Deutsche Bahn is Germany’s national rail company. Like all rail businesses it has busy times, and times when there are empty carriages. To attract off-peak users in low-demand months, DB release Super Saver tickets twice a year: tickets to any destination in Germany, for just €19. Competitively priced with even the cheapest intercity buses they offer a far superior travel experience. But Super Savers come with restrictions and these affect demand. They’re only available for February and November, only for certain days and times, and subject to exclusions on exchanges, cancellations and connections. It’s one thing to visit another city in summer, but another to do so on a wet November Wednesday. The result: many of the tickets released each year went unsold.

BUSINESS

– Help increase Deutsche Bahn’s off-peak, off-season revenue (sales success).

– KPI: +5% ticket sales

TRANSFORMATION

Establishing a long-term innovative approach to set the benchmark for tomorrow.

KPI: ROI and scalability

MARKETING

– Persuade more people to buy Super Saver tickets (behaviour breakthrough).

KPI: +5% purchase intent

COMMUNICATIONS

– Create impact and engagement by challenging preconceptions that domestic travel is boring (influential idea)

– KPIs: year-on-year improvements across campaign metrics

We needed to rethink our audience and our approach.

We developed a new business idea to unlock a new source of business.

We identified an audience receptive to the idea of cheap tickets, and available to travel at times many would find inconvenient. But in an age of international travel, in a country where 72% prefer to spend their holidays abroad, many of these people were uninspired by the idea of domestic travel. Trying to sell them excursions to Bremen or Dusseldorf wasn’t going to be easy. And with a 45% lower budget it was going to be harder still.

Insight meets algorithms

By examining our audiences’ social media posts we found many pictures of the kinds of exotic places they were interested in visiting – pictures they had either posted, liked or shared. Using visual algorithms, we then scanned millions of online images to see if we could find look-alike pictures in Germany. We were surprised to discover that whatever your ‘perfect’ travel destination, anywhere in the world, you could visit something extraordinarily similar right here in Germany, with no need for an expensive flight. The message of the campaign: No Need To Fly.