Virgin Trains
Background
Virgin Trains needed to fill empty seats on off-peak trains on their Manchester to London route. They sought to continue the momentum of their ‘Arrive Awsome’ campaign and convey the value, speed and experience of travelling via train (rather than by car or plane) in a way that would stand out and connect with their busy target audience.
Solution
Knowing their target audience were Northern, Virgin Trains decided to forge an immediate allegiance with them by trialling an acquisition doordrop to households within the Manchester area that took the proverbial out of their arch-rivals – Southerners.
The resulting ‘Northerners Guide to London’ - a tongue-in-cheek take on a pocket travel guide – gave the travellers tips on what to do (or rather what not to do) on a trip to London. Using witty language, Virgin pointed out the obvious flaws in a London trip (prices, busy tubes etc). Included too were useful translations of Southern terms along with tips on getting there and back; which allowed them to bring in the benefits of travelling by Virgin Trains rather than car. To round it off, Virgin included a £10 voucher off their next train journey – giving Northerners a real reason to take a trip to the lovely – if expensive – capital.
103,757 doordrops hit households within a 30 min drive time of Manchester Piccadilly as well as the immediate vicinity of Wilmslow and Stockport stations. Targeting was further refined to include postcode areas with high penetration of Virgin Trains’ top 4 marketing segments (Urban Up and Comers, Mature Explorers, Business Bods and The Jones). The dominance of younger segments meant Virgin hit 80% penetration of these audiences within 30 minute drive time from Manchester Piccadilly station and over 40% in Wilmslow and Stockport. Timings of the drop coincided with ‘Arrive Awesome’ press activity in the same areas.
Results
The combination of a pick-up-able travel pocket guide with a humourous, insightful tonality and a strong relevant offer delivered phenomenal results.
The door drop achieved a response rate of 0.14% - beating the industry benchmark which sits at 0.1% - achieving a 40% uplift.
Overall, 11% of those households (11,648) targeted with the door drop went on to purchase a Virgin Trains ticket generating an ‘awesome’ £2.4million in revenue. Big win for the Northerners. (And Virgin Trains).
Source: Virgin Trains - DMA Award Entry
