Since April Fools’ Day this year, a new operator, National Express, has been running all railway services in the East of England, encompasing four distinctly branded rail services: Anglia, Great Eastern, Stansted Express, and West Anglia. The Guardian reported the railways consolidation into one franchise quoting Phil White, chief executive of National Express, who said,

“This is the consolidation of four distinct services into one. It’s one operator, one terminus, one vision and one unified management team.”

It seemed like a good idea at the time to bring all these operations under one brand, so the company brandsmiths consulted with staff, customers, passenger groups and local authorities. They hired consultants who produced fancy new logos and livery, flashy presentations and well designed explanations, for the one name that got on the fast track as soon as someone too clever by half noticed that “one” is acronymic for Operated by National Express.

But the idea derailed as soon as it pulled into the stations, as the East Anglian Daily Times reported; the one word was so confusing.

A spokeswoman said: “Our customers have told us that they think some of our services are leaving or arriving a minute later than they actually are.

“They think, for example, that the Tannoy is saying ‘The 7.21 service is leaving’, when in fact it is saying ‘The 7.20 One service is leaving’.

“To prevent any further confusion we have decided to drop the company name from station announcements.

“The announcer will now simply say ‘The 7.20 service is leaving’. Customers will then be told when they get on the train ‘Welcome to the One service to wherever’.”

No one appears to be taking credit for this naming and branding cockup, but it reminds one of the work of the British branding outfit that thought Monday would be a good name for PwC Consulting.

Originally posted by Abnu on our sister site, Wordlab.