IT & SOFTWARE SOLUTIONS


industry itself, especially the rail industry.


“By 2020, there will be 9,000 miles of high speed railway across Europe. This represents a transformation of the industry, as rail becomes far more dominant for journeys up to around 400 miles.


“This means the regional railways which operate around those core high-speed lines will be important feeder services to create an integrated transport network across Europe, for both leisure travel and business.


“The retail functions which serve those rail routes need to support the ticketing and information for those end-to-end journeys.


“For example, if you were taking a trip from Manchester to Cologne in Germany via rail, how can do you deal with issues such as cancellation and re-booking if you need to change part or all of your journey? At the moment a passenger would have to visit a number of different websites in a very complex process.


“However, the technology is now being developed and implemented to make that a much simpler process by integrating rail ticketing and fulfilment from different operators.


“I believe smart phones will play a significant role, because they deliver information to wherever the passenger is at the time, which therefore become a customer requirement.


“Typically transport information has always been something displayed on physical media, but now is becoming increasingly available electronically and on smart phones.


“We are going to see the booking process move into the mobile space.”


A one-stop online resource


In an age where the consistency of branding and corporate identity is key, Network Rail has begun using a comprehensive online resource to ensure compliance across the organisation, reports Richard Mackillican


N


etwork Rail is taking advantage of a new


system allowing anyone within the organisation – with the proper clearance – to access marketing and branding materials to ensure that whatever project they are working on is properly branded with a completely up-to-date corporate identity.


Mark Shaoul


Mark Shaoul, head of marketing services at Network Rail, said: “Once-upon-a-time companies had expensively-produced glossy brand guidelines and advertising guidebooks to help them manage their marketing outputs. However, they were often not effective at keeping up with the fast-moving needs of their business.


“Today, our online brand centre is Network Rail’s key tool for managing our brand. If we need to add a new chapter to the guidelines, about, say, on-track plant or signage, it requires simply the addition of a new online entry. Everyone who needs to be is up-to-date, instantly.


“In addition to managing our logo and the visual and tonal elements of our brand, we’ve also built a section on the centre where trained colleagues can literally make their own ads, posters and flyers through the use of editable templates. Users feel in control, get what they need, fast, while crucially from a brand management perspective, we know they are working at all times within the guidelines.


“The benefits of such a system really start to stack up for a company that has multiple local, regional or functional marketing


needs. All the new-styled posters you see across Network Rail’s major stations, and we have over 30 different approved poster designs and templates, are now produced and printed locally by the station teams from the brand centre as they need them.


“There’s enough flexibility for every eventuality – directional arrows, space for free text – but enough uniformity to keep the brand in place so people know it’s Network Rail. Recently, our property marketing function has started to use the brand centre, which will save us time and money on design agencies.”


Although the system is delivering significant benefits, the team are always looking for ways to develop its usage.


“Having mastered the basics, we will soon start to look at more complex outputs such as local press advertising, consultation and business documentation. It’s not going to take the place of the advertising agency or design


specialists who, for example, produce our annual reports, but I can only see the role for our brand centre growing in the years ahead.


“The new photo-library we’re putting in place on the site is just one important bolt-on. It will allow us to control access to and use of photography, set up review dates, manage upload limits and give us comfort that we are using photos that legally we are entitled to, which is a big intellectual property issue which all companies must deal with.


“We also have the unique challenge of making sure every photograph we use adheres to public and workforce rail safety regulations, and the site will cope with that too.


“We get regular management reports to tell us how the site is being used so we can make changes if we need to, or identify super-users and talk to them about their future needs.


“So, a small central marketing team such as mine can focus on its own campaigns while providing the infrastructure for others across the company to get their work done. It’s a very powerful tool and I’m sure that other rail businesses, keen to protect their brand and deliver fast efficient marketing communications would find it of value too.”


“I can only see the role for our brand centre growing in the years ahead.”


“There’s enough flexibility for every eventuality – directional arrows, space for free text – but enough uniformity to keep the brand in place so people know it’s Network Rail.”


rail technology magazine Dec/Jan 11 | 67


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