Most people don’t put much thought into how they cross Europe. They just… fly. Or drive. It’s become an automatic move, even if it means endless queues, cranky kids, extra baggage fees, or two tiny seats between you and the next bathroom break.
It’s easy to forget that the journey can be the best part, and Eurostar’s new OOH campaign makes sure you don’t.
Here’s how they did it, and what any brand can steal from their playbook.
Eurostar teamed up with adam&eveDDB and world-renowned illustrator Noma Bar on a campaign called Reasons to Eurostar. Their goal – to get people to pause before booking that flight or gassing up the car, and think: why not take the train?
Noma Bar’s signature style – clever minimalism, bold colours, playful use of negative space – is a perfect match. Each illustration merges two ideas in a way that only clicks on the second glance: like a sleek train silhouette tucked away on a public transport card, or a deceptive pun on ‘carry on’ that makes viewers wonder if they’re looking at a pistol or a suitcase.
It’s smart, it’s visually arresting, and it turns a passing billboard into a tiny moment of delight. That second-glance realisation (“oh wait, that’s clever”) is exactly the kind of micro-jolt that makes OOH so sticky.
Visuals might stop you, but words seal the deal.
This campaign is packed with short, punchy lines that poke fun at flying and driving, while giving train travel a wink. A few gems:
Each line is crafted to be instantly gettable. That’s critical for OOH; you’ve got maybe two seconds to land a message before your audience is past it. It also means these ads work beautifully even if someone hasn’t seen the accompanying videos.
We talk a lot about brand recall in advertising. Humour happens to be one of the most reliable ways to earn it. As adam&eveDDB’s Paula Hochberg put it:
“Every headline’s a little twist on what makes train travel the better choice.”
It’s those little twists that stick. When you can make someone smirk on the way to work, or while tapping their card at a petrol station, you become the brand they remember later.
As a category that could easily default to functional selling points (price, speed, legroom), Eurostar’s took a more human approach: entertain first, sell second. It pays off in memorability, which in OOH is half the game.
Of course, it’s not just what you say, it’s where you say it. Eurostar made sure these ads showed up:
This contextual placement does heavy lifting. It reframes that moment of “I guess we’ll fly?” with a reminder that actually, a train’s pretty great too. It’s often faster city-to-city, more comfortable, and 20 times greener than flying.
A lot, actually:
It’s exactly the sort of campaign that could be supercharged with programmatic: test different lines by suburb, swap visuals by proximity to airports, trigger different jokes by time of day (hello, “Maybe 6am trains are too early” on that morning commute).
With platforms like me, you can do it all quickly, flexibly, and without locking into one-size-fits-all buys. Because in the end, it’s not just about getting your brand out there. It’s about getting noticed, remembered, and maybe even smiled at.
👉 Want to see how your witty campaign could light up the street?
We’ll help you test, tweak and scale it, so you’re remembered for all the right reasons.