Way back in the early 1990s, and not so long after deregulation of the national bus services, I became involved in the design of a bus livery. So I thought I'd have a look at the way they've evolved since then...
My involvement...
The company in question operated bus services in the North East of England under the name United - derived from the company name United Automobile Services Limited. Three different designs were submitted, copies of which I unfortunately no longer have, and the company selected what can only be described as the most conservative!
Simple straight lines were favoured at the time, as the liveries were
still painted on. Later, with the increased use of vinyls and accurate
modern cutting techniques, more complex designs and shapes became
possible.
As part of the design process, new logos were created, again the most conservative was chosen. Once the design was agreed, that was the end of my involvement. No design guidelines were produced, and no control was provided over the use of either the livery or the logo - the company had free reign over how the whole design was used.
Needless to say the livery was not always implemented as intended, and
the results were sometimes pretty awful. More often than not, the side logo
was much smaller than the original design intended, and the front trapezoid flash incorrectly extended downwards, with a rectangle, over the grille and bumper.
Once
applied to the United fleet, the same design of livery was also rolled
out on the buses of two other companies in the group - Tees (Red and
Yellow) and TMS (Blue and Cream), using their existing logos.
Later versions of the livery were, more or less, along the
lines of the original design. The final, and most correct versions, also carried route
information on the front and side flashes.
Original livery alongside the new (incorrect) design
Here the implementation is almost correct, but the side logo is too small.
This edited version shows how it should have been - complete with black skirt.
Tees version of the livery.
TMS version of the livery.
Early (pretty much correct) adaptation of the livery on smaller buses.
Final adaptation of the livery, before being re-badged Arriva.
I wonder if this had some kind of subconscious influence!
Variations on a diagonal side flash...
Badgerline's early forward sloping flash...
...evolved into this later First Badgerline rearward sloping flash.
This looks strangely familiar - but its actually Red Rose buses!
Brighton & Hove early side flash...
Brighton & Hove later livery.
Coventry Bus diagonal flash.
Early Stagecoach livery - note the straight lines...
Later Stagecoach livery - the diagonal flash influence is clearly visible.
Fylde variations.
Exeter's version.
Front trapezoids...
Plymouth's City Bus clearly sporting a contrasting front trapezoid.
Preston Bus with a more contemporary take on the trapezoid.
Wardle Transport with front trapezoid and tapering diagonal side flash.
Another contemporary "trapezoid" from Wiltshire Bus.
There are of course many other variations on these themes, but I think this will do for now. If you have any you'd like to add, please let us know.
And just for interest, here's a thread from Flickr posted around 9 months ago, regarding the United, Tees and TMS liveries - names removed...
Me: Glad you liked the livery! I'm
afraid I was responsible for designing it,
well at least the original United version.
The Tees and TMS liveries then followed the
same format using different colours.
1st response: You're a pretty cool person then! Those three
liveries really were/are excellent, shame
Arriva replaced them...
2nd response: I thought all three liveries were very tidy
and suited the buses very well - it also
added extra interest for the enthusiast when
inter-depot transfers resulted in
United-liveried buses carrying Tees
fleetnames (and vice versa).
United badged, Tees colours!
The final irony is, being based in the South East of England, I only ever saw one bus sporting the United livery, when vising the North East. All I have, is a collection of images from the internet, to remind me of my very small contribution to British bus liveries. Apparently Britbus has a die-cast model of a Leyland Olympian in United colours - perhaps I ought to get one!
Guerrilla Marketing is a strategy using low-cost unconventional systems of promotion - relying on time, energy and creativity - rather than huge marketing budgets. Below are just a few examples of such techniques in use.
How about this one for Folgers coffee in New York...
Or this anti-graffiti campaign from Western Australia...
"Zebra" crossing for the South African tourist board in Mumbai...
A different take on EXIT signs (AXE aka LYNX deodorant etc.)...
A neat idea from Kiwi fashion boutique Suprette - marketing on the move!
Another one from New Zealand - working eraser and memory stick...
Clever! Wouldn't want to give it a try though!
If you have any favourite examples of Guerrilla Marketing, let us know and we'll post them here. Click on the web link below and use the contact form there.
What is Propaganda? - A form of communication intended to encourage or persuade its audience to think or behave in a particular manner. Surely that also applies to Advertising. It does - because in effect advertising is commercial Propaganda.
What is Advertising? - A form of communication intended to encourage or persuade its audience to continue with or to take some new action. And then there's political and ideological Advertising! Read on...
The techniques used in both Advertising and Propaganda are principally the same - the major difference is what the purveyor wants the outcome to be, or is it? Advertising is aimed at persuading its audience to buy products or services, or subscribe to a particular lifestyle, cause or belief - Propaganda, on the other hand, is perceived to have a more subversive aim, carried out in support of a narrow political, religious or ideological cause or belief.
