GETTING MORE BUMS ON SEATS WITH VIRGIN TRAINS TICKETING

 Our cheeky campaign to help customers make the smart choice for their Railcards. 

The Brief

Virgin Trains Ticketing wanted to establish itself as the go-to Railcard platform for new customers and existing holders. The goals were clear: 

  1. Create awareness of VTT as the smart choice for Railcards.  

  2. Build brand loyalty – Railcard users are more likely to buy tickets from the same provider.  

  3. Capture content that can be used to re-engage Railcard users year after year. 

We built our stop-and-stare creative around a simple but powerful insight: buyers want to feel savvy and smart about their choice. 

The Strategy

Buying a Railcard can be a real hassle, needing tons of research and faffing about. But what if there was a simpler way to do it, a way that made you feel like a right smarty pants? 

We wanted to capture the smug satisfaction that comes from making the smart, simple choice. From choosing VTT and being a Railcard smarty pants. 

Armed with a camera and some dazzling red shorts, we headed to London Kings Cross station to make that happen. 

And to really boost our behinds, we went beyond thumb-stopping social media content: 

  • DOOH advertising: Grabbing attention across digital out-of-home platforms. 

  • CRM: Keeping existing customers in the loop via email. 

  • Programmatic Advertising: Targeting relevant audiences with in-app ads. 

The Results

With millions of travelers reached and peachy-looking levels of engagement to boot, it turns out everyone loves a smarty pants. 

32.8M

Impressions

120K

Clicks

98%

YouTube View Through Rate