Is this Virgin viral, viral enough?

We received a tweet from Virgin Trains today directing us to this YouTube video saying "YouTube fun! Win a Nokia N86 AND 1st Class tickets with Virgin Trains".



As we know the point of something viral is that it is meant to be funny, shocking or interesting so the idea is forwarded on to other people, and the whole promotion escalates.

Not sure this video does any of the above to be honest, which is surprising when you consider Virgin's marketing pedigree.

We know it's a viral and not a big production TV campaign but there is definitely room for improvement - it looks amateur. You can get away with the 'amateur look' in virals if the idea is great and it is really funny - sometimes it's actually funnier when it not over produced. It adds to the appeal. Unfortunately the acting, idea and camera work are all lacking.

I don't know who did it, whether it was in-house job or an agency but it really isn't in-keeping with the usual high quality marketing campaigns from Virgin that we all love.

Come on Richard - have a word!

Arriva offers Michelin meal for train passengers

Just seen a video report on the BBC website stating that...

"For one night only, train firm Arriva, hired Michelin-starred chef James Sommerin to provide a meal to 47 first class ticket holders. The experiment aimed to improve public perceptions of railway food."

This is somewhat unfortunate for Arriva. Unfortunate? Bear with me.

I say unfortunate because the report fails to highlight the most important point of this exercise - that they will be working with James Sommerin, at his acclaimed Michelin-starred restaurant the Crown at Whitebrook, to to create a new-look menu for the restaurant car on their North to South Wales service.

But the report makes it look like they simply hired James 'For one night only'. Like most people I immediately thought 'just because some posh chef is on there for one night, doesn't mean the food will be great when I travel!'

This special excursion was actually to première the new-look menu. And not meant to be an 'experiment aimed to improve public perceptions of railway food.'

To make matters worse, Arriva don't seem to mention this new menu or the report anywhere on their website. Have Arriva's PR people missed a trick there?

Shame, it's a good idea. The food looked great!

click here to see the report

Adshel advertising starts with Christ

This Christmas Christian churches will begin their first ever organised advertising campaign. And it’s coming specifically to a bus shelter near you.

“Christmas starts with Christ” aims to retell the Nativity in a modern context. In particular, agency churchad.net is concentrating on bus shelters because these, they believe, are the modern day equivalent of a stable.

Not a bad analogy I suppose. Bus shelters offer shelter to homeless people, for long and short periods, during the day and evening. The agency feels that people whose lives are in need of some hope (that the Easter & Christmas messages bring) will be passing through bus shelters.

The campaign aims to sponsor 2,000 shelter adverts in the last two weeks of December 2009. For a modest sum, local churches can “buy” an advert in local shelters and they are being invited to give a carol concert on 22 December 2009 at or by their respective shelters.

Nice strapline and a great illustration, maybe a little dark. I love the Tesco carrier bag at the foot of the bus stop, lovely touch.

Will it get more people into a church this Christmas? It just seems too cold and archaic to me, like the churches themselves.

Manchester Airport takes off

One of our latest projects for First TransPennine Express (TPE) has been to develop a creative approach that would increase traffic travelling to and from the Airport train station.

It became clear that the sites we did a couple of years ago were looking tired and needed updating with TPE's new corporate guidelines. Our proposal suggested concentrating the budget on securing lightboxes in all three terminals and our creative team produced concepts highlighting the agreed selling points of speed, frequency and ease of use.

We'll let you know the results soon. But if they are anything like the last time we did this project (a 26% uplift in sales within the first four weeks) the client will be delighted once more.

click on the images to enlarge

Being a specific marketer

This quote comes from a piece written by Mark Ritson in this week's Marketing magazine.

"Then comes targeting. A good marketer has made the leap of faith and accepted that fewer target consumers will deliver a better overall result. Usually, that means stepping back from the segmentation and only going after 10% or 20% of the potential market. Tight target segments mean the marketing has a chance to succeed. Too many marketers lose faith at this stage and end up targeting pretty much everyone."

Find out more about being specific in marketing public transport here.

The full article can be read here

Mark Ritson is an associate professor of marketing and consultant to some of the world's biggest brands.

Will bus stop art get us talking?

Can artwork on the roofs of bus stops encourage us to talk to each other more?

That's the aim of two artists who have been awarded a cash prize to help us celebrate the 2012 Olympics.

Londoners Paula Le Dieu and Alfie Dennen have been commissioned to use the roofs of bus stops across all the boroughs to act as a canvas for residents to tell their stories.

The commission is one of 12 special designs by Arts Council England and London 2012 in the first major project for the Cultural Olympiad.

Alfie says: "This was an opportunity for us to engage all of London. Creativity is untapped and sits within everyone and if we just give them the tools to express that and have a voice, well that's the core of the project."

The roofs of 40 bus shelters across all London boroughs will offer LED panels as canvases on which Londoners can talk to each other, display their creativity, play games and express what is special about their London. The installations will add a joyful surprise to the experience of riding on buses, inspiring wonder and creativity in one of the last places expected.

I don't know about promoting London 2012, but there is definitely scope for councils or operators to use the space to promote bus travel!

First launches UK's first single deck superside

For the first time on the UK mainland, single deck buses will be able to carry a double decker superside advertising panel following the launch of the single deck superside, a panel each side that extends above the roof of a bus.

Further to trialling and investment in innovative bus advertising formats with First UK Bus, CBS Outdoor's latest format will be available across York as a showcase to advertisers about this new advertising proposition. The superside format has never been used on a single deck before, but is a leading format on the iconic double decker buses.

The new format was trialled earlier this year on two buses around the city of York and proved a massive success with a further four advertisers coming on board including Visit York, Safer York and the high-end department store Fenwicks.

Jason Cotterrell, Commercial Director, CBS Outdoor, comments: "The industry must continue to invest in products and innovation and this is a great example of how CBS Outdoor and First UK Bus is leading the way. The single deck superside will give advertisers in York the chance to use campaigns across both the double and single deck buses, further broadening their options to advertise on the one of the most visible outdoor advertising formats available."

Leon Daniels, Customer Service and Communications Director for First UK Bus, said: “Bus advertising is a valuable source of revenue for bus companies and double-decker sites are worth more than double their single-deck equivalents because they are of course ‘head and shoulders’ above the traffic. In some of our cities we have fewer double-deckers than the demand for advertising so these new sites will allow us to grow our revenue. I have seen attempts to do this before across the water but I wanted an elegant and economic solution for our buses on the UK mainland.