Mmm. Actually, the only people who had heard of British Midland were the people who had flown on it. If you mentioned it, people would say, "Oh, do they fly from the Midlands, then?" - to which you would point out that actually a sixth of the movements at LHR were theirs. They were remarkably good at keeping a low profile.
bmi have done better at making the brand visible. But still, nobody has basically heard of them.