As I remember it (way open to correction), I think it was the 19 was the pioneer non-corporate full-livery modern route branding, with the shields ferry 333 done around the same time. I think the Big Bang of brands and liveries under the late Peter Huntley was in 2006 and coincided with the delivery of the Omnicities and Citatos a few months later. The only brand as we know it to be today before then was perhaps the Quaylink Q1 & Q2 with Stagecoach’s Designlines and it’s predecessor the Quays Link 60? Unless you count the Metrocentre circulars which were in their own block colour livery per bus when it was a much more intensive service.
The first fully commercial branding venture in recent times was the X10 ‘Expand your horizons’ followed by the first incarnation of the X2 Red Arrows with Plaxton Expressliners which was in place for a couple of years before the upgrade and expansion of the brand with Citaros in 2007.
