The launch of the UK’s high-speed Channel Tunnel Rail Link was an opportunity to revitalise Eurostar’s brand and business. Our goals were to communicate the benefits of the new line and regain lost market share, particularly amongst business travellers. We needed to tackle the airlines head-on.

8.9% of respondents said they would definitely use Eurostar more in future, whilst 21.1% said they were more likely to consider Eurostar in future. The increase in ‘definite’ new users would represent a 6:1 minimum return of over £453,000 even if they only travelled once.

We briefed the writers to create 12 unique cartoons selling the benefits Eurostar whilst making fun of the airlines. For two weeks the instantly recognisable Eurostar Alex cartoon appeared on page 3 of the business section (the normal strip appeared on page 1). ‘Cartoon’s fit brilliantly into the medium anyway, but to tie-in with their established satirist just makes the ads seem even more at home – ensuring readers notice, read and absorb the content’. The Newspaper Marketing Association

We took full advantage of The Daily Telegraph’s resources: We became an integral part of telegraph.co.uk with our own Alex gallery; the campaign was promoted through 500,000 banner impressions and daily City News Bulletins emailed to 23,000 subscribers; We created 20,000 16-page booklets and distributed them through field marketing in the City; and we used the original artworks as rewards for the best performers in Eurostar’s sales and marketing team.

We planned to steal share from the airlines by identifying contact points that oversupplied airlines and undersupplied Eurostar. The Daily Telegraph deserved our undivided attention. It reaches 23.3% of all business flyers to France and 21.6% to the Low Countries (Source: BBS 2003). However, it is the worst quality / business paper for Eurostar, indexing at just 60 for medium-heavyweight usage. Conventional advertising would never be enough for their intransigent readership. We had to talk to them in a way that even the most determined flyer couldn’t help but enjoy. So we created a unique partnership with their hugely popular business icon: the cartoon strip Alex.