Commercially Driven Results

Client: adidas
Creatives: Phil Kitching, Tim Clegg, Lou Bogue & John Murphy
Agency: iris

The poster celebrates the fact that adidas are sponsoring Team GB in the London 2012 Olympic Games. And where better to announce the imminent arrival of a new generation of British athletes than on the transport system that will take Londoners to the Games.

The pared-back and simple visual is of a photographic studio, as yet empty, suggesting the imminent arrival of someone famous.

On the clean white space, naked ambition of an as yet unknown Team GB athlete appear, whose tone embodies the true spirit of the new generation of Team GB Olympic athletes.

Client: Dixons.co.uk
Creatives: Simon Dicketts & Graham Fink
Agency: M&C Saatchi

In relaunching Dixons.co.uk in London, we needed to create clear stand out from the clutter of the competitive activity.

In order to make this strategy possible, engaging consumers on the London Underground is essential, where the compelling stories of the ads can be spun out using a long copy approach.  It generates the media reach required against the right audience for the campaign to become a success and more importantly, it enables us to position the communications in an environment which is extremely close to the point of comparison, massively increasing the effectiveness of our campaign. 

Client: easyJet
Creatives: Sam Butterfield & Alex Shapowal
Agency: Publicis London

You’re on the Tube. You probably live and work in London. Or you’re travelling through London. So, if you’ve got to go on a business trip somewhere in Europe, you’re going to go from London.

easyJet are one of Britain’s biggest airlines, with 44 million passengers a year. London is one of their main hubs. And Luton is their home. What better place to talk to their fans than the London Underground?

Client: Ocado
Creatives: Lindsey Brackey, Sophie Taylor, Michael Storey & Kristian Brugts
Agency: Ocado Creative studio

Over half of Ocado’s deliveries each day are within the M25, making “Commuting Londoners” our natural audience.

Like any creative team worth its salt, we wanted to focus on our company’s strengths. Our customers tell us that it’s the sheer diversity of what we sell (and our wallopingly good service) that makes us stand out from the competition. After a couple of short, sharp brainstorms, the idea of taking our groceries from the kitchen table to the periodic table rose from the primordial sludge.

We wanted to create a poster which a) stood up to repeated viewing, b) worked on lots of levels and c) if we’re being honest, worked hard to bring new customers to our website.

Client: Specsavers
Creatives: Naomi Bishop, Catherine Thomas & Xara Higgs
Agency: Specsavers Creative

The experience of commuting can feel impersonal, boring and monotonous, so we wanted to create something playful, a little joke for the ride. The Specsavers brand is known for its gentle humour and warmth, and it's these elements that we wanted to showcase in our work.

The London audience is of great importance to our brand because, even though the average Specsavers customer is generally weighing in at the more senior end of the scale, it is crucial that we continue to generate a positive reception among young audiences, our future customers – especially in London, where customers have more choice. Our main thinking for this particular piece of work is to simply raise brand awareness among Londoners by giving them something to smile about.

Client: Zurich
Creatives: Craig Wood & Jason Vinciguerra
Agency: Cogent Elliott

Everyone loves to hear about those ‘strange but true’ stories. This campaign uses such stories about London and its people to highlight that the old excuse, “It couldn’t happen to me,” is nonsense – ‘it’ always happens to someone, however bizarre and improbable ‘it’ may seem! In this tale, we read about an extraordinary event involving a fish plummeting hundreds of feet onto a hapless young lady’s head. Who would’ve thought it? The moral of the tale is that it’s better to be safe than sorry.

Cover yourself against all eventualities by taking out insurance with Zurich, a well-known and respected company that’s been around long enough to witness this bizarre event and many more.

Client: Allied Carpets & Flooring
Creative: Cat Arundel
Agency: Uber Agency

With an abundance of stores around London, this is a useful audience for Allied to reach.

The copy does not specifically target Londoners in any obvious, stereotypical way. However, having comfy, stylish carpets and flooring is as relevant to them as it is to anyone else. In the context of a cross track, the audience has the time to read this and to appreciate the ‘joke’. The instances listed deliberately appeal to the diverse audience who travel on the Tube throughout the day.

Client: Babyliss
Creatives: Rohan Candappa & Derek Hayes      
Agency: Libertine

You know what the people who look at the advertising have all got in common? They've got hair. Even the ones who haven't got hair anymore once had the stuff. So, naturally, it's a great place to advertise hair care products.

