East Midlands Trains: advert-body-1 by m&c saatchi, LIDA & Blue 449

M&C Saatchi has created an integrated campaign to drive the relaunch of East Midlands Trains establishing a stronger identity for the brand and deeper engagement with the passengers and communities they serve.

The campaign, entitled, Trains on the outside. People on the inside, will run from 3rd February, leading with regional TV. There will be three different TV ads running for several weeks; all based on heart-warming true stories and customer experiences of East Midlands Trains’ service.

With East Midlands Trains having reached a key milestone in successfully negotiating an extension to its franchise, M&C Saatchi, along with partner agencies LIDA and Blue449, were tasked with creating a new marketing initiative to refresh the brand, drive awareness and ultimately increase passenger volumes.

This new integrated campaign sees M&C Saatchi convey the message that East Midlands Trains has evolved significantly as a business, moving from a traditional rail operator approach which focuses rigidly on infrastructure and logistics to being genuinely customer service-led. The TV ads highlight this through charming animated stories, detailing the compassionate values that EMT employees have, and are encouraged to act on. The first of the TV ads affectionately retells the real-life story of a child leaving their teddy on a train and becoming very upset. After seeing this, an East Midlands Trains employee replaces the lost teddy with a similar one she happens to have at home.

The campaign will also run across print, radio, online, social and OOH.