The Lowdown:
Bus Éireann’s premium inter-regional brand, Expressway, wanted a campaign to focus on the totality of the on-board experience – a sense of what makes Expressway ‘way better’. The message conveyed is that ‘where your journey takes you is up to you – just take it in style, comfort and safety on Expressway’.
The creation of unique, exclusive character, ‘Big Red’ manifests Expressway’s values and service. It is a powerful metaphor that does the heavy lifting to create an emotional engagement, that only Expressway can truly make. Strategem iLabs, Bus Éireann’s advertising agency, created The Expressway Way Better idea, which is simple and yet disruptive. It’s a universal story of imagination; it’s charming and intrinsically visual, perfect for today’s fractured media consumption.
With a budget of over €500,000, the campaign is fully integrated, running across a host of platforms including broadcast, billboard, digital, social and print – with the public learning a little more about the Character ‘Big Red’ and his exploits as time goes by.
Hollywood heavy hitter, John Moore, directed the advert.
Credits:
Advertiser: Bus Éireann
Agency: Strategem iLabs
Clients: Stephen Kent, Sean Forde, Eimer Callan
Campaign: Expressway Way Better
Creative Director: Tom Kelly
Agency Planner: Margaret Greally
Production: Russell Curran
Director: John Moore
