(10 Jan 2015, 4:54 pm)MrPottski wrote I don't see what use branding achieves. Outside of the Sapphire and max, most customers don't really care what colour it is, they look at the destination to see if it's the right one. Plus arriva don't tend to stick to correct brand allocation anyway, and then it only gets us lot in a flap when, say, a Sapphire ends up on the X66 or similar. Surely to god, all companies should just go for a clean, well maintained, well presented fleet and cut out the gimmicks. Don't get me wrong, I think Sapphire has worked, especially on the 7, but when you start ending up with a fleet that resembles Josephs Technicolour Dreamboats (I'm looking at you GNE!) then it's just daft. I genuinely don't think Max will attract any more people in Darlington, bit we'll have to wait and see.
You don't see what branding achieves? Look at something like Ibuprofen for an example. Most supermarkets sell their own branded product for 30p, yet people will still buy Neurofen for £3. Why? Brand name, and the packaging makes it look like a premium product.