BST-BDDP has created its first work for London Transport’s fare evasion
scheme following its triumph, with Optimedia, in the centralisation
pitch earlier this year.
The campaign, which is backed by a spend of around pounds 750,000, stems
from the decision taken by London Transport in September to pool the
fare evasion advertising for London Buses and London Underground.
The work breaks in the Evening Standard and on tubes this week, and
features six photographs taken by the Douglas Brothers. The ads were art
directed by Ed Morris and written by James Sinclair.
All six photographs carry the strapline: ‘London relies on the system
that relies on your fare. Always buy the right ticket.’ The ads were
shot in black and white and all carry a themed copy line.
Individual executions include a portrait of an old woman’s legs together
with the line: ‘They don’t carry her as far as they used to. But we do.’
Another reads: ‘Every bus is someone’s school bus’ and features a
picture of a schoolboy blowing bubble gum. A third shows a baby wrapped
in a blanket and boasts: ‘We delivered the midwife.’
The campaign takes a kinder tone than earlier work, which publicised the
introduction of penalty fares for crimes including out-of-zone travel
and over-riding on buses and tubes.
Norman Cohen, the marketing director of London Transport, said: ‘We feel
the ‘big stick’ approach towards penalty fares has run its course for
the time being. This campaign emphasises the significance of fares
income in sustaining and improving the system on which the tube and bus
system relies.’
