The recent second First launch (fbb invited but declined) was at Norwich. From Monday February 17th the prestigious "Excel" to Peterborough gets a revamp, rebrand and relaunch. Another Stenning sensation comes to East Anglia.
The present vehicles replaced some rather bland branding ...
... and the route was split, chopping off the section from Norwich to Lowestoft. In came the generic First Bus "express route" blue and gold.
Now the X1EXCEL branding is to disappear and the blue becomes red!
A unique combination of a Scania Euro VI diesel chassis and stylish, modern bodywork from Alexander Dennis, we’ve worked with some of the bus industry’s leading designers, suppliers and manufacturers over the last two years to bring you a bus designed and built especially for excel. The Scania chassis, with its 9-litre engine, is designed to deliver outstanding performance, reliability, fuel economy and safety on longer and more demanding routes, whilst meeting the highest current industry emissions standards.
As well as listening to the great feedback we’ve had from passengers, drivers and stakeholders all along the excel route, our research and development for these vehicles has taken us far and wide across the UK, with the aim of bringing together a whole host of features, some already established and some brand new, that will allow us to bring you a new standard in interurban bus travel.
First's web site lists the "benefits".
All very impressive. And the branding was impeccable. Route information ...
... pretty pictures ...
... and cove panel promo material.
Particularly impressive is Ray Stenning's back end (NO! Not that back end, thankfully!) advertising the bus's benefits to motorists as they site behind it waiting to zoom past gleefully.
At seat entertainment? Surely you will be enjoying the rolling uplands of Easy Anglia as you gaze through the windows in persistent sunshine.
Over this and the previous blog we have experienced gorgeous colours, intriguing graphics and, above all, a strong brand image from GoAhead, Transdev and First. Well done all concerned.
Then there is the reveal by Stagecoach of its new logo and livery. After years of powerful blue red and orange on a white background plus the beach ball logo ...
Maybe it was a mistake to launch a pallid (even dull?) paint style outside the dull and dismal Doncaster Airport terminal on a dull and dismal day?
An opportunity missed, thinks the chubby one, to, erm, how to put it ...?
... gottit ....
... to Create Desire!
Tomorrow we look at the Norwich to Peterborough route and its publicity.
Next excellent publicity blog : Monday 3rd February
Impressive stuff from First nand it's not often we've been able to say that until recently.
ReplyDeleteAs for Stagecoach, they've literally dropped the (beach) ball. Nothing in the new layout, colours, logo or font is an improvement on the current image. This is just dull and cheap looking. Even their press release was weird: talking about 'iconic buses' and people who 'need' to use Park & Ride services. Surely it was the colours that were iconic, not the buses, which are the same off-the-peg standard models that most of the industry buys. The coach livery is okay, I suppose; even the red/blue/green were better than what they've now gone with. I daresay they've dropped the cheerful and welcoming blue and orange interiors too? Is it April 1st?
As somebody who first rode on Eastern Counties Service 34 from Norwich to Peterborough nearly five decades ago, I look forwards to tomorrows blog. The buses were red then as well!
ReplyDeleteCome on Stagecoach - You can do better than that !
ReplyDelete