The world of Heathrow was unique for TfL. In this world, unlike TfL’s standing as market leader across London, the Elizabeth line was a new, unknown brand entering an established market. Travellers at Heathrow would likely be well-acquainted with choices such as the Piccadilly Line and Heathrow Express, whilst also be tempted by hassle-free options, like Uber and taxis, at the end of a long flight. We could not expect to simply absorb traffic organically.

Second, whilst TfL has, over the last 24 years, developed a deep understanding of Londoners, the organisation was less familiar with the 82.1 million people from across the globe, who pass through Heathrow each year. And vice versa - those people were less familiar with TfL than any Londoner. This meant we could not rely on existing brand equity and experience to give us an edge in the customer’s decision-making process.

Our insight was powerful because it united a vast, disparate audience. Whilst our target audience hailed from across the globe, were male and female; families and solo travellers; businesspeople and holiday makers; they all shared one experience…

Arriving thousands of miles from home, in unfamiliar surrounds, probably sleep deprived, maybe irritable and surrounded by a tongue not their own.

Behavioural economics will tell you that under circumstances such as these, people will seek out a path of least resistance to make their decisions as simple and easy as possible. If we could help travellers simplify their decisions at the airport, we could nudge them towards choosing the Elizabeth line over tried, tested, and trusted alternatives.

Conventional wisdom would have raised awareness of the Elizabeth line like any other product, service or brand launch. Go for mass awareness, one simple message, the biggest formats you can buy, as many as you can afford.

But we took a different approach.

Instead of using media to launch the Elizabeth line to Heathrow travellers, we used media to simplify travellers’ journeys. We used media as a signpost – not only did we raise awareness of the Elizabeth line, but also told travellers when the next realistically catch-able departure from Terminal 5 was. And we did so in each traveller’s native tongue. No rushing for the train, no faffing with translating signage – just a simpler smoother journey for those choosing the Elizabeth line.

We invested 75% of our budget in just a few hundred square feet: 42 dynamic screens, on the baggage carousels across the Terminal 5 Arrivals Hall. The precise message displayed on each was determined by synthesising three API feeds:

- National Rail data informed WHAT we said. Real-time updates on journeys between T5 and London ensured passengers were only shown realistic, actionable departure information.

- Flight data informed WHO we were talking to and HOW to talk to them. We matched the primary language of our message to the language spoken in each flight’s country of origin.

- Baggage arrival data informed precisely WHEN to bring these data points together to deliver the most helpful message at any given point in-campaign.

The result: passengers arriving from Berlin, waiting on carousel 4 saw our message in German, those from Rome on carousel 9 saw our message in Italian, and so on.

Whilst the guiding thought of this campaign was to make travellers’ journeys simpler, the execution behind the scenes was anything but. Across the campaign period we served up over 4 million different messages, in five different languages. But this effort paid dividends.

Over the summer months, when our real-time, multi-lingual campaign was live, we saw an uplift in the share of people heading for the Elizabeth line who were non-UK travellers.

The ‘visitor share’ that headed for the Elizabeth line from Terminal 5 was 18% higher than it was at Terminal 4.

Advertising in another language isn’t easy but TfL did it, in not just one but five extra languages! Such was the success at Terminal 5 we rolled it out across Terminals 2, 3 and 4 this year. Merci, Danke, Grazie, Gracias, Arigatou.