LNER

Green Guides

Sector
Travel & Leisure

Expertise
Sustainability

Consumer

THE CHALLENGE
LNER tasked Tin Man with communicating the benefits of travelling on its new, eco-friendly Azuma trains. We needed to raise awareness of their environmental credentials, whilst also highlighting their comfort, affordability and connectivity.

THE IDEA
We tackled the brief with a multi-layered approach to deliver an integrated campaign that pulled on the emotional levers that already exist around environmental protection.

We commissioned two lots of research to generate news and deliver impact across the media. The first delved into consumer attitudes around climate change and eco-friendly behaviours, revealing that lockdown and witnessing nature reset made us stop and think about our own impact on the environment. It also found that Brits are shunning air travel in favour of staycations and identified the true environmental cost of this surge in demand for holidays to UK hotspots with the ‘Covid climate effect’. Building on these insights, we commissioned a second phase which quantified the distance Brits are tipped to travel post-lockdown for staycations and reunions with family and friends plus the resulting carbon emissions, before identifying the desire to adopt greener travel habits and reduce their carbon footprint but aren’t quite sure how to do it.

To bring to life the environmental credentials of trains we partnered with artist Jamie Wardley from Sand in Your Eye to create a series of striking black sand sculptures. Jamie carved a plane, car and train with the size and weight of each relative to the amount of carbon dumped into the atmosphere when travelling between London and Edinburgh, worked out using LNER’s Carbon Calculator tool and black sand used as a visual depiction of carbon. The three sculptures were on display at London King’s Cross for one week, alongside a sculpture of the signature London landmark, Tower Bridge.To give our campaign nationwide appeal, and take it to key destinations along LNER’s route, a sculpture of the iconic Tyne bridge was installed in Newcastle Central station, followed by a Highland Cow in Edinburgh Waverley station.

Last but not least, we created an educational and inspirational resource hosted via a dedicated landing page on LNER’s website called ‘The Green Guide.’ A real community effort with contributions from LNER staff, passengers, VisitLondon, VisitScotland and NewcastleGateshead, the guide offers travellers eco-friendly tips showcasing the best places to stay, eat and drink in London, Newcastle and Edinburgh. We also supported the launch of The Green Guide with paid partnerships with a local influencer in each of the three cities, who created social content sharing their hidden gems to help travellers make as little environmental impact as possible during their visit.

THE RESULTS

  • 156 pieces of media coverage, with highlights such as London Live TV, as well as 10 nationals including the Daily Telegraph, Metro, The Sun, the Daily Express and 120 regionals along LNER’s key rail route.
  • 100% positive sentiment to LNER in media coverage.
  • 200k+ impressions across Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
  • 31% were impressed by the sustainability of train travel
  • 26% said they’re now more likely to consider their carbon footprint when travelling
  • 22% said they’ve been inspired to adopt greener travel habits
  • And 45% are more likely to consider LNER when next booking train travel
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