile’ is governed by sales. What sells that magazine? It’s the more exotic vintage cars not the small cars for the masses. After all there are few articles on pre-war Fords and the like. Although they do publish very good articles, often over a couple of months, on rare and obscure makes. Often rarer, more obscure and more unusual than the Jowett! I do believe that this is the magazine that we should concentrate on as it does include cars up to 1963 I think.

The other problem is that Jowett is a make that is out of production. Not many people have heard of them, even older people that perhaps have but have long since forgotten. Now this is not a new problem. If you read the motoring press of the 50’s and earlier Jowett is still little mentioned. OK. It got a lot of publicity when it did well in competition but it is not recognized in other publications. Only the other day I was looking in a book shop and picked up a period book about the Le Mann’s 24hr. Jowett was only mentioned in the list of entrants and results, and that was small print!! A lot of print about the other manufacturers.

Now the only way the Jowett is going to get publicity is to promote the models ourselves. Now I know Noel will continue with the hard and frustrating work that he does, and I take my hat off to him, but how do we get publicity???? Perhaps we should do some stunts!!!. For example:
• A Jowett pulling a steam engine – that was a stunt in the 1920’s
• The young Jowetteers pushing a Jowett from Lands End to John O’Groats – note I have said YOUNG
• A 100mph speeding ticket for a 1923 short two driven by our oldest member!
• Drive across Australia in a Bradford, or three even better. Now Bill Ebzery did just that to get publicity and got quit a bit in Australia
• At this years NEC Classic Car show have only the young members on the stand ‘the oldest club with the youngest members’
• In the Vale of Evesham they have a run to London in a Morgan (built locally) to take the new crop of asparagus to London. What about a rhubarb run from Wakefield (part of the rhubarb triangle?) to London by Jowett
• How many Jowetteers can you get in a Jowett?
OK. So perhaps some of the ideas might be a bit far fetched and indeed stupid but I am sure the young element could come up with something. The main thing is to be on the ball. The classic silverstone for example, well that has been booked up since about March. A member has contacted the organizers since Stiffy’s note. There are clubs waiting to get entry into the NEC and we have to book about a year ahead. It has been suggested that we should make a bigger splash at Goodwood. Fine but somebody needs to organize it. We need to get cars there and it will cost some money. Are we prepared to spend the money? Most importantly the question is ‘do we get value for money?’

Now in concluding I am sure that the young element are a bit annoyed that I am putting a lot of pressure for them to do something. They are the future of the club officers, it’s there club as much as ours (old fogies hat on now)

[Jack]

The reason why the Jowett does not get the publicity is simple and I think Noel has hit it on the head, with the excellent example as quoted below – it’s money. The Jowett marques does not generate the income for the magazines as other makes do.

Let us assume the winner in the comparison was the Javelin. How many adverts would the supplement run to? Are there 10 Jowett specialists out there? No. Three then? Yes, that is probably about it, and we all know who they are. And at £100 per advert makes the motoring press £300. Compare that to the £30,000 perhaps that the Jaguar adverts raised, plus of course the increased circulation for that issue, even if only by 10%. No Contest!!!

Even ‘The Automobile’ is governed by sales. What sells that magazine? It’s the more exotic vintage cars not the small cars for the masses. After all there are few articles on pre-war Fords and the like. Although they do publish very good articles, often over a couple of months, on rare and obscure makes. Often rarer, more obscure and more unusual than the Jowett! I do believe that this is the magazine that we should concentrate on as it does include cars up to 1963 I think.

The other problem is that Jowett is a make that is out of production. Not many people have heard of them, even older people that perhaps have but have long since forgotten. Now this is not a new problem. If you read the motoring press of the 50’s and earlier Jowett is still little mentioned. OK. It got a lot of publicity when it did well in competition but it is not recognized in other publications. Only the other day I was looking in a book shop and picked up a period book about the Le Mann’s 24hr. Jowett was only mentioned in the list of entrants and results, and that was small print!! A lot of print about the other manufacturers.

Now the only way the Jowett is going to get publicity is to promote the models ourselves. Now I know Noel will continue with the hard and frustrating work that he does, and I take my hat off to him, but how do we get publicity???? Perhaps we should do some stunts!!!. For example:
• A Jowett pulling a steam engine – that was a stunt in the 1920’s
• The young Jowetteers pushing a Jowett from Lands End to John O’Groats – note I have said YOUNG
• A 100mph speeding ticket for a 1923 short two driven by our oldest member!
• Drive across Australia in a Bradford, or three even better. Now Bill Ebzery did just that to get publicity and got quit a bit in Australia
• At this years NEC Classic Car show have only the young members on the stand ‘the oldest club with the youngest members’
• In the Vale of Evesham they have a run to London in a Morgan (built locally) to take the new crop of asparagus to London. What about a rhubarb run from Wakefield (part of the rhubarb triangle?) to London by Jowett
• How many Jowetteers can you get in a Jowett?
OK. So perhaps some of the ideas might be a bit far fetched and indeed stupid but I am sure the young element could come up with something. The main thing is to be on the ball. The classic silverstone for example, well that has been booked up since about March. A member has contacted the organizers since Stiffy’s note. There are clubs waiting to get entry into the NEC and we have to book about a year ahead. It has been suggested that we should make a bigger splash at Goodwood. Fine but somebody needs to organize it. We need to get cars there and it will cost some money. Are we prepared to spend the money? Most importantly the question is ‘do we get value for money?’

