Network Rail Case Study

You vs Train Campaign

Each year, an average of 20 lives are lost to trespassing, with major causes of death and life-changing injury including the trains themselves, the electrified power lines and third rail.

The UM strategy

There wasn’t hugely contextually or demographically relevant – so rather than trying to make a safety message stand out, we concealed it, Trojan Horse-style, aiming for maximum impact when our rebels least expected it.

The campaign was delivered in conjunction with online broadcaster SBTV, with four influencers chosen from their stable for their audience profile, reach and, critically, support for the message. SBTV was the perfect platform for our Trojan Horse: peer-to-peer, relevant, agenda-setting and forward-thinking. They and their influencers were willing to take the risks that we wanted to take.

Each scripted a scenario on a bugbear close to their heart and filmed a rant about it in their usual style – before allowing us to apply VFX to their clip that graphically, viscerally and unexpectedly took them out, either with a train or lethal bolt of electricity.