In the financial year 2022/2023, more than 1.3 billion passenger journeys were made on national rail services in the UK (1). The high number of passenger journeys throughout the year highlights the large audience potential that advertisers can tap into.

Train and tram advertising offers brands multiple engaging formats to choose from, which can be challenging to navigate. This article serves to break these down for you. Let’s get into it.

What is Train Advertising?

As a form of out-of-home advertising, train advertising refers to the placement of adverts on or inside trains and the surrounding area, such as railway stations. Train advertising is an effective way of positioning adverts in front of key commuter audiences where they’ll be exposed to it frequently and for some period of time as they travel or wait for a train.

With networks all over the UK, you can create nationwide exposure or zone in on location-specific targeting. A large majority of commuters are exposed to train advertising on a weekly basis with it having the ability to reach 83% of commuters on weekdays and 69% on weekends (2). This indicates it has the ability to reach a vast audience both at peak and off-peak times.

There are a variety of Train Advertising formats both inside and outside the train to choose from:

Rail 48 Sheets

You can target premium rail audiences in the UK with a 48-sheet. These nearly 20-foot wide billboards are the perfect canvas for you to showcase your brand to a local population and can also work effectively as part of reinforcing a national or multi-format campaign.

Rail 6 Sheets

This classic-sized billboard is placed in the most attention-grabbing, high-footfall areas in train stations. With an extensive portfolio and plenty of options to choose from, they are strategically positioned to draw attention, particularly from those who are waiting for trains. You can buy both in print or digital forms with the latter giving you the opportunity to change messaging and optimise campaigns in real-time.

Rail 4 Sheets

For smaller budget campaigns, the 4-sheets are a cost-effective solution located in access areas and tunnels to the train stations. These allow you to target millions of people with the flexibility to scale up or down based on your brief and budget.

Rail 12 Sheets

12-sheet billboards are present in most train stations, situated in station walkways, platforms and respective access areas. These high footfall locations offer significant exposure and deliver your advert to hard-to-reach audiences. In order to access certain areas of the train station, audiences have to walk past these, guaranteeing exposure to your brand.

Rail Passenger Panels

Elevated slightly above standing height or occupying walls opposite seated passengers, passenger panels reach daily commuters, passengers business travellers, tourists and more. They leverage the dwell time during journeys and are highly effective at capitalising on idle passengers to captivate them whilst they travel. Build brand awareness or encourage brand recall as passengers become familiar with your brand with the repetition these panels provide.

Train Station Escalator Panels

Print or digital, known as LEPs or DEPs respectively, Train Station Escalator Panels are in full view of commuters as they enter or exit platforms and stations. They can be targeted by location making it great for general brand awareness but effective for location-based businesses.

In digital form, escalator panels are eye-catching and dynamic, some allowing full-motion video. With these, there is an opportunity to be creative and playful with your ad placements or simply switch adverts when needed. Finally, you can leverage dwell time with entire takeovers across units within a section.

Train Full Wrap or Full Livery

With a Full Train Wrap, you have the capacity to unleash your creativity and make a statement. You can talk over individuals or entire trains to ensure your brand stands out and captures attention. Plus brands benefit from frequency, and line and region takeover making it perfect for a strong call to action or product launch.

What is Tram Advertising?

Tram advertising is the placement of advertisements on trams. Advertising on trams provides a unique opportunity for businesses to reach audiences as the vehicle moves throughout towns and cities.

Tram passengers spend an average of 6-10 minutes waiting and 35 minutes travelling on the tram giving enough time for viewers to absorb messaging. (3) Tram advertising is available in several cities across the UK including Manchester, Sheffield, Glasgow and London.

There are a variety of ways to advertise on trams:

Full Wrap

This format provides the ultimate impact and leaves a lasting impression. Your brand can be entirely wrapped around the tram taking full advantage of the vehicle and ensuring maximum visibility. These typically cover both sides, windows as well as the rear of the tram to provide a mesmerising and engaging experience. As the tram moves along the tracks, your advert will cut through with unmissable messaging.

Supersides / Tramliner

Supersides / Tramliners allow your brand to advertise along the entire length of the tram. This Tram Advertising format sits above window height on the tram exterior and delivers high levels of pedestrian and vehicular audience coverage. This placement means that your advert has the advantage of being isolated from other advertisements on a budget.

Mega Side

The mega side is a large billboard-style tram wrap that covers the entire exterior of at least one carriage. These are ideal for those whose budgets can’t stretch to a full tram wrap but would like the impact that a tram side offers. The Tram Mega Side provides more creative flexibility and can cut through visual clutter, capturing the attention of pedestrians and motorists.

Portrait Side

As a portrait wrap, these are poster-sized graphics that do not cover the whole tram but only certain areas. They’re a great way for businesses to advertise on a budget but still deliver impact. They are positioned in clear sight lines whereby messaging is easily viewed by pedestrians and passengers waiting to board.

Tram Interior

Tap into a captive audience as they travel by utilising Tram Interior advertising panels. Each advertising panel is strategically positioned to attract the attention of passengers and capitalise on the dwell times, ensuring maximum impact and helping to reinforce brand messaging. With the average time spent travelling on the tram being 35 minutes, this ensures plenty of time for your advert to be absorbed. Panels can be located in individual carriages or across several carriages and trams.

Tram Super Square

The Tram Super Square advertising format is the perfect way to make an impact with a 100 sq ft advert (measuring 13 ft x 10 ft) that covers the whole centre section of the tram, including the windows. With this, you have the opportunity to be creative. These can be positioned according to the vehicle on either side of the tram.

Tram T-Side

A Tram T-Side is created by using a Super Square centre section and 4x large tramliners. As your audience reads left to right, you have the creative capacity to take the viewer on a journey by utilising the engaging layout of the T-shaped space.

6 Sheets

Like railway stations, tram stops offer the opportunity to advertise via 6-sheets. As an affordable and unmissable format, these can reach passengers who are waiting for trams or pedestrians passing by. They come as static or digital, with the latter offering more targeted options.

If you’re interested in finding out more about train and tram advertising formats as well as how they can fit into your overall advertising strategy, get in touch with us today. We can place your brand on the tram and train station adverts at a nationwide scale or handpicks locations to truly zoom in on a specific target audience.

We use proprietary software to map out the exact placements and our team counts with decades of experience in this particular format. Check out our work on train advertising for an idea of what we can do for you.

FAQs

Can you advertise on trains and trams?

Just like other forms of transport advertising, such as buses, there are a variety of train and tram advertising formats to choose from. Train and tram advertising targets commuters, motorists as well as pedestrians and displays your advertising in front of a captive audience.

References

https://www.statista.com/statistics/304957/total-historical-national-rail-passenger-journeys-in-the-united-kingdom-uk/#:~:text=In%20the%20fiscal%20year%202022,rail%20services%20in%20the%20UK.

https://www.contravision.com/transit-advertising-stats/#:~:text=Transit%20advertising%20reaches%2083%25%20of,weekdays%20and%2069%25%20on%20weekends.

https://www.thearkmedia.co.uk/services/outdoor/transport-advertising/tram/#:~:text=Tram%20advertising%20is%20available%20in%20several%20formats%2D%20at%20the%20tram,itself%20(interior%20and%20exterior).

To learn more about train advertising or tram advertising, contact us today.