Remember back the 1970s when British Rail ran its “Let the Train Take the Strain” advertising campaign with crooner Matt Munroe singing the jingle? Devised by long gone agency Allen, Brady & Marsh, it promoted the idea of relaxing and enjoying train travel, especially for longer journeys, rather than enduring the stress of driving.
Well, you must be older than you look then, although to be fair at least the activity is still palatable, unlike the same agency’s 1980s “This is the Age of the Train” fronted by a decidedly creepy Jimmy Saville, which simply makes the skin crawl.
Fast forward 45 years and the Rail Delivery Group (RDG), the membership organisation that works on behalf of the rail industry, is still trying to get travellers out of their cars and into the carriages with a new integrated campaign.
Created by TMW as part of the national marketing strategy developed by the rail industry’s customer and revenue growth team, “On the Train You Can” aims to show how travelling by train is a way to reclaim quality time for what matters.
Data and insight highlighted that associating rail with human connection and time well spent not only helps create a stronger emotional response but also drives consideration by showing the valuable gains you achieve when you travel by train.
TMW has worked alongside media agency Spark Foundry to deliver an integrated approach to maximise emotional impact. The campaign will unfold in three strategic areas of focus. The initial launch is designed to establish the emotive foundation of the campaign – personal, human connection onboard the train, through high-impact advertising, including TV, radio, cinema and large-format OOH.
The “Before” spot, produced by Merman and directed by Ben Liam-Jones, demonstrates how train journeys can unlock intimate moments to connect. Opening with a young couple falling in love on cobbled Mediterranean streets (filmed in Wales), the story is narrated by a grandmother recalling her youth to her granddaughter on board a train.
When the granddaughter says: “I didn’t know you and granddad met in Italy,” gran replies, “Oh no… we met the following year!” As they laugh and the next tale begins, the voiceover concludes, “Getting to know gran before she was gran. On the train you can”.
For “On the Train You Can” sequence, TMW developed a design system in which the double arrow railway logo features across all channels, ensuring every execution is linked to the train experience.
Rail industry customer and revenue growth team head of marketing strategy Penny Allen commented: “We’re not just selling train travel – we’re selling time. A key insight theme is that travellers see train travel as time well spent. This campaign reflects the experience of rail travel across Britain, wherever you’re going and whoever you travel with.
“Our vision is to position train travel as the smart, sociable, and enjoyable way to get around – a chance to reclaim your time and reconnect with what matters, both onboard and beyond.
“With ‘On the Train You Can’ we want to make train travel more mentally available by showing how rail lets you do more of what you want – from relaxation to productivity. It’s about encouraging people to travel by train more often, not just because they have to, but because they want to.”
TMW chief creative officer Graeme Noble added: “In a world where almost everyone feels like they’re too busy, this campaign celebrates a simple truth: the train is one of the few places where you can stop, breathe, and just be.
“For some people, that might mean a rare moment to have a breather and catch up on some life admin, get lost in thought or, even better, take an opportunity for a proper face-to-face conversation with friends and family.”
So, what is the consensus around the Decision Marketing office?
Well, naturally, it would be easy to carp. After all, on many journeys time is exactly what most passengers get but don’t necessarily want, with delays, cancellations, the wrong kind of snow, leaves of the line and the seemingly endless merry-go-round of engineering works meaning journeys are often way, way longer than scheduled.
In fact, “gran” would probably have time to tell her whole life story, minute by minute, on some trips.
But as we said, that would be easy. And, for TMW, this is a major challenge. However, if this first execution is anything to go by, they are more than up to it. It’s pretty subtle, quite clever and rather amusing. Not words you would necessarily link with train travel…
The real problem is that train travel is very expensive. If only they could get the pricing right, Brits would no doubt jump aboard in droves.
Decision Marketing Adometer: A “tracks of our tears” 9 out of 10
