Consumer Trends: How to Get the Most from your London Underground Advertising

The London Underground is the lifeblood of the capital. Shuttling battalions of us from home to work, day in, day out, it’s a crucial part of commuter life. Add to commuters: school children, occasional London visitors, part-timers, people who live in London and just use it to get around, and tourists, and you have an estimated1.37 billion passengerspassing through the tube’s stations and carriages every year.

Whether people spend a swift 15 minutes on the tube or, as is estimated for most commuters,up to 75 minutes a day, underground there are plenty of eyes spending plenty of time looking at the billboards, digital escalator screens, and banner advertisements.

It’s a dream audience for many advertisers: Londoners are constantly on the hunt for the latest new thing; they often have disposable income to spend on the go; and they’re exposed to tube adverts up to twice a day—plenty of time for the right messaging to stick.

Astudyby The Engagement Zone back in 2016 reported that 60% of commuters notice a new advert appearing on their usual journey, and 70% of commuters claim they have the time—whilst on their journeys—to properly look at adverts.

Given the time commuters spend looking at ads on the Tube, getting the campaign messaging right is even more important. But given there are so many competing for the attention—not to mention the ubiquitous mobile in their pocket—how do you stand out and resonate?

To help answer that question (and many more), we surveyed 1000 representative tube users, to understand what makes them tick. Below you’ll learn how to approach successful Tube marketing, from better understanding commuter’s interests and behaviours, to their buying habits and brand awareness.

Interests and Behaviours

They’re a hardy bunch, those Tube users. Willing to brave 30 degree heat and a questionable lack of oxygen underground for hours and hours every week. They’re also a familiar group, happy to stand in each other’s armpits and step on each other’s feet when the need arises, sometimes even just for fun.

But what other personality traits and behaviours set them apart from the wider population, and how can brands tailor their messaging for this unique group of commuters?

When Tube users aren’t carpeting the floor with City AMs, Metros and Evening Standards, they’re fixated on the sports section. 18.2% of Tube users chose ‘Sports’ as the news stories they’re most interested in. Thankfully there have been plenty of column inches written on the summer of sport to satisfy this demand.

In second place was ‘Politics’, unsurprising given the turbulent political situation in the face of Brexit and London housing the country’s parliamentary system.

At the other end of the scale, the least popular news stories amongst Tube users are opinion pieces, and ‘Family & Education’ in the penultimate position.

When they can grab a moment of underground WiFi, or if they’re lucky enough to travel on the65% of the tube networkwhich travels overground, Tube users might be checking their Facebook profiles. Facebook ranks as the most used social network amongst this demographic, with 40.9% of tube users admitting they use Facebook more than other platforms.

The least popular social network amongst these consumers is Tumblr, with just 2.9% of consumers identifying it as their most used platform.

Buying Habits

Whether they’re online shopping on their mobile at the station, or rushing for a coffee before they reach the office, how do Tube users shop? Where do they stop and pay attention to adverts? And what do they prioritise when out shopping? We look at some of their general buying habits and preferences.

Tube users are most likely to pay attention to an advert on the TV (28.1%). Notably, they’re almost as likely to pay attention to an advert displayed on the Tube (or other public transport) as they are to notice a sneaky ad in their social media feeds (15.5% and 15.9%).

Tube users are most likely to be swayed by good quality, durable products (31.7%) over other priorities including price and convenience, and would most likely head to Google (27.3%) for advice on which products to buy. Similarly, a better quality product would convince them to move to a new brand (27.6%) over lower prices, innovation and endorsement.

Some find themselves swayed by friends and family, with the recommendation of others coming in 4th place (13.1%) for the place they’d go to help them make a decision on a product they don’t buy everyday. For 14% of Tube users, whether or not a products comes recommended is the most important consideration when buying a non-essential item. Similarly, ‘Word of mouth endorsement’ is the key motivating factor that will drive 13.9% of Tube users to a new brand.

