Last year marked the 200th anniversary of the modern railway in Britain. Two centuries of journeys that have brought people together, sparked conversations, and created moments of connection. From long-distance relationships kept alive by train journeys, to chance encounters and everyday shared moments, the railways have provided the setting for countless experiences that are quietly life-enhancing. Supporting a wider campaign aimed to shift rail travel from a functional necessity into a valuable, life-enhancing experience by overcoming the barrier among infrequent users: “It didn’t occur to me to use the train.”
This insight led to the July 2025 launch of the strategic platform ‘On the train you can’ reframing rail travel as time reclaimed - time for connection, productivity, or relaxation. Anchored in the celebration of 200 years of rail, the campaign showcased 200 years of stories that highlighted how the railway continues to enable connection across moments, generations, and journeys, reinforcing rail’s enduring role in shaping lives.
Within this broader, multi-channel campaign, our team delivered the influencer-led activation - bringing the ‘200 Years of Stories’ celebration in the form of a social first campaign across Meta, TikTok and YouTube.
Our social objectives were threefold:
Reach: Show the benefits of rail to a mass audience through culturally relevant creators.
Change Perceptions: Build positive sentiment with engaging, feel-good content.
Relate and Provide: Surface authentic narratives that sparked conversation and participation, celebrating 200 years of making time and the connections rail continues to enable.
This campaign was brought to life through a simple but powerful insight: train travel is not just about getting from A to B, it is about shared space, shared time, and the human stories that emerge along the way. To bring this to life, we partnered with A Mug of Life creator William Shears, who has a talent for one thing above all - creating authentic connections between strangers over a cup of tea.
Our plan was to take William out of his usual setting and place him somewhere uniquely British and inherently social: the train. By doing so, we demonstrated that trains are not just places where stories exist, but where stories are actively created. The execution was deliberately light-touch. William boarded trains with his trademark mugs, offering fellow passengers a brew and an open invitation to chat. These relaxed,authentic conversations captured the magic of chance encounters, creating moments that were human, relatable, and emotionally resonant.
Working with National Rail, the umbrella brand for Britain’s rail network, allowed us to tell these stories at scale. National Rail’s socials typically highlight destinations and scenic journeys, encouraging followers to save inspiration for future travel. This campaign marked a deliberate shift towards the human experience of rail, launched as part of celebrations marking 200 years of British railways. It was an opportunity to show that the railway connects more than places - it connects people.
The mini-series featured passengers John and James, who shared deeply personal stories, from working on the railways and visiting grandchildren, to childhood memories shaped by train journeys. Each story was grounded in the carriage itself, reinforcing the idea that train travel creates unique moments of connection. The content centred on “the conversations, chance encounters and the kind of stories you only hear when two strangers end up in the same carriage,” turning ordinary journeys into extraordinary shared experiences.
A key challenge was maintaining authenticity within a branded context. To overcome this, we trusted the creator’s established format and avoided over-direction. By letting conversations unfold naturally, the content remained genuine, relatable, and emotionally engaging.
What makes this project unique is its understanding of the cultural role of rail connecting people around the country to places they love and discovering the stories they have to tell. Rather than simply telling people why train travel matters, this campaign showed it - through warmth, familiarity, and moments that could only happen on a train.
TikTok:
3,485,591 TikTok views (James: 1,973,202; John: 1,512,389)
40,590 engagements (James: 27,983; John: 12,607)
1,422 comments vs an average of 3 on regular posts
95%+ positive sentiment
Instagram:
2,420,474 Instagram views (James: 1,447,725; John: 972,749)
56,374 engagements (James:42,703; John: 13,671)
2834 shares
707 comments
Total Reach:
6.8 million total reach across Instagram, TikTok & Facebook, 125% of KPI
3.5 million organic reach, 368% of target
The campaign successfully made rail travel more mentally available by leveraging William Shears’ social platforms to reach a new audience beyond National Rail’s usual audience. TikTok performance was particularly strong: James’s video received nearly 2 million views and John’s over 1.5 million, generating a combined 40,590 engagements and 1,422 comments, compared with an average of three comments on standard content. Instagram gained the highest level of engagement across all platforms gaining 2.5K shares on one piece of content alone.
Sentiment was overwhelmingly positive, with over 95% of interactions celebrating the human stories and connections captured on trains. The content cut through the noise, ensuring rail travel was top-of-mind for millions of potential travellers and reframing journeys as time well spent. Organic reach alone hit 3.5 million, far exceeding expectations, while total campaign reach reached 6.8 million, surpassing the KPI by 125%.
The initiative organically was recognised in Sprout Social as a best-in-class campaign, demonstrating that creator-led, human-centred storytelling can transform perceptions of train travel and engage audiences at scale.
