National Express has upped the marketing ante in the increasingly competitive scheduled coach service market with the launch of brand campaign under the If you know, you go National Express strapline from 5 July.
It has been created by agency Lucky Generals as what National Express says is “a truly 360-degree campaign… designed to encourage modal shift and drive people to make the smarter, greener and greater value choice” of its white coach services. “Because if you know, you know. And if you know, you go National Express,” the business says.
The approach will capture advertising and customer touchpoints. It will also appear on the sides of coaches and in other areas, such as headrests. There, text will note that “Someone in the know has reserved this seat.”
National Express adds that drivers will share their tips at the end destination and that it will revamp its customer email programme and coach station media. Social and other channels including cinema advertising are also part of the programme.
A pair of 30-second films will launch the overhaul by showcasing the brand’s key features before ending with “a more humorous take at the expense of those poor travellers who did not take a National Express coach.” The white fleet will be key to the campaign.
Speaking about the work, National Express Customer and Marketing Director Catherine Woolfe says: “There are already millions of savvy travellers who know how great coach travel is with National Express, but there are many, many more who are realising that other modes of public transport are not what they are cracked up to be and are looking for a reliable, economical, sustainable and relaxing way to travel.
“We love Lucky Generals’ brand platform because it is grounded in a strong and simple strategic thought that can translate across our entire business, from rethinking our web journey to changing the tone of voice used in our contact centre and how our drivers interact with our customers.
“The team at Lucky Generals really get what is important about our brand. As such, they are brilliant people to work with, trusted partners who have quickly developed an innate understanding of our business.”
The National Express campaign comes hot on the heels of similar work by FlixBus that majors on video advertising across multiple media channels.
