Press releases
Bus industry’s biggest-ever mailing campaign
14 March 2003
Arriva has launched what is thought to be the biggest-ever mailing campaign seen in the bus industry, as it targets nearly 2.6 million households in the UK .
In this, the third year of its award-winning 'Going your way' campaign, the emphasis has been placed on over 70 of its busiest corridors and networks. It is targeting people living within ten minutes walk time of the key routes, and providing them with the basic information needed to get the most benefit from their local services.
The mailers have been tailored to local needs, providing simple route maps with journey times, times of first and last buses between key points, daytime frequencies, specimen fares and details of money-saving multi-journey tickets. Details of Arriva's website, which carries timetables for all services, and of traveline, are given for those who want to find out more, and each mailer includes a voucher giving a travel discount.
In dense urban areas and some market towns, handy pocket-sized network guides have been distributed.
Distribution is largely through Royal Mail, with some areas covered instead by newshare or solus distributors, and takes place in three batches during March, April and early May.
As Arriva's UK Bus division's marketing and customer services director, Catherine Mason, explains:
The mass mailout is part of Arriva's ongoing 'Going your way' campaign which shows our commitment to ensuring that customers are given enough information about journeys that can be made by bus. We are encouraging them to think about transport choices for each individual journey they make and to recognise that sometimes the bus is the best choice.
The campaign has been supported internally by an extensive staff briefing campaign. Externally, awareness has been built by a PR campaign targeting key decision makers and influencers and a wide distribution of news items to local and national media. A customer attitude survey amongst bus users provided some lighter-hearted hooks to gain local media coverage in the targeted areas.
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