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Richardson's Debranding?


catcouk

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I find myself with a few spare minutes to opine and ask. As a self-confessed hire boat geek, I've noticed a fairly serious rebrand going on of the Richardson fleet as we've been chugging around this year. Is this new for this year?

Whilst I'll admit the garish colours of old probably did need an update, I'm sad to see some of the boats loose their personality. Most of the bathtubs seem to have been painted ina ghostly grey/ off white - it's genuinely difficult to tell them apart.

Saddest of all, in my opinion, is the complete absence of any marking on the side. The R logo is still on the bow but, other than that, there's no yard logo and no way to tell which boat it is. The names now only seem to appear in silver lettering on the stern. It makes identifying the largest hire fleet on the broads quite a bit harder.

Anyone have any ideas why they might have made this decision? Do you think the boats are part way through the repaint and the branding will return to the sides? Is it actually just really unimportant and I should find a new hobby...? Ha ha.

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A cynical old curmudgeon might suggest it's a measure to obscure the identity of a boat that may or may not have just clattered into another boat and hammered off into the sunset leaving only a trail of empty Stella cans.

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13 minutes ago, stumpy said:

A cynical old curmudgeon might suggest it's a measure to obscure the identity of a boat that may or may not have just clattered into another boat and hammered off into the sunset leaving only a trail of empty Stella cans.

Although it should be remembered that the primary method of identifying a boat is the registration number which is unique and has to be a certain minimum size and displayed on the stern and bow of every boat. 

The rest, names, decals and advertising is purely down to how the owner wants to present their fleet.

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5 minutes ago, Cheesey69 said:

It looks less like an hire craft. People feel less second best

Why should they feel second best? There's a lot of hire boats worth a shed load more than my boat.

Years and years a go I used to work as a TV engineer for a rental company. The customers mainly fell into two categories, those who couldn't afford to buy, so rented, and those who wanted the best, latest technology and rented because they could get a new TV every year and expense wasn't a problem. Some places you wiped your feet on the way in, others you wiped your feet on the way out, but you quickly learnt not to judge and take people at face value.

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23 minutes ago, stumpy said:

A cynical old curmudgeon might suggest it's a measure to obscure the identity of a boat that may or may not have just clattered into another boat and hammered off into the sunset leaving only a trail of empty Stella cans.

Yeah, the same cynical thought had crossed my mind...

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14 minutes ago, Cheesey69 said:

It looks less like an hire craft. People feel less second best

They do look a bit more privately owned, I guess but I enjoy the clear and colourful branding. Horning Pleasurecraft use a similar all white aesthetic but they still have names (and the boatyard name).

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Richardsons started this rebanding last winter. The boats have not been painted but wrapped. Last winter all the sterns were done and the new lettering. Since then they've been doing the rest of the boat. 

Incidently The Jolly Richie has been sold and dewrapped and now looks like the other Astral Gems.

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I can see why they are toning down some of their colour schemes. Some of their boats livery was very much "of its era" which just isn't the modern taste.

We will look out for them with interest when we visit soon.

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It came in for the 2022 season and makes the boats look drab and anonymous in my view. Those familiar with Broads hire fleets know what the R on the bows means but the uninitiated would have no idea where the boat is hired from or even if it's hired at all. That makes no business sense to me.

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 I like to play a guessing game with anyone on board as to which Richos boat it is coming towards us and I hate having to turn my head to have a look.

Your'e right Broads01, if you don't know what the swirly R stands for, perhaps if you are a new hirer and are looking out for what you might hire the following year, you wouldn't know it's Richardsons unless you know of their existence. But that was the same before the rebranding as well.

I must be 'of the era' then as my old Silver Gem is bright orange and I've decided its going to stay that way. One day a colourful boat will be a classic!!!

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The anonymous branding certainly makes for an odd business decision. Maybe everyone just uses Google these days so branding on the boats attracted no paying customers? I do find them a bit drab though - I would have preferred a two tone scheme.

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You keep her orange Kate. I've grown up with all the brightly coloured boats from Ricko's and love every single one of them from a Gold Gem to a bright yellow Melody. You could never not find the ruddy things coming back from the pub at night :default_biggrin: x

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I think the problem always lay in the fact it wasnt obvious that there was more than one boat of the same name in the class, imagine therefore coming back to the boat from the pub to find there were 3 pearl horizons moored up at acle, and not knowing which one you had arrived in - particularly when there was just one other boat between all 3, confusing or what.

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30 minutes ago, kpnut said:

I must be 'of the era' then as my old Silver Gem is bright orange and I've decided its going to stay that way. One day a colourful boat will be a classic!!!

If it's a good enough colour for the RNLI stick with it.

6 minutes ago, Gracie said:

I have actually boarded the wrong boat before :facepalm:

My old dog has done that, straight through the open sliding top at reedham quay, most embarassing. :default_huh:

Actually my old dog did it twice but the second time was allowed, we had just changed boat and our old boat was moored in the spot we always moor at the ferryhouse so he just trotted along and jumped on as he always had, luckily he had already met Seth their greyhound and got on fine.

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46 minutes ago, catcouk said:

The anonymous branding certainly makes for an odd business decision. Maybe everyone just uses Google these days so branding on the boats attracted no paying customers? 

They do, but they need to know what to Google.

I think there needs to be a bit more branding on them, personally.

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