In either case the ultimate aim is to encourage, influence or persuade an audience to carry out some kind of action, or subscribe to some kind of cause or belief. Both are disseminated through channels of mass communication to promote the adoption of goods, services, a person or group, or ideas.
Is this Advertising? Propaganda? Or both?
Ostensibly, its an ad for the Russia Today news channel, but the propagandist overtones are clear for all to see.
In the words of Josef Goebbels, Reich Minister of Public Enlightenment and Propaganda (Volksaufklärung und Propaganda) "It is not propaganda's task to be intelligent, its task is to lead to success." Is this not also true of Advertising? Where can we draw the line between Advertising and Propaganda? If we can draw a line at all!
In a quote attributed to Howard Gossage, by David Ogilvy, it states "Advertising justifies its existence when used in the public interest - it is much too powerful a tool to use solely for commercial purposes." This form of Advertising is better known as Public Service Advertising - and was used extensively, by both sides, throughout the First and Second World Wars!
Psychological manipulation...
Currently running on UK TV channels is this government "ad" showing a sleeping baby in a room, whilst his/her mother is standing at an open door, smoking a cigarette and blowing the smoke outside.
This is effective psychological manipulation, designed to instill a feeling of guilt about smoking, especially around young children.
This form of psychological manipulation or social influence is not underhand nor unduly coercive, but it certainly walks that narrow line between what is acceptable social influence, and what is considered to be underhanded manipulation. It is however, a classic example of government manipulation through the use of mass communication.
Political and Ideological Advertising...
Where Propaganda is intended to encourage or persuade its audience to think or behave in a particular manner, the same can be said of Political Advertising. Above, is the well known billboard created by Saatchi & Saatchi, for the 1979 Conservative party election campaign. Margaret Thatcher's Conservative party was voted in, heavily defeating the Labour party.
The billboard, along with associated Advertising (or should that be Propaganda) campaigns, clearly had an effect on the way people perceived the Labour party, and clearly manipulated their decision making when it came to voting. So is this really Advertising? Or just a thinly veiled excuse for Propaganda.
Here's a hijacked version of the billboard, at the 2009 G20 Summit in London, where demonstrators protested against the ideology of fundamentalist capitalism! One of the gurus of such capitalism was of course Milton Friedman, who in turn inspired Margaret Thatcher's economic reforms of the 1980s.
Religious and Non-Religious Advertising...
Religious Advertising such as this, found on the side of buses...
spawned this, by the atheist group the British Humanist Association...
which in turn spawned this hijacked version, by The Christian Party!
The British Humanist Association also managed to come up with this billboard for the 2011 UK census! Bless them!
Propaganda?
Finally, let's consider this now well known poster from World War 2.
Propaganda or not?
Well it was number three in a series of three. The other two carried the following messages:
"Freedom Is In Peril. Defend It With All Your Might." "Your Courage, Your Cheerfulness, Your Resolution Will Bring Us Victory"
I think that clearly answers the question. Yes! It was Propaganda!
The posters were produced by the Ministry of Information (MOI), whose main functions were: news and press censorship; home publicity; and oversees publicity in Allied and neutral countries.
There are a number of different 2D codes, but by far the most popular is the QR code. The QR (Quick Response) code was developed by Toyota subsidiary Denso Wave in 1994, and was originally intended to track vehicles during the manufacturing process.
Since then, and thanks to Japanese mobile phone companies including QR readers in their mobile/cell phones, they have developed into an extremely efficient marketing tool, when used in the right context.
QR codes
QR codes can be created by anyone and are licence free. Free QR readers are available for most smartphones with cameras, some already have the software included. QR codes can contain information such as links to websites, email addresses, MeCards (electronic business cards), SMS messages, simple text, calendar event reminders, and geolocation co-ordinates, to name but a few.
With a number of different error correction levels, QR codes can be customised to include logos, images, colours, and different shaped blocks. It is this flexibility that makes them more attractive, as they don't just have to be a collection of square black blocks on a white background.
Datamatrix codes
Similar in appearance to QR codes, but lacking the referencing squares, instead using an L shaped solid border on two sides, and alternating dark and light blocks on the other two sides. Datamatrix codes are primarily used in the Defence, Aeronautics, Medical, Pharmaceutical and Electronics industries.
Microsoft Tag
This is a proprietary code from Microsoft. Unlike Datamatrix and QR codes, the use of colour was designed into the codes from the start, and can use 4 colours (cyan, magenta, yellow and black) in a 5 x 10 grid, using triangles as the cells.
When using these tags, data is first sent to a Microsoft server, which then directs the user's internet enabled mobile device to the relevant website. This enables Microsoft to track users and provide analytical data to the website publishers.
Microsoft tags can be used in much the same way as QR codes.
BeeTagg
This is another proprietary code or mobile tagging system, and works in much the same way as Microsoft tag. Unlike the others, the ability to include a logo or image has been designed into the code. BeeTagg uses hexagonal shapes for the data cells.