Now in concluding I am sure that the young element are a bit annoyed that I am putting a lot of pressure for them to do something. They are the future of the club officers, it’s there club as much as ours (old fogies hat on now)

Hi Peter,

If the club could do half of what you have suggested, I think we'd all see it as a huge effort and very likely a big success. You will not struggle if the membership will get behind it, to organise this kind of thing. The younger members are trying desperately to get some activity going, especially for other young members but also to get the club a little more active than it seems to be at the moment - note the Fun of the Fair day out being organised this very weekend, but sadly we need more people to get involved with these things.

I particularly like the Rhubarb idea - it is wacky, it will get in the papers, and it would be great fun.

I believe there is a plan to take a Jowett around Australia, and even a space up for grabs for someone - details in the Australian section. Great idea, likely to generate a fair bit of interest in the Australian mags and papers, we should consider something similar in the UK.

The NEC thing I think we need a cross section of our membership - young and old, male and female, and a cross section of the cars as well - I am sure we'll have no problem there.

I think when we look at the money side of things two questions strike me:

1. Is the club short of money, my understanding is we are in a strong financial position? If so, why not spend a bit of money supporting big events where dozens of members can build relationships and retain the younger members for the future? I'm not suggesting a spending spree, but half a dozen well organised events with club support could transform the club calendar and if nothing else make it an even better club.

2. Does every event have to turn a profit, make us money, or is it enough that we raise the profile of the marque, share our cars with other classic car owners and the general public, and as a side-effect have a very active club that turns out for lots of events each year?

3. Magazines are interesting in selling their mag to lots and lots of people, so that advertisers will spend lots of money with them instead of someone else. All we have to do is make the car something of interest, make a big deal out of how rare some are, get them in as many other publications as we can, and there will be an interest. I see an article about the Bugatti Veyron in a magazine every single month. How many owners are there? Less than Jowetts, I know that. Why do they keep running articles on them? Because the public want it. Get people interested, develop a following, and magazines will follow. We may have to push them, we may have to write the article for them, send them the photos, and call in our favours, but ultimately if you keep knocking on the doors eventually one will open.

Finally, it is always possible to generate publicity. I managed to get myself onto the front page of our local papers, and between the group I was involved in our story went out on Reuters to be picked up by worldwide news agencies, the BBC, ITV, and Sky all ran features on it, and all of the magazines related to the sport ran the story with loads of photos and publicity for the club - what did we do? We broke a World Record in a sport that has never been attempted by more than a few hundred people. Amy and I now hold a World Record for Underwater Ironing, along with 100 of our mates. All it has to be is newsworthy - no magazine will run "yet another test drive of a Jowett" - instead let's do something that gets us into the "And now for something completely different" category - that is why I particularly love the Rhubarb idea. You'd get into the mags, you'd get into the grocery monthly magazines that are running short of fun stories to lighten the last few pages, and it could easily become an annual pilgrimage for all those who love rhubarb and Jowetts. I happen to be in both categories

Have we considered contacting the organisers of the big Rhubarb Festival in Wakefield and see if they want a few Bradfords to bring in the harvest followed by several of the other cars built just up the road in Bradford? I can't see any reason why they would possibly turn it down. http://www.wakefield.gov.uk/CultureAndL ... efault.htm We know where it is as well, "the festival’s grand finale, a dinner organised by Wakefield Hospice at the Cedar Court Hotel, Wakefield." - what a coincidence! I love this idea, but that is next February before it will happen again, but we should act now to contact the organisers - it is a whole lot of free, relevant, and good publicity - I bet all the local newsstations will be there and I'm pretty sure with some leaning on them we could get our cars on the news again.

Jack.

[p.p.]

lets drive the Monte Carlo Rally again !!!????
lets drive the Tulip Rally again!!!???

peter

nb: can't wait till the 7.sept......heard beating bum bum bum ......

[Alastair Gregg]

I too love the Rhubarb run idea. What about a relay, the Rhubarb gets passed to another Jowett every say, 10 miles. We could get the local and national press involved at each of the handovers. I had thought of teams of Jowetts trying to be first to get the Rhubarb to London like the Beaujolais run but realised racing on English roads would be frowned upon. I'm up for the Rhubarb run. A Jupiter in February What about a passenger dressed as a stick of Rhubarb, the ideas could go on and I hope they do. But more importantly we can't just sit and chat we have to make things happen.

I am part way through persuading the NW section that we need to go and do Phil Greens 200 Mile test run in 2011, we are not a lost cause.

Peter (pp)we could run the Monte again but there would almost certainly be casualties (cars), and whilst it might be good publicity in Europe we need it here in the UK. Europe is just so large and there are so few of us.

I don't believe we run the club to make a profit, and we do need to raise our profile. Jack please be encouraged, I am delighted you are trying to involve the younger element and I wish you great success.