Londoners are being urged to consider new modes of travel, new routes or altering their usual times to avoid congestion during the Olympics, through a major integrated marketing campaign.
Devised by M&C Saatchi for Transport for London (TfL), the Olympic Delivery Authority (ODA), and other transport operators, the push targets people who travel through areas that will be 2012 Games travel hotspots this summer, encouraging them to plan ahead to help them avoid the busy times and places.
The agency was briefed to develop a range of communications – from outdoor to digital to PR – under the banner ‘Get Ahead of the Games’.
With the increased volume of people in London during the Games, everyone will need to understand the implications, and be encouraged to start considering new modes of travel, new routes or altering their usual times to avoid congestion.
The campaign uses an illustrative approach by showing caricatures of Olympic and Paralympic athletes in day-to-day London transport situations to raise awareness of potential transport congestion hotspots.
One ad features two stereotypically large weightlifters causing obvious disruption as they squeeze themselves through the doors of a busy train. Ads will encourage people to seek transport information before travelling, which will be available using
TfL marketing director Chris MacLeod said: “Getting people to adapt their travel behaviour during the Games, at certain times and locations will be a key to their success. We have worked hard to ensure this campaign gets this message across, while ensuring that people understand that London and the other Olympic venues remain very much open for business.”
M&C Saatchi chief executive Carrie Hindmarsh added: “This has been a very challenging campaign due to its scale and complexity and we have relished the challenge.”
