Creatives at Kenyon Fraser have unveiled the branding and marketing campaign for Walrus, Merseytravel’s new smartcard.
The creative team at Liverpool’s biggest integrated marketing communications agency have been working with Merseytravel for the past 12 months to come up with the Walrus name and branding and to develop a marketing strategy to promote the new card.
“Walrus is going to be one of the most familiar brands on Merseyside in the next couple of years, and it’s been a challenge and a privilege to work on its development,” said Creative Director Alan Kittle.
As well as assisting with the brand strategy and marketing campaign for the Walrus Card, the team was commissioned to design and build a website - www.walruscard.com – which provides customers with further information about the new card. The website also features a short animation, also developed by the creative team at Kenyon Fraser, about what the card is, and how they can use it to get around the region.
Kenyon Fraser has also provided PR to support the Walrus Card’s launch event, including the production of a briefing pack for stakeholders and media.
Ben O’Brien, Deputy Managing Director at Kenyon Fraser says, “Working in partnership with Merseytravel, we have developed a name and a brand identity that is unique to and appropriately representative of the Liverpool City Region.
The brand needed to be capable of communicating with a wide range of audiences and have stand out – going beyond a functional name and identity to capture the imagination of users, and becoming part of daily life in Merseyside and part of the City Region brand over time. It has been developed following a thorough research and consultation process, which carefully considered insight from consumers and stakeholders alike, as well as international best practice.”
Neil Scales, Chief Executive of Merseytravel adds, “I believe that the introduction of the new Walrus Card will completely revolutionise the way that Merseyside’s residents, commuters and visitors will experience and enjoy our city and region in the future. Indeed, in time, the Walrus Card will become an important and iconic part of the identity of our region.”
The Walrus Card will work in a similar way to, yet go way beyond the capabilities of London’s Oyster Card and will be phased in between Autumn 2011 and Summer 2013, across all of Merseytravel’s rail network, bus services, and ferries.
Most commuter season tickets will be replaced by the Walrus Card by Autumn 2012, and eventually the Walrus Card will also have the ability to be loaded with visitor attraction tickets and other non-transport products in the future.
For more information about the new Walrus Card, please visit: www.walruscard.com.
