Lead Marketing Communications — Strategic and Creative; Digital Marketing Communications and Direct Customer Experience Marketing

Description

LNER — the brand operating long-distance train services from London to Yorkshire, the north-east of England and Scotland — is reviewing its marketing agency setup. In a 3-lot tender covering creative communications across offline, online and Direct Customer Experience & Loyalty Marketing, we are looking to procure a supplier or suppliers who will drive our business into the future, building our brand and delivering powerful, effective and efficient communications across all marketing channels. We have data, insight, technology, budget, drive, creativity, product and expertise on our side. What we need from our partner(s) is truly cross-channel strategic thinking; joined up planning; an efficient and dynamic approach to production and a smart approach to content. We want to be relevant to our consumers’ lives; a part of the conversation; timely in our communications; a progressive brand in our regions and communities. Lot 1: Lead Marketing Communications — Strategic, Offline Creative & Content The LNER business has big ambitions to maintain and grow its leading status in the railway industry, with significant investment being made to transform the route for the future. We want to be the most loved, progressive and responsible way to travel, for generations to come. Since we took over the East Coast mainline as a new brand in June 2018, LNER has launched a brand new fleet of Japanese-designed Azuma trains, delivering the biggest transformation to our trains in over 30 years. We have ramped up our timetables, with more seats, more services and reduced journey times to more destinations along our route. Add to this a digital transformation to tackle customer pain points, huge investment in our martech stack, and a drive to lead the change in shaking up the outdated railway fares and ticketing model, and it has been a tremendously exciting time for LNER. Considerable work has been done since LNER took over the East Coast Mainline to establish and grow our brand in market, including developments to our values, personality, positioning, look and feel and tone. The challenge now is to build upon our solid brand awareness and customer database to deliver impactful, relevant and timely messages to the right person, at the right time, in the right place — across the board. We are looking for a partner or partners who will become an extension of our team, who will get under the skin of our business, and drive us forward to deliver the highest possible return over the next few years. In this process we want to be challenged in our thinking, ways of working, approach to channels, and our production and content strategies, to really do things differently, for the better. We are looking, and are open to any makeup of agencies across the 3 lots: — Lot 1: Lead Marketing Communications — Strategy, Offline Creative & Content, — Lot 2: Digital Marketing Communications – Digital Advertising Strategy And Online creative, — Lot 3: Direct Customer Experience & Loyalty Marketing. We are looking for proposals across any combination of lots — from solus 1-lot applications to proposals which combine all 3 lots. We are looking for applications which challenge our ways of thinking and working; make the most of our insight, data and technical capabilities; are forward-thinking in their understanding of the customer, marketplace and industry; drive real measurable efficiencies for our business and — most importantly — are grounded in delivering measurable results. Ultimately, our communications seek to drive mass reappraisal of train travel, making LNER the go-to long distance travel choice for more journeys, more often. We value: dynamism, creativity, customer-centricity; a profoundly strategic and results-oriented approach; different thinking; propositions that are future-proofed; evidence of taking data and insights into action; deep digital and tech knowledge, and understanding of the communications and customer landscape and trends. We are also looking for second-to-none account management, and a collaborative and open relationship with a strong cultural fit. Lot 1: Lead Marketing Communications — Strategy, Offline Creative & Content Developing our strategy to build the LNER brand and land the benefits of travelling with LNER – driving awareness, consideration and purchase – and delivering best-in-class communications across the offline channel mix. Lot 2: Digital Marketing Communications – Digital Advertising Strategy And Online creative The LNER business has big ambitions to maintain and grow its leading status in the railway industry, with significant investment being made to transform the route for the future. We want to be the most loved, progressive and responsible way to travel, for generations to come. Since we took over the East Coast mainline as a new brand in June 2018, LNER has launched a brand new fleet of Japanese-designed Azuma trains, delivering the biggest transformation to our trains in over 30 years. We have ramped up our timetables, with more seats, more services and reduced journey times to more destinations along our route. Add to this a digital transformation to tackle customer pain points, huge investment in our martech stack, and a drive to lead the change in shaking up the outdated railway fares and ticketing model, and it has been a tremendously exciting time for LNER. Considerable work has been done since LNER took over the East Coast Mainline to establish and grow our brand in market, including developments to our values, personality, positioning, look and feel and tone. The challenge now is to build upon our solid