Via Rail has launched a new brand campaign – its first from Cossette – to remind Canadian travelers of its featured train trips.
The campaign promotes The Canadian – Via’s recently renovated train that travels from Toronto to Vancouver – and The Ocean, which is based in the East Coast that travels between Montreal and Halifax.
Video ads center on the tagline: “Beauty takes no shortcuts.” It features wide shots of Canadian landscapes but, interestingly, no trains.
The slow, calming voiceover reinforces the theme: “It took light years for the stars in the heavens to illuminate the fields, billions of years to turn stone into earth. It took millions of years to forge the rockies, and thousands of years for the forest to pierce the glaciers and for valleys to replace lakes. Nature took its time. Take the time to discover it.”
Cossette won agency of record status in November, expanding an account it already held with Via for its Via Préférence loyalty program.
“Cossette has captured the essence of The Canadian perfectly,” says Sylvie Bourget, chief marketing and sales officer at VIA Rail Canada. “It’s a means of transportation that invites passengers to rest and recharge their batteries, and take pleasure in some peace and quiet. In short, travelling on board the train is a memorable and impressive experience—and the creative pieces show just that.”
