Keith Diggle

Innovator. Four consecutive highly successful careers in the arts. Invented ‘Arts Marketing’ and wrote its first and never bettered definition.

[Keith Diggle @EmailDiggle]

Intelligence has been defined as ‘the ability to perceive relationships and to educe the relevant correlates’. That’s how the notion of arts marketing started.

[Keith Diggle @EmailDiggle]

Just presented my illustrated talk, ‘The Short, Happy, History of the Corby Grammar School Jazz Club’ to my local Probus group. Interesting to note that those audiences from 1963 to 1966 are now all past retiring age. So am I come to think of it. It was, I think, a bold venture.

[Keith Diggle @EmailDiggle]

I thought I might remind my Followers that although it may seem otherwise I am still alive and my brain still functions. I continue to await an invitation to give a talk on the beginning of the arts marketing idea and how it was developed in my three books on the subject.

[Keith Diggle @EmailDiggle]

@unadevine They are certainly taking the piss.

[Keith Diggle @EmailDiggle]

Advice: try ignoring Twitter - don’t read and don’t tweet - for at least a month. You’ll feel better for it. Something to do with blood pressure I think.

[Keith Diggle @EmailDiggle]

At this difficult time in our collective life I have nothing to contribute. I think I may have to have a hip replacement and the condition is painful - that’s my concern. I’ll leave Brexit to you.

[Keith Diggle @EmailDiggle]

@ZeIlnerLaw Kathleen - I wonder if this has occurred to you (re Steven Avery case). So much of the prosecution case rests on what Brendon says he did. I’ll bet you’ll find that narrative in one of Bobby’s porn videos - that Brandon saw. Has anyone ever asked him if he had seen any of those?

[Keith Diggle @EmailDiggle]

Where on earth is Keith Diggle these days? Dying a slow death from Twitter sourced boredom. (Don’t worry fans - he’s really OK, better than ever - but bored with Twitter).

[Keith Diggle @EmailDiggle]

When I made a second cup of tea this morning I had a strange sense of deja-brew.

[Keith Diggle @EmailDiggle]

Hey, says the old guy, don’t forget how in 1980 I brought Danny Newman over from the U.S. to give seminars on Subscription based marketing. 2 in the American Embassy,London, 1 in Leeds and 1 in Edinburgh. 293 attenders. Impressed? Maybe.

[Keith Diggle @EmailDiggle]

‘A useful idea of mine’, says the octogenerian, ‘was to see the public as consisting of an ‘available audience’ and an ‘unavailable audience.’ The latter notion gave rise to thoughts on audience development, the former to people you could sell to today.

[Keith Diggle @EmailDiggle]

So, how many copies of your ‘Guide to Arts Marketing’ did you sell, Mr D? 4,500 in paperback and 500 in hardback. Not bad marketing eh? says the old fellow.

[Keith Diggle @EmailDiggle]

What were you doing in 1984? It’s when the old guy’s ‘Guide to Arts Marketing’ was published. On P17 it says ‘We should considered the formation of an organisation to concentrate upon the marketing of the arts, an Institute, or Academy or Association for this vital area’.

[Keith Diggle @EmailDiggle]

Yes ... that Jazz Club thing from 1962. All done with my own money, at my own risk. First contract with Monty Sunshine. Fee about twice my monthly salary. No grants you see. Concentrates the mind wonderfully. Dear arts marketers - ever risked your own money on a promotion?

[Keith Diggle @EmailDiggle]

@BenWalmsley @OliverMantell Discounts? All part of the Sales Promotion function. Used appropriately can help people jump over a sales barrier. There’s a lot about it in my book ‘ARTS Marketing’.

[Keith Diggle @EmailDiggle]

I’m on a roll here as memory kicks in. I must have done something after 1972.... I know! I started Rhinegold Publishing Ltd in 1979. And it’s still around. It worked! Must have been something to do with that arts marketing stuff I’d worked on.

[Keith Diggle @EmailDiggle]

My inner voice is speaking to me. It reminds me that I’m 80 years old (and 7 months). How can anything I say be worth a tuppenny damn? Hard to accept this but it’s the vibe I’m getting. Seems a shame to waste the accumulated wisdom and knowledge but there you go.

[Keith Diggle @EmailDiggle]

Wow! The old brain box is kicking in today! I’ve just remembered that in 1962 I launched the Corby Grammar School Jazz Club. Professional jazz musicians presented in a school hall. BIG audiences. Must have been my first venture into arts marketing. I’m a bloody pioneer!

[Keith Diggle @EmailDiggle]

@BryonyKimmings @mancinbelfast But sort out your apostrophes, please!

[Keith Diggle @EmailDiggle]

The mists of time are clearing. Hey! Dammit! Didn’t I start a chamber orchestra in - when was it? - 1965, that’s it. Called it Midland Sinfonia first and then made it English Sinfonia. What were you doing in 1965 fellow arts marketers?