Cymru and triban dropped in favour of softer symbols

Mar 17 2008 Western Mail

CHANGES introduced by Plaid Cymru over the past two years have been geared towards promoting a modern party that wants to appeal to a broad cross-section of the Welsh public, rather than a minority of romantic nationalists.

At its February 2006 conference, which was held in Carmarthen, four subtle tweaks to the party’s image were launched:

The long-standing "triban" logo – depicting three peaks of Snowdonia – was ditched because it was seen as too aggressive. Its replacement styled on the Welsh poppy was considered more user- friendly.

A sonic logo lasting five seconds – played as you enter the party website and available to members as a ring tone – was meant to demonstrate how contemporary Plaid was in its acceptance of new marketing techniques.

Changing the party colour from green to yellow was another image-softening tactic.

Future party material would refer to "Plaid" rather than "Plaid Cymru", giving a subliminal message to English speakers that the party is not a Welsh language pressure group.

Earlier this month Plaid consciously sought to appeal to aspirational middle class voters by empathising with their declining purchasing power and focusing on the injustice of huge salary and bonus hikes for the City super-rich.