French people love to take the train, but they hate their railway company, SNCF. For years the brand tried to change their image and gain some love, in vain. Before this campaign, only 9% of French people had a very positive image of SNCF. People described SNCF with words like strike and late, whereas they described trains as easy, comfortable, and useful. The paradox is that 90% of the time they take the train, it is an SNCF train.

Our task was to use creativity to turn hate into love, after years of unsuccessful attempts.

Two deep changes were underway as the company gave us the responsibility to transform their brand image: a new future-facing corporate vision focused on ecological, human, and inclusive solutions within a context of imminent opening to competition. The company wanted to unveil their commitments as they were sure French people were not aware of them.

Interestingly enough, we discovered that French people were already aware of SNCF’s commitments (80% of people recognized them as a key economical actor and acknowledged their contribution towards reduced gas emissions and sustainable development) but this did not change their poor image of SNCF. As the real problem was not rational, we needed to dig deep enough to find a way to re-connect the brand and the people.

Since 1938, SNCF has not only kept French people moving but also French society. At the vanguard of workers’ rights, SNCF has always defended a quality of life beyond the quality of transport. The commitment of French railway workers was behind every social progress achieved in the 20th century in France.

SNCF’s undeniable role in French society did not come without controversy: improvements mean delays, and defending workers’ rights means strikes. As a result, a disconnection took place between SNCF and the people it serves.

To have a deeper understanding of peoples’ relationship to society, trains and SNCF, we conducted a big national survey. This survey revealed two things: first, a large majority of people already knew the brand’s actions and commitments and second, the French love SNCF as much as they hate it. They consider it at the heart of inclusive mobility and yet they complain about it.

French people complain about the SNCF because they see them at striking, too passionate, always having an opinion and often being late. SNCF is also seen as a paradox: as enthusiastic as they are fatalist and grouchy, as refined, and meticulous as they are messy and sloppy, as liberal as they are protectionist, having a pioneering spirit as well as a conservative mind.

Therefore, we realized French people hated SNCF for being as French as they are.

SNCF mirrors what it means to be French; the good and the bad.

With this campaign one of the biggest French institutions decided to unpack its own humanity, appearing relatable and vulnerable but also taking a stand in a strained political context that tends to divide instead of valorizing the richness and beauty of French diversity.

By inspiring people to love SNCF, we wanted to inspire them to love themselves more.

The brief asked to show French people that SNCF is all of them. The tonality was full of empathy and the paradoxes which make them so passionate and so committed that sometimes they are annoying, just like SNCF.

SNCF is as perfectly imperfect as the French: “We are not square, we are hexagonal” (France has a hexagonal shape).

Hexagonal became a music project instead of an advertising campaign. A theme song, a beautifully written slam poem and a musical composition were the starters of the new territory. The jingle we are so used to and tired of hearing at train stations became an enchanted new melody in the hands of a composer and the popular singer, Gaël Faye.

Here music and poetry parallel SNCF as they connect universally and inclusively. From this starting point, a full communication ecosystem was created to bring the idea to life.

The campaign results were outstanding, outperforming all the research’s institute benchmarks on brand image:

• + 13 points on very positive image

• -17% on negative image

On the items of brand love and brand image, the brand performed like never before:

• A brand that understands me: +17 points

• A brand I feel close to + 20 points

• A brand I trust: +12 points

• A brand that makes me dream: +18 points

• A brand that makes truly sustainable efforts: +15 points

• An innovative brand: +14 points

58% of French people will now recommend SNCF to others.

This shift is a cornerstone for a new relationship between the brand and the French, promising a fresh start for an old couple: France and its railways.