Another High Street Rebrand

Jamesypoo · Sun 24 Jun, 2018 16.46

Alexia wrote: 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.

Isn’t the font just the commercially available Neo Sans? I doubt here’s any sort of deal with anyone.

Alexia · Sun 24 Jun, 2018 18.38

"Webfonts by Monotype, Linotype, and Ascender ..... have elected to set their licenses as a Pay-As-You-Go model. You can think of Pay-As-You-Go as a bucket of pageviews. This means that you’ll buy a certain quantity of pageviews, and once that quantity has been used up, you’ll have to come back to add more views."

I'm guessing VTEC paid for use of the font, and LNER don't want to waste this investment cost and/or don't want to pay for a new font to replace it unnecessarily.

james2001 · Sun 24 Jun, 2018 23.07

An East Coast train whizzed past me this morning, sadly far too fast for me to work out what (if anything) they'd done with the Virgin logo. I'm travelling back down to England tomorrow anyway, so I'll be able to see what they've done on that train. Presumably just scraped off the Virgin logo but left the rest of the branding intact, if what happened at the NXEC/East Coast Changeover is anything to go by.

Alexia · Sun 24 Jun, 2018 23.52

This is how it was last time. Shows how the use of Neo Sans extended to onboard signage as well, so probably just as well they're keeping it. Those Virgin logos on the doors should be easy to cover.

According to my sources, they've just taken the Virgin logo off and put an LNER logo on top. The first units in public service with LNER branding will be out and about tomorrow, following a 9am launch at Kings X.

Pete · Mon 25 Jun, 2018 04.30

so in terms of the scale of that refit, how big are we talking? obv that video is designed to look impressive but what i saw was as follows, please correct me where i'm wrong

- repairs to base paint work where worn, but main livery being a cheaper vinyl job
- dismantled tables and chairs for new carpet / deep clean
- unclear if new tables or just had foam on for protection
- seats, presume the majority of the seat frame was the same, just new upholstery? new cushions or not?
- the majority of what we saw was general maintenance?

One of the fab things about UK trains is by refitting the interiors so well you'd never know a mark 3 was a 40 year old train. They're using the sidings down the road for storage of the FGW HSTs before they get refitted for ScotRail and the work they're planning for those looks incredible, Would love to see the same work done on the rest of the HST fleet to help get rid of the shonkier DMUs on the network. I mean I know they're replacing reasonably new 170s up here but the quality difference is incredible.

Presume whichever ROSCO owns the stock is watching with interest.

Charlie Wells · Mon 25 Jun, 2018 15.46

Pete wrote: Mon 25 Jun, 2018 04.30 so in terms of the scale of that refit, how big are we talking? obv that video is designed to look impressive but what i saw was as follows, please correct me where i'm wrong

- repairs to base paint work where worn, but main livery being a cheaper vinyl job
- dismantled tables and chairs for new carpet / deep clean
- unclear if new tables or just had foam on for protection
- seats, presume the majority of the seat frame was the same, just new upholstery? new cushions or not?
- the majority of what we saw was general maintenance?

One of the fab things about UK trains is by refitting the interiors so well you'd never know a mark 3 was a 40 year old train. They're using the sidings down the road for storage of the FGW HSTs before they get refitted for ScotRail and the work they're planning for those looks incredible, Would love to see the same work done on the rest of the HST fleet to help get rid of the shonkier DMUs on the network. I mean I know they're replacing reasonably new 170s up here but the quality difference is incredible.

Presume whichever ROSCO owns the stock is watching with interest.

There are new trains meant to be coming into service on the East Coast Main Line in December according to http://www.railtechnologymagazine.com/R ... pan/196783. Courtesy of the Wayback machine you can also view a press release that was on the old Virgin East Coast website.

I imagine for now they'll do the bare minimum on the old stock to remove the Virgin logo. With the new trains presumably there's enough time to make the necessary changes to remove any Virgin logos properly.

james2001 · Mon 25 Jun, 2018 16.27

The train I got on about 10 minutes ago has had the Virgin logos taken off the carriages- but it's still on the locomotives. Some stickers inside covering up Virgin logos, and the seat back reservation tickets have the LNER logo on.

Also has these above each seat, which I assume will be replacing the seat back reservation cards?

Entirely free wi-fi now too, rather than only free if you booked your tickets direct.

Alexia · Mon 25 Jun, 2018 17.58

Charlie Wells wrote: Mon 25 Jun, 2018 15.46 I imagine for now they'll do the bare minimum on the old stock to remove the Virgin logo. With the new trains presumably there's enough time to make the necessary changes to remove any Virgin logos properly.

The logos haven't been added yet. LNER don't have any IETs running around in passenger service at the moment, GWR haven't even got all of ours yet, so they're still being outfitted and vinyled.

The only IET not in GWR vinyls is the 800101 test train, which will no doubt be re-done before service entry. There's even a few mocks floating around.
https://www.railforums.co.uk/attachment ... png.48341/

tillyoshea · Tue 26 Jun, 2018 20.12

Retail Week is reporting a planned major rebrand by John Lewis and Waitrose to "John Lewis & Partners" and "Waitrose & Partners" respectively.

Gut reaction: feels like a bit of a stunt that'll be forgotten in a couple of years. Though, in fairness, that's not usually JLP's style.

all new Phil · Tue 26 Jun, 2018 20.51

tillyoshea wrote: Tue 26 Jun, 2018 20.12 Retail Week is reporting a planned major rebrand by John Lewis and Waitrose to "John Lewis & Partners" and "Waitrose & Partners" respectively.

Gut reaction: feels like a bit of a stunt that'll be forgotten in a couple of years. Though, in fairness, that's not usually JLP's style.

I just find them both such a turn-off. They do have their audience though I suppose. Give me Home Bargains & Partners any day.

cwathen · Tue 26 Jun, 2018 21.23

tillyoshea wrote: Tue 26 Jun, 2018 20.12 Retail Week is reporting a planned major rebrand by John Lewis and Waitrose to "John Lewis & Partners" and "Waitrose & Partners" respectively.

Gut reaction: feels like a bit of a stunt that'll be forgotten in a couple of years. Though, in fairness, that's not usually JLP's style.

Can't think why. I know it's owned by a trust with the profits held for employees rather than them used as dividends paid to shareholders, but the whole 'partners' thing is aimed squarely at the store-level staff to make them feel like they're more than just employees, it means diddly squat to the customers.

Having also employed an ex-John Lewis member of staff a few years ago, I have a first hand account that whilst a salesperson may well be called a 'partner' and your bonus may be called a 'profit share', they actually don't treat their junior staff very well at all.