eurostar - the london virus

The London Virus transmitted by Eurostar

Anne-Françoise PietteThe Marketing Day – March 23rd 2010

Many things have changed recently

THE CONSUMERFROM PASSIVE AUDIENCE TO ACTIVE PARTICIPANTS

THE WAY TO SPEAK TO THEMFROM MONOLOGUE TO DIALOGUE

THEIR EXPECTATIONSFROM TRUST IN BRANDS TO TRUST IN PEERS

This impacted the way Eurostar wants to communicate with the audiences

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The 4 brand beliefs of Eurostar

1. From brand promise to brand behaviour

2. From 360°C to a 365 days

3. From a one off consumer to a real ambassador

4. From an imposed messaging to an open-minded relationship

FROM BRAND PROMISE TO BRAND BEHAVIOUR

Brand belief #1

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1. From brand promise to brand behaviour

• In the past: differentiation through brand promise and innovations

• Today: real innovation is rare and all brands promise the same.

• How you act has become more important than what you say. “Act” instead of “say”.

• FROM a brand promise TO a Brand Attitude.

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Eurostar’s brand behaviour

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2. FROM 360°C TO 365 DAYS

Brand belief #2Brand behaviour is more than classical campaigns

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2. From 360°C to 365 days

• 360° is about translating the same message by the same creative idea at all media.

• However, today the brand doesn’t manages 100% of the relation anymore.

• More and more, the consumer defines when and where he wants to be in contact with your brand. A brand needs to be at disposal at all times.

360BYE BYE

DEGREES

HELLO365 DAYS

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2. From 360°C to 365 days

• Build a relationship with our consumers beyond the moment they buy a ticket to London.

• It’s about an everyday lives interaction.

• Each time relevant information/ added value, which enrich their day to day life.

• The emotional link build step by step will result in real trust.

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2. From 360°C to 365 days

How does Eurostar realizes that?

A campaign is always more than ad.

It’s always about a strong & relevant consumer insight which will really make a difference in our consumer day to day life,

AND we’ll always find a way to engage with our consumer, to offer them the opportunity to enter in relationship with the brand.

Some examples…

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2. From 360°C to 365 days

Monopoly Game

• Interactive sms game « Pound is low, buy London »

• « Buy Eurostar posters in the street and if anybody else tries to buy your poster, you get a rent ».

• RESULTS: 1,569 unique participants /15,709 SMS

2110/04/23

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2. From 360°C to 365 days

Campaigns Mini-Sites Ex: « Create your own ad! »

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2. From 360°C to 365 days

Destination marketing program

Mix of qualitative, credible, unexpected touch points…

FROM A ONE OFF CONSUMER TO A REAL AMBASSADOR

Brand belief #3

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3. From a one off consumer to a real ambassador

• In the past: attract new consumers via a push approach.

• Afterwards, started the era of loyalty, CRM, etc… (because of recruitment costs)

• Today: Consumer-actor, Word of Mouth, trust in Peers… The consumer as to be part of the media plan, we need to provide him added value in order to turn him in real ambassador.

Get the London virus & pass it on!

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3. From a one off consumer to a real ambassador

London is cheap GO NOW!

Online viral: Girls Geek

• Special organized shopping & New tech Day trip for 40 bloggers• Mobile phone mash-up Google Maps / FlickR & Twitter• Mini site following the day• Journalists on board• Networking with the London/Paris girls geeks + The Eurostar

mobile application in live demo

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3. From a one off consumer to a real ambassador

London is cheap GO NOW!

Online viral: Girls Geek

• +/- 1,000 tweets on March 14th - Reached Number 4th

worldwide trend • Topics of blogs discussions: Eurostar, 1h51, low £, London

shopping, mobile application • Press coverage: RTBF La Première, Pure FM, De Standaard, DH,

Media Marketing

Don’t underestimate the WOM…

Mobile application

www.eurostar.com/girlsgeeks

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3. From a one off consumer to a real ambassador

London is cheap GO NOW!

Off-line viral: Key Opinion Leaders

• Inspiring people, who has/are platforms they are the news

• Let them experience “the cheap but still very London”• 100 VIP’s (ex Eric Boschman, Olivier Strelli, J-M Zecca…), trendy

hairdressers(JD Coiffure, Queen for a day…) & trendy bars (Belga Queen, Café Callens…)

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3. From a one off consumer to a real ambassador

London is cheap GO NOW!

Off-line viral: Key Opinion Leaders

• Help them: a goodie bag with Oyster card, different London day trips examples, Visit London, guides, tube & London map, reductions in shops…

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3. From a one off consumer to a real ambassador

London is cheap GO NOW!

Off-line viral: Key Opinion Leaders

Follow-up: • special pack sent to them twice / year• Advance booking for special promos• Special program under development in order to turn

them in real ambassadors

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3. From a one off consumer to a real ambassador

London is cheap GO NOW!

Off-line viral: Key Opinion Leaders

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3. From a one off consumer to a real ambassador

Eurostar’s 15 Anniversary!

• 100 Mios travellers in 15 years• How is it possible that London Virgin’s still exists?• Find them & transform them in London Lovers

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3. From a one off consumer to a real ambassador

FROM AN IMPOSED MESSAGING TO AN OPEN-MINDED RELATIONSHIP

Brand belief #4

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DECBEFORE

18th

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4. Listening

• Local Monitoring• Focus on brand, London topics and competition• Use of free tools• Lead by Marketing department• 5 days a week, working hours

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4. Social Media platforms usage

• 1 Blog (UK)• 3 Facebook Fan pages (UK, FR & BE)• 2 Twitter accounts (UK & BE)• Lead by Marketing Department• Our objectives:- Educate and entertain on our destinations (real focus) - Strengthen our brand key messages (pioneering, more than a

travel service, honesty&transparency)- Develop and engage with our London/Paris/Brussels Lovers- Interact with our community (be ready to answer their requests)

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4. Blog

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4. Facebook

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4. Twitter

DEC18th

• Saturday 19th, 9:10am- Thanks to the UK driver’s strike alert, our Social Media responsible finds out significant amount of Tweets mentioning the event

4. Dec 18th, night. 5 Eurostar trains stucked in tunnel = our event

• 9:13am - Contact with our Belgian PR responsible to get updated and check what can be published online (wait for go)

• 9:17am- Official decision to update our marketing Social Media channels (Twitter and Facebook) with corporate info and consumer issues

• 9:18am - First tweet published : “ Eurostar has cancelled all services this Saturday morning 19 December before 12 noon because of severe weather conditions. #eurostar””

DECAFTER

18th

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4. Listening

• Global + local monitoring• Focus on brand (corporate & crisis communication) &

trends• Use of professional tool• Lead by Marketing and Communication department• New Communication On Call Process• 7 days a week/ 24 hours

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4. Social Media platforms improvement

• 1 Corporate Communication Twitter account• Social Media Newsroom (extended version in development)

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4. Corporate Twitter

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4. Eurostar Newsroom

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4. Other improvements

• New corporate website www.eurostar.com update process: R

eal time updates during crisis

Publication in English first

• New crisis approach to our consumers (Q&A take into consideration their own needs in time of crisis) • Call center improved process

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4. Our Q&A section

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The London virus transmitted by Eurostar

Trust is definitely contagious…

Brand

Peers

Consumer

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Q & A

Thanks for your attention!