Southern Railway’s ‘Rainy Day Guarantee’ is a brand new offer for Southern’s online customers which waives the usual refund charge of £10 should a customer find they need to cancel their ticket for any reason – essentially a money back guarantee.
Buying online, means buying in advance – something we in today’s society are reluctant to do with the flexible lives we’re all living right now – and the risk of your plans changing is ultimately going to cost you money. As off-peak train travel is mostly used for days out, the risk of bad weather, the kids getting sick or just a bad hangover can make the whole planning process quite stressful.
Currently no train operator is addressing this problem and Southern saw the opportunity to help consumers reappraise the train option and make booking in advance online much more easy and flexible for the customer.
VCCP and Southern developed Rainy Day Guarantee as part of its 2010/11 strategy with VCCP developing a brand new TV ad featuring Loco Toledo, the Mexican wrestler train enthusiast that fronts all advertising.
The campaign includes TV, radio, press, online, outdoor and direct channels going live across the Southern’s core South East region from 1st November 2010.
Alistair Buckle, Head of Marketing for Southern Railway, is excited about the new offer and Loco Toledo’s role in the company’s growth over the past year – “Of those aware of Loco, 60% have a positive impression of Southern, so he is very popular with our passengers, and we know that the Rainy Day Guarantee will only improve loyalty and encourage new people to travel by rail”.
“The objective is to encourage new customers to purchase their rail tickets online. Creating flexible tickets that don’t penalise customers needing to cancel or change their ticket is one bold attempt to help address an important barrier to rail travel” Fergus Hynd, Account Director, VCCP.
Creds
Project name: Rainy Day Guarantee
Client: Southern Railway
Brief: Create ad campaign to promote Rainy Day offer
Creative agency: VCCP
Agency Producer: Vanessa Butcher
Copywriter: Ken Taylor
Art director: Gavin McDonald
Planner: Stuart Parkinson
Media Agency: OMD UK
Media planner: Andrew Davison
Media Spend: £195k
Production Company: Another Film Company
Director: Nick Jones
Post-production: Rushes Audio post-production: Grand Central
Exposure: South East (Hampshire, Sussex) TV, radio, press, online
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For further information please contact XXXX, XXXX at VCCP on 020 7592 9331, xxxx@vccp.com or visit www.vccp.com
Notes:
VCCP is an integrated communications agency with a well-earned reputation as one of the most innovative agency forces working in the UK. VCCP believes you don’t need to outspend your competition, just outshine them and has a proven way of working to make brands shine brighter. The agency has built a reputation for work that works and has more effectiveness awards than any other agency its age.
Clients include O2, comparethemarket.com the Home Office, Microsoft, Jordans, Hiscox, Texaco and Standard Life.
Southern Railway provides a train services for commuters, airport users, business travellers and leisure travellers in south London, between central London and the South coast, through East and West Sussex, Surrey and parts of Kent and Hampshire. It also operates and markets the Gatwick Express.
Recent activities include:
• Winning Marketing Weeks’ Agency of 2010
• Winning Marketing Magazine’s Creative Agency of 2009
• Being shortlisted by Campaign for Advertising Agency of the year and Digital Agency of the year – the first agency ever to make both lists
• Comparethemeerkat.com winning ‘Campaign of the Year’ in Campaign, Marketing and comparethemarket.com being awarded ‘Brand of the Year’ by the Marketing Society.
• Expanding our international offering with a thriving office in Berlin and new offices in Prague and Istanbul
• Helping O2 reach their highest ever levels of consideration - working on brand extensions such as O2 money and O2 family as well as continuing to evolve the phenomenally successful Priority scheme for O2 customers
• Creating the Government’s high profile Alcohol Harm Reduction and Sexual Health campaigns
