Southern Railway

Who: Southern Railway

Objective: To increase passenger revenues, achieve greater brand engagement and boost staff engagement.

Strategy: Since 2002, sponsorship of Brighton Festival through a partnership with Brighton Dome and Festival (BDFL), including running a late night fast train from Brighton to London during the festival in May.

Rationale: “With 35,000 residents commuting out of Brighton and 30,000 commuting in, the BDFL offers an effective way to reach Southern Railway’s customers,” says Angela Batchelor of Southern Railway. “BDFL and Southern Railway share a common target audience and the objective of communicating and working with the Brighton community. For our staff, the sponsorship gives them an insight into the way the Arts build a community. A major part of our mantra is to contribute to the community and the Brighton Festival offers a very family friendly environment to achieve this.”

Evaluation: “It is judged on return on investment which, in the main, is PR coverage in the region of £100,000; overall usage of trains, especially over the Festival period, as well as the level of usage of the late night Festival train; and finally the number of people that book tickets via Southernrailway.com.”

Photograph: Matthew Andrews