VTEC to drop branding

[gimmea50anyday]

Came over the internal messaging system earlier,

VTEC to drop their current branding and re-brand simply as Virgin Trains. Customer feedback suggests that they see west coast and east coast as one brand, and having the east coast bit merely complicates matters.

Thought they learnt this lesson from back in XC days.....

 

[destere]

Oh I hope this leads to phasing out the god-awful livery on the EC.

 

[Kite159]

The only real place the two Virgin companies meet is at Edinburgh so the PIS needs to make sure they advertise the right Virgin to London.

Before someone gets on a First Stop Newcastle and asks "what time does it reach Preston?"

(Although I'm sure the last time I was in Edinburgh, the West Coasts trains were advertised as Virgin Pendolino/Voyager)

 

[Bletchleyite]

As they are two separate companies with two separate sets of policies, ownership etc, I'm a bit surprised - I had expected a rename of the present VT to "Virgin Trains West Coast". But either way I guess it'll hopefully sort the confusion out.

 

[ainsworth74]

Also what are they going to do about tickets that are currently restricted by TOC (either to VTEC or VTWC)? 'I'm sorry sir but this ticket is only valid on Virgin Trains' 'Isn't this a Virgin Trains service?' 'Well yes sir but it's not that the right Virgin Trains you wanted the other Virgin Trains'.

Could be interesting...

 

[Bletchleyite]

Thought they learnt this lesson from back in XC days.....

The "Virgin XC" branding was only used prior to VT winning the West Coast franchise, and was phased out soon after they did.

 

[jopsuk]

Does that mean for example just one twitter account? Because that'll be horrible

 

[Bletchleyite]

Does that mean for example just one twitter account? Because that'll be horrible

It will need to - if you look at both of their feeds you will see a huge amount of confusion between the two, they seem to spend all day Tweeting each other queries sent to the wrong one!

 

[marks87]

Also what are they going to do about tickets that are currently restricted by TOC (either to VTEC or VTWC)? 'I'm sorry sir but this ticket is only valid on Virgin Trains' 'Isn't this a Virgin Trains service?' 'Well yes sir but it's not that the right Virgin Trains you wanted the other Virgin Trains'.

Could be interesting...

Could they stick in "via"?

e.g. "Virgin Trains via Newcastle" or "Virgin Trains via Preston".

 

[Greeby]

Also what are they going to do about tickets that are currently restricted by TOC (either to VTEC or VTWC)? 'I'm sorry sir but this ticket is only valid on Virgin Trains' 'Isn't this a Virgin Trains service?' 'Well yes sir but it's not that the right Virgin Trains you wanted the other Virgin Trains'.

Could be interesting...

Go back to the old BR route codes like AP Rugby and AP Peterborough?

 

[Bletchleyite]

Go back to the old BR route codes like AP Rugby and AP Peterborough?

For AP tickets it makes not a jot[1] of difference to the passenger what the Route field says, as you are required to use the booked trains anyway. The only place it's significant is walk-ups, and there won't be *many* of those affected - basically only anything from London to Scotland.

[1] Well, sort-of, if you miss your train due to the railway's fault you're meant to stick to the same TOC, but that's not going to affect the majority of journeys and is in any case obvious from the booked train.

 

[NSEFAN]

On the up Northern Lights today the Train manager was already using just "Virgin Trains". Seems pointless to make the distinction to the pax, to whom trains = trains.

 

[Searle]

Oh I hope this leads to phasing out the god-awful livery on the EC.

yes, they're now going to spend a lot of money stripping the livery they just spent a lot of money putting on

 

[superalbs]

On the up Northern Lights today the Train manager was already using just "Virgin Trains". Seems pointless to make the distinction to the pax, to whom trains = trains.

Who, or what, is pax?

 

[alxndr]

Who, or what, is pax?

People, passengers, etc

 

[gimmea50anyday]

The "Virgin XC" branding was only used prior to VT winning the West Coast franchise, and was phased out soon after they did.

Yep, that was exactly my point, both franchises were marketed pretty much throughout as one company. Resources such as marketing, catering, control etc were shared, as at one point was drivers.


Vast amount of money wasted on rebranding to rebrand again within a few months tho.....

