Stagecoach's latest branding is the 'One'!

4/1/2016

I was intrigued to read a recent Blog post from Louisa Phillips’ which said that Stagecoach South East has applied ‘One’ branding to an Enviro 400 double deck in Eastbourne. As would be expected the bus is used on services 1 and 1A in Eastbourne. Besides the distinctive ‘One’ logo the strapline on the bus reads ‘One for the road’.
But, where have I seen this idea before. Yes, its nothing new. And it’s nothing original as we can now reveal.
Back in the history of Stagecoach in Peterborough, almost 12 years ago to be almost precise, a fleet of Volvo Olympians used which were used on the city’s Route One were given ‘One’ branding. And guess what the application of the branding seemed to have a ‘family feel’ to the one recently adopted in Eastbourne.
Is this a case of ‘what goes around comes around’ or ‘why invent the wheel’?
We can reveal that in Peterborough, the ‘One’ brand was devised to differentiate the route from the main Peterborough Citi network due to it being operated by non-low floor buses. Two years on Tridents were delivered and the ‘One’ brand was no more. The idea for the Peterborough ‘One’ brand is credited to Stagecoach East’s (who operate the the Peterborough network) then Commercial Director Philip Norwell. Fast forward 12 years and the same Philip Norwell is now Managing Director of Stagecoach South East. He has obviously taken the view that a good brand is worth re-using and for Philip Norwell this is the ‘One’!