Bus branding, marketing, livery design, PR, launch event for Stagecoach South

The challenge

Stagecoach South launched its nightrider ticket and celebrated the increased frequency of its evening services on the Coastliner route in Brighton and Worthing. The nightrider ticket costs just £2 and can be used after 7pm throughout the evening across the South Coast. The Brand Surgery was brief to create bus branding, marketing, livery design and organise the launch event with associated pre and post launch event PR.

This is excellent news for the local economy and customers alike, who can enjoy reliable travel at a great price, leaving them more money to spend on a night out in Brighton and Worthing.

The solution

The Brand Surgery design new corporate identity and visual branding for nightrider. From this we created the bus livery, post launch press advertising, promotional merchandise, leaflets. We organised two launch events, one in Worthing and the other in Brighton. VIPs including the Mayor of Worthing, the Mayor of Brighton and Hove and the Chairman of Adur were also invited and attended.

We had less than three weeks to organise each event and both were very successful and well attended as you can see by the photos.

Below is the press release which we also wrote and distributed – you can see this in print in the photo gallery also.

Press release

The official launch of Stagecoach South’s nightrider took place on 20 July 2016 at the Royal Pavilion in Brighton, where Michael Watson, Regional Director, met The Mayor of Worthing, The Mayor of Brighton and Hove and the Chairman of Adur and many councillors, community groups and businesses along the Coastliner route.

Gavin Stewart, Executive Director, Brighton & Hove Economic Partnership, said: “Accessing the many delights along the south coast has got so much easier with the launch of nightrider and improved Coastliner service from Stagecoach South. The £2 ticket provides unlimited travel to all of our fantastic theatres, pubs, bars, restaurants and clubs, and what’s more this fantastic offer only helps benefit the growing tourism economy of the region – already worth an estimated £1bn in Brighton and Hove alone. Well done to Stagecoach South for delivering an affordable, safe and comfortable service for local residents and visitors alike.”

The Mayor of Worthing, Cllr Sean McDonald said: “Nightrider is a fantastic ticket for the night time economy, I fully support it. I have been known to use the evening bus services to attend Mayoral events”.

Chairman of Adur, Cllr Ann Bridges said: “My husband and I live in Lancing and are huge fans of Coastliner service as neither of us drive. Night rider is an excellent service that connects the community and helps make travel at night cheaper, so people have more money to spend in eateries and other entertainment venues around the area”.

Stagecoach also announced that it had frozen fares at 2015 prices and, for the benefit of commuters, has scrapped peak return fares which means it is now even cheaper to travel to work. Stagecoach hopes that these incentives will encourage people to leave the car at home. Recent national research revealed that commuters can already save an average of £90 a month by using the bus to travel to work and play!

It is also much easier to plan your journey now because the new website, www.stagecoachbus.com, can tell you when the next bus is leaving from your chosen bus stop and gives you the fare for your journey.