Transport Design + Animation

West Midlands Combined Authority (WMCA)

Big Cat was briefed to create a promotional video/animation for Transport for West Midlands’ Swift PAYG (Pay As You Go) card, implementing their new brand identity.

Client

Transport for West Midlands (part of the West Midlands Combined Authority) is responsible for the delivery of public transport in the West Midlands.

Objective

To support the recent refresh of the Swift brand, WMCA implemented a campaign to promote Swift PAYG (Pay As You Go) using their new brand identity. WMCA required an accompanying promotional video or animation to support the Swift PAYG campaign, which would be used for YouTube advertising, digital screens and WMCA’s organic Facebook feed.

The key objectives of the video were:

  • To raise awareness of Swift Pay As You Go by achieving a 10% view rate on a paid YouTube campaign between 20 March and 29 April
  • To contribute to an increase of 15% in web traffic to myswiftcard.com between 20 March and 29 April
  • To support the increase of Pay As You Go cards in circulation from c.35,000 to 130,000 by 31 March 2018

Delivery

Production of a 30sec animation, focusing on the three key messages of Swift:

  • Cheaper fares
  • No more change
  • Click and collect 24/7

Each of the key messages were supported by an original illustration, each of which were designed to align with the rest of the promotional campaign.

As the video’s primary use was for social media and YouTube advertising, the structure of the video was developed to maximise the ‘thumb-stopping’ effect (users pausing on the video when scrolling through social feeds) and minimise skipping, prior to YouTube videos.

The final still of the video presented the key call-to-action, directing viewers to myswiftcard.com to acquire a card.

Results

The campaign has just gone live, so we’re eagerly awaiting initial results.

So far though, we’ve received positive feedback from the client focussed on our ability to provide a cost effective solution, within a tight deadline. The result was a versatile animation, able to be adopted for informative, promotional, OOH advertising and social media purposes. The creation of the animation also provided a suite of illustrations that are able to be used across Swift materials, bolstering the new identity.

This animation work was part of the Q4 campaign which covered the re-brand of Swift and achieved the highest levels of awareness for the year.

Relevant Case Studies

Destination Marketing + Design The National Forest Destination Marketing + Design Transport Design + Animation WMCA Transport Design + Animation Destination Branding + Design Transport for West Midlands Destination Branding + Design