Virgin Trains appoints Hope&Glory for consumer PR remit

Virgin Trains has appointed Hope&Glory PR as its retained consumer agency following a competitive pitch process.

The Hope&Glory team, led by managing partners Jo Carr and James Gordon-MacIntosh, will report to Virgin Trains’ Director of Corporate Affairs, Richard Scott, who oversaw the six-way pitch process.

The brief encompasses a three-year programme supporting all areas of the proactive consumer press office:  its travel and lifestyle media programme, local initiatives in the various regions that Virgin Trains serves, as well as contributing to the corporate-to-consumer communications and sustainability activities. Alongside press office activity, the agency will create campaigns to leverage strategic partnerships and marketing activities.

Richard Scott, Director of Corporate Affairs at Virgin Trains, said: “Virgin Trains carries 32 million passengers a year and has transformed a struggling rail artery into one of the UK's most popular long-distance routes. For the next phase in the story of Virgin Trains, we were looking for an agency that would bring us fresh, innovative and fun ideas which would translate into successful campaigns and build strong emotional engagement with a wider range of audiences.”

Jo Carr, managing partner at Hope&Glory, said: “Virgin Trains is synonymous with revolutionising train travel in Britain, introducing the first tilting trains in the country, alongside other firsts such as launching the first internet booking service for rail tickets as well as faster journey times.

“There is a huge opportunity now to build on this position and to bring the Virgin Trains’ brand to life for a consumer audience, attracting millions more customers to trains from cars and airlines. We’re really excited to be working with the Virgin Trains’ team to create stand out campaigns that will uniquely position it in the domestic travel marketplace whilst being true to the Virgin brand.”