How do you get evening drivers to leave the car at home for a night out in Bath?

The brief

The West of England Combined Authority, delivered under the Travelwest brand, wanted more people driving into Bath in the evening to leave the car behind and use the Park and Ride services already running. The objective was awareness, building recognition of the evening services and making the case for using them instead of driving into the city centre. The audience was adults aged 18 to 65+ who drive, defined not just by age and car-driving behaviour but by an interest in evening entertainment and nightlife, such as theatres, cinemas and dining in Bath.

What we planned

Planning started with where that audience actually lives, across 188 postal sectors in Bath, North East Somerset and the key Bristol corridors. Seven channels each did a different job. Digital audio provided trusted reach and local press reached an older, loyal local readership. Out-of-home delivered high-frequency reach on the roads into Bath, while digital display built visibility among driving and nightlife audiences. YouTube added scale with intent-based targeting, Meta allowed granular interest targeting and Google search caught people already searching for the service.

The plan ran in two phases around a trial. Phase one, 8 to 23 January, built awareness ahead of and during a week of free return travel from Park and Ride sites into Bath after 5pm, on services 21, 31 and 41. Phase two, 24 January to 1 March, sustained that awareness over a longer burst, with out-of-home launching for the first time. The free week gave people a reason to try the service, not just hear about it.

How it ran

The campaign ran as planned, 8 January to 1 March, across all seven channels. Digital audio, through Bauer, held listeners almost to the end of every ad. Mid-campaign, investment in digital display was scaled back as a deliberate optimisation towards the channels holding attention best. Google search, aimed at people already searching for the service, returned the campaign's highest click-through rate.

What the reporting showed

The reporting showed WECA which channels earned evening drivers' attention, not just reached them. Digital audio's listen-through rate and YouTube's completion rates both showed people stayed with the message rather than skipping past it, while search demand confirmed people were already looking for the service by name. That distinction, between being seen and holding attention, is what informed the mid-campaign change to the display investment.