It’s easy for critics to knock First Bus’ pre-national TV campaign (as they consistently have on You Tube) when, in fact, this seems to be one of the building blocks upon which New First is actually “transforming” its business. It takes guts to come out publicly that you wish to reposition yourself at the top when you already know the journey’s a long one.
Before Fearnley the (now quietly dropped) strapline “Transforming Travel” seemed a little disingenuous, hollow or insincere. First must surely now recognise it has a long way to “Travel” in its “Transformation” process but we should all be supportive of the journey on which it has embarked. Here, at last, is some evidence of change, some portrayal of a vision that will lift the organisation from its current place. On its own, it will be meaningless but we should anticipate and expect much more than this.
OK, so the advert isn’t quite as clever as Stagecoach’s Bus of Britain/Howard Hooterson and First’s might be portraying the organisation as slightly too sickly or sugary. And using High School Musical-style energy in a 30-second TV commercial is all well and good but First needs to ensure that it matches customer expectations. This, as I’ve said, is a long process that begins with shifts in image such as that depicted in the TV commercial. But why shouldn’t the bus service be seen high energy and fun?
It might nevertheless have been better to await the promised First brand refreshment. Or perhaps it isn’t changing that much, after all.
Perhaps the singing bus driver actress should be the new public face of First. That would be a great idea and promote a positive image. She’s certainly photogenic enough.Yesterday, we said we intended focusing today on a part of a region we don’t usually cover. That’s now held over.
24 comments:
Stagecoach successfully sidestepped those issues that were out of its control - reliability(traffic congestion) wasn't mentioned. First seems to promote on reliability when it is at the mercy of congestion.
10/10 for trying but no this won't be believable by many who use First. Just imagine the next time First puts their fares up.
about making the ad
http://www.busandcoach.com/newspage.aspx?id=5893&categoryid=0
It is the classic cart before the horse situation.They need to show exactly what their intentions are in specifics.Wonder how much money they wasted on this drivel.
Despite my initial misgivings, I do now have to admit the song is stuck in my head. I've even gone so far as to adding in the next line: surely "The greatest bus of all"?
What will First follow up with? A new parlour game for everyone to play at home: take any song and substitute in the word bus. "Buses were my first love, and they will be my last, buses of the future and buses of the past"?
Or my favourite: "Sexy Bus" by Air.
I would imagine that the advertising campaign has cost millions. Stagecoach have also advertised on TV albeit briefly.
I can't quite work out what benefit there is to spending such sums in the public transport industry. Who are First targetting?
Is it going to make passengers on routes and in areas where more than one company operates more likely to use First? I can't see it myself. I would have thought that public transport is about getting from A to B at a certain time (or using the next bus that comes along). Thoughts along the lines of "that's a nice advert, I won't get this bus, I'll wait for First" are unlikely to happen.
It obviously has no interest for those in areas where First don't operate.
I feel the same about rail operators. I would have thought that people are interested in completing a journey regardless of whoever runs it, rather than think "Ooh, an Arriva Trains Wales advert - where can I go with them?"
Given that this is a very expensive way of getting people to think "First operate around our way, let's catch a bus", certainly in comparison with more localised advertising that could be much more detailed, isn't perhaps the point of the entire advertising campaign is that it's a statement of intent to the rest of the industry (ie we've been in the doldrums but we're putting things right)?
Seems a rather odd thing to do if a new identity/brand/fleetnames are coming.
The best adverts that any bus operators have are the buses themselves out on the roads, however, very few make even a half-decent stab at using them effectively in that way.
"Who are First targetting?"
If it isn't obvious enough from the cheesy sickly style akin to the hit tv show Glee (which I understand the advert draws its inspiration) then surely the target is young and largely female that tends to fit the typical paying bus user demographic.
Whether you like it or not the advert is memorable and if its memorable then it works!
many messages on twitter from real customers laughing at the disconnect between the actual bus experience and this ad!
so much so someone has made a parody!
http://tartantrums.wordpress.com/2011/09/22/first-bus-tv-ad-re-imagined/
Back on my old hobby horse-consultants.Before retirement I always rubbed my hands when a rival called in so called expert consultants.To me it was always an admission of failure.The fact is there are not so many real experts left.First really do need to find someone with the required expertise,knowledge,business acumen and drive to carry them forward.Not yet another load of useless consultants draining there finances.
“I believe that buses are the future” I don’t think this is a message that has reached First in Devon and Cornwall. If they are genuine why then have routes like the 48 Plymouth to Wembury been decimated by First Group in the past couple of years? First gave their reason as being due to concessionary fares reimbursement, well they can’t be doing that badly if they can afford advertising like this. It certainly doesn't make you feel better when their bus service is so poor and they refuse to listen. I apologise for being so negative about their new campaign!
RE: Anonymous at 11:56 "Whether you like it or not the advert is memorable and if its memorable then it works!"
It's memorable. It might be more memorable for a younger/female audience.
However, it being memorable isn't enough to make an advert work. It needs to put more bums on seats. Will this advert recoup the money spent on it? I have serious doubts that it will get close for the reasons I mentioned previously.
They can't win can they? If bus companies DON'T advertise then you grumpy old gits moan about "a failure to market their services" and if they DO then you moan about them spending money...
Either way, I suspect they know far more about their business than half the bozos on here!
