RMweb Gold NHY 581 Posted June 14, 2018 RMweb Gold Share Posted June 14, 2018 Lots of comment on the colour, but does no-one else find it significant that after all this time they have finally put Peco branding on the cover? rm_peco.jpg The fiction that it was just another news-stand magazine and not a Peco advertising medium seems to be over. Publishing a monthly magazine was a work of marketing genius by Sydney Pritchard. Martin. I am struggling to see what is so bad. I started buying the Modeller in 1978 and the 'close link' was fairly obvious then. I mean Peco was always 'PECO'. It's not really rocket science is it? Rob. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold martin_wynne Posted June 14, 2018 Author RMweb Gold Share Posted June 14, 2018 Was it a ever a fiction? Look for example at the wording in March for the announcement of the new bullhead slips and crossings: "Peco has revealed plans ... the manufacturer also confirmed...". Not "we" or "us". Maybe the fact that no-one believed the distinction, and some laughed out loud, is the reason for the change. I also notice that Peco now have an advert in the editorial section (page 610), and not just in the end sections. Martin. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Barry Ten Posted June 14, 2018 RMweb Gold Share Posted June 14, 2018 Peco=RM; it's always been dead obvious as far as I'm concerned and not really a fiction as they never made any attempt to separate out the two activities. For as long as I can remember, it's Peco who I phone to renew my subs (and very friendly they are too). RM is still my favorite of the UK mags because of its generous amount of content. I appreciate MRJ but if I buy a copy in Cardiff, I'll have read most of it on the train home. Whereas with RM, they seem to manage to stuff a lot of articles into each issue, such that I always find something I've missed, flicking through it a few days after purchase. 4 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Poggy1165 Posted June 14, 2018 Share Posted June 14, 2018 I'll say one thing for the RM. At least there's something to read in it. If being "more modern" means sandwiching a number of photos with minimal text between umpteen pages of adverts, I'll take "old-fashioned". 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Dunsignalling Posted June 14, 2018 RMweb Gold Share Posted June 14, 2018 Lots of comment on the colour, but does no-one else find it significant that after all this time they have finally put Peco branding on the cover? rm_peco.jpg The fiction that it was just another news-stand magazine and not a Peco advertising medium seems to be over. Publishing a monthly magazine was a work of marketing genius by Sydney Pritchard. Martin. I don't think it ever fooled anyone, (certainly not me) and there's never been too much of the hard sell about it in the editorial content anyway. If SCP hadn't taken it over way back when, the thing was well on the way to oblivion. A friend of mine insisted that you wouldn't get your layout in it unless you used their track but any flip through old issues quickly reveals that plenty (sometimes most) didn't. Rather less strange than naming a magazine after another company's products IMHO. John 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold martin_wynne Posted June 14, 2018 Author RMweb Gold Share Posted June 14, 2018 I am struggling to see what is so bad. No-one said it was bad. Just an interesting and noticeable change after more than half a century. Martin. 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold martin_wynne Posted June 14, 2018 Author RMweb Gold Share Posted June 14, 2018 (edited) I don't think it ever fooled anyone, (certainly not me) and there's never been too much of the hard sell about it in the editorial content anyway. The lack of any obvious hard sell was what made it so clever. And getting folks to buy your advertisements, instead of having to pay for them. Martin. Edited June 14, 2018 by martin_wynne Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pint of Adnams Posted June 14, 2018 Share Posted June 14, 2018 Was it always Peco though? Didn't Sydney Pritchard acquire the new title from someone/where else and persuade CJF to become the editor? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold NHY 581 Posted June 14, 2018 RMweb Gold Share Posted June 14, 2018 (edited) Is this simply another occasion when you take issue with the activities of PECO, Martyn ? Rob. Edited June 14, 2018 by NHY 581 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold martin_wynne Posted June 14, 2018 Author RMweb Gold Share Posted June 14, 2018 Is this simply another occasion when you take issue with the activities of PECO, Martyn ? ??? a. I don't remember taking issue? b. I'm not taking issue now. I think it is a refreshing move forward. Martin. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold PaulRhB Posted June 14, 2018 RMweb Gold Share Posted June 14, 2018 Look for example at the wording in March for the announcement of the new bullhead slips and crossings: "Peco has revealed plans ... the manufacturer also confirmed...". They do technically operate separately even though they share the same building. Much like all the other ranges under the Peco group they retain their separate identities. Just like many modern global companies in fact Known old brands and even retro style sell well, maybe they've gone through stuffy into cool cutting edge . . . Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nearholmer Posted June 14, 2018 Share Posted June 14, 2018 Everyone knows it’s published by Peco; everyone has known this for nearly seventy years; nobody cares a fig. Well, nearly nobody. 4 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold martin_wynne Posted June 14, 2018 Author RMweb Gold Share Posted June 14, 2018 Everyone knows it’s published by Peco; everyone has known this for nearly seventy years; nobody cares a fig. Well, nearly nobody. Nobody is caring now. But surely it is permissible to report a noticed change of policy? I will keep my eyes shut when the next issue comes out, just in case I notice something which mustn't be mentioned on RMweb. Martin. 