So maybe the secret of selling to Londoners is not to try to sell to them.  Instead, entertain, or amuse them, and you might just get their attention long enough to be able to tell them about your product.

And that's what we've tried to do in this ad.
Now as to the question of why Londoners are of such value to our brand?
Well, the only reasonable answer is this.
It's London. The Greatest City in the World.
Who wouldn't want to succeed here?

Client: British Airways
Creatives: Caio Giannella & Diego Cardoso de Oliveira
Agency: Bartle Bogle Hegarty

Living in one of the busiest cities in the world, Londoners are constantly under a huge amount of stress and are usually seeking a break. Going back home after a hard day of work, commuters are often more susceptible to engage with the idea of going on a British Airways holiday.

Our audience are usually bombarded with information and pictures. We believe that communication is more powerful when you invite people on a journey, tell them a story and let them fill the gaps. The Underground posters offer a great opportunity to engage with people. It gives us the luxury of time. Time to entertain the audience and ask them to use their imagination for a change.

Client: Cisco Telepresence
Creatives: Simon Fraser & James Austin
Agency: dnx

Our poster holds a conversation with the reader, tapping into the experience of standing on an Underground platform and the things people do whilst waiting. This is then juxtaposed with some engagingly presented information about the Cisco Telepresence product.

Cisco Telepresence video-conferencing enables people to meet face-to-face even though they may be miles, or even continents apart. With so many businesses operating in London – and so many people travelling to meetings via the Underground network, could there be a better place for us to advertise?

Client: C&J Clark International
Creatives: Nick Reeve & Leon Broome

Almost without exception, everyone who is on a London Underground platform will have got there on foot. At the beginning of the day they’ll leave home on foot. At the end of the day they’ll return to their front door on foot. Their descent into the Tube will be on foot. So too will their ascent from it. And, for the majority, being on their feet will play some part in the rest of their day. Work or play.

Client: Coral
Creatives: Richard Donovan & Jon Leney
Agency: Engine

Coral has over 225 shops in the London area. Wherever you are, you’re never far from a Coral Shop. In fact, Joe Coral himself set up his first betting enterprise in Haringey in 1926.

Client: Costa Coffee
Creatives: Terry O'Neil & James North
Agency: Meteorite

Look around on any London tube platform first thing in the morning and you will be confronted by a frightening sight. The half asleep, the zombies, those that were clearly in a rush to get out of the door. Take a look and you will see them all.

See those same people half an hour later at work and it’s as if they have become themselves again.

The difference? That magical first cup of Costa coffee.
The dwell time at the platform gives us the ideal space to tell our story. It also gives the viewer the time needed to read it and recognise their own morning journeys. And then hopefully raise a wry smile in recognition too.

Client: Diesel Sneakers
Creatives: Maximiliano Anselmo, Luigi Ghidotti, Pablo Minces, Tomás Quartino & Sebastián Wilhelm
Agency: Santo

The commuting audience of London is a key target for Diesel; they are the brave people who fight everyday underground for a seat or even a space in the carriage. Historically, the Underground has sheltered people through the Blitz but it is still running, stronger, faster and more popular than ever.

Client: English Out There
Creatives: Jaime Diskin, Jae Morisson & Jason West
Agency: TBWA London

Our concept with this campaign is to demonstrate how complicated the English language is, and to encourage people who can speak it fluently, to consider teaching it.

With this in mind, a long copy ad that will actually be read is an absolute godsend, and we believe the London Underground to be one of the few remaining places where people actually read the ads.

As English speakers, we often forget that our native tongue is one of the most complicated languages in the entire world. This campaign aims to remind us of that and to highlight the fact that although it may be a maddeningly inconsistent, idiomatic, at times almost nonsensical language, if you can speak it, you can teach it.

Client: Whyte and Mackay Ltd - Glayva
Creatives: Ali Taylor, Doug Cook & Simon Parker
Agency: The Bridge

‘The True Spirit of Christmas’ puts a positive spin on the daily commute Londoners have to make on the Tube. It uses a lot of truisms – the fact commuters rarely make eye contact, avoid giving directions to tourists at all costs, snub buskers etc and incites them to be friendly, happy, welcoming and filled with the spirit of human kindness. Or Glayva and Cranberry. It is, after all, Christmas.

Hopefully, ‘The True Spirit of Christmas’ would not only sell more Glayva but it would make the Tube a happier, friendlier experience.

