What was the thinking behind the "Avocado Offer" on Virgin Trains?

[wilbers]

I posted this in the 2630 Rc’d thread but relevant here for anyone who’s missed it.

“Real Virgin” (West Coast) are allowing all customers aged 26-30 to purchase and use 26-30 Railcard discounted tickets if they present an Avocado next week (March 13th-20th)
https://www.virgintrains.co.uk/avoc..._Media&utm_campaign=Avocard&utm_content=Mar18

I've just been watching todays episode of The Chase and this appeared as a question on it. I have to admit I guessed apple as the answer rather than avocado. Seems an unlikely thing to do, what was the thinking behind it?

 

[greatkingrat]

“Real Virgin” (West Coast) are allowing all customers aged 26-30 to purchase and use 26-30 Railcard discounted tickets if they present an Avocado next week (March 13th-20th)
https://www.virgintrains.co.uk/avoc..._Media&utm_campaign=Avocard&utm_content=Mar18



I've just been watching todays episode of The Chase and this appeared as a question on it. I have to admit I guessed apple as the answer rather than avocado. Seems an unlikely thing to do, what was the thinking behind it?

Young people are sometimes referred to as the "Avocado Generation".

 

[betraveler]

Possibly also that avocado is a pun on card.

 

[TUC]

It's fun. The kind of imaginative marketing that should happen more often.

 

[61653 HTAFC]

It's fun. The kind of imaginative marketing that should happen more often.

It's cringeworthy, like most of VT's marketing was.

 

[Bletchleyite]

It's cringeworthy, like most of VT's marketing was.

It's hard to deny that their marketing approach wasn't better than Avanti's, though, which is utterly dire. You personally may not like Virgin's marketing approach, but it couldn't be said to be unsuccessful.

Avanti direly needs (other than fixing the utter mess that is their actual operation) a dose of Best Impressions.

 

[61653 HTAFC]

It's hard to deny that their marketing approach wasn't better than Avanti's, though, which is utterly dire. You personally may not like Virgin's marketing approach, but it couldn't be said to be unsuccessful.

Avanti direly needs (other than fixing the utter mess that is their actual operation) a dose of Best Impressions.

I'm certainly a bit cynical when it comes to marketing, I'll give you that. To be honest I don't "get" the admiration for Best Impressions either- they were responsible for the VTEC livery which in my opinion looked terrible with those silly red ribbon stripes. They were also behind Yorkshire Tiger which was an utterly hideous look and brand that meant nothing to the communities served.

 

[Bletchleyite]

I'm certainly a bit cynical when it comes to marketing, I'll give you that. To be honest I don't "get" the admiration for Best Impressions either- they were responsible for the VTEC livery which in my opinion looked terrible with those silly red ribbon stripes. They were also behind Yorkshire Tiger which was an utterly hideous look and brand that meant nothing to the communities served.

I'd agree the VTEC livery was hideous, and that being the case I'm amazed TfW are keeping it on the Mk4s. However, even the best companies sometimes make mistakes - nobody is perfect. However, the whole London Midland package was an absolute masterpiece, as are many of the bus packages (though I'll admit some are a bit samey in terms of stuff like font).

The company isn't perfect, but they certainly seem to be one of the best out there, and unlike some marketeers they deliver a whole "look and feel" package rather than just a fancy livery.

(Avanti of course have a bad look and feel package and a bad livery, though to be fair this also reflects a badly operated TOC so is maybe accurate! It's all as drab as blue and grey, indeed the greeny blue/bluey green isn't far off old BR blue. I'm well aware the colour scheme is meant to reflect the Italian flag, i.e. white, green and red, but it is just so awfully drab, not quite the right colours for the flag (unlike FS's own liveries) and obvious that it's vinylled on top of "factory" white on the cheap).

What is sort-of of note is that the old VT livery with the silver and red isn't that far off the Frecciargento livery - maybe they should have gone with that! In Italy they would be Frecciargento as medium speed non-LHCS IC services, I guess HS2 would be Frecciarossa. Though to be fair the FS liveries are a bit basic!

I'd disagree with you on Yorkshire Tiger, though. I think it looks, er, grrrrreat! (sorry, I'll get my coat! ) Far better than the drab light blue of its then parent company Arriva.

 

[61653 HTAFC]

I'd agree the VTEC livery was hideous, and that being the case I'm amazed TfW are keeping it on the Mk4s. However, even the best companies sometimes make mistakes - nobody is perfect. However, the whole London Midland package was an absolute masterpiece, as are many of the bus packages (though I'll admit some are a bit samey in terms of stuff like font).

