We’ve seen recently that Edinburgh has had a lot of new adverts in quick succession and it looks like the bug has spread to Manchester as there have been three new adverts on Metrolink trams over the past week or so. The trams receiving these ads are 3075, 3107 and 3117.
In all three cases the adverts are replacing previous ones (although for 3117 at least there was a period where it ran in standard fleet livery) so its not a case of more trams now being covered in advertising vinyls but more that those vinyls have changed.
Taking them in fleet number order the first tram is 3075. This tram had previously been advertising The Trafford Centre with three separate designs having been carried since July 2021 but is now off to the zoo as its new advert is for Chester Zoo. The vinyls include very large images of a orangutan and a tiger. This is in fact the fifth different advert that 3075 has carried (The Body Shop was its first ad from March 2019) which makes it the tram to have the most adverts in Manchester.
Next up is 3107 which is now advertising Ordinary Skin Care in a very plain white advert. This tram had previously been advertising Raytheon careers (from April, 2023) which had been its first advert.
The last new advert is on 3117. Previously 3117 had been carrying a long-term advert for Lifebuoy Soap (applied September 2021) but can now be seen in an ad for Yayoi Kusama Aviva Studio. It wasn’t a straight swap though as it did spend a short period running in fleet livery again. This is advert number four for 3117 with it also having ads for Manchester College (October-December 2016), Cyberpunk 2077 (December 2020-February 2021) in the past.
3075 on Lower Mosley Street as it works a service to East Didsbury. Its new advert for Chester Zoo is seen here.
In its plain white advert for Ordinary Skin Care, 3107 leads 3117 into Deansgate-Castlefield with a service to Manchester Airport. You’ll notice its partner is also in an advertising livery…
And that advert is for Yayoi Kusama Aviva Studio on 3117. In this view we are on Lower Mosley Street with the tram brining up the rear of a double unit, a relatively rare double advert combination. (All Photographs by Roland Bull, 4th July 2023)