In France yellow is synonymous with the Tour de France, while in London its known as the colour of the Tube’s Circle Line – little surprise then that it features prominently in a colourful new poster-led campaign from Transport for London (TfL) designed to prepare the UK capital for the arrival of the world’s greatest bike race.
Using the strapline ‘Attention! Le Tour de France!’, the aim of the push is to alert London’s commuters to the arrival of Le Tour on the city’s streets on 7 July.
The campaign, launched on 9 June, is spearheaded by striking Tube and bus shelter posters, but also spans press executions, digital work and radio promotions.
The dedicated page on the TfL website, which provides details the UK stage routes and related London transport infrastuctrue changes and closures, adopts the same colourful and styled graphical creative approach.
TfL head of marketing operations Miranda Leedham worked with agency M&C Saatchi on the public service promotional initiative.
‘As well as capturing the excitement of such an iconic event, we also wanted to ensure the city is prepared for its arrival by informing our customers of the travel options available to them,’ explained Leedham.
‘This communication helps to build our reputation for hosting major sporting events by ensuring the city is ready for the impact on travel.’
The creative team, led by Grant Parker, developed an eye-catching, vibrant graphic campaign to warn Londoners of transport issues and road closures around the Tour.
‘Transport for London is famous for its iconic posters. And with this campaign we wanted to capture the spirit of The Tour while giving helpful information to customers,’ said M&C Saatchi head Of Art Parker.
Comment
The informative ad campaign follows on from an earlier TFL street stunt for this year’s Tour which saw a few Boris Bikes, familiar to Londoners for their blue (Barclay’s-sponsored) livery, repainted Tour De France yellow and carrying the Tour’s logo, placed in racks around the city.
This is the second time the UK has hosted ‘Le Grand Depart’ of the Tour de France, having last hosted the event in 2007.
The initial event also saw a highly styled poser-led campaign which took a graphically retro approach and featured many of London’s most iconic landmarks as well as riders (including, of course, the yellow jersey).
The first two of the three UK stages of the 2014 race take place in Yorkshire, while the third stage sees the peleton start in Cambridge and finish in London.
Links
TfL Website (Tour De France)
https://www.tfl.gov.uk/campaign/tour-de-france-2014
le Tour De France Website
M&C Saatchi Website