Anon at 1651...
All their subsidiaries combined, they makes millions, and that's what can afford to make an advert such as this.
But they only make that much as a whole because of the subsidiaries.
Each subsidiary needs to make a profit. So if route 48 in Cornwall is loosing money, they're not just going to sit there and do nothing about it, are they?
Imagine if all the subsidiaries were loosing money...
People, especially people with no idea about buses (i.e. people complaining about Southern Vectis making cuts when Go-Ahead make millions) often complain that the parent company makes loads.
But that is only through each sub company. After all, Go-Ahead aren't going to take loads of Oxford Bus Company's profits and give it to Southern Vectis, just so SV can carry on running a loss maker, are they? That would be daft.
And FirstGroup aren't going to pay First Devon & Cornwall just to run a loss maker in Cornwall either.
Profits go up to the parent company, not the other way...
Has anybody noticed the branding change has already begun, albeit subtly? They seem to have adopted the name 'FirstBus'.
This name, of course, was abandoned around ten years ago when First decided to focus instead on its railway operations, and distance itself from its bus operations.
Perhaps this is the most positive development we can take away from the advertisement.
I think they're probably targeting a young audience of non-bus users they feel they can get a response from...the sort of youngster who puts car purchase ahead of a roof over the head ... which is surely to be praised...
So what is "Eric" mumbling on about? If he doesn't recognise that the lure of car-purchase isn't some form of competition for the bus, then he's surely a purblind prat! (alternatively perhaps he's under contract to PTEG).
I'm sure Eric isn't in the demographic group this advert is aimed at therefore the appeal will be lost on him!
To answer one of Eric's questions:
"Is it going to make passengers on routes and in areas where more than one company operates more likely to use First?"
Probably not, however it will appeal to people sat at home who have considered switching to the bus but haven't a clue on how to go about finding out information hence the focus at the end of the advert on visiting the website.
At the end of the day the advert is not about pinching passengers off other operators - its targeting new or lapsed bus users and that has got to be a good thing.
Initially I was surprised to see a First advertising campaign when there is a promised new brand/local identity coming.
But look again at the advert, how much of the livery do they actually show?
The opening, with all the bus fronts, mainly white. The bus leaving the garage, you hardly see the "willow leaf". In fact there is only one shot which clearly shows the First livery! There is a head-on low down shot where the bus side appears digitally purple, and a shot of it approaching the traffic light where the side looks deliberately shiny to hide the colours or has been digitally whitened. As the passengers board the bus the familiar corporate handrails even seem toned down. OK the "red carpet" is Barbie pink, but it hardly shouts "corporate First". And the final shot of the bus rear has only the corner in "Barbie".
Am I reading too much in to it?
I wonder, over the years since de-reg, how much has the industry spent promoting itself, and how much has it happily taken for displaying adverts for cars and motoring?
Thanks anon at 16.51 for your comment. I guess that this might not be the appropriate forum for going into specifics about a specific bus service. My comment was that First portray a very positive (if not slightly sickly) image about their provision of bus services in the advert. I can assure you that in reality their local management don’t always come across in this manner. With regard to their 48 Plymouth to Wembury service they did not appear to be open to any local discussion or negotiation, merely citing a grievance that the company was having with the concessionary fare reimbursement and therefore withdrawing their commercial operation of this service. As I am sure you can imagine this was not very well received by their customers who use this service.
"With regard to their 48 Plymouth to Wembury service they did not appear to be open to any local discussion or negotiation, merely citing a grievance that the company was having with the concessionary fare reimbursement and therefore withdrawing their commercial operation of this service. As I am sure you can imagine this was not very well received by their customers who use this service."
But surely the customers are intelligent enough to understand the concessionary fare issue is not of the operators making? Sounds like your beef should be with the local authority not the operator for arbitarily reducing concessionary reimbursement as is happening up and down the country.
If you were being paid X to deliver a service then the bill payer told you arbitarily they were reducing it to Y would you continue delivering to the standard you were when you were paid X?
I think the problem was the whole way that First Devon & Cornwall went about it. They withdrew the entire bus service without any consultation what so ever (I know this is back to the old argument that why should they consult in a deregulated industry, but it certainly does not help!) This had severe implications for people who used the bus (their passengers/customers). When dialogue was attempted with the local First management they were very reluctant indeed to enter into any and blamed the Devon County Council concessionary fares reimbursement rate. The trouble then was Devon CC blamed First stating that they had not raised any objections to their reimbursement when they were able to so. So the end result is a much reduced Monday to Saturday daytime only service subsidised by Devon CC and no Sunday or bank holiday services at all. This to a fairly substantial (2,000 plus commuter population) only 2 and a half miles from the Plymouth City boundary. Also the bus service was well used, which is another reason I simply cannot understand their behaviour in all of this. That is why this advert grates a bit with me, sorry rant over.
You can say you like/dislike it and questions its effectiveness - but unless you know what the campaign's objectives are (and I doubt many on here do), you'd can't possibly say whether it is a good advert.
From a client's perspective, a good ad is one that achieves its objectives.
I've long felt that the industry should be doing more general promotion of the positive side of the industry and the benefits of bus travel.
Maybe this ad only goes so far, and it's a pity that it's company specific rather than a combined industry effort, but it's good to see an effort being made.
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