South Western Railway is aiming to tackle the long-standing issue of fare dodgers, which are estimated to cost the UK railway industry an between £350m and £400m a year, by highlighting the regret, disgrace and shame of not coughing up.
The brief for independent agency St Luke’s was to create an OOH campaign highlighting the consequences of travelling without a ticket or with the wrong ticket.
Following research conducted by Transport Focus, three fare dodging audiences are identified for this campaign, and each of the executions are targeted to them.
For Regret, the creative speaks to ambivalent evaders, those who occasionally dodge paying the correct fare. For Shame, the messaging targets strategic evaders, people who are nonchalant and think they won’t get caught. And, finally, so-called “career evaders”, who routinely do not pay their fares as a form of protest, are given the disgrace message.
Knowing that most people want to think of themselves as fundamentally decent, St Luke’s ‘Dodge the fare, pay the price’ strategy aims to remind customers that being caught can lead to some uncomfortable feelings – as well as a fine of up to £1,000.
To do this, St Luke’s has used a key visual that is instantly recognisable to train users: a train departure board, set at an angle to signify that something is not quite right.
Instead of the names of stations, however, the destinations are the negative emotions that being caught without the right ticket can cause.
Destination Regret, for example, calls at the stations Indifference, Caught, Court, Guilt and Up to £1,000 Fine. Other executions outline journeys to Disgrace and Shame, with all the creative using the endline ‘Dodge the fare, pay the price’.
The campaign will run on OOH sites across the South Western Railway network including London and the South West.
South Western Railway customer and commercial director Peter Williams said: “Fare evaders might think they’ve found a loophole to avoid paying for their journey and believe they’re not doing anything wrong. But anyone unable to produce a valid ticket or railcard risks being caught and facing the consequences.
“This campaign raises the stakes beyond the financial penalty to show how fare dodging can also cost your peace of mind. We’re optimistic it will nudge more customers to do the right thing.”
St Luke’s joint chief creative officer Richard Denney added: “We wanted the consequences to feel uncomfortably close to home and visualised in a way every rail user instantly recognises, and hopefully prompting them to make the right choice when it comes to buying a ticket.”
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