Win. Win.

Client: Connect By Hertz
Creatives: Paolo Carniel & Angelo Giaquinto
Agency: iris

The London/Tube commuting experience is one of needing to simply and efficiently get from one place to the next. Or to connect to people and places that make up your world. This is the same purpose as Connect by Hertz car membership scheme. A scheme which has cars in convenient parking spaces all over London waiting to be used by the hour, by the day or by the week. The cars are accessed “keylessly” by the swipe of a membership card and can be returned to any Connect designated parking space around the city.

Commuters on the Tube are a mixed bunch. The copy reflects the diverse range of journeys – or connections – that a platform of diverse commuters may need to make.

Client: Illamasqua
Creatives: Simon Griffin & Ben Bateson
Agency: Propaganda

Since Illamasqua launched on 1st November 2008 they’ve made a massive impact on the cosmetics industry. They stand for self-expression, self-empowerment and self-belief, and this attitude, combined with their unique colours and professional products, has given a whole new generation the chance to express themselves through make-up. Until recently they have been sold through Selfridges stores nationwide and online, but now Illamasqua’s Flagship Independent Store has opened on Beak Street.

London, and specifically Beak Street with its location near Carnaby Street and Soho, is the perfect place for the brand to make its home. Nowhere else in the UK will you find such a diverse group of creative and independent people living in such close proximity.

Client: Jack Daniel's
Creatives: Paul Shearer, Johan Fourie & David Anyetei
Agency: Arnold Worldwide

There is wonderful symmetry between the timeless qualities of Jack Daniel’s and the London Underground:

They have both been around for a long long time, they are in their own unique way wonderfully crafted, and they are both certainly well worth waiting for...

Jack Daniel’s communications messages are aimed at young consumers above the legal drinking age.

While it is a 150 year old brand, it remains highly relevant and aspirational to contemporary drinkers.

The London Underground provides us not only with thousands upon thousands of target consumers, but is also the perfect environment to expose Jack’s messaging.

Client: Johnnie Walker
Creatives: Matt Longstaff & Steven Yip
Agency: AKQA

Johnnie Walker has closely linked itself with personal and professional progression and the successes that come through staying ahead of the competition. To this end, the London audience is especially poignant to Johnnie Walker, as many young businessmen, artists, entrepreneurs, and dreamers line up along stations from Uxbridge to Upminster every day; each with the potential to change the world.

For this particular ad, we focused on Johnnie Walker’s motivational strap-line of “keep walking”, and how it could refer to the average London commute; creating both a physical and mental link to the words.

Client: Joseph Sterling
Creatives: Caroline Hampstead & Nitesh Mody
Agency: Moot Design

The cross track poster format meant we had the space to tell the ‘story’ of the ring/relationship – starting with small mundane and domestic insights through to the more emotional final sentences, that each reveal a bit more about how marriage has transformed a person’s life and gradually build a picture of the couple. It also meant we had space to mix things up, varying the tone from the flippant to the serious.

To target a London audience we created the ad with a typical metropolitan couple in mind – buying fancy lettuce leaves and designer candles. However, by using a universal human theme of love and relationships we have hopefully created an ad almost anyone standing on a Tube platform could emphasise with or be entertained by.

Client: LOVEFiLM
Creatives: Max Weiland & Liv Wadstrom
Agency: 18 Feet & Rising

People spend an average of three minutes on a platform waiting for their train. This poster capitalises on this moment, entertaining the viewer with a short story. The beauty of this short story is that every single word, phrase and dialogue is from a film.

Every one of these films are available on the LOVEFiLM website, thus displaying the amazing range of movies they offer. It works particularly well in this location because it reminds viewers about how much they love watching films, especially as they may be on their way home.

Client: Michael Page International
Creatives: Kevin Ovard & Matthew Green

For Michael Page International, the London Underground is the ideal place to engage with its target market. The company recruits professionals across a number of sectors, including Finance, Legal, Marketing and Sales. The commuter market is therefore an obvious space to speak to people thinking about their career or seeking a new job.

Our approach in the posters is to challenge the reader through a bold, engaging headline and lead them into reading the copy, talking about their career and how we can help.

Client: News International – Times & Sunday Times
Creatives: Jon-Paul Banks, Lana Novak, Damian Kirby & Keith Drewrey
Agency: Table19

Londoners can enjoy free home delivery of The Times and The Sunday Times before 7am. This means that Londoners can open an award-winning paper (stretch) and read a series of enlivening and thought-provoking articles (improve IQ) before they head out the door.

