It is amazing to see a campaign go from strength to strength with every execution but that's what happens when you start with a great idea, a single idea, that you stay faithful to, every single time.

I've posted two previous commercials for Brussel's De Lijn bus transit, but then our clients Ivana Tomas and Kim Moser of Brampton Transit sent me a third - the excellent Anteater spot.

I went digging and found more - here are all four of De Lijn's spots.

The message couldn't be simpler - it's smarter to travel in groups.
A deadly simple thought that transforms the humble bus commute into simple, entertaining fables about the empowerment as enjoyed by a community of riders.

If I met the creative team responsible, I'd give them a hug.

There's even an iPhone and Android app game based on the campaign.


Enjoy.










Article and blog, copyright Gavin Barrett 2012.
Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 2.5 Canada

Equal parts corporate video and transit brand ad, this piece for SNCF pulls out all the stops in this brilliantly animated video. It's a trip. Produced by animator ChezEddy and directed by Maxime Bruneel for Elephant at Work.


 
This admittedly nicely produced ad for Network Rail attempts to be all things to all people. 

I hear the client's voice rather clearly.
"I say, we have some rather inconvenient news to deliver. Construction may slow things a tad for people trying to get in and out of London this Christmas. But we do owe it to the public to let them know. Public accountability and all that rot, y'know. 
And oh, let's keep it positive this time, shall we - let's have no apologies for the inconvenience or any such pre-Thatcher public sector claptrap. Excellent! 
And oh dear lord, I nearly forgot, make it all nice and Christmas-y would you? 
Good lad! Excellent!"

In the immortal words of of Seth Meyers, "Really? Really?"





It is tough to do a good job selling transit-in-development or transit-oriented development, but this big budget, slickly produced spot does a good job of exciting the imagination of the viewer, whether urban-plan-fan, anorak/trainspotter or regular commuter Joes.

"Building tomorrow's network while running today's", says the voiceover.

The English version offers "Tomorrow on track today" as the tagline that closes the spot which sounds rather corporate mission-statement-ish. For communication value, I much prefer the French version which in spirit, says "we have big plans for you." capturing the vision angle with a lovely light touch.

Réseau Ferré De France is the company that builds, maintains and runs the French national railway network. This advertising campaign seems to be well ahead of its website - which while not too badly designed, is a touch dated, and a little too corporate to be effective. Pushing Buses, which has a proprietary Rayon-Polyester-Microfibre-Carbon dating process to estimate such things, dates it circa 2006.

You can watch the "making of" video here, if that's the sort of thing that turns your crank. 
http://youtu.be/1JHN0GXePXg

Bon voyage mes amis!

Article and blog, copyright Gavin Barrett 2011. 


San Francisco's BART has long been one of the best transit marketers in the world.

They get it right pretty consistently every time they communicate, whether it's through social media, their website or plain old-fashioned advertising.

A good example is this guerilla marketing effort - a swing installed on BART trains, a few delicious seconds of childlike freedom on your daily commute.





Earth Bus

Earth Bus


Most adults think school kids should be kept away from spray paint. But when they do take a chance they discover there is no energy cleaner than youth energy. In San Diego, school kids were set loose on this San Diego Transit Bus. They left their mark: beautiful images promoting planet friendly activities.



Grass-bus: Mobile lawn spreads environmental awareness at Thessaloniki

Created for Thessaloniki's Innovation Festival, this urban bus takes a leaf out of the suburban lawn to promote green living, clean energy and energy conservation. Inside the bus other greenovations are displayed. The bus itself was moved around, showing up in city squares and other festival venues to surprise, entertain and educate.



The second of those elegant, eloquent, utterly seductive Intercity commercials.
It's a train come true.
This post is first in a series of classic 80s ads for Intercity in the UK, that bring back the romance of travel.

This is persuasion and communications at their best, reminding us always that it's not about the destination it's about the journey. Enjoy it.


Pay for the Subway Using Your iPhone

This new technology being tested on the NYC subway system could make boarding even more rapid on BRT.


via mashable.com - link to article above
Pushing trains should be easier if you're one of the Mad Men, no?



To all promoters, champions and fans of transit and public transportation. Spread the word. Another winter reason to ride, courtesy Statoil.
Will post credits and kudos when I find out whodunnit.


With 705,000 views, this video went viral a while ago. You don't need to understand Mandarin to appreciate the brilliant simplicity of inventor Chen Jianjun's concept: a train that never has to stop at a station. Designed for use on the high speed Wuhan-Guangzhou corridor, the concept uses detachable (and dock-able) disembarkation pods for on-the-go passenger transfers. In eliminating just 15 three-minute stops on the 968-kilometre stretch it would save 45 minutes. The Wugang Passenger Railway, as the line is also known, is already the world's fastest train service (313 km/h average speed impress you much?). It opened for service in December 2009.

