LNER (London North Eastern Railway) became the new brand for the East Coast Mainline in 2018, taking over from Virgin Trains
We were tasked to mark the return to public ownership and celebrate the launch of LNER amongst Britons based along the line aged 18–65
Driving awareness and positive sentiment, but also demonstrating how LNER proudly serves and aims to make real progress for the people and places along the line
We started by looking at the line, and how uniquely different each of the towns and cities that LNER serves are, searching for a common thread
And we came upon the voice of the people
Wherever you are from in the country, the accent and dialect is distinct, loved by and protected by its locals
Despite this, accents and regional dialects are dying out – particularly in the North where researchers have found accents becoming ‘more Southern’
The idea was to create a Track Record, to preserve the voices along the line
An audio journey of the LNER route featuring real passengers, locals and staff, narrating an evocative spoken-word track – as their unique accents travel from North London to North East Scotland
We worked with acclaimed poet Ben Norris (from Nottingham) and broadcaster Edith Bowman (from Fife) to create the spoken-word piece
The poem shone a light on the towns and cities along the line and obscure regional words and phrases used within those communities, as LNER sought to preserve them
Creating a community-led campaign and positioning LNER as champion of Britain’s East Coast voices
But it wasn’t just positive sentiment that the earned campaign delivered, as LNER saw a real business impact from an uplift in ticket bookings to dwell time on their new website
And it’s since won a number of industry awards