It’s a tantalising offer that will appeal to many squashed commuters on crowded platforms, tired of folding their papers into ever-decreasing sizes in order to glimpse key articles.

Client: Nokia
Creative: Ben Peckett
Agency: Luxus

London is one of the World’s most culturally diverse cities, making it the best location to bring a broad-appeal product and brand to the broadest audience. The London Long Copy Challenge is an amazing opportunity to have a conversation with ‘everyone’ in a location where the audience are openly receptive to the story you’re telling. 

However, London commuters are surrounded by noise. The noise of travel, other commuters, the music on their MP3s or the ‘noise’ of the advertising messages that surrounds them. Our aim has been to develop an ad that stands out and paints a real picture through words.

Client: PG Tips
Creatives: Ben Oliver & Mark Chapple
Agency: AKQA

PG tips is one of Britain’s most iconic brands. At its best, PG tips’ advertising is funny, topical and a universally appealing part of popular culture.

Londoners may have forgotten why tea is so great. We were once a city of tea lovers; we’re now just a city of tea drinkers. With this ad we hope to add a bit of joviality to millions of Londoners commute and remind them why tea is the best form of defence.

Client: Prudential
Creatives: Steve Wioland & Matt Woolner
Agency: Leagas Delaney

We have as a nation, an antipathy to saving and provision for our old age.

It is this wide spread attitude which makes the audience standing across the platform from this poster so appropriate. The younger ones may well be introduced to the concept of retirement for the first time – but it is important that the seeds are sewn. The middle aged are coming up to the point in their lives when, if they don’t embrace the idea of a pension, it may well be too late for one to help them.

For the older members of the audience, the message should be that it is not too late to do something to improve their financial situation.

* This advert was commended by the judges however due to advertising standards guidelines, was removed from the judging process.

Client: Red Bull
Creatives: Neil Cook & Daniel Smith
Agency: Kastner & Partners

London’s commuters travel further, and for longer, than any other commuter group in the UK. As such, they are a key target for the Red Bull brand, benefiting directly from the extra energy and focus that a Red Bull can bring to the start of their day. So what better way to make the arduous commute more bearable than with the pocket-size pick-me-up that is a Red Bull Energy Shot.

The creative supplied is part of a wider campaign, each execution within which utilises an occasion-specific pun in the headline and places the product in context with a visual signifier that helps demonstrate its small size. Here, the body copy speaks specifically to London’s Tube commuters in Red Bull’s unique tone of voice, using wry humour and genuine insight - born of shared experience - to make the product message relevant.

Client: Scratch.
Creative: Nyall Cook
Agency: iris

The London Tube is full of busy people, when writing my ad I wanted to get inside the head of these people. After a long day everybody deserves a good meal, but most people are too tired or find other excuses not to cook for themselves, even though they’d like to.

In a perfect world most people would like to cook for themselves, but sadly reality is different and when time or inspiration is short busy workers make do with something simple and boring, or a ready meal or a takeaway. These alternatives are deeply unsatisfying and altogether not healthy, but with scratch this doesn’t have to be the case. At the end of a long, busy day, there’s always time for a home-cooked meal.

Client: Seafood & Eat It
Creatives: Diana Basile & Rob Steeles
Agency: 23red

Seafood & Eat It has made crab, one of the most fiddly and intimidating foods to prepare, ridiculously straightforward for everyone. If only everything in London was as straightforward. Just small things can make people’s lives easier - such as highlighting where the Tube doors will open. That’s why Seafood & Eat It decided to take their no-nonsense approach to food to the Underground to help commuters.

Client: Sipsmith
Creative: Simon Morris
Agency: DKLW LOWE

Sipsmith is the first copper pot London distillery to be founded since 1820. It is a high-end product that has achieved remarkable traction in a very short space of time in all of London’s top hotels and bars. And now it is stocked in Waitrose across the Capital as well. It is distilled with the finest ingredients, including water from Lydwell Spring, the source of the River Thames.

Sipsmith is a real London success story about to hit the mass market in a big way. Cross-track posters on the Underground is the perfect way to kick-start that.

Client: Spitfire Ale
Creatives: Russell Wailes & Tim Garth
Agency: Libertine

Spitfire Ale is brewed in Kent and its heartland is London and the South East. Tube advertising is an ideal way to reach both London pub goers and South Eastern commuters.

