Challenge
With trains often full to capacity during peak hours, the rail industry’s Holy Grail is off-peak leisure custom. Off-peak schedules are governed by the need to move trains to the right locations for rush hours, but with seats often empty during these movements, TOCs – First Great Western among them – are looking for ways to attract greater leisure use and thus cover their daytime running costs.
Solution
Having identified major locations on the First Great Western route – Bath, Bristol, Cambridge and London – that held appeal as day-out destinations, we created an integrated campaign that highlighted low fares as well as key attractions of these historic cities. Media utilised included outdoor and direct mail, with collateral featuring a giant train ticket and an iconic image of the destination in question. The aim was to convey the idea that a train ticket to these places bought a customer not just a rail journey, but a whole wealth of things to see and do.
Results
Early reports regarding this initiative suggest that our creative strategy, coupled with deft integration of media channels, has resulted in a significant increase in off-peak passenger numbers. The fact that the client has already commissioned a second burst of activity speaks for itself.