Vbz Public Transport: THE SNOW STAMPER

Credits & Description:

Category: Best Use of Ambient Media: Small Scale

Advertiser: VBZ PUBLIC TRANSPORT ZURICH

Product/Service: PUBLIC TRANSPORT

Agency: RUF LANZ

Creative Director: Markus Ruf (Ruf Lanz/Zurich)

Creative Director: Danielle Lanz (Ruf Lanz/Zurich)

Copywriter: Markus Ruf (Ruf Lanz Zurich)

Art Director: Marcel Schlaefle (Ruf Lanz/Zurich)

Account Supervisor: Kristina Burch (Ruf Lanz/Zurich)

Advertiser's Supervisor: Heinz Voegeli

Media placement: Snow Stamper - On Car Windshields - 17 December 2011



Insights, Strategy & the Idea

The public transport in Zurich wanted to reach a type of client that is hard to get: car owners who don’t use public transport and don’t feel related to it. In order to convince them, a unique insight was needed, an advantage that would be especially obvious to the target group. This insight consisted of the safety and comfort public transport can provide on days with snow. Instead of risking accidents and facing an exhausting drive, it’s much safer and easier to take a bus. This USP couldn’t be ignored by the target audience, especially when facing their snow-covered car.



Creative Execution

The strategic solution was to raise the attention of the target group in the immediate moment when the benefit of public transport gets obvious. That’s why the campaign was implemented on days with snowfall. We stamped our message “Better use the bus today” in the snow-covered windshields of parking cars. This way the reason-why became the condition to execute the campaign. And this is also why it worked best in the most direct channel: the outdoor guerrilla implementation.



Results and Effectiveness

In winter 2011/12 the message was applied to countless cars on days with snowfall. It helped increasing the average use of Zurich’s public transport to a number of 800,000 people each day and supported the increasing turnover of the company. The public transport was also able to improve its reputation among those who’ve never used it before.