Back in June of this year, Absolute was appointed to develop a new campaign for the consortium bidding to operate Nottingham's Tram network.

The consortium's marketing team wanted Absolute to help position the tram brand to reflect the reality of a clean, efficient and modern transit system that will enable Nottingham's population to gain access to a reinvigorated city.

Our approach was to encapsulate the benefits of using the tram and reflect the positive user experience that has resulted in such positive feedback over the last six years. We also wanted to herald the new lines that will be developed over the next 2-3 years that will connect Beeston, QMC and Clifton, making access to the city far easier for thousands of passengers.

We started by developing a series of headlines that really focused on benefits, which led to a short-list of three creative ideas. We then worked up the ideas into advertising concepts and held focus groups with user and non-user groups in order to test their effectiveness.

There was a clear winner both in terms of the message ‘Glide into Nottingham' and the visual representation of stress free passengers effortlessly and smoothly ‘gliding' to their destination on time.

To really capture the essence of the campaign, next we reviewed and selected a series of models to reflect the key user demographics and art directed all of the photography.

The focus of the campaign is a new content managed website that enhances the user experience and enables the public to access timetables, maps, service updates and news. The website is supported by a ‘Glide Guide' or passenger timetable and a series of Tram Stop Posters, each featuring a local map, individual journey times and even the nearest PayPoint retailer.

We've had great feedback from the marketing team and have really enjoyed the challenge of working on a project that we believe signposts the regeneration of Nottingham and the significant capital investment that is planned for the city's infrastructure.