Mid-January blues are turned upside-down by Heathrow Express and TVC Group
On the third Monday of January – branded ‘Blue Monday’ due to stats claiming that it is the most depressing day of the year – Heathrow Express joined up with communications agency TVC to launch a January marketing campaign, intending to increase morale by offering customers a free journey.
TVC’s brief required creating a campaign and story around this that would raise morale and achieve media appeal against a heavily branded call to action. The agency asked the public for their thoughts on what makes them happy and provided Heathrow Express with the answers and direct solutions. The feedback included 'something for free', 'sunshine' and 'working wifi', and the results were were combined to create a ‘formula for happiness’.
The agency also enlisted the support of influencer Carol Vorderman to front the campaign. As a household name appealing to an ABC1 audience, Carol could confidently talk about happiness from a formulaic point of view, giving credibility and authenticity to the story. Owned content was created early in the day for social engagement and editorially-led earned content pieces were created for consumer media on a very tight turnaround to ensure online appeal and campaign longevity.
Bea Asprey, communications and PR manager at Heathrow Express, commented on the process: “Having the Christmas and New Year break in the middle of our preparation meant the timings of this campaign were tight and we had to have back up plans in place to cover all eventualities. However, having worked with TVC before we had the confidence that we would be able to deliver a strong campaign in this time frame – and the results speak for themselves.”
TVC secured back to back coverage from the start of the news day onwards, with more than 22 positive, branded pieces of TV and radio, print and online coverage. Each piece highlighted the link between happiness and a smooth journey with Heathrow Express. This dovetailed with high engagement from owned content to create an overall buzz on the day, cutting through the competitive 'Blue Monday' brand noise.
TVC Group operates offices in London, USA and France.
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TVC Group
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