The latest side advert on one of Blackpool’s Flexity2 trams has recently appeared on car 004, which is promoting an upcoming new attraction at the Pleasure Beach – Wallace & Gromit’s ‘Thrill-O-Matic’! The new ride, inspired by the much loved Aardman Animations characters, will open at the theme park next year and 004 has been chosen to promote it.
The deal with Aardman is another major coup for the Pleasure Beach, having secured the use of many popular Nickelodeon characters a few years, some of whom featured on the advert carried by Jubilee car 762, now preserved at Crich. 004 now features an image of Wallace and Gromit, stars of award-winning films such as ‘A Close Shave’, ‘The Wrong Trousers’ and ‘The Curse of the Were-Rabbit’, on its centre section. The roof panels feature a now familiar gold background, as has become the norm for all Pleasure Beach adverts on the new trams. The adverts have already proved popular with children and adults alike, and should help to boost interest in the theme park’s latest ride ahead of its grand opening.
As an aside, 004 previously advertised the Hot Ice show and duly makes history by becoming the first Flexity to have its original advertising vinyls replaced by a new design. As the ice show will resume in July 2013, it is likely that another tram will adopt Hot Ice adverts next summer.
A close-up of the newly applied adverts for Wallace & Gromit's Thrill-O-Matic on the centre section of Flexity 004. (Photo by John Whitehouse)