Emanate secures six-figure Southern Railway brief

The Omnicom-owned agency has been hired for a three-year retained consumer PR contract to support the railway brands’ revenue growth targets. The brief is worth a mid-six-figure sum.

Emanate CEO Nick Propper said the agency would initially focus on promoting the flexibility of travel around the London metropolitan area provided by Southern to ‘first-time Londoners’ and people visiting from Brighton.

‘We will focus on positioning Victoria as a great gateway into London,’ said Propper. He added that the agency would also take on the brands’ social media maintenance work.

Emanate won the brief in a four-way pitch revealed by prweek.com/uk (18 October 2011). It started work this month alongside media planning and buying agency OMD, and creative agency, VCCPme.

The pitch process was run by Alistair Buckle, head of marketing for Southern Railway and Gatwick Express.

Both brands are part of Govia, the partnership between UK transport operator The Go-Ahead Group and public transport provider Keolis.

Gatwick Express’ PR was previously handled by its in-house team and agency SRF. Southern was using its in-house team and Good Relations.

This article was first published on prweek.com