Finding a new Way2go at Heathrow

Heathrow Airport Holdings Limited committed to halving the number of single-occupancy car trips made by airport workers by 2040. The goal: to reduce congestion and improve air quality around Europe’s busiest airport. This commitment, designed in accordance with the Heathrow 2.0 growth strategy, aimed to meet the demands of an industry-wide shift toward more sustainable aviation.

Challenge

Raise awareness of existing Team Heathrow travel benefits and support wider interventions for long-term behavioral and cultural change for the airport’s workforce.

Taking a phased approach

Our approach to Heathrow Airport’s plan involved two phases. First, we sought to understand the potential behavioral triggers and barriers to sustainable commuting. Then, we created a compelling communications campaign to address them. Our extensive research identified four different approaches Team Heathrow could take to reduce single-occupancy car trips: car-sharing, public transport, active travel (i.e. walking or cycling), and agile working. Using the insights gathered from interviews with a cross-section of airport staff and workshops with businesses representing over 60,000 employees, we developed the Way2Go campaign brand to promote ways to get to and from Heathrow Airport and highlight extensive but underused travel benefits already available to employees.

Solution

Translate behavioral “levers of change” for sustainable travel into keywords threaded across all marketing communications.

Signaling the Way2Go

The Way2Go campaign’s look and feel blended bespoke mixed media and commissioned illustrations of recognizable commuting infrastructure such as Heathrow Express. We translated behavioral levers of change for sustainable travel into four campaign keywords threaded across all communications: cheaper, smarter, healthier, and greener. Our team launched the campaign online across five terminals and at Heathrow Airport’s head offices, with a digital channel takeover and animated films to drive traffic to a new website. To reach colleagues with no work email addresses, laptops, or mobile phones, we produced almost 300 pieces of artwork in locations across the airport.

Results

Designed, developed, and executed a targeted Way2Go marketing campaign built for long-term cultural change.

Boosting shared and public transportation

A five-day touring roadshow activated the Way2Go campaign face-to-face, sharing merchandise and recruiting sign-ups for the Way2Go mailing list. A key component of the campaign was targeting single-occupant car journeys and increasing membership of the Heathrow car-share scheme—the results were a 5% uplift, increasing to more than 8,500 members. Campaign marketing activity also aligned with additional interventions, such as the launch of five new coach and bus routes to Heathrow. In Q4 2019, we launched the “Educate” phase of the Way2Go strategy, attracting 7,500 unique website visitors and 14,000 page views. The Way2Go database has since grown to a total of more than 4,000 members and boasts an open rate of 57% (above the industry standard of 20%).