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rivercider Posted June 14, 2018 Share Posted June 14, 2018 I first started getting RM in the early 1970s, and after a while realised that whenever PECO was mentioned in an article the word always appeared in a different typeface, (as did Railway Modeller), so I was aware of it back then. RM has always been my favourite mag, and although I stopped buying magazines regularly back in the 1990s RM is still the one I am most likely to get now, cheers Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Dunsignalling Posted June 14, 2018 RMweb Gold Share Posted June 14, 2018 (edited) Was it always Peco though? Didn't Sydney Pritchard acquire the new title from someone/where else and persuade CJF to become the editor? Railway Modeller was originally published by Ian Allan. IIRC in a much smaller format, a page size of A5 or thereabouts. I think I have one pre-Peco issue somewhere. I'm not certain of the exact sequence of events, but I think CJF might have already been in-post and had to be persuaded to move to Devon with the magazine. The HQ was in Sidmouth in those days, later moving to Seaton and eventually Beer. John Edited June 14, 2018 by Dunsignalling Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nearholmer Posted June 14, 2018 Share Posted June 14, 2018 Martin I’m delighted that you did draw the change of masthead to out attention. If you hadn’t, I wouldn’t have found it on the shelf. The green look made is “disappear”, and I genuinely had to hunt for it. And, the return to overt Peco branding is an interesting observation. Kevin Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
grahame Posted June 14, 2018 Share Posted June 14, 2018 All those 'P's has always been a little confusing (well at least to me). They must like them down in Devon. Once they got the hang of the digital world didn't they have www.pecopublications.co.uk on the cover of RM and claimed it was published by Peco Publications and Publicity Ltd. Wasn't Pritchard Patent Product Co Ltd more to do with the products (models, track, kits, etc.). And Peco the brand name (rather than the company)? G Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Darius43 Posted June 14, 2018 RMweb Gold Share Posted June 14, 2018 The fiction is over - for the first time in living memory the July RM shows full Peco branding on the cover. Also they have reverted to a green cover in the traditional 3-colour sequence. Apparently the all-red covers have been an "experiment". Lasting a mere 6 years. Other magazines could have come and gone in less time, but in the case of RM 6 years is merely an "experiment". Martin. Ah but does the world know that Peco also faked the Moon Landings and is responsible for the Bermuda Triangle and Nazca Lines... Darius Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
LBRJ Posted June 14, 2018 Share Posted June 14, 2018 There are at least two separate companies operating under the "PECO" umbrella. Pritchard Patent Product Company Ltd are the ones who make all the stuff. Peco Publications and Publicity Ltd publish RM and all the other literature. I think Pecorama is another company and then there are the wholly owned subsidiaries (Ratio WIlls etc) SO when the RM refers to PECO products as a separate organisation, they are correct. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pacific231G Posted June 14, 2018 Share Posted June 14, 2018 (edited) Was it always Peco though? Didn't Sydney Pritchard acquire the new title from someone/where else and persuade CJF to become the editor? No. I've got the earliest editions. It was originally published by Ian Allan every two months from Dec49/Jan50 edited by G.H.Lake. Cyril Freezer became its editor from the August /September 1950 edition (vol1 no 6) but Lake had announced his retirement due to poor health and not wanting the strain of monthly publication in no 4 The change of ownership was announced in the September/October 1951 edition with the new address given as Peco Publications, Pecoway, Station Rd. Seaton, Devon along with the fact that it would henceforth be published monthly. The first Peco edition was November 1951. Cyril Freezer continued as editor and moved to Devon with the magazine. The page size increased slightly in January 1952 We've had this discussion (endlessly?) before but I've never seen much real evidence of RM favouring Peco's products over their competitors. Given that the other track manufacturers advertised in RM, they'd have been daft to do so . Sidney Pritchard wasn't daft and certainly expected RM to make a profit which magazines don't achieve by hacking off their advertisers. The only arguably advertorial content was Sydney Pritchard's regular "Peco Topics" column but that was more customer information on using their products than any kind of sales pitch. Peco's Railway Modeller Show You booklets and similar publications tend to mention Peco products but, for example, the one on backscenes mentions the sheets produced by Peco but then lets the artist who painted the original artwork describe in great detail the techniques he used so that you can paint your own and not buy them from Peco. Laying Little Western track, an article by Jim Russell, certailnly wasn't promoting Peco track and neither were the many articles by Messrs. Denny (handmade EM) Hancock (handmade 009) Charman (C.C.W. chaired track) and many others. If Pritchard saw a benfit to the rest of his business in RM it was probably in encouraging the "average enthusiast" generally and the building of complete layouts (which need track) rather than just individual models of locos etc. but CJF was already doing that when it was an Ian Allan title. Edited June 14, 2018 by Pacific231G 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
F-UnitMad Posted June 14, 2018 Share Posted June 14, 2018 Also, in less time, other magazines have taken their heads from up their @rses, moved with the times and improved themselves quite considerably. Mike. Not so much "taken their heads from up their @rses" - more shoved them so far up that they've popped out of their necks again 5 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Harlequin Posted June 14, 2018 RMweb Gold Share Posted June 14, 2018 Once they got the hang of the digital world... G When did that happen? I must have missed it... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
jonny777 Posted June 14, 2018 Share Posted June 14, 2018 Is there a poll for the most uninteresting thread on the planet? May I nominate this one to be included..... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
grahame Posted June 14, 2018 Share Posted June 14, 2018 Anyway, regardless of the colour of the cover, what are the contents for the July issue of RM? G Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ian Stewart Posted June 14, 2018 Share Posted June 14, 2018 I'm anxiously awaiting the in-depth report from our man in Pecoland, R.M.Staff. Ian. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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