Marketing services

Tender description

LNER — the new 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 marketing, we are looking to procure a supplier or suppliers who will drive our business into the future, building our new 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 meaningful brand in our regions and communities. The LNER business is going through a period of huge transition and has big ambitions to maintain a leading status in the railway industry, with significant investment being made to transform the route for the future. The launch of our brand new fleet of Japanese-designed Azuma trains later this year, replacing our 40-year old fleet, will be the biggest transformation to the east coast in over 30 years. Combined with revolutionary changes to our timetable, customer experience will be vastly improved overall, with reduced journey times, better on board experience, and 26 % more seat capacity. Add to this a digital transformation to tackle customer pain points, and a drive to lead the change in shaking up the outdated railway fares and ticketing model, and it adds up to a tremendously exciting time for LNER. As such, this marketing agency review comes at a pivotal moment. Considerable work has been done since LNER took over the East Coast Mainline in June 2018 to establish the building blocks of this new brand, including our values, personality, positioning, look and feel and tone. The challenge now is to hone and refine our communications approach 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 teams, who will get under the skin of our business, and drive us forward to deliver the highest possible return during this exciting period of change. 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 – Strategic and Creative; Lot 2: Digital Marketing Communications; Lot 3: Direct Customer Experience 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 – Strategic and Creative. Developing our strategy to build, promote and land the benefits of the LNER brand, driving awareness, consideration and purchase, delivering best-in-class communications across the offline channel mix. The LNER business is going through a period of huge transition and has big ambitions to maintain a leading status in the railway industry, with significant investment being made to transform the route for the future. The launch of our brand new fleet of Japanese-designed Azuma trains later this year, replacing our 40 year old fleet, will be the biggest transformation to the east coast in over 30 years. Combined with revolutionary changes to our timetable, customer experience will be vastly improved overall, with reduced journey times, better on board experience, and 26 % more seat capacity. Add to this a digital transformation to tackle customer pain points, and a drive to lead the change in shaking up the outdated railway fares and ticketing model, and it adds up to a tremendously exciting time for LNER. As such, this marketing agency review comes at a pivotal moment. Considerable work has been done since LNER took over the East Coast Mainline in June 2018 to establish the building blocks of this new brand, including our values, personality, positioning, look and feel and tone. The challenge now is to hone and refine our communications approach 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 teams, who will get under the skin of our business, and drive us forward to deliver the highest possible return during this exciting period of change. 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 – Strategic and Creative; Lot 2: Digital Marketing Communications; Lot 3: Direct Customer Experience 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 – Strategic and Creative Developing our strategy to build, promote and land the benefits of the LNER brand, driving awareness, consideration and purchase, delivering best-in-class communications across the offline channel mix. The LNER business is going through a period of huge transition and has big ambitions to maintain a leading status in the railway industry, with significant investment being made to transform the route for the future. The launch of our brand new fleet of Japanese-designed Azuma trains later this year, replacing our 40-year old fleet, will be the biggest transformation to the east coast in over 30 years. Combined with revolutionary changes to our timetable, customer experience will be vastly improved overall, with reduced journey times, better on board experience, and 26 % more seat capacity. Add to this a digital transformation to tackle customer pain points, and a drive to lead the change in shaking up the outdated railway fares and ticketing model, and it adds up to a tremendously exciting time for LNER. As such, this marketing agency review comes at a pivotal moment. Considerable work has been done since LNER took over the East Coast Mainline in June 2018 to establish the building blocks of this new brand, including our values, personality, positioning, look and feel and tone. The challenge now is to hone and refine our communications approach 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 teams, who will get under the skin of our business, and drive us forward to deliver the highest possible return during this exciting period of change. 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 – Strategic and Creative; Lot 2: Digital Marketing Communications; Lot 3: Direct Customer Experience 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 – Strategic and Creative. Developing our strategy to build, promote and land the benefits of the LNER brand, driving awareness, consideration and purchase, delivering best-in-class communications across the offline channel mix.