On the 70th anniversary of the Blitz and the Battle of Britain there could not be a more appropriate media channel for this well loved campaign than the very tunnels where Londoners sheltered from the German raids; praying that their Spitfire pilots could defy Hitler and save them from invasion.

* This advert was commended by the judges however due to advertising standards guidelines, was removed from the judging process.

Client: Time Out Guides
Creatives:Luthfa Begum & Lucy Stephens

Time Out Guides is the market leader for guides to London. We publish over 20 titles, all of which exist to inspire and engage their audience with the place we live, breathe and love. Our guides are written by Londoners and we aim to bring out the best experiences that London has to offer, whether it's eating, drinking, shopping or entertainment. We don't just cover the most obvious places, but also the little secrets that only Londoners know about. This is what we've done by illustrating some of London's best-loved sites with words from our guidebooks. Our guides are fun, authoritative and they impart a very real sense of being in-the-know.

Client: Piaggio Vespa
Creatives: Robert Jebb & Paul Marchant
Agency: Trumpet

The London commuting audience faces all sorts of trials and tribulations on the daily commute. The Piaggio Vespa is a useful tool in helping Londoners move around town, along side (and above) Boris Bikes, the Tube and the red London Bus. It's another way to keep London moving.

In our execution we have tried to sympathise with, and demonstrate, our consumer's thoughts whilst they embark on their daily routines.

Client: Virgin Atlantic Flying Club
Creatives: Helen Wilson & Sean Johnson
Agency: GyroHSR

You work in London. The nights are drawing in. It’s getting colder and wetter. And you’re a commuter. So although you’re travelling through one of the most exciting cities in the world, the journey is just part of your routine. As with any routine, your natural instinct is look forward to a break from it. This makes you are the perfect person for Virgin Atlantic to talk to.

You might not have heard of Flying Club and there you are, on the platform, with time to read our poster. Even better, as a Londoner, you appreciate the grand experience. You understand what it takes to deliver exceptional service. Who better to tell that Virgin Atlantic is as good as flying gets.

Client: Visit London
Creatives: Mike McKenna, Greg Martin, Jeremy Poole & Ben Van der Gucht
Agency: RKCR / Y&R

What better media placement than the Tube to remind Londoners, commuters and tourists alike of what a rich in history, vibrant in culture, energetic in atmosphere city we live, work and play in? 

It’s the perfect place to point out what’s going on above our heads.  And how we should make more of it, explore it, live it and breathe it.  After all we, the audience, are London.  We give it its unique flavour.  We make it a city that people the world over recognise as a brilliant place to be.

Client: Waitrose Cookery School
Creatives: Tom Chesher, Sophie Keogh, Laura Nee & Keith Hancox
Agency: Ink Copywriters Ltd / Mytton Williams Design

The aim of this ad is to connect with the mindset of this audience – people who love food and find themselves daydreaming about it as they travel around the Capital or commute home. This playful concept revels in the language of cookery and the creative possibilities of the tube map itself.

Most commuters know the Underground stations inside out, but this ad twists the names in new directions. It encourages people to start thinking about food in new ways, drawing them into the copy and creating a real dialogue with the potential customer. It also captures the easy-going feel and attitude of the school itself – which is as much about fun as it is about learning.

Client: WHSmith
Creatives: Seb Housden & Ben McCarthy
Agency: DLKW Lowe

Commuters on the London Underground have a lot of time to while away, whether waiting for a Tube or waiting to arrive at their destination. This idle time is perfect for them to catch up on their reading. Some might already do so but if they do they probably won’t read our advertisement. It’s the ones that don’t that become our captive audience and with it the irony and humour that plays out.

Client: William Hill
Creatives: Alicia Ogg & Liane Dowling
Agency: BJL

Whether it’s a Monday work day or a Saturday match day, for thousands of football fans, the glorious game kicks off long before the whistle blows. For the truly passionate, following a pre-match ritual is the key to their team’s success.

With 19 football clubs in London, the Tube is the perfect place to talk to these devoted fans. While they are waiting on the platform to go to work, go home, or go out, we have the time to tap into their pre-match emotions and to rouse them. The thrill of putting on a bet is a big part of this growing anticipation, and we want sports fans to associate William Hill with the excitement and importance of their pre-match ritual.