Familiarity, selection available and ethical behaviours come in as the three least important aspects when deciding to buy a non-essential item, with popularity, convenience and advertising lowest on the list of motivations for moving to a new brand.

Tube-Specific Brand Awareness

Brands spend thousands of pounds on TfL’s advertising space, commanding anywhere from a few overhead panels in a tube carriage, to a full station takeover. And if you go big, whether it goes down well (à la Netflix’s spooky takeover of Oxford Circus) or verges too heavily on the intense side (we’re looking at you Trivago), depends on getting your advertising exactly right.

The campaigns facing commuters every day range from the run-of-the-mill to the notably jazzy. Some stand alone, some have television or radio counterparts. Some are fronted by celebrities and brand ambassadors, while others are striking in their minimalism.

Which brands have captured perfection when it comes to this year’s tube adverts? We asked tube users to name the tube advert that had impressed them most over the last 12 months. The results show that you don’t have to be a giant to be garnering attention, though it does certainly help.

Apple’s demonstration of the stunning possibilities of the iPhone X’s camera was the most memorable and impressive advert. Apple’s ads are a triumph of clean visuals and simplicity, and clearly minimalism is a memorable trend, because Jack Daniel’s—a much smaller brand by comparison—took third place. The unfussy, text-heavy Jack Daniel’s adverts demand lengthy engagement, since their print tells a story that takes a good while to read.

Nike’s appearance in second place probably has a large amount to do with their wildly successful‘Nothing Beats A Londoner’ campaignthis year, that saw people running, boxing and basketballing around London making the most of the public transport system. Add that to theirlimited edition collaboration with TfLwhich features the classic Johnston typeface that we’re used to seeing solely on the underground, and there’s a reason people are associating the sports giant with the London tube. Even though Nike haven’t had a huge presence on the billboards of the tube, they’re working hard to tie their brand to the famous transport system.

It’s notable that Nutmeg achieved joint 7th place, and Deliveroo joint 10th since both are young companies (Nutmeg was founded in 2011, and Deliveroo in 2013).

A tube advert done right by a newer company can have huge resonance, particularly with an audience so familiar with seeing disruptor brands emerge and, often, flourish.

Here’s Grant Warnock, Head of Business Intelligence at Nutmeg, explaining how they use Attest to get their creatives right.

When it comes towhotube users would most like to see endorsing a brand, the results were largely correlated to their news preferences. Football dominated the top table (partly, perhaps, since the World Cup has been so prevalent this summer), and further down, heads of state, politicians and business people did well.

Key Takeaways

Whether you’re targeting the bleary-eyed city-workers, or hungover party-animals, all sorts of Londoners and tourists travel by Tube. This presents a truly unique prospect to brands, with thousands of bored eyes looking for an advert to discover or a story to read.

Some brands are successfully sticking in the minds of these travelers; the impressive features of Apple’s latest iPhone, or the rich stories told by Jack Daniel’s, for instance.

Identifying that they’d choose a high quality product over a lower priced alternative, and that quality would encourage them to a new company, brands targeting Tube users should run with this message to capture attention.

These brands should also consider using footballers as influencers, with the four most popular celebrities named all playing the beautiful game, and footballers appearing across several distinct demographic segments. Tube users also prefer to read sports news stories, echoing the appearance of both Nike and Adidas in the top 10 most impressive Tube adverts of recent months.

Conclusion

The opportunity on offer to brands who advertise on the London Underground is vast. It represents a unique sector of consumers, with specific interests, priorities and perhaps nothing better to do for 75 minutes each day than read adverts.

The Facebook-fanatical, quality-driven, football-loving patrons of the London Underground are just one of endless consumer sectors you can access using the Attest platform.

If you’d like to gather your own consumer insights, to discover key behaviours and habits of the sectors of the public that matter most to your brand, get in touch with Attest today. Uncover unexpected behaviours amongst key consumes, and perhaps even discover new markets ripe for your brand.