Mediafleet rebrands over 3,000 in-fleeted operational vehicles for National Grid over four months
The acquisition of Western Power Distribution (WPD) by National Grid in 2021 meant that a rebrand was necessary across all communications – including the vast, existing vehicle fleet.
Mediafleet already had an existing relationship with WPD, so when Christopher Mayell (Transport Manager) and Jane Nicholson (Fleet Technical Specialist), initiated discussions with Mediafleet concerning a fleet rebrand, the conversation was focused on delivering uniform branding across the entire fleet.
Rob Rudd, head of development for Mediafleet commented, “Branding over 3,000 ‘new vehicles’ in ideal workshop conditions in four months is a task that would need serious planning even for Mediafleet, but branding that many vehicles while they are working in the field must be close to unique. I doubt this has ever been done before on this scale.”
The first phase of the rebrand was an interim programme of adding additional livery to the existing WPD fleet stating that they were now part of the National Grid fleet.
For the full rebrand, serious project discussions between the management of Mediafleet and National Grid started in spring 2022 and, at the same time, a creative agency was appointed by National Grid to look at all communication branding.
Mediafleet worked closely with the creative agency to ensure the vehicle graphics were as impactful as possible and in July 2022 Mediafleet began manufacturing the graphics for the launch and roll out.
At the same time, detailed project discussions commenced to understand how 3,141 vehicles can be rebranded in four months
In perfect harmony, the Mediafleet fitting team would be at the workshop locations to welcome the drivers and rebrand their vehicles according to the pre-agreed schedule. It was literally a ‘rebrand while you wait’ scenario.
The project was successfully completed in December 2022. Barnaby said, “Apart from a few pieces of equipment outstanding at the time, the project was completed according to the schedule and was a complete success. Definitely some sleepless nights but I have complete faith in the project team here at Mediafleet to deliver any project on time and in full. The National Grid team demonstrated utter professionalism at all times and managed the flow through of vehicles and drivers with what seemed like simplicity itself – which it certainly wasn’t.”
