You give us two minutes, we’ll give you the ‘Future of Rail’!

At the end of January 2013, the European Commission proposed far reaching measures to encourage more innovation in EU railways by opening domestic passenger markets to competition, as well as substantial accompanying technical and structural reforms.

But how does one raise awareness on such a complex topic, making it relevant to diverse audiences across Europe? In one word: Emakina.EU

We chose an aesthetic approach of 2D animations with retro sixties-style illustrations. Our copy-writers ensured the voice over text was witty, fast, spicing the information with amusing cultural references from all our target markets (namely, the UK, France, and Germany). Each idea was animated so that the result is highly entertaining. Viewers are drawn to watch the video, without even realising how much information they are grasping along the way!

Our original goal was to reach an audience of 70,000 views across the three markets. However, less than two weeks after the launch of the video the English version on YouTube alone reached over 100,000 views on YouTube. This does not even include the French and German versions or the one EUTube channel (which were not promoted), accounting for thousands of additional views!

We were delighted that our approach of combining humour, an amusing motion design, and a witty text – succeeded in delivering the message on the future of rail!