In times of online meetings being seen as more effective, how do you inspire business travellers to hold important meetings on-site? We turned interfaces of video conferencing platforms into calls for help, showing the zoom fatigue and participants’ frustration. The message: “Meetings in person are still an option” gave businesspeople a way out, and taking an eco-friendly train would help get them there.

We see the interfaces of famous video conferencing platforms. The participants’ initials have been turned into calls for help. While we read the text on-screen, we can hear the participants struggling with the challenges that come with online meetings. Our idea reminded people that they can still meet in person and take an eco-friendly train to get there.

The target group of business travelers is a special one for German Rail. Precise targeting on the right platforms is essential for the success of the campaign. Therefore, we have chosen the social media platform LinkedIn. On German Rail’s LinkedIn profile German Rail business trips, the target group could not only watch our videos but also inform themselves about business travel by train. The outstanding results demonstrate – our campaign and strategy were a huge success.

Since we had almost no budget, we had to be clever. We filmed real team calls and changed only the interface to spread our message. We chose the social media platform LinkedIn to promote the videos and reach out to the target group of business travelers.

The social campaign outperformed all previous benchmarks. In the specific target group of business travellers, the campaign achieved a total of 6.5 million ad views, the VTR being +17% above benchmark values. The engagement rate was 52% better than average and the click-through rate was 2.3%, which is 155% better than previous campaigns. This all resulted in the lowest cost per click ever for business travellers, making them very efficient.

We also saw a spike in interest in website visits and positive sentiment. The campaign assets were shared within the target group, sparking a conversation about "zoom fatigue" and the benefits of meeting in person.