Brand birthdays can be hit-and-miss, but we saw an excuse to have some creative fun when First Bus asked us how to celebrate its 30th anniversary. Enter TikTok sensation Francis Bourgeois, aka ‘The Train Guy’ who we turned into ‘The Bus Guy’, getting the world’s most enthusiastic trainspotter to share his love for a different form of transport to celebrate 30 years of First Bus. We delivered a social-first campaign that became the brand’s best-performing content ever, with millions of organic views, tons of coverage. Ding ding.
We had a suspicion that Francis wouldn’t be alone in his passion for transport, so we put that to the test with research that found 3.3 million Brits love a bit of ‘bus spotting’, with over half feeling that social media stars like Francis have made their hidden hobbies feel ‘cool’ again. We persuaded Francis to trade in his train enthusiasm to buses for the occasion, sparking a national conversation around celebrating quirky hobbies.
More than 50% of Francis’ followers saw the content with 53% ER
51k+ likes and 800 comments on his Reel
20+ pieces quality coverage with 100% brand messaging
100% positive sentiment
