Another High Street Rebrand

Pear · Sun 10 Jun, 2018 19.30

Pure speculation, but could B&M be looking to phase out the Heron brand shortly? The Heron careers site is now dual branded as Heron Foods and, interestingly, “B&M Express” - the replacement brand perhaps? The non-food sections of the stores are growing every time I visit, with B&M style price marking, and they seem to be using B&M carrier bags now.

The site includes this banner:

bilky asko · Sun 10 Jun, 2018 20.13

The B&M carrier bags are vastly inferior to the 6p and 10p Heron bags - I'm sad to see them go.

My local Heron has a sign up advertising an impending alcohol license - another bit of B&Mification.

Hopefully B&M can learn some things from Heron - such as SELs that look like they came from this century, and a decent scanning speed at the till.

thegeek · Mon 18 Jun, 2018 20.24

thegeek wrote: Thu 05 Jan, 2017 13.34 The ABC in Glasgow (which I remember from my youth as a Cannon, then MGM) later reopened as a music venue - also known as the ABC, and complete with the original ABC logo on the sign.

Then Academy Music Group took it over, so it's now the O2 abc and has a boring O2-style sign.

And, being as it was right next to Glasgow School of Art, it's a big smouldering crater in the ground. Some history of the building, including some ABC Regal branding.

james2001 · Wed 20 Jun, 2018 17.10

Travelling up the ECML today I've noticed they've already replaced most of the Virgin signs at the stations with LNER ones, and there's LNER posters plastered all over too.

thegeek · Thu 21 Jun, 2018 14.54

james2001 wrote: Wed 20 Jun, 2018 17.10 Travelling up the ECML today I've noticed they've already replaced most of the Virgin signs at the stations with LNER ones, and there's LNER posters plastered all over too.

Their website has said

LNER branding will start to appear in stations, on trains and via digital platforms from today as we prepare for launch on 24 June.

for a few days now.

Alexia · Sat 23 Jun, 2018 01.53

The website already redirects to lner.co.uk which is a strange mix of new logos and the distinctive Vermin Trains font.

https://www.lner.co.uk

james2001 · Sat 23 Jun, 2018 02.19

Same thing happened with the National Express East Coast changeover in 2009, the East Coast website was at first basically just the NXEC one with the East Coast logo slapped on it.

Alexia · Sat 23 Jun, 2018 12.40

james2001 wrote: Sat 23 Jun, 2018 02.19 Same thing happened with the National Express East Coast changeover in 2009, the East Coast website was at first basically just the NXEC one with the East Coast logo slapped on it.

Like rolling stock, like website.

JAS84 · Sun 24 Jun, 2018 09.40

Alexia wrote: Sat 23 Jun, 2018 01.53 The website already redirects to lner.co.uk which is a strange mix of new logos and the distinctive Vermin Trains font.

https://www.lner.co.uk

That looks odd. Wouldn't it make sense to change the font to the same one the logo is based on?

Pete · Sun 24 Jun, 2018 10.50

JAS84 wrote: Sun 24 Jun, 2018 09.40
Alexia wrote: Sat 23 Jun, 2018 01.53 The website already redirects to lner.co.uk which is a strange mix of new logos and the distinctive Vermin Trains font.

https://www.lner.co.uk
That looks odd. Wouldn't it make sense to change the font to the same one the logo is based on?

There are 15 references to Virgin in the HTML source. Although a fair number of those are due to them not updating the template for the service update to include the new twitter handle.

Alexia · Sun 24 Jun, 2018 12.54

Something tells me there may be a licensing deal in place with the originators of the font which they may have paid for for the duration of the franchise or something, so perhaps they may as well get their money's worth.