Well, that didn’t take long did it?! After reporting earlier this month that Metrolink 3023 was back in fleet livery after losing its Maybelline vinyls comes the news that after just a few days it is once carrying advertising vinyls.
It might be said that the new advert on 3023 is a little awkward as it is now advertising Co-op Live, the new entertainment venue at Etihad Campus. That venue has been in the news a lot over the past week as its test event saw capacity cut and then the opening events were delayed not once but twice. Meanwhile, the boss of the arena resigned before it had the chance to officially open.
But when you have an advertising campaign planned its difficult to suddenly react and cancel it (in a similar way as to how Visit North Wales advertised on a tram from March 2020 just as the pandemic hit) so 3023 is now carrying new vinyls.
The advert is mainly black with blue and now means that both large arenas in Manchester have adverts on trams (the AO Arena at Victoria advertise on 3047).
This is now the fourth different special livery that 3023 has carried since August 2023. It started off with the special Pride livery “Love Connects Everyone” before in September 2023 it started to advertise Hamilton (an advert which was removed and then quickly reapplied in January 2024) and then it was Maybelline’s turn in an ad removed earlier in April 2024.
The new look for 3023 is seen as the tram calls at St Peter’s Square bound for Bury. (Photograph by Geoff Hope, 22nd April 2024)