Case study

Take the Train this Festive Season

The brief

Following research which demonstrated the nation was feeling positive and excited about getting back together with colleagues after a long year of lockdowns and working from home, Northern tasked MCG with delivering a strategic campaign that would build on that feeling of positivity.

Northern’s Take the Train this Festive Season Campaign was designed to spread festive joy and get people in the mood, and above all, to encourage people to opt for rail travel with Northern at Christmas time.

With research showing that nearly 66% of work Christmas celebrations were happening in the first two weeks of December, MCG focused on experiential in stations to spread festive joy during this busy fortnight.

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The delivery

In a consumer vote, the top three post-party pick-me-ups were a sausage sarnie, hot caffeinated drinks and sweet treats, so MCG organised a calendar of pick-me-up pop-ups in stations across the north.

The pop-ups treated commuters to a mixture of live music, hot chocolates, mince pies and candy canes – all handed out by Northern elves – to help them feel festive.

Corporate customers were identified in three key commuter hubs, with businesses receiving free sausage sandwich deliveries direct to their offices courtesy of Northern.

Commuters received 12 Days of Northern leaflets, encouraging them to take the train this festive season, as well as driving traffic to the website to enter a competition, capturing commuter data.

The results

The campaign successfully helped spread festive joy and get people in the mood, with 5,000 mince pies, 5,000 candy canes, 1,500 hot chocolates and nearly 1,000 sausage sandwiches handed out to commuters – all carrying Northern branding and key messages.

10,000 Northern leaflets were handed out, encouraging commuters to take the train during the festive season, as well as driving traffic to the website to enter a competition – helping contribute to a record-breaking number of competition entries.

Video and stills were captured as activity took place throughout the campaign and shared to Northern’s social channels to drive engagement and positivity.

  • 12,500
    mince pies, candy canes, hot chocolates and sausage sandwiches handed out to commuters
  • 10,000
    leaflets distributed, sharing the campaign's key messages