They’re only a Guilt Trip away
Client: V/Line Trains
Agency: McCann Australia
This is a story about the extraordinary power of guilt to motivate family and friends to visit their loved one’s in the country, and sell a whole load of train tickets to boot.
When running a train company, it’s normal for trains to be at or near capacity during peak periods. The trains hardest to fill are those travelling against commuter traffic and those in the middle of the day. V/Line calls these customers its VFFs (Visiting Friends and Families). They represent a potentially huge opportunity if they can be captured, but they are difficult to isolate and as V/Line discovered, even harder to motivate.
The Guilt Trip was born
V/Line’s solution to the business problem wasn’t to advertise the trains, but rather create a new product that delivered a brand new, highly functional product delivered through one of the most powerful emotional lenses.
The Guilt Trip was born.
To leverage the power of guilt, V/Line needed to put real people and real guilt front and centre. Online films, Guilt Trip handbooks and regional media focussed on teaching country people about the power of guilt and how to use it. Through a new ticket sales platform – Guilttrips.com.au, people were able send messages of guilt and pre-paid V/ Line train tickets to their city dwelling loved ones.
