Citizens' Rail

Tag: info campaigns-NL

  • Citizens’ Rail projects win national awards

    Citizens’ Rail projects win national awards

    Three projects supported by Citizens’ Rail have been recognised at the UK’s Community Rail Awards.

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    The award ceremony was held in Scarborough on Thursday 2nd October, and was organised by The Association of Community Rail Partnerships. Speakers included Baroness Kramer, Minister of State for Transport, and Paul Salveson, a leading light of the community rail sector in the UK.

    Outstanding Teamwork

    First prize in the Outstanding Teamwork category was awarded to partners involved in rebuilding Dawlish station after the devastating storm damage it sustained in February 2014. Pictured at the top of this article collecting the award are Citizens’ Rail Riviera Line Officer Celia Minoughan (second from left), Margaret Swift and Phil Bagshaw of the Friends of Dawlish Station (third from left and second from right), and First Great Western station manager Ian Mundy (third from right). The award was presented by Nick Donovan, Managing Director of First Transpennine Express (left) and Alex Hynes, Managing Director of Northern Rail (right).


    [icon size=”14px” color=”#D42053″ background=”#ffffff” radius=”0px” type=”icon-chevron-sign-right” spacing=”0px” /] Read about Citizens’ Rail’s involvement in reviving the station.


    Innovation in Community Rail

    In the Innovation category, first prize went to The Riviera Line website developed as part of Citizens’ Rail to encourage more people to take the train between Torbay and Exeter. The site is believed to be community rail’s first “responsive” website – resizing to suit PCs, tablets and smartphones. Its content is tailor-made to help non-users to overcome barriers to travel.

    [icon size=”14px” color=”#D42053″ background=”#ffffff” radius=”0px” type=”icon-chevron-sign-right” spacing=”0px” /] Visit the website.

    Best Station Gardens and Large Floral Displays

    To complete a hat trick of awards, third prize in the Best Station Gardens category was awarded to the transformation of Torquay Station garden by Robert Owen Communities and First Great Western. Working twice a week in all weathers, the station platforms have been transformed with planting on an English Riviera theme including reclamation of a large rockery. The project has not only improved the look and feel of Torquay station but has allowed the young people to gain confidence, social interaction and nationally recognised qualifications to help them into employment.

    [icon size=”14px” color=”#D42053″ background=”#ffffff” radius=”0px” type=”icon-chevron-sign-right” spacing=”0px” /] Read about Citizens’ Rail’s involvement in the project.


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    Congratulations to Community Rail Lancashire

    Congratulations also go to Citizens’ Rail partners Community Rail Lancashire, whose “Young persons’ passport to safe travel” project won the Involving Young People category. Our colleagues in Lancashire have an excellent track record in engaging children and young people in their railway.

    Children from one of the schools they work with gave an outstanding presentation to EU partners at Burnley Manchester Road’s new station building in July. And soon as part of Citizens’ Rail, the same children will be taking a train journey to Aachen, our German partner city, in a fantastic example of transnational learning and collaboration. More news on this soon.

    [icon size=”14px” color=”#D42053″ background=”#ffffff” radius=”0px” type=”icon-chevron-sign-right” spacing=”0px” /] Read about the passport to safe travel scheme.

  • Marketing campaign to help Riviera Line to bounce back

    Marketing campaign to help Riviera Line to bounce back

    CASE STUDY – MARKETING ON THE RIVIERA LINE

    Citizens’ Rail’s lead partner the Devon & Cornwall Rail Partnership mounted an extensive marketing campaign to encourage people back to travelling by rail following February’s storm damage that closed part of The Riviera Line for two months – winning two national awards in the process.

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    Aims
    Devon & Cornwall Rail Partnership was keen to place people at the heart of the campaign, and to harness the local feel-good factor that surrounded the return of trains to the line – with the aim of winning back lost passengers, and attracting new users who were not previously in the habit of taking the train.

    Campaign elements
    The campaign was formed of two phases. Due to the lack of a strong library of photographs of people taking the train, the initial phase used a set of illustrated characters to create a friendly and accessible tone. These were employed in a series of newspaper advertisements, and also on a brand new website – TheRivieraLine.com. The website provides a hub where new and existing passengers can find both practical local travel information as well as inspiration for daytrips by train.

    While this initial promotion was underway, photography was commissioned. This was then used in a second phase of marketing, comprising further adverts and a set of leaflets, targeted at local residents in the vicinity of stations along the line to encourage them to use their local rail services. 35,000 leaflets were delivered door-to-door by Royal Mail. A separate run of 5,000 tourist-focused leaflets was also produced and distributed via Tourist Information Centres and other outlets.

    The campaign was shaped by ideas and suggestions from the other partners within Citizens’ Rail. For example, the leaflets’ vertical line map was inspired by a similar design in Pays de la Loire’s “Beach Train” marketing, and feedback from Stadt Aachen in a previous partner meeting about the importance of strong, prominent photography within marketing materials helped shape phase 2 of the campaign.

    Screenshots – Phase 1
    The campaign began with two weeks of half page adverts in local newspapers along the line between Torbay and Exeter:

    The advertisements promoted the newly launched TheRivieraLine.com website:

    Key messages were then promoted in seven further weeks of quarter page adverts in the same newspapers:

    A flyer was also produced to promote the website and the “great value local fares” message at community events:

    Photography
    Meanwhile, a new set of photography was commissioned from excellent local photographers Studio Wallop:



    Screenshots – Phase 2
    The new photography enabled a new, more natural look for Phase 2 of the campaign:

    Customised door-to-door leaflets provided very local train information (see the full Torre/Torquay leaflet as 1MB PDF):

    Inside the Exeter St Thomas leaflet:

    When the leaflet is unfolded it reveals further promotion of daytrips by train:

    A tourist-facing version was also produced, highlighting the scenic nature of the line (see full leaflet):

    The website was also updated to reflect the new look:

    Initial results
    During the three months after re-opening, the line’s usage bounced back to 98% of the level achieved in the same period the year before. This immediate recovery of lost passengers was a significant success. In terms of the marketing campaign, given the exceptional circumstances of the line closure it is extremely difficult to measure how many passengers returned to travelling by train thanks to Citizens’ Rail’s efforts, and how many would have done so without it. However, there are indicators that provide some pointers.

    The Devon & Cornwall Rail Partnership has received positive feedback that the tourist leaflets have proved extremely popular – with further copies requested by Tourist Information Centres due to them running out. In addition, the website analytics of TheRivieraLine.com have been monitored carefully. While the level of traffic to the website is not yet as high as the Partnership would like, engagement on the site is strong. Statistics from the site’s first two months after launch showed that compared to the Partnership’s other websites, users of TheRivieraLine.com stayed longer and explored more. UPDATE – The website won two national awards in autumn 2014: the Innovation category at the UK’s Community Rail Awards and the Community Engagement category at the Rail Exec Club’s Most Interesting Awards.

    Next steps
    The above campaign ran from April to June 2014. It will be followed by further marketing along The Riviera Line, including further newspaper advertising, leaflets and potentially the use of other media such as radio, cinema, outdoor and social media advertising. Individual projects will also be promoted such as The Riviera Line Minibeast Trail.
    A question for you
    Do you have experience of running community rail marketing campaigns? If so, how do you measure their successes and failures? It would be great to hear your views in the comments beneath this post. You can also sign up to the Citizens’ Rail e-newsletter or follow us on Twitter to keep in touch.