Why National Express Travellers Always Dodge Ancient Curses
If you know, you know. And “If you know, you go National Express,” tell us Lucky Generals in its newest 360 campaign for the UK’s intercity and inter-regional coach operator.
The new platform does a great job at not only reminding travellers that coach is the greener option, but also lures in those who would usually opt for trains, positioning coaches as the smarter mode of travel. And its users as the smartest travellers in the UK.
Its tagline now runs through the veins of the company – you can see it on the side of the vehicles, as well as in activations across the travel experience, such as the headrest copy saying “Someone in the know has reserved this seat” and drivers sharing top insider tips at the destination.
Along with this, the platform was led by two 30-second narratively dynamic and full-of-humour films, further underlining the savvy nature of National Express customers. They are the ones who truly know airport parking isn’t the best place to be, and ancient museum exhibits aren’t to be looked at for too long.
Below, Nick Bird and Lee Smith, creative directors at Lucky Generals, Tom Patterson, strategy director at Lucky Generals and Jagruti Kundalia, senior brand marketing manager at National Express, tell us more about the creation of the new platform and what’s next to come.
LBB> What was the brief for this campaign?
Jagurti> Our brand challenge is simple. We have to shift perceptions of coach travel and get more people switching from cars and ditching the train. We needed a creative platform that positions us as the smart choice for travel.
LBB> How did you initially approach it?
Nick & Lee> We love the way a lot of US advertising works – get the product points and reasons to believe out there from the off. Don’t try and hide them away until the last three seconds of an ad. We had a lot of coach features to talk about and for people to reappraise their perceptions of travelling with National Express, so we thought the ‘get the details out loud and out front’ was the best angle of attack.
LBB> Was the humorous twist on the cards from the get-go or was it something you decided to try out as the ideas started rolling in?
Nick & Lee> Definitely. We wanted to play it pretty straight and informative with the first 70% of the ads and then take it to a pretty bizarre and unexpected conclusion. A bit of a smile at the expense of those travellers who ‘don’t know’.
LBB> What insight stood at the centre of the campaign?
Tom> Whilst millions of National Express customers already get the benefits of coach travel, there are millions out there that don’t, who are currently suffering at the hands of unreliable, unaffordable and unrelaxing modes of transport. Our new platform proudly and confidently positions National Express as a smarter way to go – tackling ingrained negative perceptions head-on and flattering those who choose us, revealing their savvy mindset in a way that will encourage more to get on board.
LBB> And why was humour the way to go in the end?
Nick & Lee> It felt like a moment of humour was a nice balance against a pretty straightforward and hardworking front section. We needed to make sure the ads had an eye opening moment, something that people would remember and hopefully smile at. And to enforce that feeling of wanting to be a savvy traveller, who doesn’t end up with egg on their face.
LBB> Tell me about the 'If you know, you go' tagline and what role it played in crafting the creative.
Nick & Lee> The endline ‘If you know, you go National Express’ came pretty quickly and took us to this world of a savvier traveller. We wanted to really embed this though, that’s why we lent heavily on the ‘they know this/they know that’ in the dialogue.
LBB> How did you decide on the Zallahula narrative as your humorous twist - and how did you come up with it?
Nick & Lee> There were some pretty out-there other scripts on the table. But we thought they could be a little too strong at the launch stage of the campaign. Hopefully they’ll see the light of day at some point.
Zallahula came about as some insight had told us that day trips to the city are a big focus for National Express. We then thought about what the average family might get up to on a trip to the city. Museums seemed to be a great, fertile area to play around with something a bit nuts happening. Then we kind of just invented this pretty dull and unassuming idol head called Zallahula (Google it…it took a while to come up with a completely fabricated/nonsense name) who obviously had the power of telekinesis in its vacant stare.
LBB> Crafting such an eye-catching story inside a story, while not taking away from the main narrative is a great feat - how did you manage to balance the two?
Nick & Lee> Quite early on, we thought an American director would be great for this. We had some great chats with Hank Perlman from Hungryman and it became clear he was our guy. He totally got that American deadpan delivery we were after. So it was a balance of serving the story on the coach and then taking things up a notch at the end for the twist. Hank is great at underplaying stuff, knowing when just enough is enough.
LBB> Where did you film the floating man scene, how did the location scouting for it go?
Nick & Lee> Shooting in an actual museum was proving pretty restrictive in regards to space.
So we decided to recreate our own space with our own artefacts.
We chose the Crown room at the De Vere Hotel in Covent Garden as it instantly read as a museum but also allowed us the height for the levitating rig.
LBB> Tell me more about the floating man – how was it achieved and were there any challenges to it?
Nick & Lee> We used a good old-fashioned rig with wires and a harness rather than relying too heavily on VFX. It allowed us to try various speeds and heights of levitation on the day.
We added some VFX after in post to help with the levitating forcefield.
There weren't many challenges for us personally, although I imagine the actor was pretty uncomfortable for a bit after the shoot. That harness was tight.
LBB> Overall, what was the best part of creating the campaign and why?
Nick & Lee> It was just very satisfying to get a big 360 campaign out there. Really confident of our clients to not just settle for one media. They’ve thrown everything behind this launch – TV, radio, outdoor, social, cinema… Even the coaches have the new endline emblazoned on their sides. And we’re fired up for the next burst of creative. Feels like this one can run and run.
LBB> Any final thoughts?
All> We knew and we went…