The company isn't perfect, but they certainly seem to be one of the best out there, and unlike some marketeers they deliver a whole "look and feel" package rather than just a fancy livery.

(Avanti of course have a bad look and feel package and a bad livery, though to be fair this also reflects a badly operated TOC so is maybe accurate! It's all as drab as blue and grey, indeed the greeny blue/bluey green isn't far off old BR blue. I'm well aware the colour scheme is meant to reflect the Italian flag, i.e. white, green and red, but it is just so awfully drab, not quite the right colours for the flag (unlike FS's own liveries) and obvious that it's vinylled on top of "factory" white on the cheap).

What is sort-of of note is that the old VT livery with the silver and red isn't that far off the Frecciargento livery - maybe they should have gone with that! In Italy they would be Frecciargento as medium speed non-LHCS IC services, I guess HS2 would be Frecciarossa. Though to be fair the FS liveries are a bit basic!

I still remember the photos from the Yorkshire Tiger launch day, and you could see Mr. Stenning was so proud of his work there. Of course neither he nor his organisation were responsible for the utter shambles that that operation was!

 

[mrcheek]

I think it was meant for Liverpool services, as in the Scouse joke:

"Do you like avocado"
"No, I always go by train"

 

[pdeaves]

The marketing campaign was aimed at the 'hip and trendy' younger generation because, apparently, they were the sort of people likely to eat (or at least, have in the house) avocados.

 

[RAPC]

Some good answers above, but the reason behind it were a little bit more practical and tie in to the quoted original post.

There was the launch of the railcard for 26-30 year olds in 2018, which was very popular, meaning that the cards were sold out and unavailable soon after going live.

The cards were referred to as 'Avocards'. Due to the difficulty of 26-30 year olds getting hold of the cards, Virgin did this campaign to allow 26-30 year olds to buy the railcard fares, minus the railcard as long as they took an Avocado with then instead of the Avocard.

 

[XAM2175]

There was the launch of the railcard for 26-30 year olds in 2018, which was very popular, meaning that the cards were sold out and unavailable soon after going live.

I have difficulty believing that a digital-only Railcard could be "sold out", unless you mean that the demand temporarily crashed the sales website?

 

[Bletchleyite]

I have difficulty believing that a digital-only Railcard could be "sold out", unless you mean that the demand temporarily crashed the sales website?

Only a limited number of them was released originally as a trial.

 

[Iskra]

Some good answers above, but the reason behind it were a little bit more practical and tie in to the quoted original post.

There was the launch of the railcard for 26-30 year olds in 2018, which was very popular, meaning that the cards were sold out and unavailable soon after going live.

The cards were referred to as 'Avocards'. Due to the difficulty of 26-30 year olds getting hold of the cards, Virgin did this campaign to allow 26-30 year olds to buy the railcard fares, minus the railcard as long as they took an Avocado with then instead of the Avocard.

Only a limited number of them was released originally as a trial.

This is correct

I have difficulty believing that a digital-only Railcard could be "sold out", unless you mean that the demand temporarily crashed the sales website?

And I believe the website crashed too, for good measure. I got one, but sadly my railcard days are now over.

I think it was a decent offer, some people would have got a decent discount and it got VT positive attention- I think it made the BBC news at the time, so it probably achieved what they wanted. I can understand that looking back now it seems very random; it is certainly one of the more unique rail promotions that I’ve seen (can anyone think of an even more random one?).

 

[RAPC]

I have difficulty believing that a digital-only Railcard could be "sold out", unless you mean that the demand temporarily crashed the sales website?

Limited supply, along with a website failure as a combination. Hit the news at the time as it was causing quite a bit of frustration for those trying to get a Railcard.

 

[Bertie the bus]

It's hard to deny that their marketing approach wasn't better than Avanti's, though, which is utterly dire. You personally may not like Virgin's marketing approach, but it couldn't be said to be unsuccessful.

Avanti direly needs (other than fixing the utter mess that is their actual operation) a dose of Best Impressions.

What many people seem to forget, and Virgin Trains definitely did, is marketing is supposed to achieve something tangible, i.e. increased sales and profits. Marketing that just gets some re-tweets might appeal to the more superficial but it doesn’t achieve anything.

If you look at Virgin Trains’ record the increase in ridership was very similar to other TOCs even where other TOCs didn’t have the huge increase in frequency Virgin did.

 

[peri]

What happened to all the avocados?