 

[dk1]

Yep, that was exactly my point, both franchises were marketed pretty much throughout as one company. Resources such as marketing, catering, control etc were shared, as at one point was drivers.

But they could only be shared to a point as both companies need to stand alone should the other fail overnight. This is a strict requirement by DfT even if that leads to duplication of recourses.
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---

Oh I hope this leads to phasing out the god-awful livery on the EC.

I wouldn't bank on it as I don't think it mentions EC anywhere. I find the livery on VTWC Penolinos & Voyagers one of the most impressive on the network. Not since the launch of 'one' have I been so disappointed in a livery as I was at the launch of VTEC.

 

[route:oxford]

Saw the "de-branded" advert on STV* last night.

Interesting this is happening just as Virgin is abandoning the Scotland-Heathrow routes.

Shame really. I've been rather enjoying the £89 returns and prompt departures.


*Actually, it probably wasn't STV - but I'm in the STV Central region for focussed adverts...

 

[anme]

When I saw the title of the thread, I thought - good idea, "East Coast" still means something, while the "Virgin" brand is now so compromised and tarnished as to be worse than worthless.
However unfortunately it seems they are dropping the wrong part of the name.

 

[Bletchleyite]

When I saw the title of the thread, I thought - good idea, "East Coast" still means something, while the "Virgin" brand is now so compromised and tarnished as to be worse than worthless.

I don't agree at all. The brand is still well respected outside the railway enthusiast community.

 

[LNW-GW Joint]

Who, or what, is pax?

Airline slang, like "arriving into".
The railway has its own slang, like "station stop" and "broken down train".

 

[dk1]

I don't agree at all. The brand is still well respected outside the railway enthusiast community.

And with Many of us in it & employed by it

 

[Hadders]

I suspect there'll be just one website - so I guess we'll have to get used to the awful Trainline based ticketing engine!

When VTEC took over I seem to remember them saying there would be a new website at the end of September.

 

[Stats]

Also what are they going to do about tickets that are currently restricted by TOC (either to VTEC or VTWC)? 'I'm sorry sir but this ticket is only valid on Virgin Trains' 'Isn't this a Virgin Trains service?' 'Well yes sir but it's not that the right Virgin Trains you wanted the other Virgin Trains'.

Could be interesting...

I think East Coast Main Line Company will still trade as Virgin Trains East Coast, and tickets will still show VTEC and VTWC, but in all other marketing and branding they will use a common set and simply refer to themselves as VT.

This can be seen on the now horrendous very red and grey VTEC website.

 

[BestWestern]

yes, they're now going to spend a lot of money stripping the livery they just spent a lot of money putting on

Hopefully!

 

[jopsuk]

The two seperate brands thing might have worked better if shortly after being awarded EC (and so long before starting operations), they'd done a minor bit of rebranding to make it explicitly "Virgin Trains West Coast" or even just "Virgin Trains West".

I do wish they'd gone retro with the EC brand and used the 1997 Virgin livery

 

[najaB]

Interesting this is happening just as Virgin is abandoning the Scotland-Heathrow routes.

As I see it, Virgin Atlantic never had any intention or desire to run those routes - it was all about the Heathrow slots. They had to continue using them for domestic routes for (as I recall) two years after acquiring them from BMI. Now they're free to use them for other purposes.

 

[LLivery]

I've still being calling it East Coast! But I guess there is a lot of sense to it. What did they expect when they didn't bother to add "West Coast" to the WCML routes? Surly the marketing dept didn't think that was sensible from the start. Pure stupidity really.

 

[route:oxford]

As I see it, Virgin Atlantic never had any intention or desire to run those routes - it was all about the Heathrow slots. They had to continue using them for domestic routes for (as I recall) two years after acquiring them from BMI. Now they're free to use them for other purposes.

Are they Virgin slots or are they Aer Lingus slots?

If Aer Lingus, it looks like they'll be returning to IAG anyway.

Either way. It's a shame that there will soon be just one airline left that flies between Heathrow and Scotland.

 

[najaB]

Are they Virgin slots or are they Aer Lingus slots?

Virgin. Aer Lingus were providing the planes and crews on a wet-lease basis as Virgin doesn't have A320-size aircraft.