Harrogate Bus Company in running for top award for ‘Clean, Safe, Ready to Go’ campaign

Harrogate Bus Company's boss says the firm is 'delighted to be to rubbing shoulders with the biggest names in British retail' for a top award.
Harrogate Bus Company's famous no. 36 bus - Transdevs entry for the awards, run by leading industry journal Marketing Week, is one of three shortlisted in the Travel, Tourism and Hospitality category.Harrogate Bus Company's famous no. 36 bus - Transdevs entry for the awards, run by leading industry journal Marketing Week, is one of three shortlisted in the Travel, Tourism and Hospitality category.
Harrogate Bus Company's famous no. 36 bus - Transdevs entry for the awards, run by leading industry journal Marketing Week, is one of three shortlisted in the Travel, Tourism and Hospitality category.

North of England bus operator Transdev’s innovative and industry-leading campaign to promote safe bus travel under its ‘Clean, Safe, Ready to Go’ banner is among a host of household brand names on the shortlist for a prestigious national marketing award.

The inventive campaign – using a full range of marketing tools including a specially-created video following an everyday bus journey seen through the eyes of a customer – is on the shortlist for the Marketing Week Masters, which celebrate strategic marketing excellence throughout the United Kingdom.

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Transdev’s entry for the awards, run by leading industry journal Marketing Week, is one of three shortlisted in the Travel, Tourism and Hospitality category.

Others in the running this year include big names such as Sony, DHL, Facebook and Ford.

A stellar jury of senior marketing leaders from UK high street retailers including Marks and Spencer, Tesco and Nationwide selected the bus operator from hundreds of entries submitted by companies across the country, including many of Britain’s best-known retailers.

With current social distancing measures in mind, the award winners will be announced online in September.

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Transdev's Harrogate-based chief executive Alex Hornby said: “I’m thrilled and proud that our unique and successful campaign has been recognised by the Marketing Week Masters judging panel.

"Rubbing shoulders with the biggest names in British retail is a great achievement at any time, and especially so today given the challenging times we are all responding to right now.

“Clean, Safe, Ready to Go summed up in five words our firm commitment to our customers, delivered by our amazing team of people in a pressured environment never seen before in the history of our industry.

“While that challenge continues, the very positive customer reaction to our campaign’s core message, that bus travel is safe, and as good as it always has been, shows that our way of communicating with the people who really matter most to us – our valued customers – is making a real difference.

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“As always, a marketing campaign is only as good as the quality of the product itself, and it’s our talented and hard-working people who continue to deliver the highest standards of service every day who make this possible.”

At the heart of Transdev’s ‘Clean, Safe, Ready to Go’ campaign, which was rolled out by Harrogate Bus Company, was a two-minute video, shared thousands of times across social media platforms.

The video, filmed on location in the North of England, set out to dispel customer concerns about using buses as lockdown restrictions began to ease at the end of May. The video can be seen on YouTube here: https://bit.ly/3gQqMri.

The film formed part of a co-ordinated Transdev customer information campaign, offering simple advice covering every stage of a bus journey, and carefully designed to reassure and protect customers and staff alike.

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Transdev’s team, led by marketing manager Rebecca Reeve-Burnett, is currently rolling out a follow-up campaign under the banner ‘Back to Bus’.

The bus operator polled almost 1,000 of its customers across Yorkshire and Lancashire earlier this month after Prime Minister Boris Johnson signalled an immediate return to the use of public transport.

An overwhelming majority – up to 97 per cent – said they will return to the bus now that travel restrictions have eased.

A new video, featuring key outcomes from the poll alongside positive text and video comments from customers already back on Transdev’s buses, can be seen on YouTube here: https://bit.ly/3jXDN3E.

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Full details of all Transdev bus services across Yorkshire and Lancashire, including travel advice and revised timetables currently in place, are available online at: https://www.transdevbus.co.uk and on the free to download Transdev Go mobile app.

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