"The Train that Never Stops" was a fascinating idea in the first place as its viewership attests, but now it has hit the big time - it made it into the New York Times Magazine's The Year in Ideas - an annual celebration of extraordinary thinking.






It's a big week for transit and sustainable cities in New York Time's T magazine. No less than five different travel and transportation innovations were mentioned in this travel issue. Teague's barebones stripped-down vision for high fuel efficiency flying - labelled Flight 2.0. A nod at Inspiro, BMW Group DesignworksUSA exciting new subway train design for Siemens. Joey Ruiter's Inner City unchained unicycle-based back-to-basics bicycle. Priestmangoode's double-decker bullet Mercury Train. And Thomas Heatherwick's modern icon for an old one - a replacement for London's classic, red open-platform, Routemaster double-decker buses. Woohoo.
Our creative for Züm, Brampton's new rapid transit service is on the road and in the press with some very positive attention - and in the Toronto Star and the Metro. As we like to say, we just make ideas. It's the ideas that make the news.
Take a look at the Star article by clicking here.

Or take a gander at these ads to see what all the fuss is about.










Article and blog, copyright Gavin Barrett 2010.

Creative Commons Licence
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Licence.



So is this what it's coming to?

Because we can't convince people to choose buses over their cars, we'll just drive buses over them cars!

Yee haaa!

via @huffingtonpost: China Plans Huge Buses That Can DRIVE OVER Cars. No, it's not a monster bus derby. http://huff.to/a3ZDUx
This little low-budget video has probably done more to promote ridership on transit than many rubbishy advertising campaigns.

Enjoy.


Dating Humor:
How To Chat Someone Up On The Train, Bus Or Tube

How To Chat Someone Up On The Train, Bus Or Tube (Love & Dating: Dating Humor)







A simple smart advertising campaign can go a long way towards converting drivers to riders.
Luck led me to this posting on sustainable urban transportation blog, The City Fix.

One campaign in particular caught my eye - the comparative, good vs. bad, cars vs. buses Go Metro ads made their point with clarity and immediacy. I went hunting for the rest of the campaign and found a treasure trove at another blog Long Winded and Proud.

Check out the Naughty vs Nice t-shirts they distributed to baristas - a lovely grassroots touch.

Images via The City Fix and Long Winded and Proud.
Article and blog, copyright Gavin Barrett 2010.

Creative Commons Licence
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Licence.




Züm is Brampton Transit's new bus rapid transit brand, carefully developed through a year-long process that included stakeholder interviews, best practice reviews and town council approvals. Appropriately enough for a transit service, Züm has an origin and a destination. Züm began its journey in the idea of a speedy, urban, world-class, rapid, modern, forward-looking, cosmopolitan rapid transit system. Züm sounds like zoom, the sound of something moving fast, something speedy. Zoom also means to move closer in, to zoom into something for a close-up. Züm’s graphics evoke speed, linkage, modernity, world-class, a certain euro-style sensibility.

Client: Sue Connor, Kim Moser, Brampton Transit
Agency: Barrett and Welsh

Designer: Rob Segovia

Creative Directors: Gavin Barrett and Mike Welsh.
Art Director: Mike Welsh

Writer: Gavin Barrett








For years, I've been shouting (I believe that's the polite word) into the wind that we need to create a movement of transit supporters. It's only when riders who care passionately are recognized, thanked and recruited that true conversion really happens. Well here's a start from Montreal (Thank you for showing us the way). This beautiful little papermation video for Montreal's public transit system, the Société de Transport de Montréal is 1 part cheerleading, 1 part exhortation, 1 part acknowledgement, and all parts the joy of the journey. The video is supported by a series of graphic poster-style ads that make it an elegant, fun campaign. Well done Montréal!

Video made by Karim Zariffa, assisted by Pascal Brousseau for Sid Lee agency.
Photography by Simon Duhamel.

Article and blog, copyright Gavin Barrett 2010.
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This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Licence.

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About the Bus Pusher

Gavin Barrett is Owner/Founding Partner + Creative Director, of award-winning Toronto agency Barrett and Welsh. In pursuit of big ideas he has: nibbled on pigs' ears (not on a live pig at the time); gone elephant-back in the Thai jungle (no elephants were hurt); gambled in a Macau casino (was utterly destroyed). His ads: have run in 35 countries, helped elect prime ministers, attracted the ire of the lawyers for Dolly the clone sheep, drawn an angry crowd in Lagos, have been studied in business texts in Canada and India and received derisive mention in a John Irving novel. His poems: can be found in Penguin’s anthology of 14 contemporary Indian poets, Reasons for Belonging. He cannot: sing.

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We're not in the ad business. We're in the moving business. We move product. Perceptions. Behaviour. Market share. But most of all, we move people.

Pushing buses and other transit everywhere.

Pushing buses and other transit everywhere.
Barrett and Welsh is proud to support the cause of transit as contributor to APTA and CUTA.