A new marketing image for £110,000:
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Why BRS Parcels changed their name to Roadline UK by John Darker THE GREEN VAN men will still use a green livery but the prosaic, time-worn and confusing name of BRS Parcels has been ditched in favour of the strong-sounding title : Roadline UK Ltd.
Some of the reasons for changing the name of a much respected company in the State -sector of road haulage were spelt out last week by Roadline's young managing director, Mr Alan Monighan, and his lively marketing director, Mr Geoff Kenyon.
" Ever-changing patterns of distribution, confusion with other companies and an oat-of-date image" were the principal justifications given. Though proud of their commercial success — the parcels company notched up £1.9m profit in the last recorded accounts of the NFC —Roadline UK hopes to progress even faster under a new masthead.
Impact
Certainly, the smart emerald green, white, yellow and black livery, and the bold new logo with small " r " . simulating a trunk mad intersection, make Roadline's visual impact extremely penetrating. A short film produced for internal staff training should pep up morale and remind all concerned of their new identity — with topclass service to match.
Before 1956, when BRS Parcels was constituted, parcels and general haulage branch managers reported to the same divisional managers. Understandably, many customers continued to assume that there was ,a direct functional link between the companies, known generally to be under the State umbrella. In fact, confusion has built on confusion; the recent launch of Relay Express, the specialist distribution service now handling 100,000 packages a month, has been confused by prominent newspapers with other organisations in the State transport field.
An analysis of phone calls received at the hq of British Road Services Ltd, at Whetstone, showed that 43 per cent ,referred to the parcels company. Even the parcels dispatchers of customer firms were confused, only 25 per cent realised the separate identity of the parcels and general haulage comPanies.
New name
Of course, a case could have been made out for a change of name, and a clearly separate identity, many years ago. Traffic staff at all general haulage depots and district offices have been referring callers and POD inquiries to the parcels company for many years and there will be relief all round if this is no longer necessary.
In deciding on the name Roadline, I surmise there has been a spirited debate in the parcels company and at higher formations in the NFC. Some powerful figures avowed loyalty to the tried and tested name that with all its disadvantages turned •in a good profit with pleasing regularity.
Some old hands would have liked to see the Carter Paterson title exhumed from obscurity ; there are still a few CP window call cards around. Perhaps if Carter Paterson had been equally well known throughout the service area of BRS Parcels Ltd this "old familiar" might have won the day. In fact, dozens of titles were considered, some with a lot of punch like "Route One."
But Roadline repeatedly came first in any shuffling of possible titles. Existing trunk services will become Roadline trade routes forthwith. It can be expected that a lot of new specialised services will be promoted, with their own distinctive names ; the Green Van men have become tired of being "up-staged" by other publicists and they know that users have ceased to be impressed with generalised services in a distribution era of specialisation and purpose design. Of course, the cynic would say that the new philosophy will boost revenue. This is probably true, but lively transport men now see the merit in the marketing approach.
A new departure is the decision to operate smaller types of vehicles from selected branches to cater for the steep rise in small parcel business. In general, Roadline will continue to handle packages that are within the capacity of one man to handle.
Young drivers
The small vans will enable Roadline to offer jobs to young drivers who will be thoroughly trained, progressively, for hgv qualifications. The departure of old hands at 65 will go some way to balancing the youthful intake.
Currently, Roadline UK Ltd has 76 branches, over 3,000 vehicles and moves 63m parcels annually ; 8,500 employees from February 2 will serve the new company and drivers will soon be used to new labels on their overalls.
, Speculations in the Press and in Parliament on •the cost of the transformation have greatly exaggerated the real cost. By doing as much as possible of the work with their own staff, much of it at offpeak times, Roadline reckons the cost will not exceed £110,000. Had all the work been done by outside contractors the likely cost would have been some £266000; 30 per cent of the fleet will appear in the new livery this week and the balance is likely to have been completed by August 1976.
• A new image to be convincing needs hardware and proved organisational efficiency to match. Roadline is proud to boast of its new 'Manchester depot, operating 320 vehicles and trailers, claimed to be the largest and most modern of its kind in • Western Europe.. Another big depot is building at Northampton. Glasgow and Leicester have operated huge depots for some years.
In tune
Since the relaxation six months ago of the rules regulating the use of " coupled" trailers the company has been experimenting with autocoupling dolly units, which enables an attic trailer to be linked to a rigid unit. Roadline's national spread of depots fits in well with the new concept, though Freightliners will presumably be used as before, for appropriate services such as London/Glasgow.
In tune with the latest thinking on industrial relations training a series of three-day branch manager/senior shop steward training seminars is planned during 1976.
Roadline UK's new livery was designed by The Creative Business, a London company. The Roadline title in terms of passible new trading activities has been thoroughly researched and protected. Shall we one day see Roadline Europe?
Mr Monighan's lips are sealed about ventures outside Britain, but he will no doubt watch with interest the progress made by his sister company National Carriers in Europe — some interesting joint services are now operating.
Mr David White, the new group co-ordinator of British Road Services, has welcomed the new identification of the former parcels company which he sees as benefiting both Roadline and BRSL. What would be interesting would be the views of NCL, Rail Express Parcels and private enterprise competitors in the parcels business.