brand awareness and customer database to deliver impactful, relevant and timely messages to the right person, at the right time, in the right place — across the board. We are looking for a partner or partners who will become an extension of our team, who will get under the skin of our business, and drive us forward to deliver the highest possible return over the next few years. In this process we want to be challenged in our thinking, ways of working, approach to channels, and our production and content strategies, to really do things differently, for the better. We are looking, and are open to any makeup of agencies across the 3 lots: — Lot 1: Lead Marketing Communications — Strategy, Offline Creative & Content, — Lot 2: Digital Marketing Communications – Digital Advertising Strategy And Online creative, — Lot 3: Direct Customer Experience & Loyalty Marketing. We are looking for proposals across any combination of lots — from solus 1-lot applications to proposals which combine all 3 lots. We are looking for applications which challenge our ways of thinking and working; make the most of our insight, data and technical capabilities; are forward-thinking in their understanding of the customer, marketplace and industry; drive real measurable efficiencies for our business and — most importantly — are grounded in delivering measurable results. Ultimately, our communications seek to drive mass reappraisal of train travel, making LNER the go-to long distance travel choice for more journeys, more often. We value: dynamism, creativity, customer-centricity; a profoundly strategic and results-oriented approach; different thinking; propositions that are future-proofed; evidence of taking data and insights into action; deep digital and tech knowledge, and understanding of the communications and customer landscape and trends. We are also looking for second-to-none account management, and a collaborative and open relationship with a strong cultural fit. Lot 2: Digital marketing communications. Leading our digital advertising strategy and delivery, creating market-leading communications which allow for relevant, timely and optimised messaging, driving LNER to the forefront of digital communications. Lot 3: Direct Customer Experience & Loyalty Marketing The LNER business has big ambitions to maintain and grow its leading status in the railway industry, with significant investment being made to transform the route for the future. We want to be the most loved, progressive and responsible way to travel, for generations to come. Since we took over the East Coast mainline as a new brand in June 2018, LNER has launched a brand new fleet of Japanese-designed Azuma trains, delivering the biggest transformation to our trains in over 30 years. We have ramped up our timetables, with more seats, more services and reduced journey times to more destinations along our route. Add to this a digital transformation to tackle customer pain points, huge investment in our martech stack, and a drive to lead the change in shaking up the outdated railway fares and ticketing model, and it has been a tremendously exciting time for LNER. Considerable work has been done since LNER took over the East Coast Mainline to establish and grow our brand in market, including developments to our values, personality, positioning, look and feel and tone. The challenge now is to build upon our solid brand awareness and customer database to deliver impactful, relevant and timely messages to the right person, at the right time, in the right place — across the board. We are looking for a partner or partners who will become an extension of our team, who will get under the skin of our business, and drive us forward to deliver the highest possible return over the next few years. In this process we want to be challenged in our thinking, ways of working, approach to channels, and our production and content strategies, to really do things differently, for the better. We are looking, and are open to any makeup of agencies across the 3 lots: — Lot 1: Lead Marketing Communications — Strategy, Offline Creative & Content, — Lot 2: Digital Marketing Communications – Digital Advertising Strategy And Online creative, — Lot 3: Direct Customer Experience & Loyalty Marketing. We are looking for proposals across any combination of lots — from solus 1-lot applications to proposals which combine all 3 lots. We are looking for applications which challenge our ways of thinking and working; make the most of our insight, data and technical capabilities; are forward-thinking in their understanding of the customer, marketplace and industry; drive real measurable efficiencies for our business and — most importantly — are grounded in delivering measurable results. Ultimately, our communications seek to drive mass reappraisal of train travel, making LNER the go-to long distance travel choice for more journeys, more often. We value: dynamism, creativity, customer-centricity; a profoundly strategic and results-oriented approach; different thinking; propositions that are future-proofed; evidence of taking data and insights into action; deep digital and tech knowledge, and understanding of the communications and customer landscape and trends. We are also looking for second-to-none account management, and a collaborative and open relationship with a strong cultural fit. Lot 3: Direct Customer Experience & Loyalty Marketing. Delivering outstanding strategy and creative for an integrated digital communications experience, tailored to the customer lifecycle, bespoke to every journey a customer takes with us. Channel mix includes, but is not limited to, email, SMS, push notifications, web/app personalisation and our bespoke loyalty scheme, LNER Perks.